Vol. 12 No. 4 (2025)
Journal Space and Culture, India

Perspective

Experiencing Ngitemp: Tradition, Food Sovereignty, and Human-Nature Relations among the Dayak Benawan Indigenous Community in Indonesia

Published 2025-03-29

  • Nikodemus Niko
    • ,
  • Syarifah Ema Rahmaniah
    • ,
  • Desca Thea Purnama
    • ,
  • Ira Patriani
    • ,
  • Nurlaili Khikmawati

Nikodemus Niko
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences; Research Center for Women and Child Studies, Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji, Indonesia

Syarifah Ema Rahmaniah
Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Tanjungpura, Indonesia

Desca Thea Purnama
Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Tanjungpura, Indonesia

Ira Patriani
Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Administration Science, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Tanjungpura, Indonesia

Nurlaili Khikmawati
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology of Religion, Siber Syekh Nurjati State Islamic University Cirebon, Indonesia

Abstract

This research employs an autoethnographic approach to examine personal experiences and the broader socio-economic and cultural factors that shape food security within the Dayak Benawan community, located in Sanggau District, West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. We analysed how the Indigenous Dayak Benawan community conceptualise food sovereignty and what role Ngitemp plays as a traditional practice in food sovereignty. For this study, we employed the autoethnographic method to shape local scholarship. The first author’s positionality and identity as Dayak Benawan contextualise the local conditions. Interviews and participant observations were used to narrate our experiences. The findings highlight that food security among Dayak Benawan farmers is not merely a matter of production and consumption but is deeply intertwined with cultural traditions, customary knowledge, and ecological stewardship. Ngitemp is a traditional practice that embodies the community’s sustainable relationship with nature. Through this research experience, I gained profound insight into how Indigenous knowledge and environmental ethics inform agricultural decision-making and resource management. The practice of Ngitemp reinforces the belief that food security is more than securing a steady food supply; it is about maintaining a balanced relationship with the land, ensuring its vitality for future generations. The Dayak Benawan’s reliance on Indigenous farming methods, communal resource sharing, and spiritual connections to their land demonstrates how cultural heritage plays a vital role in sustaining livelihoods. However, modernisation, land commodification, and agrarian policy shifts pose challenges that threaten these traditional food practices. By weaving personal narratives with ethnographic insights, this study emphasises the inseparability of food security from historical, environmental, and socio-cultural dimensions. It contributes to broader discussions on Indigenous resilience, sustainable agriculture, and the need for policies that recognise and protect local knowledge systems.

Keywords

Dayak Benawan, Indigenous People, Ngitemp, Food Security, Peasant, Human-Nature Relations, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Development Goals, Indonesia, Autoethnographic Approach

pdf

Author Biography

Nikodemus Niko

Nikodemus Niko belongs to the native Dayak Benawan community. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia. His research interests are in the Sociology of Gender and Sexuality, Indigenous People, and the Small Islands Community. He has published several monographs (in Bahasa)— Perempuan Dayak Benawan: Kedudukan Dalam Struktur Publik Dan Domestik (2018), Berebut Nafas: Perempuan Dayak Benawan Dalam Kepungan Sawit (2023) and Ekologi Dayak Benawan: Perempuan Adat, Akses, Dan Marjinalisasi (2024).

Syarifah Ema Rahmaniah

Syarifah Ema Rahmaniah obtained her Ph.D. from the Univesitas Kebangsaan, Malaysia. Her research interests include Gender, Politics, and Peace Studies. Recently, she published her article titled “Our Husband and Children are Not Acknowledged”: Endogamy, Gendered Power, and Child Issues in the Alawiyin Marriage in Indonesia in the Journal of Indonesian Islam.

Desca Thea Purnama

Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology

Ira Patriani

Dr. Ira Patriani holds a doctorate degree from the Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia. Her research interest is in the realms of International Public Administration, Border Studies, and Local Government.

Nurlaili Khikmawati

Nurlaili Khikmawati is a Javanese woman who completed her Masters in Anthropology at Padjadajaran University, Indonesia. She is currently active as the Secretary of the Department of Sociology of Religion at Siber Syekh Nurjati State Islamic University in Cirebon. Her research interests include gender and family, economic sociology, education, religion, and local communities. Some of her research works are: Structural and Cultural Aspects of Fisherman Family Education Problems in Waruduwur, Cirebon (2023); others in Bahasa include—Perempuan Dan Perjuangannya: Double Burden Dan Konsistensi Perempuan Penjual Makanan Dalam Meningkatkan Kesejahteraan Keluarga Di Majalengka (2024), Keluarga Masa Kini: Unit Kajian Sosiologi Agama (Reference Book, 2023) and Kuasa Perempuan Buruh Industri Bulu Mata Palsu (Kajian Etnografi di Desa Pasunggingan, Purbalingga, 2020).

References

  1. Affonso, H., Fraser, J. A., Nepomuceno, I., Torres, M., & Medeiros, M. (2024). Exploring food sovereignty among Amazonian peoples: Brazil's national school feeding programme in Oriximiná, Pará state. The Journal of Peasant Studies. DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2024.2310149
  2. Altieri, M. A. (2004). Linking ecologists and traditional farmers in the search for sustainable agriculture. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2(1), 35-42.
  3. AMAN. (2021). Mengenal siapa itu Masyarakat Adat. Retrieved from: https://aman.or.id/news/read/mengenal-siapa-itu-masyarakat-adat
  4. AMAN. (2023). “Siaran Pers: Catatan Tahun 2023 Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN)”, diakses pada 6 Maret 2024. https://www.aman.or.id/news/read/siaran-pers-catatan-tahun-2023-aliansi-masyarakat-adat-nusantara-aman
  5. Belford, N., Sum, N., & Roy, R. (2024). Gendered Dimensions of Migration and Conviviality: A Virtual Space for Autoethnographic Explorations of ‘Finding Home.’ Journal of Intercultural Studies, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2024.2325962
  6. Claeys, P. (2012). The creation of new rights by the food sovereignty movement: The challenge of institutionalizing subversion. Sociology, 46(5), 844-860.
  7. Coté, C. (2016). “Indigenizing” food sovereignty. Revitalizing indigenous food practices and ecological knowledges in Canada and the United States. Humanities, 5(3), 57.
  8. Dauvergne, P., & Neville, K. J. (2010). Forests, food, and fuel in the tropics: the uneven social and ecological consequences of the emerging political economy of biofuels. The Journal of peasant studies, 37(4), 631-660.
  9. Drbohlav, P., & Hejkrlik, J. (2017). Indigenous peoples’ struggle for secure land tenure in the Philippines: Case study of Higaonon Tribe in Opol, Mindanao. Asian Social Science, 13(7), 38.
  10. Edelman, M., Weis, T., Baviskar, A., Borras Jr, S. M., Holt-Giménez, E., Kandiyoti, D., & Wolford, W. (2014). Introduction: critical perspectives on food sovereignty. Journal of Peasant Studies, 41(6), 911-931.
  11. Feiring, B. (2013). Indigenous peoples’ rights to lands, territories and resources. International Land Coalition, Rome, 94, 12-21.
  12. Ford, J. D., King, N., Galappaththi, E. K., Pearce, T., McDowell, G., & Harper, S. L. (2020). The resilience of indigenous peoples to environmental change. One Earth, 2(6), 532-543.
  13. Fujiwara, E. (2020). The Impact of the Oil Palm on Adat Social Structure and Authority: The Case of the Medang People, Indonesia. The Asia Pacific journal of anthropology, 21(2), 140-158.
  14. Grey, S., & Patel, R. (2015). Food sovereignty as decolonization: Some contributions from Indigenous movements to food system and development politics. Agriculture and human values, 32, 431-444.
  15. Hak, S., McAndrew, J., & Neef, A. (2018). Impact of government policies and corporate land grabs on indigenous people’s access to common lands and livelihood resilience in Northeast Cambodia. Land, 7(4), 122.
  16. Higgins, P. (2024). “I don’t even recognize myself anymore”: An autoethnography of workplace bullying in higher education. Power and Education, 16(1), 29-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/17577438231163041
  17. Kristiansen, S. (2024). Can Information Change People’s Mind? An Autoethnographic Reflection on my Personal Journey to Veganism. Environmental Communication, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2024.2315177
  18. Makondo, C. C., & Thomas, D. S. (2018). Climate change adaptation: Linking indigenous knowledge with western science for effective adaptation. Environmental science & policy, 88, 83-91.
  19. Maru, Y. T., Smith, M. S., Sparrow, A., Pinho, P. F., & Dube, O. P. (2014). A linked vulnerability and resilience framework for adaptation pathways in remote disadvantaged communities. Global Environmental Change, 28, 337-350.
  20. Moreda, T. (2017). Large-scale land acquisitions, state authority and indigenous local communities: insights from Ethiopia. Third World Quarterly, 38(3), 698-716.
  21. Niko, N. (2018). Perempuan Dayak Benawan: Kedudukan pada Sturuktur Domestik dan Publik. Yogyakarta: Deepublish.
  22. Niko, N. (2020). Gender Struggle: What Can We Learn from the Dayak Benawan Women? Asia Social Issues, 13(2), 269-292.
  23. Niko, N., Jitprakong, P., & Riyadi, S. F. (2023, December). Hidden Hunger among Indigenous Women: How to Achive Food Security in Southeast Asia. In International Conference Social-Humanities in Maritime and Border Area (SHIMBA 2023) (pp. 28-31). Atlantis Press.
  24. Niko, N., Widianingsih, I., Sulaeman, M., and Fedryansyah, M. (2024). Indigenous Women’s Connection to Forest: Colonialism, Lack of Land Ownership and Livelihood Deprivations of Dayak Benawan in Indonesia. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics. 8(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/14233
  25. Nuhidayah, L., Davies, P. J., & Alam, S. (2020). Resolving Land-Use Conflicts over Indonesia’s Customary Forests. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 42(3), 372-397.
  26. Olagunju, T. E. (2015). Impacts of human-induced deforestation, forest degradation and fragmentation on food security. New York Science Journal, 8(1), 10.
  27. Patunru, A., & Ilman, A. S. (2019). Political Economy of Rice Policy in Indonesia: A Perspective on the ASEAN Economic Opportunity. Discussion Paper, No. 6, Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS), Jakarta.
  28. Pérez-Escamilla, R. (2017). Food security and the 2015–2030 sustainable development goals: from human to planetary health. Current developments in nutrition, 1(7), e000513.
  29. Pretty, J. (2013). Agri-culture: reconnecting people, land and nature. Routledge.
  30. Ratnasari, Siscawati, M., & Soetjipto, A. W. (2020). Multi-Layered Exclusions of Women Heads of Household Over Land: Case Study on Ex-Plantation Concession Area in Nanggung Village, Nanggung Sub-District, Bogor Regency, West Java Province, Indonesia. Asian Women, 36(2).
  31. Rouse, E. (2024). One teacher’s journey towards a spiritual pedagogy – an auto ethnographical narrative of epistemological beliefs and practice. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2024.2308887
  32. Rutten, R., Bakker, L., Alano, M. L., Salerno, T., Savitri, L. A., & Shohibuddin, M. (2019). Smallholder bargaining power in large-scale land deals: a relational perspective. In De-centring Land Grabbing (pp. 194-220). Routledge.
  33. Ryan, C., Walker, F., Dean, S., Ahchay, D., Bingon, B., Cho, J., … Stagg, M. (2024). Insights from the pandemic: an autoethnography of nursing clinical placement teams. Contemporary Nurse, 60(1), 21–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/10376178.2024.2304232
  34. Stavi, I., Paschalidou, A., Kyriazopoulos, A. P., Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir, R., Siad, S. M., Suska-Malawska, M., ... & Ficko, A. (2021). Multidimensional food security nexus in drylands under the slow onset effects of climate change. Land, 10(12), 1350.
  35. Sutardi, Apriyana, Y, Rejekiningrum, P, Alifia, A. D., Ramadhani, F., Darwis, V., Setyowati, N., Setyono, D. E. D., Gunawan, Malik, A., et al. The Transformation of Rice Crop Technology in Indonesia: Innovation and Sustainable Food Security. Agronomy. 2023, 13(1):1. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13010001
  36. Toumbourou, T. D., & Dressler, W. H. (2024). The Politics of Misalignment: NGO Livelihood Interventions and Exclusionary Land Claims in an Indonesian Oil Palm Enclave. Critical Asian Studies, 56(1), 89-114.
  37. Tsing, A. L. (1998). Di Bawah Bayang-Bayang Ratu Intan: Proses Marjinalisasi Pada Masyarakat Terasing. Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia.
  38. UNEP. (2017). Indigenous People and Nature Tradition Conservation. Retrieved from: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/indigenous-people-and-nature-tradition-conservation
  39. Urano, M. (2020). Why the principle of informed self-determination does not help local farmers facing land loss: a case study from oil palm development in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Globalizations, 17(4), 593-607.
  40. Walke, E., Townsend-Cross, M. L., Garay, J., Matthews, V., Dickson, M., Edwards, D., & Angelo, C. (2024). Where our identity lies: Confirmation of Aboriginality—narratives of colonial and lateral violence. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 20(1), 3-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801241235756
  41. Widianingsih, I., McIntyre, J. J., Rakasiwi, U. S., Iskandar, G. H., & Wirawan, R. (2022). Indigenous Sundanese Leadership: Eco-Systemic Lessons on Zero Emissions: A conversation with Indigenous leaders in Ciptagelar, West Java. In Systemic Practice and Action Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-022-09606-y
  42. Xu, Q., & Chia, K. (2024). How I Obtained My PhD Admission Letter: A Reflective Interaction-Based Autoethnography. The Qualitative Report, 29(2), 502-515. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.6380
  43. Zhang, N. (2024). Toward a Phenomenological Understanding of Internet-Mediated Meme-ing as a Lived Experience in Social Distancing via Autoethnography. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 53(2), 181-211. https://doi.org/10.1177/08912416231216980

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.