The Contributions of Minangkabau Women, Who Established Intercultural Marriages, in Creating a ‘New Identity’ of the Minangkabau Diaspora
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Competition and Cooperation in Social and Political Sciences – Adi & Achwan (Eds) © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-62676-8 The contributions of Minangkabau women, who established intercultural marriages, in creating a ‘new identity’ of the Minangkabau diaspora Mina Elfira Department of Literature Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia ABSTRACT: Pai marantau (going voluntary, putatively temporary or permanent migra- tion) is an activity which is usually associated with the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, Indo- nesia, well known as the world’s largest matrilineal society and one that coexists amongst the mostly Islamic societies within Indonesia. Initially it was conducted by men only, but later on women have also participated in this activity. Some Minangkabau women do pai marantau through interethnic/state marriages. Based on the argument of Nira Yuval-Davis (1997b), who states the importance of home, and women as homemakers in the process of ethnicity building, as cultural rules and their practices are transmitted to the next generation at home, most strongly by women, this paper will explore the contributions of Minangkabau women, who established intercultural marriages, in modifying matrilineal adat within contemporary urban Minangkabau diaspora households. Using qualitative methods, it will investigate that by utilising the ambivalent roles of agents of change and defenders of adat, these women have created a ‘new identity’ of Minangkabau, which is more in lifestyle than in blood, in their daily lives. In addition, with the impact of the globalised world, people tend to look to their roots for their identity. 1 INTRODUCTION Banyak malangkah (The more steps to be performed), banyak nan diliek (the more chances to look around), banyak pulo nan didapek (the more benefits that can be gained) The aphorism above is one of many Minangkabau aphorisms that underscore the impor- tance of conducting a journey (marantau) to enrich and enlighten one’s soul. It encourages a Minangkabau to pai marantau (go on migration) – to conduct a journey in search of wisdom and prosperity. Rantau originally referred to the territories outside Luhak nan Tigo, called Rantau nan Tigo Jurai: Hulu (upper end) Batang Hari river, Hulu Batang Kuantan river, Hulu Kampar Kiri river (Westernenk, 1981. 61). Later, rantau came to refer to areas outside Alam Minangkabau that are influenced socioculturally by Minangkabau (Azra, 2003:36). Today the term rantau refers to territories outside the Minangkabau homeland. Minangkabau peo- ple use the term adat to refer to both their oral history, pertaining to the origins of Alam Minangkabau, and to the proverbs and aphorisms that serve as guiding principles and rules for ceremonies, conduct, and matrilineal kinship relations (Kato, 1982:33–34). Pai marantau (going voluntary, putatively temporary or permanent migration) is an activ- ity which is usually associated with the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, Indonesia, well known as the world’s largest matrilineal society and one that coexists amongst the mostly Islamic societies within Indonesia. Initially it was conducted by men only, while Minang- kabau women stayed in the homeland. Later on, women have also participated in marantau activity. One of the impacts of going marantau, especially for those who permanently going marantau, is the possibility of interaction with other ethnic groups through marriages. Some 175 Minangkabau women, even, do pai marantau through interethnic/state marriages. It is inter- esting to know how significant is the impact of intercultural marriages to the establishing of Minangkabau identity. Matriliny and Islam are the essences of Minangkabau identity (Elfira, 2009). Moreover, it has been widely accepted within Minangkabau studies, includ- ing the work of Sanday (2002), Hadler (2009) and Elfira (2015), that Minangkabau women, symbolised as limpapeh Minang jo Rumah Gadang (the central pillars of Minangkabau and the Big House the Adat house) have played significant roles within Minangkabau society. How far is the contribution of Minangkabau women, who established intercultural mar- riages, in creating a ‘new identity’ of the Minangkabau diaspora? The research question is based on the argument of Nira Yuval-Davis, who states the importance of home, and women as homemakers in the process of ethnicity building, as cultural rules and their practices are transmitted to the next generation at home, most strongly by women (Yuval-Davis, 1997b). Woodward’s argument that identity is fluid and contingent (Woodward, 1997:3) is used in analysing the identity of the Minangkabau diaspora. The work of Elizabeth E. Graves (1971 and 1981) and Mina Elfira (2015), discussing the significant contribution of Minangkabau women in establishing Minangkabau identity in a rantau land, provided a foundation for my hypothesis regarding the contribution of the Minangkabau women diaspora in making a Minangkabau identity in rantau land. Investigat- ing the Minangkabau response to Dutch colonial rule in the nineteenth century, shed light on the nature of Padang as the rantau land. Graves (1971:36) argues that the coast could never truly be Minangkabau without Minangkabau women of good family who never left their mother’s house in their homeland, even after marriage. Later on, Elfira (2015) found that Padang seemingly has become a Minangkabau territory, considering the fact that these women seemingly prefer to follow their husbands migrating to Padang, and building their permanent ‘home’ (not just ‘temporary dwelling’), rather than staying at their mothers’ houses in the heartland (darek). Regarding the important role of Minangkabau women in establishing a Minangkabau identity, I agree with both of them. Following their arguments, I hypothesis that the Minangkabau women diaspora plays an important key in establishing Minangkabau identity, which is more in lifestyle than in blood, in rantau land through their homes. This research aims to contribute to the further understanding of Minangkabau iden- tity and social relations from a Minangkabau woman’s point of view, and draws on the voices of other Minangkabau women. In order to examine the way Minangkabau women, who established intercultural mar- riages, modify Minangkabau identity in their daily lives outside Minangkabau mainland, this paper will rely more on qualitative data, obtained using qualitative methods. The choice is based on Nancy Lopez’s argument that qualitative methods capture the contextual, real-life, everyday experiences of the individual interviewed (Lopez, 2003:7). Moreover, this method, including participant observation and in-depth interviews, is considered more effective in exploring intercultural marriages. Intercultural marriage, especially when it is also an inter- religious marriage, still seems to be a sensitive issue in Indonesia. I chose my sample from women with whom I was acquainted either professionally or personally, or women whom I could contact through family members and acquaintances. The research location is Jakarta, which has become the main destination for Minangkabau migrants in Indonesia. The data was collected through a face-to-face encounter, and also from electronic media, as some of them are living abroad, including in Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, Qatar, and the USA. After being translated into English, extensive segments of the in-depth interviews, conducted in the Indonesian and Minangkabau languages, will be included in this paper. In order to protect their privacy, respondents quoted in this paper have been given pseudonyms. 2 INTERCULTURAL MARRIAGE AND ITS COMPLEXITY As detailed by some scholars of Minangkabau, such as Krier (2000), Peletz (2005) and Elfira (2015), getting married is an important affair which is taken seriously by the kin group and the Minangkabau groom and bride. As for an individual, marriage carries an acknowledge- 176 ment of being a mature individual with full rights to participate in adat activities within the society. A female is first expected to continue a family line. In Minangkabau, a mar- riage not only unites two individuals, but also two matrilineal family groups. Marriage in Minangkabau is clan exogamous, so until quite recently it was forbidden to marry some- one from the same clan. Influenced by Islamic laws, nowadays it is allowed for marriage within one clan as long as the persons are not closely related by blood. The ideal marriage, according to Minangkabau adat, is one in which the bride is pulang ka bako (goes back to her paternal family). This involves a man marrying his mamak’s daughter—a classic case of what anthropologists term cross-cousin marriage. By applying this concept, the children will belong to the same clan as their grandfather (their father’s mamak). This concept is also an attempt to keep harato pusako (ancestral property) in the same kin grouping. But, it seems that the Minangkabau younger generation, especially those who are living outside Minang- kabau land such as in Jakarta, considers this practice outdated, especially as there is little contemporary interest in harato pusako. They also see such marriages as potentially unhappy because of strong interference from the two sides of the family, as expressed by Lenni (a 39-year-old mother with three children), whose husband is a Javanese man. In addition, in multi-ethnic Jakarta, where Minangkabau is not the biggest nor the most dominant ethnic group, there is a strong possibility to marry a person from other ethnic groups.