The Institut Kajian Etnik or Institute for Ethnic Studies, the University Kebangsaan Malaysia (KITA-UKM) held the SIRI WACANA KITA Bil.4/2023 on 5 July 2023 at the KITA Mesyuarat Room, Universitas Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia with the theme Ethnography and Semiotics of Bugis Culture. The visiting lecturer as the sole speaker in this activity was Dr. Firman Saleh, S.S., S.Pd., M. Hum., lecturer in the Department of Buginese and Makassarese Language at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) UNHAS. This activity was attended by lecturers and students, both undergraduate and postgraduate students, which were carried out in a hybrid where some attended directly in the room and some attended online via the Zoom meeting.
Apart from being attended by KITA UKM Malaysia lecturers and students, this activity was also attended by Andrew Carruthers, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania. The Distinguished International Professor, UKM, Prof. Dr. James T. Collins, also participated in this activity. The material presented at the SIRI WACANA KITA UKM activity described the concept of life and death of indigenous peoples that became a convention that was understood, trusted, and believed to be a symbol of custom that was carried out by the community and passed down from generation to generation.
The concept of life and death of the To Lotang indigenous people is symbolized in their homes; the conventionalism built since then has colored the culture of the Bugis people in Sidrap Regency, South Sulawesi. The symbolization of doors and windows in the To Lotang indigenous people’s homes becomes conventionalism in life and death. Meanwhile, the concept of life and death of the Kajang indigenous people is symbolized in the clothes they wear every day, which becomes their conventionalism or understandings that were conventionalized by the community, the principle of life which is represented in black and white clothes.
