PLACE-BASED INTERPRETATION OF ORANG ASLI LIFE-COURSE HERITAGE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v24i44.2278Keywords:
Orang Asli, Cultural Practices, Life-Course Transitions, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Cultural LandscapeAbstract
This study reframes Orang Asli (OA) cultural practices as a life-course and spatial system within Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Domain 3. It connects them to care settings, households, Adat institutions, burial boundaries and ancestral sites. Studies emphasise festive events, weakening recognition of continuity across life phases. The research combined interviews with OA knowledge holders and representatives with ethnographic, academic and heritage sources. Content analysis coded manifestations by social role, ritual purpose, symbolic meaning, participation pattern and community context. Inductive-deductive thematic analysis organised them into codes, facets and themes. Six experts assessed the framework using the Content Validity Index, informing four themes and sixteen facets. These cover early development, marital institutions, maternal care, adulthood, elderhood and ancestry. Spatial analysis produced four planning categories and eight cultural spaces for protection, learning, household formation, maternal care, subsistence, governance, burial and ancestry. The framework supports documentation, planning, assessment and community-led mapping of life-course heritage.
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