Teungku Identity Development: The Role of Dayah Community of Practice

Abstract

This study attempted to delve into the teungku identity development within the traditional dayah institutions in Aceh to examine how four teungku negotiated their participation and membership in their situated teungku community of practice. This narrative study approached the teungku identity construction from Lave and Wenger’s theory of situated learning. Its overarching question was: how does the teungku identity develop within the dayah community of practice? The data were mainly from interviews of four teungku, the graduates of four different dayah institutions in Aceh. The findings showed that the identity of teungku was shaped and reshaped through several modes within the dayah community of practice: the learning process of up to grade 7, teaching junior students, serving communities (e.g., teaching and leading prayers), commemorating the death day of the dayah founder(s), and collaboratively resisting any other isms penetrating Aceh society. It can be deduced that the dayah communities of practice have played a significant role in teungku identity development. These dayah CoPs could go through either formal, less formal, or informal phases.