Table of Contents
The Minangkabau are among the largest of the ethnic groups in Indonesia. Besides being known for their matrilineal organization, the Minangkabau are also noted as energetic Muslim traders who have migrated far beyond their homeland in the province of West Sumatra.[1] According to the 1980 census, the population of West Sumatra was approximately 3.4 million, of whom an estimated 3 million were Minangkabau. The majority of the Minangkabau population lives in the fertile upland plains where irrigated rice cultivation is their mainstay.
In this paper I am concerned with the principles of domestic spatial organization in Minangkabau society. The use of space in everyday and ceremonial contexts reveals perceptible patterns relating to the nature of Minangkabau social organization and shows the key definitions of male and female identity. Before proceeding to the discussion on the use of space, I deal briefly with four salient aspects of Minangkabau social organization, which are necessary to understand their divisions of space.[2] I should perhaps remark that my interpretation of Minangkabau social organization differs to some extent from that of other scholars.
First, the population of a Minangkabau village is divided into a number of matrilineal clans (suku), which are further segmented into lineages (sa-payuang). The lineages are represented by panghulu (lineage headmen) and have been characterized by scholars as corporate groups. Most scholars researching Minangkabau society have tended to focus their attention on Minangkabau jural structures. There are, however, other informal patterns of social relations which are significant in the everyday lives of the villagers. One important category of social relations which cannot be viewed as a jural structure is the sa-kampuang. The sa-kampuang refers to the members with the same suku name (but who are not necessarily from the same clan) and who live in the same neighbourhood. Although the sa-kampuang has kinship and territorial connotations, it is not represented by a panghulu and is not a jural structure. The sa-kampuang is an informal and flexible category whose members come together most visibly on ceremonial occasions. In everyday life the relationships which are defined as sa-kampuang are of primary importance, especially to women who, in contrast to men, spend a large proportion of their time in the neighbourhood. Thus, I stress that it is essential to look at the informal though no less significant structures, if we are to understand Minangkabau social order.
My second point is that the emphasis placed on jural structures in the village gives unwarranted significance to the authority of men as mothers’ brothers/panghulu. In my view, the Minangkabau are not only matrilineal but are also a matrifocal society. It is frequently reported by scholars on Minangkabau society that the mothers’ brothers/panghulu are the key authority figures, representing their lineages in transactions with other lineages. This emphasis has led to the following statements:
the structurally most important relationship in the Minangkabau matrilineal system is one between mamak and kemenakan.
The mamak is the guardian of the kemenakan and is responsible for the well-being of the kemenakan, who are to continue their lineage … The essence of Minangkabau matriliny is above all concentrated in the two generation relation of mamak and kemenakan (Kato 1977:57-58; emphasis added).
In contrast to men’s command in the public domain, women are generally seen as having authority only within the minimal family unit and the matrilineally extended family, that is, within the domestic domain. This dichotomy of women:domestic::men:public is, in light of my findings, inaccurate and misleading. In Nagari Koto nan Gadang, women are vital actors: they negotiate and mediate interlineage relationships and act as representatives of their lineages in the fields of affinal relations and ritual obligations. To understand Minangkabau social organization it is necessary to begin from the perspective of the women, since kin relationships are conceptualized as categories which are based on the difference between groups of women.
Third, affinal categories constitute one of the most significant ways of ordering social relationships in Minangkabau society. These categories I gloss as husband-givers and husband-takers: this usage necessarily implies that men, and not women, are exchanged. One of the reasons for this unorthodox interpretation is that in the wedding ceremony the groom (who is ‘rented’ or ‘bought’) is ‘handed-over’ to the bride’s lineage.
A final point concerns the Minangkabau residence pattern. Domestic residence for a boy changes as he grows up. Young boys before they are circumcised (usually at the age of eight to ten), sleep in their mothers’ household. After circumcision, boys sleep in the mosque till they marry. There they receive adat [3] and Islamic instruction from the senior men of the village. If boys who have reached puberty were to sleep in the same house as their married sisters, it would, according to villagers, create an embarrassing situation for the married couple. Post-marital residence is uxorilocal and even when a new house is built for a married couple the land on which the house is built belongs to the wife’s lineage. One of the most important ramifications of this residence rule is that women are spatially grouped together and in day-to-day life women form the core group within the village. This is especially so, too, because Minangkabau men tend to migrate (merantau)[4] to urban centres to find a livelihood.