Reinterpreting Sasak Tuselak Mystical Heritage into Indigenous Pedagogy for Culturally Responsive Education

Indigenous knowledge is increasingly recognized as a resource for culturally responsive education, yet traditions that carry mystical or supernatural associations are still commonly dismissed as folklore or superstition rather than treated as sources of pedagogical value. This study examines how Tuselak , a contested mystical tradition of the Sasak people of Lombok, Indonesia, is culturally and pedagogically reinterpreted, and how its educational relevance is perceived by prospective teachers. A convergent mixed-methods design combined semi-structured interviews with nine cultural custodians, document analysis, and a questionnaire administered to 167 undergraduate Social Studies Education students. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically; quantitative data were analyzed descriptively; and both strands were integrated through a joint display. Cultural custodians described Tuselak as having been reinterpreted from a narrative of literal supernatural danger into a moral framework emphasizing responsibility, humility, self-control, religious awareness, and communal solidarity. Students, in turn, recognized the cultural value, critical-thinking potential, and moral relevance of Tuselak, yet expressed marked caution toward its formal integration into classroom instruction, favoring discussion-based and inquiry-oriented approaches over direct curricular inclusion. This convergence-with-tension between custodian and student perspectives is synthesized into the Tuselak Cultural Pedagogy Framework (TCPF), a four-component model explaining how contested cultural heritage can be treated critically within contemporary education. The study contributes to scholarship on indigenous knowledge systems, cultural pedagogy, and culturally responsive education by demonstrating that reinterpretation, rather than preservation or rejection, offers a viable pathway for engaging contested heritage in formal learning.