The relationship between women and nature has become a discourse that is often discussed by various groups. Both the general public, practitioners, activists and academics. In practice and paradigm, the relationship between women and nature has actually emerged since the 1970s and became a movement in the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carolyn Merchant in Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World<\/em> (2005) explained that awareness of the relationship between women and nature gave rise to the term "ecofeminism<\/em>\u201d which was introduced by the French writer, Fran\u00e7oise d'Eaubonne, which later became a movement in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, apart from the historical narrative of ecofeminism which is considered to have emerged from the West, Vandana Shiva in her book Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Survival<\/em> in India (1988) shows that ecofeminism as a movement was actually started by women in India before the ecofeminist movement in the West. The movement is known as the Chipko movement or the movement to hug a tree to prevent it from being cut down. However, women's contributions to this movement were initially ignored and considered insignificant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The study conducted by Vandana Shiva is actually sufficient to show us that ecofeminism, whether as an idea or movement, actually already exists and is growing in society. However, it is often not identified. Responding to this, this article wants to show that the idea of ecofeminism has also grown in Indonesian society, especially in indigenous communities. Specifically, this article will review how ecofeminist practices and ideas grow in the Talang Mamak indigenous community, Simarantihan Hamlet, Jambi Province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Talang Mamak indigenous people understand nature as a source of life. They consider that nature not only provides food for humans, but also medicine. In a conversation I had with Bukhori, one of the village shamans in Talang Mamak, there are many plants that can be used for health. He described that nature is a giant pharmacy for humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The relationship between the Talang Mamak indigenous community and nature is not only built on the basis of their interests in life. That the relationship between humans and nature must revolve around a reciprocal relationship. Fahmi, a traditional leader in the Talang Mamak indigenous community, explained that if nature has given life to humans, then humans are also responsible for protecting nature. The Talang Mamak indigenous people also have an idea that humans and nature actually have a significant relationship, especially for women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this case, women and nature are understood as two things that cannot be separated. Carolyn Merchant in The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution<\/em> (1980) explains how nature is perceived as nurturing mother<\/em> or the mother who nurtures and gives life. The idea of the earth as mother is growing and being understood in many societies. In the Indonesian context, it is often heard with the adage of the motherland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the context of the Talang Mamak traditional community, they believe that the earth is the mother who always gives life. That the earth is the mother and the sky is the father. From both, life will be born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The manifestation of the idea of women and nature in the Talang Mamak indigenous community does not only stop at the idea of the earth as mother. The Talang Mamak indigenous people also believe that the rice they plant is also a manifestation of women. They believe rice is a daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what makes the people of Talang Mamak not carry out buying and selling transactions for their rice. They believe rice is human's brother or soul's brother. Rice is like a human sibling born by mother earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my article on estungkara.id entitled "baumah<\/em>"Food Sovereignty in the Style of the Talang Mamak Indigenous Community" I explained that one of the traditions and customs that the Talang Mamak indigenous community continues to carry out in relation to nature is baumah<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Practice baumah<\/em> is the practice of farming to fulfill the food needs of the Talang Mamak community. Apart from planting rice, the Talang Mamak community also grows vegetables and fruit such as pumpkin, sweet potatoes, chilies, eggplant, durian, mangosteen and duku.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Talang Mamak community did baumah<\/em> in mutual cooperation, across gender and across generations. For more than 3 months I lived with the Talang Mamak indigenous community and was involved in their activities, especially in baumah<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is clear that women play a central role in baumah practice. Elviza Diana's note on mongabay.id "Talang Mamak People, Surviving in the Remaining Forest" (2019) explains that there is actually a division of labor between men and women in Talang Mamak and baumah. Men are in charge of clearing and cleaning the land, and women are the ones who will look after it until harvesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bukhori, as a traditional leader, explained that because rice is a manifestation of girls, women are the ones who have the right to harvest rice for the first time. On various occasions, almost every Talang Mamak person I met explained that women are the key to the baumah process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lina, one of the Talang Mamak women did it baumah<\/em>, explains that women are also symbolized as a symbol of fertility. That's the reason, the role of women in baumah<\/em> very important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart from that, Bukhori also explained the role of women in the process baumah<\/em> actually it doesn't stop at the harvest. Women also play a role in the process of milling rice into rice or betumbu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the rice milling process, the Talang Mamak indigenous people believe there will be many disturbances from supernatural beings ranging from creatures in the kitchen to those in the mortar. The knowledge to expel these creatures is only owned by Talang Mamak women. Therefore, it is the Talang Mamak traditional women who will guard the rice until it becomes rice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Practice baumah<\/em> In idea it does have a value that shows the significance of women. I myself saw how this practice could become a bargaining power for Talang Mamak women to negotiate with men. Women's control in food fulfillment practices can place women in non-hegemonic relationships. In this case, women become figures who maintain the continuity of family life and the community in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But apart from that, practice baumah<\/em> In the Talang Mamak traditional community itself, it actually faces challenges as time goes by. Due to the practice of burning in clearing land for baumah<\/em>, this practice is often considered a practice that damages nature. In fact, from my own research, it's because of the system baumah<\/em> itself is practiced by moving, the former land openings can actually recover by themselves because after being planted with rice, the Talang Mamak people will plant forest plants to mark the land. The Talang Mamak people also believe that by using this concept, the land can have time to regenerate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Challenges also come from the Talang Mamak indigenous community who work at the company. They are prohibited from clearing land for baumah<\/em> because it is considered that their source of livelihood is no longer dependent on practice baumah<\/em>. That challenge<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what will make space for women ultimately disappear. Because if you practice baumah<\/em> If this is not done, women will lose their bargaining position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The siege of companies such as palm oil and other industrial crops around the Talang Mamak area has actually led the people of Talang Mamak to increasingly abandon baumah practices. Not to mention the policy of uniformity of production models which also causes people to be uprooted from the production models that they have mastered and inherited from generation to generation. The Talang Mamak community was ultimately led to change their source of livelihood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many people see the practice of baumah as just an insignificant domestic activity. This is what makes stigma and subordination even stronger in the Talang Mamak women's group. The role of traditional women in the baumah tradition is seen as an ordinary practice or has no meaning. This view actually grows a lot in industrial society. Chandra Talpade Mohanty in Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing the Theory and Practice of Solidarity (2022) explains that often in industrial societies, housework or domestic work is considered free time work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From this issue, I want to emphasize that understanding baumah practice is not only limited to issues of physiological needs, but more than that, the practice must be understood as providing space for Talang Mamak women. Baumah is actually a medium for Talang Mamak women to build a sustainable food system both ecologically and sociologically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clearing oil palm land around the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park area for industrial needs has also become a challenge. This is because the land clearing system is ecologically unsustainable and forces land to continue producing capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, I don't mean here to romanticize "the earth is mother" or "rice is sister" which shows the image of nature as female. Of course, more than that, it actually encourages recognition of women's rights to control and use land and sees baumah practices as a medium for women's assistance, gender justice, and also for the benefit of sustainable ecology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *This article was written by: Miftha Khalil Muflih_Magang ESTUNGKARA_CRCS UGM<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yael Stefany<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-2343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lainnya"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTalang Mamak Women and Nature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Baumah: Ecofeminist Ideas and Practices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n