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Indigenous rice production and the subtleties of culture change: An example from Borneo

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Abstract

This analysis is based on a combination of participant observation, census data, and an agricultural survey in two Kenyah Dayak communities in East Kalimantan: isolated Long Ampung, and “modernizing” Long Segar. The dramatically higher rice yields per household in the more “modern” community are first investigated, from indigenous and “scientific” points of view. Demographic and yield data are then used to demonstrate a) a decrease in women's contribution to rice production in Long Segar compared to men, and b) an emerging conflict between production and care of dependents. Both trends point to a decrease in women's status in Long Segar. Suggestions are then offered on possible interventions that could reduce such negative impacts of agricultural development on farm families, without adversely affecting yields.

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Authors
  1. Carol J. Pierce Colfer
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Additional information

1. The research reported here was part of a project entitled “Interactions Between People and Forests in East Kalimantan.” The grant was awarded by the U.S. Man and Biosphere Program with funds from the U.S. Forest Service. It was administered by the East-West Center's Environment and Policy Institute, and carried out cooperatively with the Indonesian MAB Program and Mulawarman University, Samarinda. This analysis was conducted under the sponsorship of the Hawaii Institute for Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and a USAID Title XII Strengthening grant. Additional support, during the writing phase, was provided by Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman. An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Women in Development Group at Utah State University. Earlier drafts were kindly read and critiqued by Richard Morse, Bob Gardner, Marilyn Hoskins, and anonymous reviewers for the MSU Working Papers on Women in Development andAgriculture and Human Values, none of whom bears any responsibility for remaining errors. Special acknowledgment and thanks go to the people of Long Sezgar and Long Ampung for their eternal enthusiasm for yet another study.

2. Dr. Carol J. Pierce Colfer is currently serving as a consultant for FAO, conducting a follow-up study in Long Segar, on agroforestry and land use.

Carol J. Pierce Colfer is currently employed as a consultant for the FAO, working at 512 SW Maplecrest Drive, Portland, OR 97219. Her research has focused primarily on rural people's in volvement in agriculture in forested areas, with secondary attention to health and gender issues. She has done long term ethnographic research on the Olympic Peninsula (western United States), in Borneo and Sumatra (Indonesia) and the Sultanate of Oman.

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Colfer, C.J.P. Indigenous rice production and the subtleties of culture change: An example from Borneo. Agric Hum Values 8, 67–84 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01579658

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