The cultural face of conflict : Dayak-Madurese violence in 1996/97 in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
Creators: name: Koenig, Anika
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Violence Research Indonesia Kalimantan Barat
subject: Ethnic conflict Indonesia Kalimantan Barat
subject: Ethnic relations Indonesia Kalimantan Barat
subject: Madurese (Indonesian people) Indonesia Kalimantan Barat
subject: Dayak (Indonesian people) Indonesia Kalimantan Barat
subject: Spirit possession Indonesia

description: In 1996/97, the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan was shaken by a major ethnic conflict between indigenous Dayaks and migrants from the island of Madura. Thousands died and tens of thousands were forced to flee their homes - most of the victims being Madurese. Many of the Madurese who died in the conflict were subjected to 'extra-lethal' violence performed by Dayaks, that is violence which went beyond what is necessary to kill a person. This especially included beheadings, mutilations, and incidents of anthropophagy. While previous research has investigated the political, social, and historical contexts of the violence in some depth, the actual performance of violence and the particular forms it took have so far been neglected by academic analyses. Based on research in a Kanayatn Dayak village in the conflict region, this thesis explores the conflicts with a particular focus on the forms of violence that were performed and argues that they were particularly influenced by local cultural patterns. One element of these cultural patterns is spirit possession, which regularly occurs in Kanayatn everyday life and which was claimed by many Dayaks to have also played a central role in the 1996/97 conflicts. While possession by spirits in ordinary life is a highly undesirable and dangerous situation which causes illness, possession was actively sought by the Dayaks who participated in the violence against the Madurese. This, they said, awarded them with supernatural abilities and extraordinary strength. Spirit possession, they claimed, also was the reason why they performed extra-lethal violence such as anthropophagy. Since the spirits' favourite food is human flesh and blood, it was this that the spirits demanded from the warriors in return for their help, and it was, accordingly, the spirits who made the men perform these forms of violence. Moreover, in this thesis the conflicts are interpreted as a state of exception that differed from the state of ordinary life. It is suggested that these different states are characterised by two complementary moral systems. While violence is strictly condemned in Kanayatn ordinary life, during the conflicts it was seen to be appropriate and even desired, and while spirit possession is usually seen as an undesirable situation, during the conflicts it was actively instigated. Considering the Dayak-Madurese war as a state of exception thus helps us to understand how the performance of violence could become an appropriate action within a usually non-violent society, and how it could continue to be regarded as justified in the conflict's aftermath. Finally, this thesis strives to deconstruct primordialist and essentialist views that have been advanced by the international media as well as the Indonesian public. These views present Dayaks as primitive savages who have revived ancient violent traditions of headhunting and cannibalism. In contrast, I argue that elements of past forms of violence, such as headhunting, were reinvented in a new form. Accordingly, although they were informed by a local cultural logic, these forms of violence were clearly contemporary and modem.