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The Uma-economy. Indigenous economics and development work in Lawonda, Sumba (Eastern Indonesia).
Abstract
The Uma-economy: indigenous economics and development work in Lawonda, Sumba (Eastern-Indonesia)
Jacqueline A.C. Vel
The island of Sumba is part of a poor and isolated area in Indonesia. Lawonda is the rural area in the middle of this island, where the main souce of living is agriculture for subsistence and exchange within the region. During a period of six years the author studied the economy of Lawonda as part of the indigenous culture and was involved in field work of a development organization of the protestant church. The first part of the book describes the indigenous economy, including both the norms of proper behavior concerning economic activities and the actual practices of the poorer part of the local population. Key issues in this part are everyday life of the villagers, economic history of the region, the morality of exchange, and the local perceptions on work and land. The name Uma-economy is used to stress the importance of traditional social organization in the indigenous economy, referring to its core unit, the Uma. In spite of the rural changes on Sumba, the Uma-economy maintains its specific characteristics. The mode of thinking which prevails in the Uma-economy is the basis for the local people's assessment of new developments.
The second part of the book discusses the efforts of the local population to cope with the increasing need for money. Four different ways to obtain money depict the confrontation between traditional economic behavior and thinking, and the skills that are required and rationality that prevails in the market economy. Issues in this part are the indigenous assessment of cash-earning activities, exchange networks, indigenous social security, illegal activities to obtain money, increasing rice production and the introduction of a new cash-crop. The final chapter takes up the question about the scope of development intervention within the Uma-economy.
Key words: indigenous economics, economic anthropology, development studies, poverty alleviation, Indonesia, Sumba.
ISBN 90 5485 308 5, 304 pages, language: English, summary in Dutch, with photographs
An Indonesian translation of this book has been published in 2010:
Vel J.A.C. (2010). Ekonomi-Uma: Penerapan adat dalam dinamika ekonomi berbasis kekerabatan.Jakarta: HuMa; Van Vollenhoven Institute; KITLV-Jakarta.
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... Sumba is an island in Eastern Indonesia. The majority of the population has been affected by its indigenous traditions (Vel, 1994(Vel, , 2005Vel & Makambombu, 2010). Vel (1994) observed that most Sumbanese people work in primary industry and that Sumbanese economic mechanism is mainly operated in its specific traditional way for poverty alleviation. ...
... The majority of the population has been affected by its indigenous traditions (Vel, 1994(Vel, , 2005Vel & Makambombu, 2010). Vel (1994) observed that most Sumbanese people work in primary industry and that Sumbanese economic mechanism is mainly operated in its specific traditional way for poverty alleviation. At the same time, she explored an increasing awareness of economic activity based on agriculture-related indigenous resources in Sumba. ...
... She noted that behavior, way of thinking, regulation, and obligation from the point of view of the indigenous tradition are tightly bound up with the degree of difficulty in economic advancement. Technically speaking, Vel (1994) devoted her research to societal change in an indigenous group by applying the economic concept. In a society replete with ethnicity and custom, economic activity is closely aligned to its indigenous tradition (Mungmachon, 2012;Vel & Makambombu, 2010). ...
Rural entrepreneurship is important to the growth and prosperity of local communities. This study aims to observe the views of women entrepreneurs and examine economic and organizational values influencing their entrepreneurship. The statistical analysis depends on fifty respondents from the women farmers group. We employed partial least squares-structural equation modeling. The study also performed the bootstrapping technique. The result shows that organizational culture directly affects women entrepreneur performance while the economic environment has no direct impact. It indicates that cultural factors play an important role in performing women entrepreneurs in the indigenous group. In East Sumba, a culture-led organization supports climate action and gender equality. To do so, developing green MFIs through organizational culture could boost the economic performance of rural entrepreneurship for poverty alleviation.
... The establishment of the State of Indonesia in 1945 formally brought money into the area. As a result, people in rural Sumba had to adapt and find ways to earn money instead of relying solely on agricultural commodities for exchange (Vel, 1994). Such a situation gradually encourages people to get involved in trading activities by selling consumer goods and culturally unrelated agricultural products such as mung bean (Vel, 1994). ...
... As a result, people in rural Sumba had to adapt and find ways to earn money instead of relying solely on agricultural commodities for exchange (Vel, 1994). Such a situation gradually encourages people to get involved in trading activities by selling consumer goods and culturally unrelated agricultural products such as mung bean (Vel, 1994). ...
Community-based mini-grids have emerged as a promising solution to deliver electricity to areas where extending the grid is considered too costly. Such mini-grids utilise locally available resources and are managed by the community, offering a more democratic and inclusive decision-making process. However, such systems’ operational and maintenance costs often burden the community, particularly in cases where electricity demand and financial capacity are low. It poses a significant challenge to the sustainability of mini-grid systems in rural areas. While there is an assumption that access to electricity promotes entrepreneurship among rural communities, evidence from studies exploring the roles of electricity in this topic varies. This research contributes to the debates on the nexus of electricity and rural enterprises focusing on people’s entrepreneurial propensity. By interpreting the general entrepreneurial tendency test (GET2) exercised to electricity beneficiaries in remote rural Indonesia, we observed limited evidence on how electricity promotes entrepreneurship among rural communities. Therefore, we argue that people’s propensity to be entrepreneurs needs to be stimulated holistically rather than merely by providing electricity. JEL Classification: L26; O18; R20
... Examples of moral economies which are described as "high relationship economies" (Gudeman 2016), or "House Economies" (De L'Estoile 2014Vel 1994) give attention to social networks of reciprocal exchange and mutual obligation that are integral to the making of material life. The substantivist approach in economic anthropology characterises moral economies by their ways of practicing reciprocity, redistribution and exchange (Sahlins 1974). ...
... This second notion once found considerable traction among scholars who encountered cultures in which people saw themselves primarily as part of their kin group or village community. For our research in Bali and Sumba in the 1980s, we also found this perspective predominant in public discourse (Warren 1993, Vel 1994. Social scientists have pointed out that individuals could not be seen as free to the extent that their identity and social relations are bound by their community (Bowen 1986;Suwignyo 2019, Scott 1976. ...
This article addresses the importance of understanding informal and customary arrangements to comprehend social security in the contemporary Indonesian context. Highlighting the work of K. von Benda-Beckmann, the focus is on how people foster circles of solidarity to deal with vulnerability, and needs for food, shelter and care, while creating their social security mixes, in which state provisions and community arrangements are combined. We argue that – since there is no welfare state capable of providing for all aspects of social security – people will depend on informal provisions that belong to the realm of moral economy. Based on both authors’ field research, the article explains how this social security mix functions in practice, with examples from the Indonesian islands of Bali and Sumba. We explore to what extent such a moral economy persists, and how moral economy arrangements for mutual support differ from state welfare, in particular from normative and relational perspectives, and how people shape articulations between the two support systems. We argue, in line with the von Benda-Beckmann approach, that it is crucial to understand social security practices as a mixture resulting from Indonesia’s economic and legal pluralism.
... This perspective addresses the limitations of mainstream (Neo-Classical) economics in understanding economic development at the micro level. The choice to use institutional economics is supported by studies conducted by Hoskins (1993), Vel (1994;2010), Gunawan (2000), Fowler (2005), Twikromo (2008, and Palekahelu (2011), which show that the Sumbanese people are still bound by the culture and social norms inherited from their ancestors. These cultural values are reflected in their daily behavior, which is often perceived as "irrational" by others. ...
This article aims to review the application of Institutional Economics in the tourism sector, evaluate how this perspective can address the limitations of conventional economic theories, and provide a deeper understanding of the social and economic impacts of tourism activities. By focusing on how Institutional Economics can aid in designing more inclusive and sustainable tourism policies, this article seeks to present a more comprehensive understanding of tourism's contribution to societal welfare and economic development.
... An example where several of the problems mentioned above converge is the case of a sugar plantation in Sumba, a sparsely populated island east of Bali, which has a relatively dry climate and a savanna landscape. Until the end of the twentieth century, agricultural land, forest and water were not yet scarce resources and labor was the limiting factor in the local economy (Vel 1994). Consequently, local customary law concentrated on rules that regulate social relations and obligations of Sumbanese people based on their specific position within their clan (gender, class, generation). ...
There are important legal dimensions to the relationship between water and heritage. This paper reports on the challenges Indonesia is facing concerning water management. Age-old customary water governance systems exist in parts of the country and continue to influence local decisionmaking and water use practices. However, such heritage institutions can no longer safeguard local community water rights nor protect the environment. Since the 1990s, business power has been gradually overstepping customary socio-legal arrangements with negative effects on both the local population and water supply. Policy recommendations issued by the World Bank in 2004 supported opening paths to privatization. At present, national legislation and corporate interests have taken control of water management. Simultaneously, water heritage sites have been transformed into tourist attractions. Also, plantation companies promote land heritage issues when that serves their divide-and-rule strategies and turns public attention away from their water grabbing. A change in state legislation is needed that prioritizes the public instead of capitalist business interests regarding water supply and preservation. The lessons from heritage systems are very relevant to bringing about that change.
... The trade's morality system, the ranking order of goods and services exchanged, and reciprocity-based transactions represent justice for traditional local communities. Bargaining and reciprocity are two issues frequently faced by traditional local communities (Vel, 1994). For instance, Mbatakapidu's crops have drawn many businesspersons from Bali and Sumbawa. ...
Local wisdom is increasingly crucial to preserve rural societies' self-confidence and solidarity spirits in boosting economic growth. Notwithstanding the success of microfinance groups in East Sumba, Indonesia, the problem related to a small capital base exists. In this respect, adhering to local wisdom likely develops social entrepreneurship to strengthen the microfinance group's capital base. This research investigates how local wisdom affects social entrepreneurship and microfinance sustainability. Data are collected by distributing questionnaires to microfinance stakeholders and analyzing the partial least squares-structural equation model. The findings show that local wisdom plays an essential role in social entrepreneurship development to ensure the stability of microfinance. In other words, rural microfinance sustainability can perform the mediating role as hypothesized. It implies that policy-making by the local government related to social enterprise development and microfinance sustainability may consider local wisdom. Thus, all stakeholders need to create conducive environments to increase the development of social entrepreneurship.
... Anak-anak perempuan yang diperdagangkan itu merupakan wujud kekalahan mutlak komunitaskomunitas subsisten di wilayah NTT yang tidak berdaya di era globalisasi. Kajian Jacquline Vel (1994) tentang komunitas subsisten dalam transisi memasuki arena pasar di Sumba menjadi penting. Khususnya untuk menjelaskan bagaimana transisi ekonomi uang, terkait dengan formasi klan atau suku (kanaf dalam Bahasa Dawan di Timor) atau uma di Sumba. ...
div>The analytical view exploers in this paper represent the perspective of subsistent farmers in NTT Province when integrated with market economy. It tries to explain why the subsistent community are so vulnerable to become migrant workers and uprooted from their land; it is also attempt to investigate the relation between economic policy on free labour market with death and torture received by migrant workers. While the victims, especially women and children, are publicized and attracted attention from mass media and also social media. However, the publication over the suffering of migrant workers from the margin of Indonesia such as NTT Province, does not get direct impact over the policy makers with the willingness to renew regulation to protect migrant workers. This paper focuses on investigating why the poor migrant women and children are being neglected by policy makers under the neoliberal
order. It also tries to explain why the subsistent members are easily uprooted from their land and become migrant workers during modernization. It also tries to answer why the are often in position as the losers or victims during globalization. The hope that the State is able to protect the vulnerables is fading away under the domination of pro market policy. Children and women as the silent victims are the evidence of absolute surrender of the subsistent community. State incapacity to protect the most vulnerable citizens is the evidence of the coming of new wave of neocolonialism. This is also a proof the modernization is also part of conquering when
half-hearted modernization has placed them at the bottom of the pyramid of modernity which is vulnerable to be exploited without the ability to speak and to be listened.
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The Dutch neo-Calvinist mission ( Zending ) on Sumba in Indonesia, an area known for its Marapu ancestor religion, started in 1902. The independent Sumbanese church ( Gereja Kristen Sumba , GKS ) was established at the 1947 Synod. One century later, by 2002, two out of three inhabitants were Christian. The research question is whether the rise of a vital GKS was facilitated by education and ‘antithetical’ notions of freedom offered by neo-Calvinist Zending. The answer is that the Zending empowered Sumbanese Christians to decide for themselves whether to preserve traditional customs ( adat ), so they could build the GKS from the bottom up. This answer is based on archival material – including the unexplored archive of Rev. P.J. Lambooij – and on a dozen semi-structured interviews with Sumbanese spokespersons in 2006, 2016 and 2019. Macro-level explanations – capitalism, modernity, or colonialism – hardly appear to account for the transformation to Sumbanese Christianity.
The book series ‘Scales of Transformation in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies’ (STPAS) is an international scientific series that covers major results deriving from or being associated with the research conducted in the Collaborative Research Centre ‘Scales of Transformation: Human-Environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies’ (CRC 1266). Primarily located at Kiel University, Germany, the CRC 1266 is a large interdisciplinary project investigating multiple aspects of socio-environmental transformations in ancient societies between 15,000 and 1 BCE across Europe.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.