[Anthropgrad] Seminar by Traci Smith: 'Becoming a Medicine man: An ethnographic account of roadside traders in Jakarta'. Friday 17th April 2009.

[John White]

Anthropology Friday Seminar Series. Semester 1, 2009. Milgate Room, AD
Hope. Friday, 17th April, 3pm.

 

Seminar by Traci Smith: 'Becoming a Medicine man: An ethnographic
account of roadside traders in Jakarta'.

 

This thesis considers migration as a rite of passage for a group of
young men who migrate from a village in the highlands of central Java to
sell potency medicine by the roadside in Jakarta.

 

In this post- fieldwork seminar I will describe my activities in "the
field" and present parts of two chapters of my thesis;

 

1. How young men move away from home to become traders- transitions
incurred through migration.

 

2. Trade and business practices- the secrets of trading potency
medicine.

 

These questions are about transitions, from boy to man, rural to urban,
household dependent to contributor through remittances, bachelor to
husband and primary breadwinner, village bloke to city worker, local to
outsider.

 

As sure as a young man from Kalibening will be circumcised, he will also
consider the option of merantau, or migrating for employment.
Circumcision is an obligation under Islam and a tradition for Javanese
men. Migration is motivated by a range of socio- cultural factors.

 

Roy's mother gave him his first cigarette after he was circumcised
(/disunat/), so he would not be tired for the ritual celebration
(////pengajian//) that accompanies this rite of passage and sees Roy
blessed by society and then- after regarded as "a man". Asking Roy about
how his life changed after circumcision, he looks nostalgic and says
"The biggest difference after circumcision was that I was embarrassed to
swim in the river with my friends". This sense of shame was accompanied
by an overwhelming sense of pride in being regarded by society as "a
man". Ask Roy about how and why he migrated to Jakarta and the
experiences that accompany this move and a plethora of spatial and
temporal transitions at the core of anthropological enquiry come to the
fore, as well as the over- arching question of what it is to be a man in
post- Reformasi, post New- Order Indonesia.

 

 

All welcome!