Indigenous Maternalism and the Reproduction of Gender Inequality: A Critical Autoethnography in Buton, Indonesia

Abstract

Studies of maternalism in Indonesia have predominantly centered on State ibuism, emphasizing the state's role in constructing women's identities during the New Order. This study extends this perspective by demonstrating that maternal ideology is reproduced not only through state institutions but also through indigenous cultural systems embedded in the Butonese community. It introduces the concept of Indigenous maternalism to explain how maternal values are institutionalized through kinship, rituals, oral traditions, and everyday domestic practices, thereby sustaining gendered power relations. Employing a qualitative design with a critical autoethnographic approach, the study integrates in-depth interviews, participant observation, and documentary analysis. Data were analyzed thematically using Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity, Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and symbolic violence, and Julia Suryakusuma's theory of State ibuism. The findings reveal that women's gender identities are constructed through continuous socialization from childhood, reinforced by cultural rituals and domestic practices that normalize obedience as the ideal feminine disposition. However, Butonese women actively negotiate these normative expectations through education, economic participation, and the reinterpretation of indigenous traditions. The study concludes that Indigenous maternalism operates as a culturally embedded mechanism that simultaneously reproduces women's subordination and creates opportunities for agency, resistance, and the transformation of gender relations.