Old house, new meaning: The change and persistence of ume kbubu in Oinlasi, South Amanatun, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

摘要

While the state plays important role in actively transforming the communities into a condition that they imagined as developed, some persistences are taking place at the micro level. Our short ethnographic observation among the Dawan at the village of Oinlasi, South Amanatun, East Nusa Tenggara revealed the dynamics of ume kbubu, the traditional house of the Timorese, that has experienced some changes as consequence of the introduction of healthful housing program commenced by the Ministry of Health some fifty years ago. We examined that this program, along with other development packages, have changed the traditional life of the communities there; however we also witnessed that communities were actually response to the changes. These traditional houses are in some cases built with modern materials, equipped with electricity, and used only as a kitchen while the family live in a modern-healthful housing nearby. It is our conclusion that the ume kbubu as we seen today is neither traditional or modern house but a hybrid configuration of knowledge that show friction in the process of development.