The pursuit of prosperity and blessing : social life and symbolic action on Buru Island, Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic analysis based on fieldwork among the 'mountain people' of the interior of Burn, an island located in the present-day province of Maluku in the Republic of Indonesia. Interested in 'metaphors for living' I found important Burn metaphors refer to botanic 'roots’ and 'tips'. The conceptualization of botanic growth as the consequence of life being transmitted from roots to new leaf-tips also applies to the Burn social world. This study details the Burn 'quest for life', a quest concerned with maintaining proper relationships with sources of life to ensure the transmission of 'prosperity and blessing' (berkona tu berkate). After the Introduction, Part One provides the setting. Chapter Two examines the history of Bum's relations with the outside world. Chapter Three describes the island as a culturally constructed inside world. Part Two concerns Bum social life. Chapter Four focuses on the noro, exogamous groups (clans) defined in terms of common origins. When they marry, women leave their natal noro and their children subsequently belong to the noro of their husband. Yet Bum concerns about the source of life connect children to their mother's brothers in a relationship between 'source uncles' and 'life children'. To maintain 'connections' between noro, ideally men return to their 'source uncle' to marry their emdaa (MBD). Chapter Five provides the details of marriage and the regeneration of human life. While the Bum kinship terminology is asymmetric, marriages are symmetric, involving simultaneous sister exchange and other bidirectional marriages. Sister exchange allows an immediate substitution for the bride, but, alternatively, there can be bridewealth, or the return of a child to replace its mother. Whenever a noro loses a person through the agency of another noro, Bum people are strict accountants. There must be a replacement for sisters lost in marriage as well as for members lost through death at the hands of another noro. Chapter Six describes the effort that goes into maintaining equality between noro, an effort that falls largely to 'entitled men' and warriors. Through their negotiating skills, 'entitled men' obtain a replacement for any life taken, while warriors guard the balance between noro through their fighting skills and the possibility of 'revenge killing' (kalungan). Part Three focuses on symbolic action. Chapter Seven examines the Bum symbols intertwined with the concept of 'prosperity and blessing'. The dyadic categories of Bum symbolism are used to transform the state of things in the world. Chapter Eight describes a variety of taboos, constmcted in terms of symbolic action intended to create distinction and to avoid undesired consequences. Chapter Nine details various rituals and the role of symbolic actions in transforming experience as people seek to restore prosperity when they encounter difficulty. The conclusion consider the implications of this study for the comparative effort. In reference to hierarchy, alliance, exchange, gender, the cultural construction of the body, illness, and childbirth, Burn presents a useful vantage point for the comparison of societies in eastern Indonesia and Melanesia.