Tree Totems and the Tamarind People: Implications of Clan Plant Taboos in Central Flores

• Published in: Oceania Vol. 79; no. 3; pp. 263 - 279
• Main Author: Forth, Gregory
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.2009; University of Sydney; Sydney University Press; Blackwell Publishing Limited, a company of John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Anthropological analysis; Attitudes; Burning; Clans; Company business management; Cultural anthropology; Ethnology; Family names; Flores Island; Generalities; Government regulation; Human spatial behavior; Incineration; Indonesia; Laws, regulations and rules; Nage people; Names; Naming; Naming conventions; Narratives; Native peoples; Oceania; Place names; Plant names; plant taboos; Plants; Political aspects; Politics; Religion, magic, witchcraft; Religions, beliefs, worships; Social anthropology; Social change; Sociopolitical aspects; Spatial behavior; Spatial behaviour; Taboo; Taboos; Tamarind; Timber; Toponymy; Totemism; Trees; Villages; Wood; Flores Island; Southeast Asia; Indonesia; East Timor; New York; Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia; Oceania; Origin; Spirituality; Attitude towards; Plant; Totem; Nage; Clan; Taboo; Totemism; Social change; Place; Name
• ISSN: 0029-8077; 1834-4461
• DOI: 10.1002/j.1834-4461.2009.tb00064.x

Among the Nage of eastern Indonesia, a sizeable minority of clans maintain totemic attitudes towards trees and other plants whose names they share. Tree totemism is mostly expressed in taboos on burning the wood and using the timber in construction. In addition, there is the idea that all Nage people should not burn wood of the Tamarind (Nage) tree. Comparative evidence and local historical narrative locate the source of phytonymic clan names in an earlier use of such names as toponyms and settlement names. Insofar as this is their origin, Nage plant totemism can thus be understood as a residue of a naming practice relating to places rather than to people, either human ancestors or groups. As the use of 'Nage' as the formal name of an inclusive ethnic, socio-political, and territorial entity is relatively recent, and indeed largely a function of a colonial administration introduced barely a century ago, this case further demonstrates how taboos and totemic relations can develop rapidly in contexts of major social change.