The Genealogical Model of Savu, Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

The Savu archipelago in the Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) had little to offer in the past in terms of valuable goods like spices, resins, or precious wood (for example, sandalwood) and was bypassed by the traders. Largely overlooked by Portuguese and Dutch colonial powers that were active in the region, the people of Savu maintained their ancestral religion (Jingi Tiu) and traditional ways of life until recently when mass conversions to a world religion started in the 1970s. There has been little published research about the Savu people and their way of life except for the work of James Fox (1977; 1979) and Nico Kana (1978; 1983). Savu appeared to be an excellent field to research memory processes in a society that until recently had not written down its traditions.