Safeguarding Makassar Oral Literature Through Performance: An ESD-Based Cultural Literacy Approach

Abstract

This study examines how Makassar oral literature performances contribute to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)-oriented cultural meanings are articulated within participatory learning contexts. Using a qualitative performance-ethnography design, the study was conducted at Universitas Negeri Makassar and selected cultural settings in Gowa Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Data were generated through participant observation of two oral-literature performances and semi-structured interviews with 22 participants, comprising 4 passinrilik/pakkelong performers, 2 cultural practitioners or ICH observers, 14 students or younger-generation audience members, and 2 education practitioners, supported by audiovisual and documentary analysis. Data were analyzed through performance-ethnographic interpretation, ESD-oriented thematic and discourse coding, and the interactive model of Miles et al. (2014), with credibility strengthened through source and technique triangulation and member checking. The findings reveal three interrelated safeguarding mechanisms: performative conservation, intergenerational participation, and media recontextualization. Oral-literature performance sustains cultural memory and expressive traditions, facilitates intergenerational transmission and reinterpretation of cultural knowledge, and extends cultural circulation into digital and educational spaces. It also provides situated learning opportunities through which participants engage with cultural identity, social solidarity, ecological responsibility, and cultural continuity. Rather than demonstrating a measured increase in cultural literacy, the study shows that ESD-oriented performance creates conditions that support cultural-literacy learning and sustainability-oriented values. The study proposes a conceptual framework linking ICH safeguarding with the environmental, social, cultural, and economic dimensions of ESD, with implications for OBE-oriented regional language and literature education and community-based cultural learning.