Staging Heritage: Bringing Palm-Leaf Manuscripts to the Public through Khmer Dance and Music

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of Khmer palm-leaf manuscript heritage, encompassing its historical development, intrinsic content value, artisanal production processes, current preservation conditions, and barriers to public accessibility. It advances a heritage staging solution through the application of Khmer traditional dance and music as semiotic and performative media. This approach is designed to convey the textual content, production techniques, and cultural meanings of palm-leaf manuscripts in a vivid, intelligible, and experientially engaging manner.
The study further proposes an interactive performance model, positioning it as a form of “living preservation” that facilitates sustainable engagement between heritage and community. Focusing specifically on Sastra Sleok Rit (palm-leaf manuscripts) of the Khmer people-an indigenous knowledge system currently facing the risk of erosion-the research employs a systematic and interdisciplinary methodology to synthesize their historical trajectory, epistemic value, and handcrafted production processes.
Simultaneously, the paper evaluates existing preservation practices and identifies linguistic and technical barriers that constrain contemporary audiences’ access to this heritage. On this basis, it proposes a performative preservation strategy through staging, particularly through the integration of Khmer traditional dance and music to reconstruct both the textual content and production processes of the manuscripts. The proposed interactive model functions not only as a medium for cultural communication but also as a sustainable interface linking heritage with contemporary communities, thereby enhancing the preservation of intangible cultural heritage in evolving socio-cultural contexts.