More than meat: the role of pigs in Timorese culture and the household economy

ABSTRACT

In the Asia Pacific region, pigs play an important cultural and economic role in society. However, the cultural significance and use of livestock is often overlooked in agricultural research and development. This paper describes the contribution of pigs to the social and cultural life of rural households in Timor Leste from the perspectives of women, men and children. Three lowland patrilineal and two highland matrilineal communities in Bobonaro district were selected for qualitative research. Eight focus groups were held in five sub-villages in two locations with 20 women, 20 men and 21 children involved in pig raising and 16 people not raising pigs at the time. Ten key informants were individually interviewed. Our research found geographic, gender and age differences in ceremonial roles and pig husbandry including types and numbers of pigs used, ritual activities and pig housing or feeding. Pig raising is mostly done by women and children, with men organizing cultural events and making decisions on using pigs for rituals. Challenges and opportunities to improve pig husbandry in contexts, such as Timor Leste with limited resources, absence of formal meat markets, exotic disease outbreaks and strong cultural obligations, are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Pig raising
• rural livelihoods
• livestock production
• culture
• ceremonial life
• Timor Leste

Acknowledgements

In the preparation of this paper we acknowledge and thank our research colleague Shumaila Arif for her contributions in finding materials and organizing the reference library. To all the village folk in all the research aldeia of Aidabaleten and Oeleu who welcomed the research team, who were generous with their hospitality and gave of their time and knowledge about pigs. We extend our thanks to the research team: Maun Henrique Soares Ximenes, Mana Noelia Talo, and Mana Rosalia Dos Santos De Araujo. Also to Alipio De Almeida for logistics in the field and logistics in Dili and getting to the field, and Dr Catharina van Klinken Williams, University of Technology, Dili for her assistance and advice on linguistic matters, Leo Ribeiro, a DIT transcriber, and academic Josh Trindade, National University of Timor Leste, an expert on Timorese culture. Finally we acknowledge the assistance of Prof Andrew McWilliam, Western Sydney University and Prof James Fox, Australian National University for specific aspects of anthropological knowledge of Timor Leste and the Western Pacific region.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Sydney School of Veterinary Science; The University of Sydney Arts and Social Sciences Faculty Cross-disciplinary Research Support Scheme for Social Impact 2015; Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Notes on contributors

Cynthia L. Hunter

Cynthia L. Hunter is an Academic Associate in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and International Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Australia. Cynthia’s research contributions are in anthropology and medicine with particular focus on the cultural dimensions of rural people in South East Asia.

Joanne Millar

Joanne Millar conducts social research for agriculture, environment and rural development projects in South East Asia.

Jenny-Ann LML Toribio

Jenny-Ann LML Toribio is an Associate Professor in the Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Australia. Jenny–Ann has contributed to research on smallholder livestock and aquaculture in Indonesia, Philippines, Timor–Leste and Vietnam. Her research in these contexts focuses on biosecurity and infectious diseases of concern for livestock and people.