The Ema are a population of over 50,000 living in the mountains to the west of the Mambai. Their main subsistence crop is maize but they cultivate both wet and dry rice and maintain terraced fields built on rocky slopes. The Ema speak a language that is closely related to that of the Mambai, though this language does not have the metathesis common in Mambai. They have been described in general and in detail by Brigitte Renard-Clamagirand in an important paper, “The Social Organization of the Ema of Timor” (1980) and in the monograph, Marobo: Une société ema de Timor (1982). Despite a slightly different theoretical terminology, the description of the Ema points to considerable similarities with the Mambai.
The Ema recognize two types of settlement. Ilat land located on the upper slopes of Mount Marobo which is subject to ritual prohibitions and rae mdon which is open land, available as new farm land and free of ritual prohibition. “Core houses” (uma lulin: “sacred house” or umar no apir: “house and hearth”) are built on ilat land and oriented to the west. These core houses play a central role in the ceremonial life of various lines of elder/younger (ka’ar-alir) brothers who inhabit dependent houses, designated by different terms depending on their relation to their core. As among the Mambai, elder/younger categories can also be used to designate a relationship between independent core houses that claim a common origin, which is often marked by a shared name (1980:136-139).
These variously named core houses can be regarded as origin groups structured on the basis of genitor lines. There is, however, an aspect to these origin groups that is elaborated much more among the Ema than among the Mambai. Although Traube mentions that there is some relative ranking among great cult houses, this dimension does not appear to be highly developed among the Ema. By contrast, among the Ema, precedence exists not only within core houses but also among core houses. All core houses are divided into two categories: autochthonous core houses and immigrant core houses. The immigrant core houses are derived from three ancestral founders who assumed different functions within the society as a whole. One of these founders established a political dimension to Ema society by giving rise to the three chieftains who rule Marobo.
Like the Mambai, the Ema recognize two progenitor lines that are referred to as uma mane: “masculine houses” or “male houses”. (The equivalent Mambai term is elided and metathesized as umaen.) The term, uma mane pun, literally “male house(s) of origin” is also used in this connection. The multiple senses of the cognate term, fun/pun, allow a variety of translations for expressions that are clearly related. Thus Traube translates umaen fun as “wife-givers of origin” or “trunk wife-givers” whereas Renard-Clamagirand translates uma mane pun as “base house of the wife-givers”. In this paper, I refer to both as “progenitors of origin”. These progenitors are also identified as na’ir no tatar, “mother’s brothers and ancestors” or sometimes as inar no amar, “mothers and fathers”. As among the Mambai, Ema progenitors refer to their engendered lines as mane heu, “new males”, who may also be spoken of either as kir no bagir, “father’s sisters (FZ) and their husbands (FZH)” or as mtor no anar, “sisters and their children”.
The established relationship between progenitor and progeny is described by the expression, ai mea. Although Renard-Clamagirand does not provide a translation for ai mea, a literal rendering of this expression would be the “red tree” or more appropriately, the “dry tree”. A careful reading of the ethnography suggests that the Ema oppose the categories mea/mdon, “red/green” or “dry/fresh”, implying that what is red or dry is old and set with ritual prohibitions; whereas what is green and fresh, and thus still sprouting, is new and as yet free of ritual injunctions — as, for example, the rae mdon. An appropriate translation of this Ema expression would be “old tree”. Certainly the botanic metaphor of a tree is consistent with other Ema expressions for this relationship. Thus the progenitors refer to those engendered by their progeny as their “new male leaves and tree tops” (mane heu tahan no laun).
Although the ai mea relationship is regarded as primordial, Renard-Clamagirand remarks that in fact “the ‘ai mea’ title does not always correspond to the most ancient ties because when a previously allied group disappears or ties with an allied group are severed, the title is bestowed on another core house” (1980:142).
At this point following a geographical progression, it would be appropriate to consider the case of the Tetun and then that of the Atoni Meto who form the dominant population of West Timor. However, for purposes that will become clear as I present my argument, it is more appropriate to consider next the case of the Rotinese.