Negotiating Sasak-ness in the Digital Sphere: Cultural Identity Performance among Millennial Generations at Sekolah Adat Bayan, North Lombok.
I Wayan Sutama

Institut Agama Hindu Negeri Gde Pudja Mataram

Abstract

In today^s digital era, indigenous communities worldwide face significant challenges in preserving their cultural heritage amidst the globalization of pop culture and the homogenization of media driven by algorithms. The Bayan Indigenous School in North Lombok, Indonesia, stands as a crucial institutional bulwark for maintaining Sasak oral traditions, ancestral rituals, and customary law (awig-awig). However, academic discourse has largely overlooked the communicative role of the millennial generation, particularly regarding how they showcase and negotiate their ^Sasak-ness^ in digital spaces.

This study aims to analyze the communication strategies and identity performances employed at the Bayan Indigenous School. Utilizing a virtual ethnographic approach combined with in-depth interviews and participant observation, this research explores how millennials curate, translate, and collaborate on traditional Sasak values within digital realms.

Preliminary findings indicate that identity negotiation constitutes an active and performative dialogue, wherein millennials consciously select which rituals to document, which languages to use, and how to present their Sasak cultural identity in digital spaces. This research contributes to the broader cultural and literary discourse on how indigenous youth worldwide can sustain their local literacies while strategically engaging with transnational digital publics, thereby offering a grassroots model for cultural survival in an era of interconnectivity.

Keywords: Intercultural communication, digital resilience, cultural identity performance, Bayan Indigenous School, Sasak oral traditions

Topic: Digital Resilience: Cultural and Literary Discourses of Global Alliances (Digital Resilience- Cultural Discourse- Global Alliances)