The Features of Dawanese Traditional House as a Cultural Identity Marker of Dawanese People in Timor Island Indonesia

Abstract

This study explores features of Dawanese traditional house as a cultural identity marker of Dawanese people in terms of its forms, functions, and meanings in view of semiotics, a branch of science which is concerned with the study of signs. The study is descriptive. The procedures of research were field research and the library research. The data were analyzed by using inductive method as the analysis was started from the data to the local-ideograhic theory providing a written description regarding the features of Dawanese traditional house as a cultural identity marker of Dawanese people. The results of study show the traditional house of Dawanese people known as ume kubhu has unique and specific features in terms of its forms, functions, and meanings. The umme kbubu is designed in the form of a round shape without window, the roof is shaped like a hairstyle that is rounded and tapered at the top, and the door is short of about one meter in height so that adults entering the house must bow. The umme kbubu serves as a place for performing such activities as sleeping, gathering with their family, cooking, weaving, storing foodstuffs, receiving guests, and carrying out various rituals. Along with its practical and symbolic functions, the ume kbubu serves social, enonomic, historical, and religious meanings. The ume kbubu designates the ways Dawanese people view and make sense of the world as it is not simply defined as a house that anchors them to a place, divides them into visible groups, and expresses their continuity of relationships over generations but also as a cultural identity marker for them as a house based-community.