Culture-Based Social Education Through The Sambas Malay Arak Pengantin Tradition: An Ethnographic Study

Abstract

Local cultural traditions can function as informal learning environments, yet limited attention has been given to how participation in living traditions becomes a process of social education, particularly in the Sambas Malay context. This study examines how the Arak Pengantin tradition provides opportunities for social education and how Islamic, Malay, and social values are transmitted, understood, and enacted through participation. Using a qualitative ethnographic design, the study involved 20 purposively selected informants in Sambas, West Kalimantan, with data collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation during six months of field engagement from January to June 2026. Data were analyzed thematically through iterative coding, cross-source comparison, and ethnographic interpretation, supported by triangulation and member checking. The findings reveal four interconnected processes: participation, interaction, and deliberation as initial spaces of social learning; gotong royong as experiential learning through collective work; exemplary conduct and direct participation as intergenerational learning; and repeated participation associated with relationship-building and cultural continuity. Participants particularly described learning adab, respect, ukhuwah, silaturahmi, mutual assistance, and collective responsibility. The study contributes an ethnographic analytical synthesis showing how a living cultural tradition can function as a context for culture-based social education without claiming a universal or causal model.