Master’s thesis in Social and Cultural Anthropology Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology Free University of Berlin “Dry paddle – empty pot” Meaning-making ocean in an Indonesian fisher village Charlotte Schenk Date of submission: 25/05/2020 Contents List of figures ..................................................................................................................... i Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 The ocean as a socio-cultural sphere .............................................................................................. 1 The Sama village of ‘sweet water’ ................................................................................................. 8 Researching multidimensionally .................................................................................................. 11 Chapter outline ............................................................................................................................. 15 Chapter I: Entangling occupations ................................................................................. 17 Mariculture and trade .................................................................................................................... 17 Underwater searching ................................................................................................................... 20 Overwater catching ....................................................................................................................... 24 Cooking ........................................................................................................................................ 27 Collecting water ............................................................................................................................ 28 Washing ........................................................................................................................................ 30 Sea bathing ................................................................................................................................... 31 Chapter II: (Un)settling materialities ............................................................................. 33 Concrete houses and ‘losing culture’ ............................................................................................ 33 ‘Running (off) to the reef’ ............................................................................................................ 39 Money and ‘headache’ .................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter III: Reassuring mutuality ................................................................................. 46 ‘Scared alone’ ............................................................................................................................... 46 ‘Together con(si)stently’ .............................................................................................................. 50 ‘Here it is not together’ ................................................................................................................. 51 ‘We think (about it) together’ ....................................................................................................... 52 Chapter IV: Meaning-making ocean .............................................................................. 56 ‘Hopefully, …’ or patience, luck and support as guiding motive ................................................. 56 ‘Living over the sea’ and what it implies ..................................................................................... 63 ‘Orang Sama bersama-sama’ ........................................................................................................ 67 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 71 Photo gallery ................................................................................................................... 76 Glossary .......................................................................................................................... 91 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 95 List of figures Figure 1: Hill view of the village ............................................................................................................................ 76 Figure 2: Village road (vv) ...................................................................................................................................... 76 Figure 3: Common buildings inside the island ....................................................................................................... 77 Figure 4: Family houses at the edge of the island ................................................................................................. 77 Figure 5: Children playing inside the village .......................................................................................................... 77 Figure 6: Construction connecting island and sea ................................................................................................. 77 Figure 7: Rain falling through stilt house into sea ................................................................................................. 77 Figure 8: People travelling in the distance ............................................................................................................ 77 Figure 9: Ana and Nur's concrete house ............................................................................................................... 78 Figure 10: Ana and Nur's terrace in front of their island-based house ................................................................. 78 Figure 11: Erma's parent's terrace, seaward-part of stilt house (vv) .................................................................... 78 Figure 12: Erma and Saldrin's wooden stilt house ................................................................................................ 78 Figure 13: Saldrin and Erma getting ready to travel to W. to sell lobster, Elo and Devi watching from house .... 79 Figure 14: On a trade trip with Nur, live-fish inside the body of the boat (underneath planks) ........................... 79 Figure 15: Nur's fish tank in front of his house ..................................................................................................... 79 Figure 16: Nur's fish tank, underwater .................................................................................................................. 79 Figure 17: Nur applying iodine into wounds ......................................................................................................... 79 Figure 18: Live-fish trade-platform ........................................................................................................................ 79 Figure 19: Pearl farm, underwater ........................................................................................................................ 80 Figure 20: Men collecting shell-farming racks ....................................................................................................... 80 Figure 21: Women cleaning shell-farming racks ................................................................................................... 80 Figure 22: Searching kima with Ana ...................................................................................................................... 80 Figure 23: Preparing kima with Ana in front of her house; basket with rope to collect seawater ........................ 80 Figure 24: Cooked kima ......................................................................................................................................... 80 Figure 25: Saldrin pulling his boat, searching for octopus .................................................................................... 81 Figure 26: Saldrin teasing octopus out of its hiding place ..................................................................................... 81 Figure 27: Octopus fighting back with ink ............................................................................................................. 81 Figure 28: Saldrin bringing octopus to surface ...................................................................................................... 81 Figure 29: Saldrin killing octopus for transport ..................................................................................................... 81 Figure 30: Clouds and waves, time to return to Boe Manes ................................................................................. 81 Figure 31: Underwater searching by night, catch stored on boat, which Saldrin pulls behind him ...................... 82 Figure 32: Saldrin smiling on the way to the reef .................................................................................................. 82 Figure 33: Erma’s mother fishing with nylon (pv) ................................................................................................. 82 Figure 34: Nur preparing the fishing line for night fishing .................................................................................... 82 Figure 35: Erma grilling fish on the boat by night ................................................................................................