Transculturation and Indigenous Amungme women of Papua, Indonesia

Abstract

This thesis applies the concept of transculturation to show how outside influences are transforming gendered relations and women’s roles in an indigenous community. Christianity, capitalism, androcentrism, and feminism have driven processes of acculturation, deculturation and neoculturation in the lives of indigenous Amungme people. Field research was conducted in 2015 among the indigenous Amungme, who live in the Mimika regency of Papua, Indonesia. Interviews were conducted with 60 participants including indigenous Amungme, Papuan feminist activists, church leaders, and government officials. The customary marriage system of indigenous Amungme community was changed by western missionaries who arrived in the highlands of Papua in the 1950s. When the Freeport mining company arrived in the 1970s further changes in gender relations took place. Traditionally, marriage was decided by family negotiations and a bride-price was paid by the groom’s family to the bride’s family. This tradition has gradually been lost in a process of deculturation. Marriage is now based on individual preference, husbands’ obligations are declining as desertion and divorce increasing. Polygamy has been reinvented in ways that leave many women in precarious situations. Indigenous Amungme women perceive these changes as strengthening patriarchal power so they act as feminist agents of transculturation who critique androcentric norms and values. Capitalism offers opportunities for some indigenous Amungme women who adapt to modern dreamworlds through acculturation and engagements with the corporate workplace. In spite of their economic independence, these working women are considered subordinate when it comes to decision making in the household and the community. Interestingly, some indigenous Amungme women are doing the creative work of neoculturation to create a better future for coming generations of indigenous Amungme. They promote modern health practices to make community lives safer and healthier and promote economic transculturation values by encouraging other indigenous Amungme women to sell their arts and crafts.