Promoting Traditional Knowledge in Conservation: The Role of The Borobudur Conservation Office

Abstract

This paper reviews the incorporation of diverse forms of traditional knowledge in conservation research by the Borobudur Conservation Office (BCO), Indonesia. Research undertaken by the BCO relied on both social and natural scientific approaches. Traditional knowledge was acquired in consultation with traditional custodians and the properties of selected traditional materials were scientifically studied and adapted for use in a conservation context. These outcomes of collaborations with traditional custodians and the findings of scientific investigations have been embedded in the BCO's written and multimedia publications, as well as their training and research programs. It is argued that these efforts could promote sustainable conservation practices by providing alternative, biodegradable conservation materials. Furthermore, these efforts are viewed as a model for conservation best practice; in community that emphasises cross-cultural engagements.

Keywords:

• Borobudur Conservation Office
• Indonesian conservation
• sustainable conservation
• traditional conservation

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Borobudur Conservation Office for making their work accessible through borobudurpedia.id page. Also, thanks to Nahar Cahyandaru and other BCO conservation scientists whose work were the inspiration behind this paper. Thanks also to Risqa Syakhroza, Grace Barrand, and Fiky Herdiansyah for reading and gave inputs for this paper. Lastly, thanks to the two anonymous reviewers and editors for their constructive criticism and valuable opinions. Their advice has dramatically improved the quality of the paper. All errors and weaknesses in this paper, however, remain solely mine.

Notes

1 Countries in Asia are some of the driving forces, besides Africa and Latin America, for the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Lenzerini 2011).

2 As part of citrus family, lime naturally produces citric acid. Conservators use the artificial version of it to remove corrosion products on metal objects (i.e. MacLeod 1987).

3 Inscribed as a representative list of the UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008, this Javanese asymmetrical metal dagger normally used both as a weapon and spiritual object (UNESCO 2008).

4 Penjamasan is a verb word for ‘to wash’ or ‘to clean’, the noun (without affixes) is jamas which means ‘bath’ (Zoetmulder & Robson trans. 1994 in Swastikawati, Suryanto & Purwoko 2012, p. 36).

5 The conference was organised jointly by the Gadjah Mada University and National Museum of World Culture (Netherlands) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on 18–24 September 2014 (Cai 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Saiful Bakhri

Saiful Bakhri is a conservator at Bali Cultural Heritage Preservation Office, Gianyar, under the auspices of the Directorate General of Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. He is also a conservation consultant for Museum Pustaka Lontar, Karangasem. Having completed his Master of Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne, Saiful's expertise lies in the areas of place-based conservation and disaster management for heritage sites and museums.