Revealing the Local Knowledge of Buru People through Their Weneks

Abstract

Folk song is a type of oral literature that lives and develops in society, especially in rural communities. Folk songs have the power to represent the local knowledge of a community. Therefore, a study is needed to reveal this. This research aims at revealing the local knowledge of the Buru people contained in the Buru’s weneks (folk songs). The research data are the song texts (eight weneks) obtained from four informants, namely several village elders as the owner of the songs. This research is a qualitative descriptive study with an ethnographic approach. The data were collected through (1) observation, (2) in-depth interviews, and (3) recording techniques. The data analysis procedure was carried out by (1) sorting the data according to the research findings; (2) reading and checking the data to ensure their accuracy; and (3) coding the data with letters and numbers. The research findings show that the local knowledge of the Buru people represented in the Buru’s folk songs involved (1) traditional medicine; (2) season naming; (3) birds naming; (4) land ownership/ulayat rights; (5) the belief of the Buru People; and (6) kinship system. The six findings represent the identity of the Buru people that is owned, practiced, and maintained up to this day.