Revisiting Merantau with a sense of Minangness: Cultivating the field of Malay Media Studies

Abstract

An appreciation of aurality and orality sees the extension of media and culture before the emergence of the Internet. For contemporary Minangkabau society then, attending public performances in the West Sumatran homeland are no longer the only way of enjoying and appreciating oral literature. Media genres available on commercial cassettes and video compact discs (VCD), Minangkabau perantaus, as well as those domiciled in West Sumatra, are able to appreciate their traditional verbal arts in the privacy of their own home. The same is observed of the kinds of recording in Malaysia. Minangkabau perantaus have been here for generations, embraced within the larger Malay society and the Alam Melayu (Malay World)—a geographical spread transcending the Archipelago. Minangkabau oral traditions and media extend through the rantau – not only in Kuala Lumpur, but also in Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Jambi, Medan, Pekanbaru, Palembang, Batam and Denpasar. A new audience is created. This is an empirical fragment in what can be called Malay Media Studies.