ISLLE 2017 The 1st International Seminar on Language, Literature and Education Volume 2018 Conference Paper Traditions and Intellectual Discourse of the Minangkabau Community in Kaba Si Ali Amat Y. Wulandari Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Ahmad Dahlan University, Jalan Kapas No 9, Yogyakarta 55166, Indonesia Abstract This study aims to explore the traditions and intellectual discourse of Minangkabau society in Kaba Si Ali Amat; and power relations in Kaba Si Ali Amat. The method used in this research is content analysis and the critical discourse theory of Foucault. The content analysis aims to uncover and understand messages in literary texts. Critical discourse analysis is used to study the constellation of power that occurs in the production process and the reproduction of meaning. This analysis is also used to disassemble the power that is in every language process. The results of this study indicate that the old literature was produced as a legacy of the literary tradition initiated by old writers. A writer chooses literary forms in distributing ideas to sharpen and mask his/her feelings. The discussion of this research regards the power relations that influence the creation of Kaba Si Ali Amat in the form of traditions, cultures, beliefs, and worldviews of the past. Keywords: intellectual discourse, kaba si ali amat, minangkabau, old literature, tradition 1. Introduction Minangkabau as one of the tribes in Indonesia is famous for its literary tradition in the life of society. It is recorded from the many literary texts of ancient manuscripts, oral literature, and so on that developed even kept nicely. This tradition needs to be studied in order to discover the purpose and process of its development. The role of literature cannot be separated from the process of spreading religion and social traditions. Even the content contained in the literature can indicate a change in the behavior of community life. Salleh [1] confirms this in the following statement: .. the process of sharpening or applying the sense of humanity a person hears/reads, which cannot be given by other art, as deep as that offered by literature.... He may How to cite this article: Y. Wulandari, (2018), “Traditions and Intellectual Discourse of the Minangkabau Community in Kaba Si Ali Amat” in The 1st International Seminar on Language, Literature and Education, KnE Social Sciences, pages 560–567. DOI 10.18502/kss.v3i9.2719 Page 560 Corresponding Author: Y. Wulandari yosi.wulandari@pbsi.uad.ac.id Received: 6 April 2018 Accepted: 3 May 2018 Published: 26 July 2018 Publishing services provided by Knowledge E Y. Wulandari. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited. Selection and Peer-review under the responsibility of the ISLLE 2017 Conference Committee.