TY - JOUR
T1 - Minangkabau mothers and daughters in contemporary "rantau" society; Regaining power with modified matrilineal principles and patriarchal "rantau" norms
AU - Elfira, Mina
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The action of pai marantau (emigrating) is usually associated with the Minangkabau, the world’s largest matrilineal society, and one of the most fervently Islamic societies in Indonesia – the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. Once, it was mainly men who migrated, but more recently, women have also been emigrating. One consequence of emigrating from the matrilineal heartland in West Sumatra is that women lose some of the privileges conferred by the matrilineal adat, especially those pertaining to inheritance. Using qualitative fieldwork methods and Kandiyoti’s theory of the patriarchal bargain (1988), this paper explores how these women reconstitute matriliny in the contemporary rantau – in the multi-cultural society of the mega-city of Jabodetabek – by modifying it, and negotiating the terms of patriarchal norms. By exploring the mother-daughter relationships of emigrant Minangkabau women, the conclusion is that they have successfully exercised their agency, adapting to social changes, and regaining their power by using modified matriliny, and taking advantage of patriarchal norms.
AB - The action of pai marantau (emigrating) is usually associated with the Minangkabau, the world’s largest matrilineal society, and one of the most fervently Islamic societies in Indonesia – the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. Once, it was mainly men who migrated, but more recently, women have also been emigrating. One consequence of emigrating from the matrilineal heartland in West Sumatra is that women lose some of the privileges conferred by the matrilineal adat, especially those pertaining to inheritance. Using qualitative fieldwork methods and Kandiyoti’s theory of the patriarchal bargain (1988), this paper explores how these women reconstitute matriliny in the contemporary rantau – in the multi-cultural society of the mega-city of Jabodetabek – by modifying it, and negotiating the terms of patriarchal norms. By exploring the mother-daughter relationships of emigrant Minangkabau women, the conclusion is that they have successfully exercised their agency, adapting to social changes, and regaining their power by using modified matriliny, and taking advantage of patriarchal norms.
KW - Islam
KW - matriliny
KW - Minangkabau
KW - mother-daughter relationship
KW - patriarchy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85166344199&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.17510/wacana.v24i2.1170
DO - 10.17510/wacana.v24i2.1170
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85166344199
SN - 1411-2272
VL - 24
SP - 197
EP - 224
JO - Wacana
JF - Wacana
IS - 2
ER -