Abstract
My paper examines the role of food and food-related-activities in a Mentawaian society, an indigenous people living in Siberut island (West Sumatra, Indonesia). In particular, it deals specifically with gardening, the main Mentawaian activity in producing food, and its relation with the construction of Mentawaian persons. The main argument of the article is that gardening and producing food are a set of activities through which the Mentawaian produce and reproduce themselves and the others. Producing food is the main part of a total process of constructing valued persons and society, rather than merely as the production of material substances. Mentawaian foodways, therefore, offer vital clues to personhood and illustrate that food and food-related-activities are transformative agents in social production.
Presenters
Darmanto DarmantoPhD Student, Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University, Netherlands
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Food Production and Sustainability
KEYWORDS
Gardening, Mentawians foodways, Human-actions, Transformative substance, Valued persons
