Heritage Webinar Series 05: Spice Routes
In 2017, the Ministry of Education and Culture officially initiated the Spice Route proposal as the World Heritage to UNESCO. This initiative was under the auspices of the Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Diplomacy and the Directorate General of Culture. In line with the vision of President Joko Widodo to position Indonesia as the global maritime fulcrum in 2045, the legacy of the maritime spice route has been acknowledged as a means of cultural exchange and intercultural understanding. It brings together various ideas, concepts, knowledge, and experience between people across nations. This maritime cultural heritage has become increasingly important to be addressed. Spice Route is proposed as a World Heritage and becomes the theme of Indonesian cultural diplomacy. Inevitably, the need to conduct comprehensive research increases side-by-side with the need to socialize the Spice Route narrative. In addition to academic studies, one of the factors considered for the success of the nomination is public knowledge regarding the subject, including its implications in a broader context. This criterion is indicated through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) declared by the United Nations. The cultural heritage of an area should provide benefits in terms of social, culture, and economy for the local communities. Therefore, without proper knowledge, Indonesians cannot obtain optimal benefits from the status of Spice Route as the world heritage.
Meanwhile, the methods in studying subjects of humanities and social science in Indonesian secondary education have not encouraged the curiosity of students to learn more about their history and culture. In many cases, these subjects are delivered in less interesting methods. Sources of information such as humanities and history textbooks are unattractive for today's students with less interest in reading. This condition is exacerbated by the increasingly open access to information, which cable television channels to social media in cyberspace are instant information providers for today's contemporary society. However, the recently emerged "Spice Route" or "Jalur Rempah" narrative provides a unique contextual perspective as an entry point to encourage Indonesians to have the knowledge and understanding of the diversity that has shaped the nation. This cultural-historical narrative seems capable of generating a sense of nationalism while simultaneously giving a new meaning of what it means to be a nation, albeit to varying degrees for everyone.
