Page 29 - Proceedings Collega2023

Relationship between Local Wisdom Beliefs and Dietary

Practices of Malay Women During the Postpartum Period

Arina JOHARI*
1
Lilisuriani ABDUL LATIF @ BAPOO 2
1,2 International Islamic University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

1 arinajr@iium.edu.my

2 lilisuriani@iium.edu.my

ABSTRACT
Local Malay’s wisdom expresses elevated, profound, and innovative thinking towards the
importance of cultural traditions that have served as the community's life guide for generations. This
includes the instance of postpartum women's views and customary food practises. Malays think that if this
traditional food practise during postpartum is not followed, it will impair the mother's and child's health
in the future. Thus, this research was performed to identify the traditional diet that is still practised by
Malay women during postpartum; analyse the influence of beliefs with traditional dietary practises during
postpartum; and analyse the relationship between beliefs and dietary practise with local wisdom.This
study used a semi-structured interview method with 14 respondents, including 10 postpartum women
representing (i) the group of young mothers (aged 20-29), (ii) the group of middle-aged (aged 30-39), and
(iii) the group of old mothers (aged 40 and above); and the remaining four respondents representing two
village midwives and two modern midwives, respectively. The study discovered that there are differences
in the typical eating habits of the three generations as a result of globalisation and broad information
about health care among the younger generation.The study's findings also show that women's food
practises during postpartum periods are strongly influenced by beliefs about traditional postpartum. This
establishes a significant relationship with Malay local wisdom, namely local knowledge about health, the
influence of Malay culture/tradition, the emphasis on individual/community well-being, and Malay
landscape art.

Keywords: Malay local wisdom; beliefs; dietary pospartum practices; and tradisional pospartum

International Conference on Local Wisdom of the Malay Archipelago (COLLEGA 2023) Page - 16 -