Remaking Social Life from Ashes
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Rebuilding Lio ancestral houses (sa'o) after a 2018 fire in Nggela, Flores, became a site for renegotiating moral economies, political authority, and cosmological order, revealing how disaster recovery creates new hierarchies and legitimacy.
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Key points
- Post-disaster rebuilding of Lio ancestral houses (sa'o) became a site for renegotiating social structures.
- Reconstruction dynamics included inter-elite competition and external state/donor interventions.
- External actors introduced monetary valuation that conflicted with the Lio 'human economy' of social currency.
- Suspicion regarding aid and leadership influenced decisions on resource allocation and ritual sequencing.
- Disaster recovery generated new hierarchies and legitimacy, altering both material houses and social relationships.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract This article examines the reconstruction of 23 Lio ancestral origin-houses ( sa’o ) in Nggela, Flores, after a 2018 fire, showing how post-disaster rebuilding became a site where moral economies, political authority, and cosmological order were actively renegotiated. Drawing on ethnographic research, we argue that the reconstruction unfolded through two intertwined dynamics: persistent, inter-elite competition over precedence and origin narratives, and disruptive state and donor interventions. These external actors introduced bureaucratic procedures and monetary valuation that clashed with the Lio human economy, where wood, labour, and ritual materials circulate as forms of social currency. Suspicion—directed at leaders, ritual infractions, and unequal access to aid—shaped interpretations of the disaster and governed decisions about ritual sequencing, labour obligations, and resource allocation. The rebuilding of the sa’o thus exposes how disaster recovery generates new configurations of hierarchy and legitimacy, transforming both the material house and the relationships it anchors.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Bijdragen tot de taal- land- en volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Transportation
TransportationSocial Sciences