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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Any Jewelry, post: 266360, member: 2844&quot;]Pribumi (translates to something like &#039;person of the earth&#039;) means indigenous in general, non-tribal as well as tribal. It does not mean tribal, and therefore is not indigenous as in tribal versus dominant newcomers.</p><p>Ethnic Javanese, who make up over 40% of the Indonesian population, are also pribumi, indigenous but not tribal. I for one wouldn&#039;t call a Jakarta businessman tribal, but he is definitely pribumi.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/wink.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=";)" unselectable="on" /> The Jakarta area was part of the Sundanese kingdoms ever since the Hindu-Buddhist era, without any tribal affiliation.</p><p>Indonesians living outside Indonesia, for instance as students in the US, are also called pribumi.</p><p>There is no distinct word in Indonesian for tribal, they will use the English word tribal when communicating with non-Indonesians. The word for ethnic group is &#039;suku&#039;, this can be used for tribe. &#039;Kesukuan&#039; means both ethnic and tribal. The Indonesian way of thinking is not Western, they have different concepts, this is reflected in their language.</p><p><br /></p><p>I guess you and I had different sources, with different ways of interpreting numbers and different definitions, when studying Indonesia in college and university. And it also depends on the outline of the definition of tribe.</p><p>Most islands had one or more nation states, sometimes small, but nations nonetheless. According to what I learned, from Dutch and Indonesian viewpoints, nations are not tribes. This may have been different in your college education, as you know anthropology, etc. can be a bit of a minefield. By the way, my studies were theology, specializiation Shamanism, and Indonesian language and culture. I only did 1 1/2 years of the last one, didn&#039;t finish due to ill health, but have been catching up in bits and pieces.</p><p><br /></p><p>Indonesian tribal art is very well documented, if this is Indonesian, there should be info on it.</p><p>As to the large number of tribal groups, that is mainly (not exclusively) due to Irian Barat/Jaya. As to tribal groups that haven&#039;t been visited by outsiders, the current estimation is 40, all in Irian Jaya. I hope they will be left alone. If they need outsiders, they will find them.</p><p>But I think we can rule out Papua origin as well in the case of this sculpture, just like other Indonesian regions imo. Heads in Indonesian tribal art are usually ovoid, sometimes slightly triangular if they wear big headdresses. This squat, square figure is not like any Indonesian tribal statue I&#039;ve seen.</p><p><br /></p><p>As you probably know, “Bhineka Tunggal Ika&quot; (&quot;although divided in parts, still one&quot;, often translated as Unity in Diversity) was the motto of the visionary King Jayabaya, of the 11th century kingdom of Kediri in east Java. It is an important concept in Javanese/Madurese traditional spirituality known as Ilmu Tua, Elmo Towa or Kejawen (part of my background). The oldest written evidence of this motto is in the &quot;Kakawin Sutasoma&quot; of the Majapahit era, 1293 - ca 1500.</p><p>After independence the motto was adopted by the Javanese-minded elite in the new government, to assert the syncretic and inclusive Javanese way against the restrictive Arab muslim factions in Indonesian politics. Indonesian politics were very Java-centric at the time, but if they hadn&#039;t put their foot down, Indonesia would be in much more trouble than it currently is.</p><p>Some see Bhineka Tunggal Ika as meaning ethnic diversity. But it is originally the traditional Javanese idea of diversity in every way, and even within one person, based on a Shamanic spiritual idea of wholeness through unity of seeming differences and opposites.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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