Anthropology in Indonesia

Author(s): Koentjaraningrat
Source: Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Sep., 1987, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Sep., 1987), pp.
217-234
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of Department of History,
National University of Singapore

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Vol. XVIII, No. 2 Journal of Southeast Asian Studies September 1987

Anthropology in Indonesia

KOENTJARANINGRAT

I. ANTHROPOLOGY IN INDONESIA BEFORE WORLD WAR II

Records on Indonesian Peoples and Cultures

The development of anthropology in Indonesia is based on a vast accumulation of records
on Indonesian peoples and cultures left by foreign visitors who had come to the islands
from time immemorial. Compared to the records left by the Chinese, Indians, and Arab
merchants who had visited the islands centuries ago, those left by the earliest Western
Europeans (travellers, sailors, missionaries, translators of the Bible, explorers, and the
Dutch colonial civil servants) are the most important.
On the vast amount of records mentioned above there are over 40 bibliographies, of
which a list is included in Gids van de Nederland Aanwezige Bronnen Betreffende de Ges
chiedenis van Nederlandsch-lndi?IIndon?sie 1816-19421 compiled by F.G.P. Jacquet,2
and also in a textbook on social research methodology by Koentjaraningrat.3 Another list
of those bibliographies is therefore unnecessary in this paper. It should, however,
be noted that the earliest writings are not very useful for scientific studies because
of their dubious qualities. The Dutch scientific interest in Indonesia indeed did not
start until the second half of the 19th century. Beginning from that period the Dutch
government required an extensive knowledge of the main languages and cultures
of the peoples in Indonesia, from the civil servants and military officers who intended
to make a career in the colonial service. Their interest in the Indonesian languages,
peoples, and cultures had stimulated an intensive collection of data on those matters, and
consequently the development of a complex of social sciences called Indologie. Although
in a subsequent stage of her development the various specializations of Indologie could
not be kept concentrated in one hand, the discipline was characterized by a minimum
of differentiation. Only three branches of specializations have developed, i.e. the
studies with a dominant literary-historical orientation, those with a dominant socio
political orientation, and those which are dominantly oriented on socio-economic
problems.
In the period before the war, anthropology or ethnology in the restricted sense did
exist, and it is usually considered to belong to the first group of studies. However, many

lOr "Guide to the Sources in the Netherlands Concerning the History of the Netherlands Indies/
Indonesia, 1816-1942".
2F.G.P. Jacquet, Gids van de Nederland Aanwezige Bronnen Betreffende de Geschiedenis van Neder
landsch-Indi?lIndon?sie 1816-1942, Vols. I-X (Leiden: KITLV, 1968).
3Koentjaraningrat, Metodologi Penelitian Masyarakat (Jakarta: Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia,
1973), pp. 44-50.

217

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218 Koentjaraningrat

of the studies that can today be considered anthropology, such as the study of adatJaw,
or the study of rural economics, was at the time considered to belong to the second and
third categories of studies, respectively.
The Dutch specialists in Indologie have tried to achieve an understanding of the
peoples and cultures in Indonesia mainly through the normative approach, i.e. by looking
for basic principles and established norms of the cultural system, and thereby using
speculative and deductive comparative methods of investigation. As a consequence they
often had to consider and take a look into the older phases of the culture, and their
interest in the problem of socio-cultural change was therefore relatively small.
Before World War II, the centers of Indonesian studies were mainly the universities,
and scientific institutes and associations in Holland. In Indonesia, they were also mainly
in the hands of Dutch scholars, as hardly any Indonesian with a university degree had
then taken up an academic career. They generally went into the civil service, but the
outstanding roles of several Indonesian academics in the development of Indonesian
studies could not be overlooked. A more detailed presentation of the development
of Indologie is considered unnecessary, because a number of books and articles have
been written on the development of various branches of Indonesian studies, e.g. the
development of adat law studies by C. van Vollenhoven4 and by J. Prins;5 on the develop
ment of Indonesian anthropology by R. Kennedy,6 G.J. Held,7 A.G. Gerbrands,8P.E. de
Josselin de Jong,9 and Koentjaraningrat;10 on the development of sociology by H.J.
Heeren;11 whereas a review of government surveys on agrarian problems, household
budget studies and population studies are included in a book on the development of
statistics in Indonesia by E.A. van de Graaf.12

II. INDONESIAN ANTHROPOLOGY AFTER WORLD WAR II

Research Activities by Dutchmen

After Indonesia gained its independence after World War II, Dutch Indologie never
resumed its previously glorious position. Before the war the Dutch indologists were sent
to Indonesia as civil servants where they were placed in up to the smallest sub-district
towns throughout the country. The close and continuous contacts which they developed
with the population enabled them to observe and study them from nearby. Moreover, the
high quality of their academic training made them qualified to carry out adequate social
research. However, this opportunity ceased when Indonesia became independent.

4C. van Vollenhoven, De Ontdekking van hetAdatrecht (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1928).

5 J. Prins, "De Nederlanders en het Indonesische Adatrecht", in Tijdschrift van de Vrije Universiteit van
Br?ssel, IV (1962).
6R. Kennedy, Applied Anthropology in the Dutch East Indies, Series 2, VI, 5 (New York: Transactions
of the New York Academy of Science, 1949).
7G. J. Held, "Applied Anthropology in Government: The Netherlands", in Anthropology Today, ed.
A.L. Kroeber (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1953), pp. 866-79.
8A. G. Gerbrands, "La Situation Actuelle de l'Anthropologie Culturelle en Hollande", in Recherche et
Dialogues Philosophique et Economiques (Paris: Cahiers de l'Institut de Science Economique Appliqu?,
1959).
9P. E. de Josselin de Jong, "Cultural Anthropology in the Netherlands", in Higher Education and
Research in the Netherlands IV (1960): 3-16.
10Koentjaraningrat, Anthropology in Indonesia. A Bibliographical Review (Leiden: KITLV, 1975).
UH. J. Heeren, "Recente Sociologische Literatuur over Indon?sie", in Sociologische Gids III (1965): 179
86.
12E. A. van de Graaf, De Statistiek in Indonesia (Bandung: W. van Hoeve, 1955).

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Anthropology in Indonesia 219

A number of studies in adat law and anthropology, published by the Dutch civil
servants after World War II, can be considered to be continuations of their studies which
they had already started before the war broke out. Some of the best examples of such
studies are those done by G.J. Held on the social structure of the Waropen Papuans
of the Cenderawasih (formerly Geelvink) Bay in West Irian,13 by H. Bouman on the
development of Indonesian nationalism in West Sumatra,14 by H.Th. Chabot on the
kinship and social system of the Makassarese of the Boronglo? adat area in South
Sulawesi,15 and by H.J. Burger on structural changes in Javanese society.
During 1957-58 most of the Dutch scholars left Indonesia, due to the strained relations
between both countries following the West Irian issue. Indonesia then became closed
territory for the Dutch scholars, and Indologie was since then only able to study her
subject from a distance. Indologie therefore became only part of Niet-Westersche
Sociologie (Sociology of Non-Western Societies). As the younger generations of Dutch
men lost their interest in Indonesia, Indonesian studies was carried out only by a small
group of an older generation of indologists who had in general been in civil service or
had an academic career in Indonesia before the war broke out.
Whereas their interest in Indonesia decreased rapidly after 1958, the Dutch interest
in West Irian increased rapidly compared to the situation before the war, when West
Irian was also part of their colonial empire. After 1950, many of the research activities
? especially in the field of anthropology ? were organized or sponsored by Kantoor
voor Bevolkingszaken in Kotabaru (now called Jayapura). This research station was
established by the first governor after the war had ended, J. van Baal, who is also a
renowned anthropologist.16
In 1963, the West Irian issue was solved, and relations between Indonesia and Holland
improved. Although very slowly, interest in Indonesia was resumed in the academic
circles in Holland. Until about 1968, this interest was still a continuation of that which
prevailed before the war. Currently, however, Dutch interest in Indonesia has also grown
among the younger generation of scholars.

Research Activities by American and Other Foreign Scholars

After the war American anthropologists became especially interested in Indonesia than
they ever did before. It was part of their general interest in postwar Southeast Asia, and
there were at least three important centers in the United States which organized
anthropological research in Indonesia: i.e. Cornell University, Massachussetts Institute
of Technology, and Yale University.17
The Department of Far Eastern Studies of Cornell University had a Southeast Asia
Programme that carried out research and trained specialists through a Ph.D. programme
on that area. An important part of the programme was the Modern Indonesia Project

,3G. J. Held, De Papoea's van Waropen (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1947).

,4H. Bouman, Enige Beschouwingen over de Ontwikkeling van het Indonesisch Nationalisme op Sumatra's
Westkust (Batavia: J.B. Wolters, 1949).
,5H. Th. Chabot, Verwantschap, Standen Sexe in Zuid Celebes (Djakarta: J. P. Wolters, 1950).
,6J. van Baal, K. W. Galis and Koentjaraningrat, A Critical Survey of Studies on Irian Jay a (Leiden:
KITLV).
17A survey of the first period of the development of Indonesian Studies in America is included in four
articles by A von Marie: "Mededeling Betreffende Indon?sie op Amerikaanse Universiteiten" in Indon?sie
IX-X. IX: 418-20, 524-26; X:172-73, 433-35. See also G. McT. Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution in
Indonesia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1952), and B.D. Dohrenwend, Courses Related to Southeast
Asia in American Colleges and Universities, 1955-56 (Ithaca, 1957).

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 220 Koentjaraningrat

directed by G.McT. Kahin, a political scientist and author o? Nationalism and Revolution
in Indonesia.18 Although political science and history seemed to have dominated the
programme, there was sufficient input from the side of anthropologists, such as R.
Textor 's study on community development,19 and D.E. Willmott's study on the Chinese
of Semarang.20 There were also a number of Indonesian anthropologists who studied
under the programme for the M.A. or Ph.D. degrees.
Another important center for Indonesian studies was the Center for International
Studies of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, whose objective was the study of
postwar international problems, including the cultural, economic, and political aspects.
Within the framework, three countries had become the special focus of attention: Italy,
India and Indonesia. The coordinator for the programme on Indonesia was the
economist B. Higgins. Although its main focus was economic and political development,
the trend of thinking that emerged in the late 1950's concerning the non-economic
obstacles of economic development of which Higgins was one of its early proponents, had
stimulated intensive study on the socio-cultural aspects of the Indonesian society. The
most important anthropological and sociological research project sponsored by MIT
in Indonesia is the one known as the Modjokuto Study. A team consisting of anthro
pologists and sociologists studied a small town called Pare in East Java under the
leadership of a linguist, R. Handon. Pare is the town which the team have given the
assumed name Modjokuto. All the members of the team wrote their Ph.D. theses
on data obtained in "Modjokuto": C. Geertz on the religion in Modjokuto;21 Hildred
Geertz on the kinship system;22 E. J. Ryan on the cultural value orientation of the Chinese
of Modjokuto;23 A.C. Dewey on the small market economy;24 and R.R. Jay on local
small town politics.25 Although most of them have also written a number of other articles
in addition to their dissertations,26 the one who produced the longest list of books and
articles on various aspects of the Modjokuto data, with special reference to the socio
cultural and religious aspects of economic development was C. Geertz.27 He has also

18G. McT. Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia.

19R. B. Textor, Notes on Indonesian Villagers' Participation in Programs to Modernize Rural Life (Ithaca,
1954).
20D. E. Willmott, The National Status of the Chinese in Indonesia, Interim Report Series No. 1, Modern
Indonesia Project (Ithaca: Cornell University, 1956); The Chinese Family System in Central Java (Ph.D.
dissertation, Cornell University, 1957); The Chinese of Semarang: A Changing Minority Community in
Indonesia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1960).
21C. Geertz, The Religion of Java (Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1960).
22H. Geertz, The Javanese Family: A Study of Kinship and Socialization (Glencoe: The Free Press, 1961).
23E. J. Ryan, "The Value Systems of a Chinese Community in Java" (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard Univer
sity, 1961).
24A.C. Dewey, "Trade and Social Control in Java", Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute XII
(1962): 177-90.
25R. R. Jay, "Local Government in Rural Central Java", Far Eastern Quarterly XV (1956): 215-27;
Religion and Politics in Rural Central Java, Cultural Report Series No. 12 (New Haven: Southeast Asian
Studies, Yale University, 1963).
26R. R. Jay, Javanese Villagers: Society and Politics in Rural Modjokerto (Glencoe: The Free Press,
1963); A.C. Dewey, "Trade and Sociology Control in Java", Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
CXII: 177-90.
27C. Geertz, "The Social Context of Economic Change: An Indonesian Case Study" (Cambridge, Mass.:
M.I.T., 1956) (mimeographed manuscript); The Development of Javanese Economy. A Socio-Cultural
Approach (Cambridge: M.I.T., 1956); "Religious Beliefs and Economic Behaviour in a Central Javanese
Town: Some Preliminary Considerations", Economic Development and Culture Change IV (1956): 134-58;
"Ethos, World View and the Analysis of Sacred Symbols", Antioch Review XVII (1957); The Religion of

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Anthropology in Indonesia 111

written on the results of his second Indonesian field work in Bali.28 Most of his works have
been extensively discussed, not only in America but also in Dutch and Indonesian social
science journals, whereas a critical appraisal of the main theme of his work is included in
H. J. Heeren's review article on Indonesian sociology, and in Koentjaraningrat's book,
Anthropology in Indonesia.29
Yale's interest in Indonesia dated back from the period when R. Kennedy of the
Department of Anthropology compiled the Bibliography of Indonesian Peoples and
Cultures before the war.30 After the war Yale also had a Southeast Asian Programme, of
which the geographer K.J. Pelzer became its director. Before the war this scholar had
done work on resettlement programmes in Indonesia and the Philippines, and has written
a book on the subject, called Pioneer Settlements in the Asiatic Tropics?1 Later Pelzer did
another economic-geographic study in East Sumatra.32 More information on the works of
scholars connected with Yale University, e.g. C. Cunningham, L. Pospisil, E.M. Bruner,
and F. L. Cooley, but also of other American anthropologists, is included in Koentja
raningrat's aforementioned book.33
The Human Relations Area Files is naturally also interested in Southeast Asia and
Indonesia. In a series of publications called Survey of World Cultures, a large volume on
various aspects of contemporary Indonesia, has appeared under the editorship of R.T.
McVey,34 with Hildred Geertz writing the anthropological chapter. A more strictly infor
mative ethnographic volume on most Indonesian ethnic groups is volume I of Ethnic
Groups of Insular Southeast Asia, edited by F. M. Lebar.35
Besides the Dutch and American scholars, there were also Australian, British,
German, French, Canadian and Japanese anthropologists who conducted research in
various parts of Indonesia. Especially since 1967, their number has increased.
After 1974, an increase of the number of administrative requirements and restrictions
has caused a drawback of extensive research done by foreign scholars.36 There are now
Dutch, American and Australian anthropologists who are doing research in the frame
Java (Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1960); Agricultural Involution: The Process of Ecological Change in
Indonesia (Berkeley, 1963); Peddlers and Princes: Social Change and Economic Modernization in Two
Indonesian Towns (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963); The Social History of an Indonesian Town
(Cambridge, 1965).
28C. Geertz, "Form and Variation in Balinese Village Structure", American Anthropologist LIX (1959):
32-54; '"Internal Conversion' in Contemporary Java", in Malayan and Indonesian Studies, ed. J. Bastin and
R. Roolvink (Oxford University Press, 1964), pp. 282-302.
29Comments on Geerts' principal book The Religion of Java are those written by Soedjito Sosrodihardjo,
"Religious Life in Java", in Sosiografi Indonesia dan Hukum Adat (Jogyakarta: Yayasan Pembina Hukum
Adat, 1963), pp. 17-31; Koentjaraningrat, "Review: 'The Religion of Java' by Clifford Geertz", Madjalah
Ilmu-Ilmu Sastra Indonesia I (1963): 188-91; Harsja W. Bachtiar, "The Religion of Java: A Commentary",
Madjalah Ilmu-Ilmu Sastra Indonesia V (1973): 85-118.
30R. Kennedy, Bibliography of Indonesian Peoples and Cultures (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 1948).
31 K. J. Pelzer, Pioneer Settlements in the Asiatic Tropics (New York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1949).
32K. J. Pelzer, "The Agrarian Conflict in East Sumatra", Pacific Affairs XXX (1957): 151-59.
33Koentjaraningrat, Anthropology in Indonesia, pp. 191-209.
34Ruth McVey (ed.), Indonesia (New Haven: HRAF Press, 1963).
35F. M. Lebar, "Indonesia, Andaman Islands and Madagascar", in Ethnic Groups of Insular Southeast
Asia, I, ed. F. M. Lebar (New Haven: HRAF Press, 1972).
36Before 1974, it was possible for scholars to apply for a long-term research visa on a personal basis, by
submitting an application to the Indonesian Institute for Sciences (Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia
or LIPI), including a detailed research proposal, a curriculum vitae, and the usual letters of recommenda
tion. Today, after the initial approval of the project by LIPI, the application has to be checked by other
government agencies.

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 222 Koentjaraningrat

of established programmes of cooperation between Indonesian academic or government

institutes and similar institutes in their respective countries. The increased control on
research activities by non-Indonesians was initially caused by the behaviour of certain
foreign research workers, but also because among the Indonesian social scientists them
selves the feeling of self competence to do social science research was also rising.

Research Activities by Indonesians

The anthropologist G.J. Held wrote in 1953 that: ". . . all scientific research in
Indonesia is done by Europeans".37 This is understandable as the teaching staff of the
University of Indonesia was at that time still predominantly Dutch. However, at The Gad
jah Mada University anthropology and sociology were taught by an Indonesian professor,
M.M. Djojodigoeno, who belonged to the first generation of Indonesian professors,
whose occupations were before the war generally in the civil service. Djojodigoeno has
compiled data on adat private law of Central Java in cooperation with another adat law
scholar, Tirtawinata.38 He was therefore able to stimulate an atmosphere of research
among the staff members and students of the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Political
Science of Gadjah Mada University.
The committee Panitya Social Research (subsequently transferred into Lembaga
Sosiografi dan Hukum Adat, or Institute for Sociography and Adat Law), organized the
research activities, with the results being published (mimeographed) as papers or
included in the journal Sosiografi Indonesia. Some of the most important articles on their
research findings (around 30 articles) are: those written by Soedjito Sosrodihardjo, who
has paid special attention to Javanese rural religion and leadership;39 articles by Pandam
Guritno, who studied social pathology and child health in rural Java;40 and by Masri
Singarimbun, who had done research in the Karo Batak area of North Sumatra.41 In 1962,
Singarimbun obtained the opportunity to study anthropology at the Australian National
University, where he completed his dissertation, "Kinship and Affinal Relations Among
the Karo of North Sumatra".42

III. THE TEACHING OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT INDONESIAN UNIVERSITIES

The Department of Anthropology of the University of Indonesia

In the early 1950's, the years immediately after independence, Introductory

Anthropology was taught at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta as a complementary
37W. J. Thomas, Jr. and A.W. Pikelis, International Directory of Anthropological Institutions (New York:
Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc., 1953).
38Together they published the voluminous book, Het Adat Privaat Recht van Middel Java (1940).
39Soedjito Sosrodihardjo, Kedudukan pemimpin Dalam Masjarakat Desa (Jogjakarta: Lembaga Sosio
grafi dan Hukum Adat, 1956).
40Pandam Guritno, Masyarakat Marangan (Jogjakarta: Panitya Social Research Universitas Gadjah
Mada, 1958); "Beberapa Data mengenai Perkawinan di Desa Marangan Djawa Tengah", Sociografi
Indonesia I (1959): 59-74; "Beberapa Hasil Penjelidikan Tentang Kehidupan Perkawinan", Medan Ilmu
Pengetahuan I (1960): 230-44; "Social Pathology and Child Health in Jogjakarta", in Sociografi Indonesia
dan Hukum Adat (Jogjakarta: Jajasan Pembina Hukum Adat, 1963), pp. 8?15; "A Cross-Cultural Study of
Divorce, With Special Reference to a Javanese Village in Jogjakarta, Central Java" (M.A. thesis, Cornell
University, 1964).
41M. Singarimbun, "Marga dan Kekerabatan Pada Sukubangsa Karo", in Sociografi Indonesia I (1959):
31-74.
42M. Singarimbun, "Kinship and Affinal Relations Among the Karo of North Sumatra" (Ph.D. disserta
tion, Australian National University, 1963).

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Anthropology in Indonesia 223

subject at the Law School and at the Faculty of Letters. The persons who taught this
subject were all Dutchmen/women: two lecturers and a professor in anthropology.
Among the Indonesian academics there was a divided opinion: one group was more in
favour of sociology, and the other group favoured anthropology. The ones who belonged to
the first group considered anthropology inappropriate for a growing country, which they
thought should look into the future instead of pay attention to its backward, primitive,
and static aspects. The earlier mentioned first postwar Indonesian professor in sociology
at the University of Indonesia, T.S.G. Moelia, for example, expressed this very feeling
in an article.43 He also regarded anthropology to be based on colonial interest. The
group of academics who favoured anthropology, however, recognized the importance
of anthropology as a means of acquiring knowledge of and insight into an area with a
large diversity of ethnic groups, while they also recognized the advantages of the
anthropological method of qualitative inquiry and observation in socio-cultural research
in a country with a large portion of illiterates and peasants among its population.
The second group has been able to demonstrate the significance of anthropology for
the study of national integration, which was a problem of first priority during the first
decade after Indonesia's independence. Therefore, in 1956, two Indonesians who had
received anthropological training abroad (one in Holland and one in the United States)
became available, a plan to establish a Department of Anthropology at the University of
Indonesia was being considered. This was soon afterwards materialized as a division of
the Faculty of Literature.
This structural arrangement goes back to the early Dutch academic tradition, when
anthropology was considered to be part of the more literary-historical orientation of
Indonesian studies mentioned above; therefore it is more closely related to the study of
Indonesian languages, literature and cultural history. The more American orientation
that subsequently developed in Indonesian anthropology favoured a more socio-cultural
orientation. Beginning with the academic year 1983-84, the Department of Anthro
pology was moved into the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Today, in 1983, the Department of Anthropology of the University of Indonesia has
reached a stage that it can offer a five-year undergraduate training program in general
cultural anthropology to over 200 students, an additional two-year graduate programme
in five anthropological specializations to 30 graduate students, and a doctoral programme
to 11 candidates. The teaching staff consists of 23 lecturers, seven of them holding a Ph. D.
degree, and among them there are three full professors.

Anthropology Departments in Other Universities

Because the Department of Anthropology of the University of Indonesia has already
in the early 1960's been assigned the task to establish and develop anthropology depart
ments in other provincial universities throughout the country, the pace of its own
development has naturally been retarded. It had to share its staff as well as its resources,
as lecturers of the Department were to teach at the affiliated provincial universities on a
rotating basis, or had to teach there at regular intervals during the academic years. This
system prevailed until the affiliated departments obtained the capacity to offer an
undergraduate programme of its own.
In 1962, an affiliated Department of Anthropology was established at the Gadjah
Mada University in Yogyakarta, and another one at Cendrawasih University in Jay apura

43T.S.G. Moelia, "Indonesische Sociologie", Cultured Nieuws XI (1951): 28-32.

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 224 Koentjaraningrat

(West Irian). In 1964 a Department of Anthropology was established in the same way
at Sam Ratulangie University in Manado (North Sulawesi) and in 1969 at Udayana
University in Denpasar.44
Up to now, the Department of Anthropology of Cendrawasih University is still being
nurtured, and in the meantime the burden of the Department of Anthropology of the
University of Indonesia has been added by taking up the responsibility of two more
affiliated departments, i.e. at the Hasanuddin University in Ujung Pandang (South
Sulawesi) and the University of North Sumatra in Medan. Also with those embryonic
departments the Department of Anthropology of the University of Indonesia has to share
its staff and resources.

The Nature of Anthropology Courses at Indonesian Universities

There are two kinds of training in anthropology at Indonesian universities. The first
one consists of a 72-hour, two semester course in introductory anthropology, and
another 72-hour, two semester course on anthropology of Indonesia. This kind of training
is offered at law schools, at the Academy for Military Law, at most of the departments
of Faculties of Social Science (Department of Political Science, Department of Public
Administration, Department of Publicity, Department of Communication, Department
of Social Works, Department of Criminology, and Department of Sociology); at three
Departments of Faculties of Letters (Department of Indonesian Languages and Litera
ture, Department of Linguistics, Department of History); at Faculties of Psychology; at
Faculties of Public Health; at teachers colleges; at institutes for Islamic theology; at
divinity schools; and at Catholic seminaries.
The courses are meant to give lawyers, social scientists, linguists, historians,
psychologists, public health officers, teachers and theologians some insight in the diver
sity of the ethnic cultures in Indonesia, and to provide them with a basis to understand the
ethnic culture of the area where they will be employed. In particular to law students,
anthropology is to help them understand the ways of thinking that form the basis of many
norms in Indonesian adat law in the rural areas.
The other kind of training programme in anthropology offers a full training in the
discipline at the Department of Anthropology, which until 1983 has been part of the
Faculty of Letters. As mentioned earlier this programme offers a five-year undergraduate
training in general cultural anthropology, which leads to a Sarjana 1 (Si) degree.45 An
additional two-year graduate programme offers training in anthropological specialization
that leads to a Sarjana 2 (S2) degree. The Graduate Department of Anthropology of the
University of Indonesia, for example, offers five anthropological specializations, i.e. : (1)
Anthropology of Indonesia;46 (2) Medical Anthropology; (3) Anthropological Ecology;
(4) Economic and Population Anthropology; and (5) Anthropology of Law.
Finally, the most advanced training programme focuses on intensive field work for a
doctoral dissertation, which leads to a degree called Sarjana 3 (S3).47
^For Information on the development of higher education and the establishment of the many state univer
sities in Indonesia, cf. Koenjaraningrat and H. W. Bachtiar, "Higher Education in the Social Sciences in
Indonesia", in Social Sciences in Indonesia (I) (1975): 167-201.
45The term Sarjana means "learned person".
46This programme is offered in cooperation with the University of Leiden, requiring an additional four
years training in the Dutch Language (two years at the University of Indonesia, and two years at the Univer
sity of Leiden), and in the use of Dutch ethnographic sources (published, unpublished, as well as archival
materials).
47Most of the S3 graduates still use the universal academic title of Doctor (Dr).

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Anthropology in Indonesia 225

The courses of the undergraduate programme in general cultural anthropology may be

classified into four categories, as follows:
1. Courses in main subjects, which include: Introductory Anthropology, Kinship
Systems, Social Organization, Peasant Communities, Religious Systems;
Ethnography of Indonesia and Irian, Ethnolinguistics, Introductory Sociology,
Pre-history of Indonesia, Introductory Physical Anthropology, Research Method
ology, and Basic Statistics. The student has to take all these courses during the
four years of his undergraduate study.
The main subjects to be taken during the fifth year include: Theoretical An
thropology, Ethnography of Southeast Asia, Anthropology and Development
(Applied Anthropology), and Sociology of Indonesia: all of which to be completed
during seven semesters of class work.
2. Courses in subsidiary subjects, including: ethnographies of other parts of the
world, e.g. Africa, Oceania, America; folklore of Indonesia; Islam in Indonesia;
and ten semesters of these are required in the undergraduate level.
3. Introductory courses in related subjects, including: introduction to economics,
law, psychology, demography, political science, archaeology, linguistics etc.,
to be taken during four years of class work in the undergraduate level.
4. Courses in other subjects. The student may select a total of ten semesters of sub
jects offered at other faculties or schools, e.g. arts, literature, geography, political
science, or languages. Of those subjects, six should be language courses, which
could be any of the Indonesian ethnic languages other than the student's own, or
any Asian or European language other than English.48

If we consider the main features of the curriculum explained above, we notice that the
main focus is on social anthropology of the geographic area of Indonesia (although
another focus on Southeast Asia as a whole and another one on East Asia, is being
planned), including detailed factual knowledge of the most important ethnic cultures,
qualitative as well as quantitative research methodology, introductory knowledge of
related disciplines, some knowledge of other disciplines, and introductory knowledge of
other cultures of the principal areas of the globe. Other Indonesian or foreign languages,
especially Asian languages, and anthropological theory and concepts are taught at the
graduate level.
The curriculum discussed above is currently only followed by the Department of
Anthropology of the University of Indonesia. Those of the other six universities are still
unable to follow this curriculum. Those departments have their own regional character,
and train people to become experts in their respective regional ethnic culture and society,
its features and problems, but have little capacity to study other Indonesian cultures.49
Because of their weaknesses in anthropological theory and concepts, they are also only
capable of doing data collecting.

The Teaching Staff

As mentioned earlier, the courses in introductory anthropology given during two semes
ters at Law Schools, Faculties of Social Sciences, Faculties of Letters etc., are taught
^In 1970, only a limited number of foreign languages were offered at the University of Indonesia, i.e.
Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Dutch, German, French, Tagalog and Thai.
49Only occasionally, when they have students from other regions who are native speakers and participants
of the languages and cultures of the regions concerned, can they assign papers or theses on those other
regions.

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226 Koentjaraningrat

at all the state universities (there are more than 42 of them), at a number of schools for
theology, and at the private universities all over the country, which number over the 200.
These courses are given by lecturers who are generally not anthropologists. These
lecturers are usually graduates of the respective schools and departments, who had
obtained good grades for the compulsory courses in introductory anthropology when
they were students. After they had graduated, they were appointed as assistants to the
lecturers who taught the course. Eventually the older generation of lecturers would be
succeeded by their assistants when they retired or left the academic profession. The
continuous repetition of some of the lecture notes explains the striking uniformity of
those lectures throughout the country, which I observed when I conducted a survey on the
state of anthropology and sociology throughout Indonesia.
Many of the lecturers have naturally improved their knowledge in anthropology
through their own efforts and occasional reading, but their comprehension of the discip
line remains limited. Those who have had the opportunity to study anthropology abroad
or who have had their training at one of the Departments of Anthropology in Indonesia
are, of course, an exception. Table 1 presents the number of anthropologists in Indonesia
in 1985. The category "Other" under national training refers to those who did not have
a full training in anthropology mentioned above, and had only taken a course in introduc
tory anthropology.

TABLE 1
THE NUMBER OF ANTHROPOLOGISTS IN INDONESIA
1985

Training Number of Anthropologists

Domestic : Sarjana 1 160
Sarjana 2 15
Dr. 16
Other 96

Overseas : MA 9
Dr., Ph.D. 4

Exclusively overseas : MA, Drs. ?

Dr. 1
Note: Some of the anthropologists classified under "Overseas" may have had a domestic
Sj degree. On the other hand, there are S^ degree lecturers who have had some
additional non-degree training abroad. These are classified under "Domestic".

Anthropological Textbooks, Teaching Materials and Libraries

The lack of adequate textbooks, readings, and other teaching materials is a principal
weakness in Indonesian universities in general, and in the training in anthropology in
particular. The only place where for reasons of library facilities an anthropology depart
ment can actually set up a doctoral programme is Jakarta. The undergraduate student
usually finds the needed material for his study in the libraries of their respective faculties.

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Anthropology in Indonesia 227

Because their number is still limited, graduate students are still able to make use of the
libraries which include specialized anthropological journals, owned by their lecturers and
professors.50 The national library in Jakarta has the best prewar collection on Indonesian
cultures, societies and languages, and so do the national archives and the National Center
for Documentation, which are all located in Jakarta.
Departments of Anthropology in other cities, however, do not have access to adequate
libraries, whereas their own university library is usually below any minimal standard.

Occupation of Anthropologists in Indonesia

Since the past decade there is an increasing demand for anthropologists. In general
their main occupation is at the various universities and the schools for higher learning
mentioned above; but since the establishment of various government universities as well
as private institutes for socio-cultural or economic research in the 1970's, to many
becoming a research worker is another important occupation. I have also noticed that in
the national planning bureau as well as in a number of provincial ones, anthropologists
are employed as consultants on the socio-cultural aspects of development. There are a
number of anthropologists who have become consultants in the Bureau for the Coordina
tion of Family Planning, whereas many have only become civil servants. An important
occupation, not only in Jakarta but particularly in the provinces is work in museums. Last
but not least, Indonesian anthropologists also proved to be excellent journalists.

IV. ANTHROPOLOGY AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Applied Anthropology
Before the war, anthropology in the broader sense did not only include ethnography
and ethnology but also the study of adat law and the study of agricultural and peasant
economics of the various ethnic groups in Indonesia. The results of these studies were
utilized by the colonial administration to administer the country.
However, after the Second World war, working closely together with sociology,
anthropology has studied problems of nation building, which, in a developing country
like Indonesia, is considered "urgent anthropology". Therefore, the meaning of this
term differs significantly from that perceived in developed countries, where "urgent
anthropology" is considered to be the study of vanishing cultures due to culture change.
When Indonesia became fully committed to economic and national development
after 1965, anthropological research activities were also oriented towards a number of
important problems, such as those in the areas of: (1) community development, (2) popu
lation dynamics, (3) ecology and environmental problems, (4) national integration, (5)
education, (6) socio-cultural change, and (7) administrative reform. These research
activities were relevant for anthropological research projects, and were best approached
and analyzed by anthropological or sociological concepts and methodology.

Problems of Community Development

The problems of community development are basically anthropological or sociological
ones. Although on the surface they concern illiteracy campaigns, the introduction of new
techniques of agricultural production, peasant labour, marketing, agricultural services,
50In Indonesia it is customary that university lecturers and professors lend the books and articles to their
students to read. Those books and articles are then photocopied by the students.

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 228 Koentjaraningrat

cooperatives, crops in the subsistence, cash crops, as well as estate sectors, public health,
and ecology, the core of the problems, however, concern the change of traditional value
orientations. Many routine surveys on illiteracy, illiteracy campaigns, and the results and
consequences of these activities, have been carried out by the Ministry of Education of
the Republic of Indonesia. Numerous studies that relate to the other rural problems have
been carried out by the rural sociologists of the Center of Research in Rural Sociology;
those at village level have been done by the Ministry of Interior, and other programmes
for the study of rural problems, such as the Agro-Economic Survey51 have been carried
out by many of the students of various faculties of social sciences as well as Departments
of Anthropology who need the data for their sarjana examination papers (Skripsi
Sarjana).

The Study of Population Problems

These problems concern resettlement programmes (transmigrasi), control of urbaniza
tion, unemployment and disguised unemployment; and are areas where anthropological
research has contributed much to reach an understanding. Also in research that con
cerned the socio-cultural'aspects of family planning, always a main project in all three
National Development programmes (PELITA I, II and III) managed by the government
agency called the Badan Koordinasi Keluarga Berencana Nasional (BKKBN)52 since 1979,
anthropologists have played a dominant role. The head of the Center for Population
Studies of Gadjah Mada University, for example, is the anthropologist Masri Singarim
bun; whereas the Department of Anthropology of the University of Indonesia offers the
graduate training programme in economic and population anthropology.
Indonesian sociologists have also made some contribution to family planning research,
although mainly on the knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP studies) of family
planning among the population, for which they work together with public health officers.
The anthropologists, however, have mainly studied indigenous midwives, the status of
women in family and kinship systems, the household composition at various places in
Java53 whereas excellent studies on the problems mentioned above and other studies
relating to the socio-cultural aspects of fertility, have been conducted by anthropologists
who had participated in the so-called Serpong Project. This joint project between the
University of Indonesia and the University of Leiden, to study and evaluate traditional as
well as contemporary contraceptive methods, the significance of the rural public health
clinics for the follow-up of acceptors, and the total complex of socio-cultural factors which
interfere with or stimulate family planning, was carried out in a district to the west of
Jakarta, called Serpong. A series of over 20 reports have been published, among which
the most outstanding are those on the role of traditional midwives in rural Jakarta
communities.54 There is a remarkable study which focuses on the role of women in family

51Information on the history, objectives, organization and affiliations of Agro-Economic Survey is

included in articles by Sajogya, the First Director of the project: Summary of Agro-Economic Activities from
September 1963 to October 1969 (New York: The Agricultural Development Council, 1969); "Penelitian
Ilmu-Ilmu Sosial dan Aplikasinya", in Metodologi Penelitian Masyarakat, Koentjaraningrat (ed.) (Jakarta:
LIPI, 1973), pp. 423-53; E. de Vries, "The Economic Survey of Indonesia", in Bulletin of Indonesia
Economic Studies V (1969): 73-77.
52The name of the agency means: National Agency for the Coordination of Family Planning Programmes.
53BKKBN, LP3ES, PKBI, Kumpulan Ichtisar Hasil-Hasil Penelitian Keluarga Berentjana 1961-1972
(Jakarta: BKKBN, LP3ES, PKBI, 1972), pp. 60-71, 79-80, 82-85.
54F. Lubis, A. Bokent-Niehof and Pudjiastuti, Laporan Survey Dukun Bayi di Kecamatan Serpong
(Jakarta: Universitas Indonesia, 1973).

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Anthropology in Indonesia 229

planning in Indonesia, carried out in seven areas in Sumatra, Java and Bali, by a team of
women anthropologists and sociologists. Other remarkable studies on the value of
children in peasant households, the participation of women in the labour force, the
postponement of the marriageable age among peasants, were conducted in joint projects
under the auspices of the Center for Population Studies of Gadjah Mada University.55

Ecology
The rapid increase of population growth and the necessary increasing of the utilization
of contemporary technology for rapid economic development in Indonesia, have had a
negative effect on the ecosystems, and the need for an immediate economic gain has
lately led to an unbalanced exploitation of easily available natural resources.56 The
Indonesian government, however, has already in its Second Five Year National Develop
ment Plan (initiated in 1974) recognized the necessity of better resource management
policies for environmental protection and preservation. One of the recent implementa
tions of that policy is the establishment of centers for environmental studies in many of
the state universities throughout the country, jointly sponsored by the Ministry of
Environment and the Ministry of Education and Culture.
The most important constraint for the real implementation of those ecological studies
and the development of proper nationwide programmes for environmental management
and protection, however, is the serious shortage of well-trained manpower who are
capable of carrying out the required research on environmental problems and of for
mulating the appropriate programmes for environmental protection and modern
resource management and development.
Along with the conventionally trained biologists who study the natural resource aspects
of environmental problems, other specialists are urgently needed, i.e. the human
ecologists and anthropological ecologists, to study the interactions or mutual influences
between people and their environments. In this connection the Department of
Anthropology of the University of Indonesia has in 1980 offered the two-year graduate
programme in anthropological ecology. With a visiting expatriate staff, the programme
started its first generation of students who were recruited from interested staff members
of provincial universities of various parts of the country. This year a number of very
interesting studies in human ecology have been carried out for their M.A. theses.

National Integration
Interethnic relations and relations between religious collectivities are problems of
great interest to anthropologists, and can be studied in rural as well as in urban situations,

55B. White, "Peranan Anak Dalam Ekonomi Desa", Prisma II/4 (1973): 44-59; "The Economic Impor
tance of Children in a Javanese Village", in Population and Social Organization, ed. Moni Nag (The Hague:
Mouton, 1975); "Production and Reproduction in a Javanese Village" (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia
University, New York, 1976); "Population, Employment and Involution in Rural Java", Development and
Change VII (1976): 267-90; A. Stoler, "Some Socio-Economic Aspects of Rice Harvesting in a Javanese Vil
lage", Masyarakat Indonesia II (1975): 51-87; "Struktur Kelas dan Otonomi Wanita di Pedesaan di Jawa",
in Masyarakat Indonesia IV (1977): 85-110; "Class Structure and Female Autonomy in Rural Java", in
Woman National Development: The Complexities of Change, Wellesley Editorial Committee (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1977), pp. 74-89; T. H. Hull, "Rapid Fertility Decline: A Comment",
Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies XII, 2 (1975): 106-116; T. H. Hull and V. J. Hull, "The Relation
of Economic Class and Fertility: An Analysis of Some Indonesian Data"population XXXI, 1 (1977):43-56.
56For a bibliography on population studies in postwar Indonesia, see M. Singarimbun, The Population of
Indonesia, 1930-1968 (London: International Planned Parenthood Federation, 1969).

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 230 Koentjaraningrat

using qualitative as well as quantitative methods. In this respect, anthropologists can also
be of particular importance in the promotion of a better understanding between the ethnic
groups and between the religious collectivities in Indonesia, by writing contemporary
ethnographies. These can become source books for popular literature, novels, children
books etc., where themes on ethnic customs and beliefs may promote a better under
standing among the peoples of different ethnic groups and different religious com
munities in Indonesia. There is of course a vast ethnographic literature on many of the
ethnic groups of the Indonesian Archipelago; however, most of that literature has now
become obsolete, and due to the fact that it is for the greatest part written in Dutch, it
has become virtually useless to most Indonesian intellectuals under the age of 50.
Moreover, certain areas of Indonesia have never been adequately described. There are
quite a number of gaps in the ethnographic literature of Indonesia, e.g. on the Priangan
Highlands of West Java, i.e. the area of 20 million Sundanese; on the population of the
smaller East Indonesian islands, such as Flores and South Maluku; most of North
Sulawesi; Central and East Kalimantan; the coastal population of Kalimantan; the
Lampung area in South Sumatra; and most of the Malay population of East Sumatra.
Studies to compile ethnographic data can best be carried out within the framework of
Ph.D. study programmes. The dissertation serves as a goal and a stimulator to motivate
graduate students to do the required anthropological field work during which they are to
do intensive observation and do qualitative study of one particular ethnic culture for one
year. From the University of Indonesia two anthropologists have done this kind of
field work, i.e. Junus Melalatoa, whose dissertation is on the Gayo of North Sumatra57
and J. Danandjaja on the non-Hindu Balinese of Trunyan.58 An anthropologist from
Satyawacana University in Salatiga, N. L. Kana, has written his dissertation on a struc
tural ethnography of the people of Sawu.59
The best way to study inter-ethnic relations is in urban environments, where people of
different ethnic backgrounds meet and compete for limited economic, educational, and
political opportunities, or where processes of cultural adjustment, accommodations,
assimilation or amalgamation occur. Such studies have been carried out in Bandung by a
team of anthropologists directed by E. M. Bruner from the University of Illinois, who has
earlier worked on similar problems in the city of Medan. Some interesting reports have
appeared from this study, e.g. by Bruner,60 by ParsudiSuparlan,61 by Hirokoshi,62 and by
DjuwariahUtja.63
The study of relations between religious categories and groups has not yet been done
on the basis of anthropological or sociological approaches. After Geertz's book, The

57Melalatoa, "Paroh Masyarakat Dalam Kebudayaan Gayo" (Dissertation, University of Indonesia,

1983).
58J. Danandjaja, Kebudayaan Petani Desa Trunyan di Bali: Lukisan Analitis Yang Menghubungkan
Praktek Pengasuhan Anak Orang Trunyan Dengan Latarbelakang Etnografisnya (Jakarta: Pustaka Jaya,
1980).
59N. L. Kana, "Dunia Orang Sawu: Satu Lukisan Analitis Tentang Azas-Azas Penataan Dalam
Kebudayaan Orang Mahara di Sawu, Nusa Tenggara Timur" (Dissertation, University of Indonesia, 1978).
WE. W. Bruner, "The Expression of Ethnicity in Indonesia" (Champaign: University of Illinois, 1971)
(mimeographed manuscript).
61Parsudi Suparlan, "The Javanese in Bandung" (Champaign: University of Illinois, 1971) (mimeo
graphed manuscript).
62H. Hirokoshi, "The Changing Ethnic Attitude in an Indonesian City: Bandung" (Champaign: Univer
sity of Illinois, 1971) (mimeographed manuscript).
63Djuwariah Utja, "Sundanese Organization in Pasundan" (Bandung, 1971) (mimeographed manuscript).

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Anthropology in Indonesia 231

Religion of Java, no major study on the anthropology or sociology of religion has ever
been carried out in Indonesia, although some excellent studies have appeared on Islamic
religious education and schools as well as a number of specific studies for doctoral
dissertations in theology,64 such as the one by Schreiner on missionary activities among
the Batak,65 the same by Ukur among the Ngaju of Central Kalimantan,66 or some
data collection on social facts about Christianity as done by F. L. Cooley67 and Widya
pranata.68 It is hoped that more intensive anthropological studies on the interaction
between religious groups in Indonesia will follow.

The Socio-Cultural Problems of Education

Not much anthropological work has been done on these problems in Indonesia,
although there is an urgent need for information on problems of anthropology of educa
tion, e.g. the great number of different local perceptions of the national educational
system at the local level; discrepancies between national ideals and the actual practice of
education in different ethnic cultures and local situations; the socio-political function of
the school as a non-traditional institution in the local community; political, economic,
social and ideological impediments to equality of educational access; the teaching and
learning processes in formal as well as in informal educational systems; the nature of the
interpersonal relationship between teacher and student, teacher and parents, teacher and
government administrators, teacher as informal leader in peasant communities. On the
latter problem, a study has already been done by a Dutch anthropologist, J. Tieken.69

Culture Change
Problems of national integration and education are very closely related to those of
culture change. There are in the first place the problems of adjustment of the great
number of Indonesian ethnic cultures to a national metropolitan culture, which develops
mainly in the provincial capitals, the national capital, and in the recently developing
industrial centers. More specifically, those that have to be studied are the changes in the
various traditional customary adat law systems, in the process of the adjustment of these
systems to the newly developing modern national law. Other examples are the changes in
traditional ethnic systems of social stratification based on primordial principles, into the
contemporary stratification based on educational advancement, professional status and
income level. Several studies on this topic have been done for Ph.D. dissertations, such
as the one by Hasan Walinono on changes in the social stratification of the Buginese of

^Dawam Rohardjo, Pesantren dan Pembangunan (Jakarta: LP3ES, 1974); Z. Dhoffier, "The Pesantren
Tradition: A Study of the Role of the Kyai in the Maintenance of the Traditional Ideology of Islam in Java"
(Ph.D. dissertation, Australian National University, 1980).
65L. Schreiner, Adat und Evanglium: Zur Bedeutung der der altvokischen Lebensordnungen fur Kirche
und Mission unter der Batak in Nordsumatra (Guttersloher Verlegshaus: Gerd Mohn, 1972).
"F. Ukur, "Tentang-Djawab Suku Dajak. Suatu Penjelidikan Tentang Unsur-unsur Yang Menjekitari
Penolakan dan Penerimaan Indjil Dikalangan Suku-Dajak Dalam Rangka Sedjarah Geredja DiKalimantan
(1835-1945)" (Dissertation, Theological School, Jakarta, 1971).
67F. L. Cooley, Indonesia: Church and Society (New York: Friendship Press, 1968).
^S. H. Widyapranata, Benih Yang Tumbuh, Suatu Survey Mengenai Geredja2 Keristen Indonesia, Jawa
Tengah (Yogyakarta: Lembaga Studi dan Penelitian D.G.I., 1973).
69J. Tieken, Guru Desa. Een Sociologisch- Anthropologische Benadering van de Sociale Postie van Onder
wijzend Personeel en Zijn Rol in de Dorpssamenleving van Midden-Java (Amsterdam, 1976).

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 232 Koentjaraningrat

South Sulawesi,70 and by Pajung Bangun on changes in social stratification of the Batak
Karo of North Sumatra.71
Studies that should be done, which are closely related to those of changes in social
stratification, are the studies on changes in the concept of power and patterns of leader
ship in the various areas of Indonesia. These studies should be carried out in an interdis
ciplinary cooperation between anthropologists, sociologists, and political scientists.72
A great deal of attention has on the other hand been paid to problems of changes and
variations in cultural value orientation among various ethnic groups in Indonesia,
for instance by teams of various provincial universities in Indonesia, coordinated by
Koentjaraningrat.73 Recently studies are being done on variations in value orientation of
Indonesians of specific occupations, e.g. teachers, managers, or other occupations, for
Ph.D. dissertations.
Research on problems relating to the reorganization of administration also need the
help of anthropologists, especially where it concerns the human element, the value
systems behind the administrative structures,74 principles, perceptions and conceptions
about cooperation, competition and leadership, corruption etc. However, despite the
numerous studies made in the field of public administration, of which many are doctoral
dissertations, only few focused on the human element from a particular anthropological
point of view. However, a dissertation by H. A. Abdulrachman75 of Padjadjaran Univer
sity has utilized certain sociological concepts on leadership and management, and so is a
dissertation by S. P. Siagian.76
National and regional planners in Indonesia frequently make use of anthropologists as
consultants, where the latters are invited to participate in meetings of special committees
of government departments or bureaus or of the armed forces. A special committee of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs, for example, has been assigned to draw up a new law on
village committees, to which an anthropologist was consulted on the problem of diversity
and typology of Indonesian villages.

V. BASIC RESEARCH IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

The question has often been asked whether there is still an opportunity for basic
research in Indonesia. If we take a look at the basic policy for budget allocation at the

70Hasan Walinono, "T??ete: Suatu Studi Sociologi Politik" (Dissertation, Hasanuddin University, Ujung
Pandang, 1979).
71Pajung Bangun, "Pelapisan Sosial di Kabanjahe" (Dissertation, University of Indonesia, 1981).
72A study on the concept of power in Javanese society has been done by a political scientist, B.R.O'G
Anderson, "The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture", in Culture and Politics in Indonesia, C. Holt,
B.R.O'G. Anderson and J. Siegel (eds.) (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972), and criticized by
Koentjaraningrat, "Javanese Terms for God and Supernatural Beings and the Idea of Power", in Man,
Meaning and History: Essays in Honour of H.G. Schulte Nordholt, R. Schefold, J. W. Schoorl and
J. Tennekes (eds.) (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1980), who has subsequently developed a framework for
the study of power in transitional societies. See Kepimpinan dan Kekuasaan: Tradisional Masakini, Formal
dan Informal (Jakarta: Perguruan Tinggi Ilmu Kepolisian, 1978).
73Koentjaraningrat, Rintangan Mental Dalam Pembangunan Ekonomi di Indonesia, Occasional Papers,
LIPI Nr. 1/2 (Djakarta: Bhratara, 1969); Kebudayaan, Mentalitet dan Pembangunan (Jakarta: Gramedia,
1974).
74Such as the study on variations in value orientation of Indonesian managers mentioned above.
75H. A. Abdulrachman, "Suatu Pendekatan Kearah Pembinaan Kepimpinan Kerdja di Indonesia"
(Doctoral dissertation, Pendj ad jaran University, Bandung, 1973).
76S. P. Siagian, "The Development and Problems of Indigenous Bureaucratic Leadership" (Ph.D. disser
tation, Indiana University, 1964).

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Anthropology in Indonesia 233

various national research agencies in Indonesia, e.g. the National Institute for Sciences,
the various research departments of the Ministry of Education and Culture, and the
various study centers of the main universities, it appears that indeed little attention is
being paid to basic research. In anthropology, however, the collection of ethnographic
data is essentially a part of basic research in culture, and although there is little sense
of urgency among people in the government as well as in academic circles to describe
vanishing cultures, a national cultural policy to study the Indonesian cultural heritage and
to describe and collect elements of Indonesian traditional cultures is felt as a general need
to strengthen the Indonesian national identity.
Besides collecting ethnographic data, many studies on culture change and problems of
development are carried out for examination papers, for S2 papers, or for S3 doctoral
dissertations. A great deal of theoretical analysis is therefore required from those who
carry out those applied anthropological studies, and theoretical analyses quite often
touches on basic issues and basic problems of the discipline.

VI. PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND PREHISTORICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Physical Anthropology
As the site of more than 60 Pithecanthropine fossils of over two million years old,
Indonesia in general and the island of Java in particular is, next to China and East
Africa, a very important country for research on the problems of the early evolution of
man. However, still following the continental European academic tradition, physical
anthropology in the Indonesian universities is part of the Department of Anatomy of the
Medical Faculty. This is also the case at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, with
the renown Indonesian physical anthropologist, Professor Teuku Jacob, on its staff.77
Contrary to the continental European tradition, however, the Institute of Technology
of Bandung also has some interest in physical anthropology, although it is only a part of
palaeontology. The palaeontologist, Professor Sartono, head of the laboratory, has done
some research in human evolution.78
The Department of Anthropology of the University of Indonesia, although focusing
on cultural anthropology as mentioned earlier, also offers a course in introductory
physical anthropology, and a course in human evolution, whereas a course in palaeo
ecology is offered at the S2 programme. Recently the Department is also planning to
develop physical anthropology as a subdiscipline of anthropology, and in this connection
one staff member is being sent to Berkeley for a Ph.D. study in physical anthropology.
This person is a medical doctor and anatomist who developed an interest in physical
anthropology, and has studied biological anthropology at Sorbonne, for which he
obtained the degree Docteur en Troisi?me Cycle. In another three or four years, physical
anthropology will be a part of the Department of Anthropology of the University of
Indonesia.

77He became known because of his study and analysis of the 12 skulls of the Javanese Pithecanthropines
which have been excavated in the early 1930's by H. R. von K?nigswald, and which have already been
returned to Indonesia as the country's cultural property. See Jacob, Teuku, Some Problems Pertaining to the
Racial History of the Indonesian Region (Utrecht: Drukkerij Neerlandische, 1967).
78S. Sartono, "Notes on a New Find of a Pithecanthropus Mandible", in Publikasi Teknik Sari Paleon
tologi, 2 (Bandung, 1961).

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 234 Koentjaraningrat

Prehistoric Anthropology
In Indonesian universities, prehistoric archaeology is part of the Department of
Archaeology. This department includes the socio-cultural history of the period in
Indonesian history prior to the existence of written sources, and also of the period prior
to the colonial domination, before Indonesian history could be studied from European
archival and written sources. This in fact includes the period of the domination of Hindu
Indonesian empires, the history of which can be studied from an abundance of indigenous
as well as Chinese written sources (the 4th?15th centuries) and the period of transition
during the decline of the Hindu-Indonesian empires and the arrival of Islam, which can
be studied from indigenous Arabic but also European written sources (the 15th?17th
centuries).
Because of the aforementioned division, Indonesian prehistoric archaeologists have
until quite recently very little contact with Indonesian anthropologists, although students
in anthropology do have to take a course in Introductory Indonesian Prehistory. This lack
of contact in turn explains why the works of renown Indonesian prehistoric
archaeologists, e.g. R. P. Soejono, head of the Indonesian Institute for Prehistoric
Archaeology (not connected with the University) have mainly focused on excavation
and classification, but.very little on interpretation and explanation.
The weakness has however been observed by the younger generation of Indonesian
prehistoric archaeologists, but they are also aware of the fact that interpretation and
explanation of pre-historical materials can only be fruitful if a closer cooperation be
established between prehistoric archaeologists and anthropologists. Plans are now under
way to develop a graduate interdisciplinary training programme where pre-historic
archaeologists can study anthropology more intensively and also the other way around.
Structurally, however, pre-history will remain part of the Department of Indonesian
Archaeology.

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