Precedence Social Differentiation in the Austronesian World Precedence Social Differentiation in the Austronesian World edited by MichAel P. ViScher Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at: http://epress.anu.edu.au/precedence_citation.html National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Precedence : social differentiation in the Austronesian world / editor: Michael P. Vischer. ISBN: 9781921536465 (pbk.) 9781921536472 (pdf) Series: Comparative Austronesian series. Notes: Bibliography. Subjects: Differentiation (Sociology) Social control. Social structure. Precedence. Other Authors/Contributors: Vischer, Michael P. Dewey Number: 303.33 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design by ANU E Press Printed by University Printing Services, ANU This edition © 2009 ANU E Press Table of Contents Acknowledgements xiii 1. Precedence in perspective 1 James J.Fox 2. Origin and Precedence: The construction and distribution of status 13 in the highlands of Bali Thomas A. Reuter 3. Distinguishing Hierarchy and Precedence: Comparing status 51 distinctions in South Asia and the Austronesian world, with special reference to South Sulawesi Greg Acciaioli 4. The Discourse and Practice of Precedence 91 James J. Fox 5. Trunk and Tip in West Timor: Precedence in a botanical idiom 111 Andrew McWilliam 6. Precedence in the Formation of the Domain of Wai Brama and the 133 Rajadom of Sikka E. D. Lewis 7. Precedence, Contestation, and the Deployment of Sacred Authority in a Florenese Village 167 David Butterworth 8. A Tale of Two Villages: Hierarchy and precedence in Keo dual 191 organization (Flores, Indonesia) Gregory Forth 9. Hierarchy, Precedence and Values: Scopes for social action in 209 Ngadhaland, Central Flores Olaf H. Smedal 10. Hierarchy and Precedence in Keiese Origin Myths 229 Timo Kaartinen 11. Contestations: Dynamics of precedence in an eastern Indonesian 245 domain Michael P. Vischer Contributors 275 v Acknowledgements This volume has gone through a long gestation. Many of the papers in the final version of this volume were originally presented at a conference on Precedence held in Leiden, in 1996. That conference was sponsored by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) in Leiden and was organized by Dr Michael Vischer during his period as Research Fellow. Appropriate thanks are due to Professor Wim Stokhof, the then Director of IIAS, and to his staff Drs Ilse Laarschuit, Mrs Kitty Yant, and particularly Drs Marijke ter Booij for their help in organizing the conference. Initial paper editing was done in Canberra by the late Mrs Norma Chin, who unexpectedly passed away in 1999. Those who had the opportunity to work with Norma Chin appreciated her dedication and meticulous work as an exceptional collaborator. Mrs Ria van de Zandt, formerly of the Department of Anthropology in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, thereafter took up work on the volume. She and Dr Barbara Holloway edited the first set of papers and as more papers were added and earlier papers revised and updated, Ria van de Zandt carried on this work to the completion of the volume. Her task has been a formidable one and her efforts are enormously appreciated. Ms Fatima Basic of the Cartography Unit of the School of Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Melbourne prepared a number of figures and maps contained in this volume; these were corrected and finalized by Karina Pelling and Miska Talent of the Cartography Unit in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at The Australian National University. Special thanks should go to Duncan Beard of the ANU E Press who has skillfully carried this volume through to publication. The cloth on the cover of this volume is a nae romo cloth from the island of Palu'é; the photograph shows the brother and sister pair, Sundu and Mia Poké, with offerings made during the performance of the sacrificing cycle of the domain of Ko'a on Palu'é in 1994. These ceremonies are discussed in the paper by Michael Vischer in this volume which is intended to be read as a companion text to the film: ªContestations: Dynamics of Precedence in an Eastern Indonesian Domainº (edited by Patsy Asch, co-produced by The Australian National University and The International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden). xiii 1. Precedence in perspective James J. Fox The use of precedence in Austronesian ethnography The concept of precedence defines a relative relationship. It is significant not in its focus on this single relationship but rather in the possibility it offers for a concatenation of relationships, thus producing an `order of precedence' in which relations are recursively arrayed asymmetrically one to another. As such, precedence involves the conjunction of two analytic categories: recursive complementarity and categorical asymmetry (Fox 1994). A complementary category consisting of two elements ± one of which is considered as `anterior' or `superior' to the other, such `elder' > `younger', `first-born' > `last-born' or `trunk' > `tip' ± is applied in recursive, or repeated fashion, to produce an ordered series. This series is an `order of precedence'. Importantly, an `order of precedence' can operate at various levels, differentiating relations within families, within larger social groups or throughout an entire society. The bases for the construction of precedence at different social levels may vary and, significantly, may be contested, reversed and reordered. This volume is taken up with the discussion of all of these possibilities. Each of the papers that comprise this volume explores the concept of precedence in the analysis of particular Austronesian-speaking societies. The notion of precedence is hardly new to anthropology, particularly in the study of the Austronesians of the Pacific Islands. In Kings and Councillors, for example, A. M. Hocart refers to an `order of precedence' in his discussion of the foundations of social differentiation (1970: 37). 1 Similarly, Irving Goldman, in his examination of contending principles of status in his study, Ancient Polynesian Society, argues that aristocratic rank rested upon `a base of orderly precedence' but `alternations in orders of precedence' were subject to `changing estimations of chiefly power' and `changing balances of power among contending parties' (1970:16). Marshall Sahlins in his Social Stratification in Polynesia, adopts a more specific focus in his use of the notion of precedence. He distinguishes two types of social organization in the Pacific: the one a `ramified' and the other a `descent-line' system. Although precedence, as discussed in the volume, might equally be applied to both types of organization, Sahlins associates precedence with status differentiation in `descent-line' systems. Thus he writes that titles in such systems `are arranged in a traditional order of precedence symbolized by seating position in administrative councils (fonos) and in the order of kava serving at the meetings of such bodies and other ceremonial occasions' (1958: 194). The societies he is referring to in this context are Futuna, Uvea and Samoa 1 Precedence and his discussion reflects the use of precedence in the ethnographies he relies upon. For example, Sahlins quotes Edwin Burrows' comment on high title figures on Uvea: `The order of precedence among Ministers governs seniority among lineages, rather than being governed by it' (1958: 191). To cite yet another pertinent example from the Pacific, Francis Grimble in his study of the Gilbert Islands, Tungaru Traditions edited by H.E. Maude, devotes an entire chapter, `Precedence and Privileges of the Clans in the Maneaba' (1989 219-230), to an examination of the subtle distinctions, particularly ceremonial, that differentiate other clans in relation to the preeminent clan, Karonga n Uea. 2 Similarly, Derek Freeman, in his London School of Economics thesis, The Social Structure of a Samoan Village Community Ð originally submitted in 1948 but only published posthumously in 2006 Ð makes a thoroughgoing use of the precedence in its social analysis of Samoan status. Although unavailable to Sahlins in his study and equally unknown, until its publication, to those involved in the Comparative Austronesian Project, Freeman provides a detailed examination of genealogies and lineage relations within a single village, that of Sa'anapu on the southern coast of the Samoan island of Upolu. In an attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding of titles and status in the village, he focuses considerable attention on relations within Sa'anapu's formal assembly (fono): its strict seating pattern, the differentiation of rights among different title holders (matai) and the expression of honorifics (fa'alupega) required at all such gatherings. 3 It is to these relations he applies the concept of precedence: `All of the fa'alupega of a village community are arranged in a strict order of precedence corresponding exactly to the seating order of its fono ¼ For example, when a lineage matai enters the village fono all conversation is broken off until he takes his appointed place. As soon as he is seated, all the other matai present chant his fa'alupega in unison. It then falls to the