The Adat Contributions for the Villages to Develop Independently: Cases from the Kei Islands, Southeast Maluku Regency
Abstract: Eventhough the
district government has somehow acknowledged the failure of its own initiatives
to empower its people, there must have been certain creativities or
custom-related wisdom which seem to be able to independently respond to any
development initiative. Precisely this article is trying to track creative
moments when the customs and people writhing on the “bottom” of formal
structures to contribute for a self modernization. Data from a short
ethnographic study in the Kei Islands in mid 2016 shows the complicated moments
of how indigenous communities survive while appropriating opportunities
(friction) that is open due to failure of both the government and the market
penetration to radically change the identity of indigenous local communities.
Hence, modernization does not happen in a vacuum culture. Through their
primordial taste, i.e. their identity, traditional leaders, businessmen and
ordinary citizens creatively appropriating moments linkage to the world to
declare local social differences.
Keywords: adat, bottom up
iniatives, creative moments, custom, development iniatives, identity, Kei Islands,
local community, local wisdom, modernization
Author: P.M. Laksono
Journal Code: jpantropologigg160033
