The golden fishing hook and the mermaid from Pambusuang: Designing a comparative literature learning model based on local folklore to foster awareness of world literature

Literature teaching in Indonesia is still often confined to a textual approach that is disconnected from students’ cultural experiences, resulting in the largely underutilized potential of local folklore as an entry point for understanding world literature. Pambusuang Village, located on the Mandar Coast of West Sulawesi, preserves a rich oral tradition, including stories about the origin of the village’s name, a legend of a human who was transformed into a mermaid as a result of a curse, and the story of Peang Bulawang, which tells of a child who dives to the bottom of the sea in search of a lost ancestral golden fishing hook, encounters an underwater kingdom, and returns with flying fish as a symbol of respect that continues to be preserved by the local community to this day. The narrative structures of these stories, particularly the motifs of a lost heirloom in the sea and a journey into the underwater world, share similarities with motifs widely recognized in world literature, such as the story of Umisachihiko and Yamasachihiko in Japanese mythology. These cross-cultural similarities have the potential to serve as teaching materials for comparative literature in schools and higher education institutions. This article aims to design and describe a comparative literature learning model that uses Pambusuang folklore as a starting point for introducing students to universal motifs in transnational literature. The study employs a descriptive qualitative approach with an initial-stage research and development (R&D) strategy, encompassing the transcription and analysis of oral narratives, identification of universal motifs and themes, comparison with equivalent world literary texts, and development of a learning design (syllabus, classroom activities, and reflection instruments) based on a comparative literature approach. The findings indicate that Pambusuang folklore can function as a bridge for learning through three stages: (1) appreciation of local literature as a source text closely connected to students’ identities, (2) comparative analysis with world literary texts that share similar motifs to develop sensitivity to cultural similarities and differences, and (3) critical reflection on the position of regional oral literature as a legitimate part of the world’s literary heritage, rather than merely a supplement to the curriculum. This model is expected not only to strengthen students’ literary literacy competencies but also to foster pride in regional oral traditions while encouraging their documentation before they disappear, in line with the spirit of positioning Indonesian literature as an integral member of world literature.