CULTURAL SPACES SUSTAINING ORANG ASLI NATURE–CULTURE KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v24i44.2279Keywords:
Orang Asli, Indigenous Knowledge, Nature–Culture Systems, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Cultural LandscapeAbstract
This paper maps landscapes, rivers, celestial settings, healing areas and household spaces sustaining Orang Asli (OA) knowledge under Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Domain 4. Evidence remains scattered across practices, beliefs and environmental settings, limiting interpretation as a coherent, place-based nature–culture system. The study combined interviews with OA knowledge holders and representatives with ethnographic sources, literature and heritage reports. Content analysis identified manifestations by knowledge function, setting, cultural meaning, practice 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 ecological landscapes, riverine systems, celestial-cosmological knowledge, therapeutics, healing and foodways. Spatial interpretation generated five conceptual layers and ten cultural spaces, including routes, customary territories, renewal landscapes, species habitats, river networks and sacred water sites. The framework supports landscape mapping, conservation zoning, river protection, resource safeguarding and culturally sensitive development control.
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