SYMBOLIC SPEECH AND RITUAL DISCOURSE: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF SHAMANIC AUTHORITY IN THE PACU JALUR TRADITION OF KUANTAN SINGINGI
Journal of Pragmatics and Discourse Research October 21, 2025 Albetro Albetro, Zulfa Zulfa, Ranti Nazmi et al. 1 citation
A shaman's authority in the Pacu Jalur rowing tradition of Kuantan Singingi Regency, Indonesia, is not inherited but constructed through community narratives, ritual performance, and symbolic alignment with ancestral power. The shaman Jasri guides teams' spiritual preparation via ritual prayers, protective symbols, and oral transmission of traditional values. His prayers function as performative speech acts, and his tools—knives and necklaces—encode meanings of defense, identity, and cosmology. The shaman's discourse sustains a sacred space where tradition is enacted, remembered, and renewed, reflecting resistance against modern secularization and providing collective spiritual identity in a postcolonial context.