Children of Mon Mot — Documentation of a tira legend of the Abui community (Eastern Indonesia)

Abstract

In pre-literate societies, oral tradition is anchored in the landscape, linking it with its inhabitants. The first part of this paper details the documentation of a legend of the Abui community of Alor, Eastern Indonesia. It describes the relationship of the legend with landscape and its functions in the community. We recorded the first version of the legend of the Giant Snake Mon Mot in the community of Tifolafeng in 2003. We combined linguistic, anthropological, geographic, and historical methods with fine arts resulting in a multi-faceted documentation for diverse audience. We have created a range materials from illustrated books, games, to a film documentary, made the raw data available. In the second part of the paper, we lay out our strategy for integration of mechanics of telling and listening, and the mnemotechnic structure of oral tradition with the digital humanities. We also address the need of systematic research into the response of the community, which our approach allows.