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Paying for the Dead: On the Politics of Death in Independent Timor-Leste

Paying for the Dead: On the Politics of Death in Independent Timor-Leste Since Timor-Leste regained independence in 2002, there has been a revival of customary practices across the country. In the village of Funar, this has taken the shape of intensive investment in death ceremonies. This article takes death as a lens through which to examine changing social and political relations in Funar during the post-independence period. It analyses how exchanges that occur upon death serve to sever relations between house groups that are indebted to one another through marriage exchange, and how funerary practices enable people to renegotiate status differences that have become more contested since independence. While death confronts people with tragedies from the past, it also provides occasions for dealing with the aftermath of the Indonesian occupation. Moreover, reburial allows local residents to re-inscribe themselves in nationalist discourses, from which they have been largely excluded due to the region's ambiguous role during the Indonesian occupation. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology Taylor & Francis

Paying for the Dead: On the Politics of Death in Independent Timor-Leste

Bovensiepen, Judith
The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology , Volume 15 (2): 20 – Mar 15, 2014
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20 pages

Paying for the Dead: On the Politics of Death in Independent Timor-Leste

Abstract

Since Timor-Leste regained independence in 2002, there has been a revival of customary practices across the country. In the village of Funar, this has taken the shape of intensive investment in death ceremonies. This article takes death as a lens through which to examine changing social and political relations in Funar during the post-independence period. It analyses how exchanges that occur upon death serve to sever relations between house groups that are indebted to one another through...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2014 The Australian National University
ISSN
1740-9314
eISSN
1444-2213
DOI
10.1080/14442213.2014.892528
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Since Timor-Leste regained independence in 2002, there has been a revival of customary practices across the country. In the village of Funar, this has taken the shape of intensive investment in death ceremonies. This article takes death as a lens through which to examine changing social and political relations in Funar during the post-independence period. It analyses how exchanges that occur upon death serve to sever relations between house groups that are indebted to one another through marriage exchange, and how funerary practices enable people to renegotiate status differences that have become more contested since independence. While death confronts people with tragedies from the past, it also provides occasions for dealing with the aftermath of the Indonesian occupation. Moreover, reburial allows local residents to re-inscribe themselves in nationalist discourses, from which they have been largely excluded due to the region's ambiguous role during the Indonesian occupation.

Journal

The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology – Taylor & Francis

Published: Mar 15, 2014

Keywords: Southeast Asia; Pacific; Exchange; Debt; Alliance; House-based Societies; Mortuary Ceremonies; Post-conflict Recovery; Nation-building

References

  • Nahe Biti: The Philosophy and Process of Grassroots Reconciliation (and Justice) in Timor-Leste
  • Gift Giving and Gift Obligations: Strategies of Incorporation and Accommodation in the Customary Domain
  • Landscapes of Life and Death in the Central Highlands of East Timor
  • Installing the Insider ‘Outside’: House-Reconstruction and the Transformation of Binary Ideologies in Independent Timor-Leste
  • The Political Economy of Death: Communication and Change in Malagasy Colonial History
  • Separating the Dead: The Ritual Transformation of Affinal Exchange in Central Flores
  • Master-Slave, Traitor-Nationalist, Opportunist-Oppressed: Political Metaphors in East Timor
  • Why People Don't Die ‘Naturally’ Any More: Changing Relations Between ‘The Individual’ and ‘The State’ in Post-Socialist Bulgaria
  • Houses of Resistance in East Timor: Structuring Sociality in the New Nation
  • Meto Disputes and Peacemaking: Cultural Notes on Conflict and its Resolution in West Timor
  • Exchange and Resilience in Timor-Leste
  • Phantom Menaces: The Politics of Rumour, Securitisation and Masculine Identities in the Shadows of the Ninjas
  • Nation Building and Resource Management: The Politics of ‘Nature’ in Timor-Leste
  • ‘Thinking Too Much’: Tracing Local Patterns of Emotional Distress after Mass Violence in Timor-Leste
  • Negotiating Tradition and Nation: Mediations and Mediators in the Making of Urban Timor-Leste