An Anthropological Study of Coffee Farmers in the Indonesian and Timor Uplands

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03052
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology
• Research Institution: Sophia University
• Principal Investigator: Fukutake Shintaro 上智大学, 総合グローバル学部, 教授 (80439330)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 東ティモール / インドネシア / コーヒー / 人類学 / 贈与 / 貨幣 / 経済

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined how the upland people in the insular Southeast Asia had changed their way of life by the introduction of coffee cultivation drawing on field research accounts and ethnographic literatures. Focusing on the historical background of the introduction of coffee cultivation and currency by colonial power, and the current relationship between traditional economy and market economy in the uplands in Timor-Leste and Indonesia, this study explored the use of currency had been extremely limited and gift economy still had been dominant in the uplands of Timor-Leste and Indonesia until 1980s. The study also discussed that coffee farmers in the contemporary Timor-Leste became heavily to depend upon the income of coffee cultivation, and the coexistence of market economy and traditional economy has affected their living of coffee farmers.

Free Research Field

文化人類学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

コーヒー・チェリーなどの換金作物栽培の拡大が、貧困を解決に導くよりもむしろ悪化させることになった歴史的文化的背景を解明しようとしている。政府や援助機関は、貧困の要因として従来の伝統経済を指摘し、山地社会の貨幣経済化を進めているが、そうした試み自体が状況を悪化させていることを指摘した。本研究の意義は、市場経済の問題点を、伝統経済への信頼が根強い東南アジア高地社会の社会変容から考察し、新たな政治経済モデルの構築に貢献することにある。