The Agency Of Kaluppini Women In Indigenous Natural Resource Management In Sulawesi, Indonesia

Kurnia, Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir

2025 | Tesis | S2 Agama dan Lintas Budaya

Indigenous women are often overlooked in discourses on natural resource management. Even as indigenous communities begin to gain recognition in development narratives and policy frameworks, the roles of women within these communities remain largely invisible. Yet, in many indigenous societies, including the Kaluppini community of South Sulawesi, women hold central roles in sustaining both life and the natural environment. They care for the land, preserve seeds, manage communal granaries, lead rituals, and transmit intergenerational knowledge. This thesis emerges from a critical concern over such invisibility and seeks to demonstrate that natural resource governance in indigenous communities cannot be understood apart from women’s agency, which manifests through daily practices, local values, and spiritual relationships with nature. This study employs a qualitative approach using ethnographic methods. Over the course of two months, fieldwork was conducted in the Kaluppini indigenous community through participant observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation of women’s activities. Sherry B. Ortner's agency theory was used to identify various forms of agency expressed through domestic labor, ritual practices, and local resource management. Findings reveal that the agency of Kaluppini indigenous women does not always take the form of overt resistance to patriarchal structures, but rather emerges through reflective, spiritual, and ecologically grounded actions. These women serve as custodians of traditional houses, stewards of food and medicinal knowledge, and key actors in sustaining community life. Their agency is enacted through conscious adherence, collective labor, and shared communal values. The study concludes that ecological and cultural sustainability in indigenous communities is inseparable from the active roles of women. Their contributions must be recognized not as passive forms of service, but as full expressions of agency. These findings offer a new reading of agency rooted in locality and spirituality, and present an ethical call for development policies that center the lived experiences and ways of knowing of indigenous women.

Indigenous women are often overlooked in discourses on natural resource management. Even as indigenous communities begin to gain recognition in development narratives and policy frameworks, the roles of women within these communities remain largely invisible. Yet, in many indigenous societies, including the Kaluppini community of South Sulawesi, women hold central roles in sustaining both life and the natural environment. They care for the land, preserve seeds, manage communal granaries, lead rituals, and transmit intergenerational knowledge. This thesis emerges from a critical concern over such invisibility and seeks to demonstrate that natural resource governance in indigenous communities cannot be understood apart from women’s agency, which manifests through daily practices, local values, and spiritual relationships with nature. This study employs a qualitative approach using ethnographic methods. Over the course of two months, fieldwork was conducted in the Kaluppini indigenous community through participant observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation of women’s activities. Sherry B. Ortner's agency theory was used to identify various forms of agency expressed through domestic labor, ritual practices, and local resource management. Findings reveal that the agency of Kaluppini indigenous women does not always take the form of overt resistance to patriarchal structures, but rather emerges through reflective, spiritual, and ecologically grounded actions. These women serve as custodians of traditional houses, stewards of food and medicinal knowledge, and key actors in sustaining community life. Their agency is enacted through conscious adherence, collective labor, and shared communal values. The study concludes that ecological and cultural sustainability in indigenous communities is inseparable from the active roles of women. Their contributions must be recognized not as passive forms of service, but as full expressions of agency. These findings offer a new reading of agency rooted in locality and spirituality, and present an ethical call for development policies that center the lived experiences and ways of knowing of indigenous women.

Kata Kunci : Indigenous Women, Agency, Kaluppini Community, Local Knowledge, Sustainability