130. The Transformation of Religion, Culture and Society in Timor-Leste. Sponsored by the AAS Southeast Asia Council (SEAC)

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel

Abstract

Since its formal recognition as a nation-state in 2002, Timor-Leste has undergone a series of profound transformations cutting across political, economic, social and cultural life. How are Timorese responding to these changes? This panel brings together Timorese and non-Timorese scholars, and public intellectuals, to reflect on ‘modernization’ and its effects across a range of overlapping domains. We see in the domain of religion, for example, how the revival of animism in a nominally Catholic country has posed challenges for social scientific narratives of rationalization and ‘progress’ as much as it has raised vexing questions for the Church. Here the construction and reconstruction of ritual houses runs counter to the demands of more economically-minded Timorese, who argue resources would be better directed to developing public services, such as education and healthcare. Similarly, in the political realm, revival of 'the ways of the ancestors' defies the policies of government leaders, who are striving to transform those they deem parochially-minded villagers into citizens of a modern nation-state. Here the national government's efforts to ‘modernize' local administration at the suku level, and to arrogate villagers’ loyalties from their local and traditional councils to what the government considers a more ‘modern' judiciary system, create problems for government and villages alike. In addressing these and related issues, the panelists will reflect on a range of factors, from the role of international organizations (e.g., USAID and related NGOs), to the rise of print media and its effects on national community, independence and belonging.

Area of Study

• Southeast

Session Organizer

• Richard Fox, Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg

Chair

• Richard Fox, Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg

Individual Presentations

• Local Administration in Democratic Timor-Leste: A View from Vemasse - Michael Leach, Swinburne University of Technology

• The Core Values of Timor-Leste - Josh Trindade, Independent Researcher

• Revisiting Max Weber in the Countryside of Timor-Leste: The Construction of Local Governance after Independence - Rui Graça Feijó, University of Coimbra

• Negotiating Place: "Indigeneity" in an Independent Timor Leste - Lisa Rebecca Palmer, University of Melbourne

Discussant

• David Hicks, Stony Brook University