2023 Volume 88 Issue 1 Pages 115-133
This article describes the contemporary practice of slaughter and sacrifice of livestock at a village in Pesisir Selatan Regency, West Sumatra, Indonesia, where meat market expansion has initiated the commoditization of livestock. Especially focusing on the continuities and discontinuities of the discourses, and the way livestock were treated and slaughtered in two rituals of sacrifice, how folk knowledges of sacrifice are generated through practice is described. In contemporary Indonesia, economic development has intensified meat consumption. This is especially evident in the village of Minangkabau people in West Sumatra, where the rising price of gambier extract (the commodity that is produced in the area), a natural ingredient taken together with the chewed betel (Piper betle L.) leaf, has also contributed to increased meat consumption. In general, modern meat production is also becoming popular. This article describes the effect of these changes on the practice of sacrifice and discusses the generation of folk knowledges in the changing meat industry. The relationship between the "countable" and "uncountable" value in these sacrifices takes special focus thereof.
