From paddy to vanilla, elephant tusks to money

Abstract

This paper aims to describe and analyze the change and continuity of culture over three generations in an Endenese village in eastern Indonesia. In purely economic terms, that is, from an outsider's point of view, one might be inclined to conclude that big changes have occurred in the village; yet, once one takes the native's point of view into consideration, the scene takes quite a different shape and one would recognize a defi nite continuity over the said period. I contend that one sphere of the tripartite economy in Ende, the sphere of the market economy, functions so as to absorb the 'impact' of the modern capitalist expansion. In the past, the most important sphere of the tripartite economy, the prestige economy, was supported by the sphere of subsistence economy. Today, the subsistence economy has dwindled to almost nothing, but the market economy has replaced it and supports the prestige economy—money acquired in 'non-place' (Malaysia) as well as by 'non-gift' (selling of commercial crops) among people with 'non-kinship' is 'dubbed' as 'gift' (bridewealth) and used in 'place' among the people with 'kinship' ties. Thus, the prestige economy retains the topmost value in the lives of the Endenese people.