For the Torajan, modernization came through education as the Dutch colonial rule reached its remotest regions almost a century ago. The basic schools opened by the colonial government were taken over by a Dutch Reform Christian mission that Christianized the region until Japanese military occupation in 1942. It was the education work of the mission that changed the Torajan from a backward ethnic group to one of the more advanced, compared to other ethnic groups withlonger histories under colonial power.
The limited Toraja land for cultivation motivated the Torajan to migrate. Just like the other South Sulawesi ethnic groups, the Torajan are found almost everywhere in Indonesia working in urban informal sectors or on land newly opened for agriculture. Their migration helped the Torajan Church to spread far beyond Toraja land.
Many of them went abroad to Malaysia as plantation or domestic workers. Another motivation was to get better education. Many Torajan youth are pursuing their future in the universities and live as urbanized people in the cities. A socio-cultural motivation behind these trends is a sense of responsibility for their parents’ funeral rites. The Torajan are famous for their “funeral feast” where the clan house of the deceased do their best to put on as big as possible a feast for the funeral. Hundred of millions of rupiah are spent for the feast, where the main issue is the number of water buffaloes and pigs slaughtered. It even became a tourist attraction and was supported by the tourism industry and successfully developed next to Bali since the 1970's under the national program of Suharto's New Order.
The funeral feast has developed a shift of motivation from traditional religious requirements to social prestige. As a Torajan becomes socially and economically successful, he/she will show off by means of his/her clan house funeral feast, or by erecting an expensive traditional house in his/her village. Alongside its economic aspects, the cultural tourism industry for the Torajan is a new opportunity to maintain and express their self-Identity.
But modernization has its dark side. Economic and social development among the Torajan is coupled with moral degradation. Gambling, crime, social fragmentation, leadership crises, infidelity and so on, are a cause for worry among many Torajan leaders. Strong Charismatic and Pentecostal movements among the Torajan Christians can be seen as a reaction to the situation.
Read related posts about Toraja:
The limited Toraja land for cultivation motivated the Torajan to migrate. Just like the other South Sulawesi ethnic groups, the Torajan are found almost everywhere in Indonesia working in urban informal sectors or on land newly opened for agriculture. Their migration helped the Torajan Church to spread far beyond Toraja land.
Many of them went abroad to Malaysia as plantation or domestic workers. Another motivation was to get better education. Many Torajan youth are pursuing their future in the universities and live as urbanized people in the cities. A socio-cultural motivation behind these trends is a sense of responsibility for their parents’ funeral rites. The Torajan are famous for their “funeral feast” where the clan house of the deceased do their best to put on as big as possible a feast for the funeral. Hundred of millions of rupiah are spent for the feast, where the main issue is the number of water buffaloes and pigs slaughtered. It even became a tourist attraction and was supported by the tourism industry and successfully developed next to Bali since the 1970's under the national program of Suharto's New Order.
The funeral feast has developed a shift of motivation from traditional religious requirements to social prestige. As a Torajan becomes socially and economically successful, he/she will show off by means of his/her clan house funeral feast, or by erecting an expensive traditional house in his/her village. Alongside its economic aspects, the cultural tourism industry for the Torajan is a new opportunity to maintain and express their self-Identity.
But modernization has its dark side. Economic and social development among the Torajan is coupled with moral degradation. Gambling, crime, social fragmentation, leadership crises, infidelity and so on, are a cause for worry among many Torajan leaders. Strong Charismatic and Pentecostal movements among the Torajan Christians can be seen as a reaction to the situation.
Read related posts about Toraja:
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