Tanah air dan rantau berpisah tiada: merantau sebagai kategori sosiologi

• Main Author: Mohd Noor Merican, Ahmad Murad
• Format: Article
• Language: Malay
• Published: UKM Press 2024
• Subjects: BJ71 History and general works; CB History of civilization; HM1 Sociology (General and theoretical); HM621 Culture
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/116277/7/116277_Tanah%20air%20dan%20rantau%20berpisah%20tiada.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/116277/; https://ejournal.ukm.my/akademika/issue/view/1726; https://doi.org/10.17576/akad-2024-9403-30

This article attempts to present ‘rantau’ (region) and ‘merantau’ (there is no exact translation, but it would roughly mean migration) as a category in the study of Sociology. It emphasizes the need to re asses the concept and its meaning which is conventional used in the context within the corpus of ‘adat’ and ‘budaya’ (ritual and culture). This article proposes for the intertwining concepts of rantau/merantau to Tanah Air, where Tanah Air (homeland) is conceived as a geographical, historical and a cultural reality; and not a figment of the nationalist imagination. Rantau and merantau is the pillar of Tanah Air. Herein lies the collective memory of civilization in the Malay Archipelago. This leads to the redefinition of the meaning of civilization that has been measured from the continental history and perspective. Queries on Malay civilization informs us on the reality of the Tanah Air. Hence this article argues for a maritime perspective on civilization. It uses the assumption of Ibn Khaldun and Fernand Braudel - the former analogizes the desert as the reservoir of Arab civilization while the latter theorizes on movements and advancements enabled by the seas within the archipelago. This article then implies the seas as reservoir of Malay maritime civilization. It argues that comprehending Malay civilization needs a consciousness of oceanic space - the dynamics of the ocean in the formation of maritime societies and civilizations. Epistemologically this perspective compliments the concept of a continental civilization that has since colonized scholarship.