What is it about?
The tekná is an important oral tradition of the Kayan people, a small indigenous community who lives in Sarawak, a Malaysian state located on the north-eastern part of Borneo. As a non-literate community, tekná has a rich tradition of archiving stories and narratives of the Kayan. This paper discusses the historical background of tekná and explores current status and practices of tekná among the Kayan.
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Why is it important?
The documentation of the oral traditions of non-literate indigenous communities is vital aspect of the preservation and survival of indigenous knowledge, culture and tradition. Thus, in this paper we also document a tekná sung by an elder which forms a basis for documentation of the oral tradition.
Perspectives
As a Kayan, I find it rather unfortunate that my culture is not well represented in the literature. Because of the nature of ethnicity in Sarawak, studies on indigenous art and culture of indigenous communities are often conducted upon as a single entity, grouping them under a single umbrella, orang ulu - peoples of the interior. Because there are several indigenous communities within the orang ulu, more often than not, a more dominant or exotic community within the orang ulu dominates representation in the literature. Thus, I feel great satisfaction writing this paper as I feel I have fulfill my duty as a Kayan scholar to bring interest to our culture. This paper will be a good reference for scholars who want to know more about the Kayan and their oral culture. More so, it serves to document and preserve the oral tradition of the Kayan.
Roselind Wan
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Tekná – a vanishing oral tradition among the Kayan people of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, Indonesia and the Malay World, May 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13639811.2018.1457617.
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