Kinship, population and social reproduction in the 'new Indonesia' : a study of Nuaulu cultural resilience / Roy Ellen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ellen, R. F., 1947- author.

Contributor:

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Series:

Modern anthropology of South-East Asia

The modern anthropology of Southeast Asia

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nuaulu (Indonesian people).

Rites and ceremonies.

Kinship.

Ceram Island (Indonesia)--Social life and customs.

Ceram Island (Indonesia).

Indonesia--Ceram Island.

Nuaulu (Indonesian people)--Kinship.

Kinship--Indonesia--Ceram Island.

Nuaulu (Indonesian people)--Rites and ceremonies.

Manners and customs.

Physical Description:

xiv, 220 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.

Summary:

"Nuaulu people on the Indonesian island of Seram have displayed remarkable linguistic and cultural resilience over a period of 50 years. In 1970 their language and traditional culture was widely considered 'endangered.' Despite this, Nuaulu have not only maintained their animist identity and shown a robust ability to reproduce 'traditional' ritual performances, but have exhibited both population growth and increasing assertiveness in the projection of their interests through the politics of the 'New Indonesia'. This book examines how kinship organization and marriage patterns have responded to some of these challenges, and suggests that the retention of core institutions of descent and exchange are the consequence of population growth, which in turn has enabled ritual reproduction, and thereby effectively maintained a distinct identity in relation to the surrounding majority culture. Low conversion rates to other religions, and the political consequences of Indonesian 'reformasi' have also contributed to a situation in which despite changes in the material basis of their lives, Nuaulu have projected a strong independent identity and organisation. In terms of debates around kinship in eastern Indonesia, this book argues that older notions of prescriptive social structure are fundamentally flawed. Kinship institutions are real enough, but the distinction between genealogical and classificatory relations is often unimportant; all that matters in the end is that the arrangements entered into between clans and houses permit both biological and social reproduction, and that the latter ultimately serves the former"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Clans, history and the emergence of the Nuaulu ethnos

Descent, duality and gender

Houses, networks and the practices of kinship

Language and the social cognition of relationality

Marriage 1 : exchange, process and transaction

Marriage 2 : matrilaterality, bilaterality and alliance

Rules, contravention and enforcement

Demography, change and social reproduction.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781138493872

1138493872

OCLC:

1020621153

Publisher Number:

99977006041