‘Rice ambiguity’ and the taste of modernity on Siberut Island, Indonesia
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68378009%3A_____%2F23%3A00572356" target="_blank" >RIV/68378009:_____/23:00572356 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0343523" target="_blank" >https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0343523</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022463423000188" target="_blank" >10.1017/S0022463423000188</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
‘Rice ambiguity’ and the taste of modernity on Siberut Island, Indonesia
Original language description
Indigenous Mentawai on Siberut Island (Indonesia) consume sago and tubers as their staple foods. Since the early twentieth century, Dutch colonial officers, missionaries, migrants, and Indonesian state agencies have strongly encouraged the cultivation and consumption of rice in lieu of these native staples. While Mentawai find rice tastier, easier to serve, and more prestigious, they also discover that rice fails to satisfy their appetites or fortify their bodies. They show little interest in cultivating rice. Mentawai view rice as a symbol of modernity and associate it with powerful mainland people who have long diminished their autonomy. In this article, I argue that the desire to consume rice and the reluctance to produce it reflect a desire to be modern without losing autonomy. Further, this ‘rice ambiguity’ reveals that food is more than just a symbol of social processes and basic sustenance. Rather, food is a transformative agent that can be used to create, enact, and alter identities, values, and ideas.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
50902 - Social sciences, interdisciplinary
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2023
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
ISSN
0022-4634
e-ISSN
1474-0680
Volume of the periodical
54
Issue of the periodical within the volume
1
Country of publishing house
SG - SINGAPORE
Number of pages
25
Pages from-to
64-88
UT code for WoS article
000963726200001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85162106591