Title: Work well and guard your honour?: Exploring temporary labour migration and the role of adolescent women in eastern IndonesiaSubmitted by: Margaret J. Florey, School of Humanities, University of Newcastle and Chris Healey, School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management, Northern Territory University, AustraliaIn this paper we provide a preliminary analysis of the nature of female labour migration from a village of the interior of Seram Island, eastern Indonesia. We examine the impact which pressures of modernisation and incorporation into the modern Indonesian state have had on the organisation of social relations and patterns of social reproduction in the Alune-speaking village of Lohiasapalewa. In this site, temporary labour migration overwhelmingly involves young unmarried women, who are thus afforded greater opportunities than young men of gaining knowledge of, and experience in dealing with the wider world. However, the nature and duration of women's employment away from home means that they make little contribution to the maintenance of parents and siblings who remain in the village. In contrast, the experience of the wider world gained by young men is mostly in the context of high school and further education, and participation in village oriented church and government projects. The different experiences of men and women points to the emergence of tensions in gender roles. In this paper we explore some of the demographics of this unusual pattern of labour migration, and the perceptions of village elders of threats to village viability entailed in female outmigration. Of particular importance for our analysis are the narratives of young women describing their experiences beyond the village. We conclude with brief comments on the impact of ongoing sectarian violence in Maluku on village labour migration. Return to Abstracts menuCarol Burnett Phone: 61 - 3 - 9349 1899 Email: c.burnett@asialink.unimelb.edu.au
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