A Study Of The Matrilineal Culture And Its Change Of The Minangkabau Ethnic Group In Indonesia

The Minangkabau is the world's largest matrilineal society at present and the seventh largest ethnic groups in Indonesia,with a population of 6.46 million.This ethnic group is highly respected to the customary law,which the core is matrilineal culture.By Sorting matrilineal cultural change of Minangkabau,its social and historical change contexts and laws can be summarized,that gives reference for further study of Minangkabau cultural development.This paper study the change of Minangkabau matrilineal culture from three aspects: Male status and their tradition of men travelling out to make a living;the coexistence of Islamic and matrilineal culture;Nagari,an autonomous Minangkabau people regional administrative unit.This paper argues that:(1)the Minangkabau men take the administrative responsibility under the system “council of uncles” to manage the family or Nagari(hometown)affairs,which means the children of any man are considered to be in their mother's descent group,and so the closest male relative to her(the children's uncle)is often the chosen male figure(considered the only male blood-kin of the child).And men travelled out to make a living according to the tradition.It was generalized and influenced by its matrilineal culture and the expansion of residence and trading.After the rising of modern education,the custom of emphasizing education and leaving their hometown to study is popular in Minangkabau.A group of educated intellectuals have made great contribution to the construction of The Republic of Indonesia,established an outstandingMinangkabau image in today's Indonesia.(2)The matrilineal culture and Islamic culture adapted to each other,both can be implemented without coming into conflict,this can be found and explained from the introduction approach of Islam and the inclusiveness of customary law.(3)Nagari system was formed naturally from bottom to the top in Minangkabau.It was autonomously administered under the "council of uncles" system.During the Dutch colonial period,the autonomy was destroyed,and the full primary autonomy was no longer exist.After the independence of Indonesia,the national government continuously explored and moved forward in enhancing the regional administration and promoting local development.There was policy change and restore.Nagari,as an administrative unit even once was cancelled,then the autonomous administrative system was going backwards;which bringsa certain influence on matrilineal culture.Through the above historical changes and their interaction on each other,today's Minangkabau ethnicity and its matrilineal cultural feature formed.