抄録
This paper, part of a larger social anthropological study of the Sa'dan Toraja people of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, deals with agricultural life on the basis of observations made from September 1976 to January 1978. The dominant mode of their agricultural system varies from wet-rice cultivation to dry-field and swidden cultivation, depending on the ecological conditions of the particular region. Here I present an ethnographic account of a village where wet-rice cultivation dominates, focusing on a particular field : Uma Minanga. Each wet-rice field (uma) in the Sa'dan Toraja has its own name, and the field in question is called Minanga (“Mouth of a River”) after its geographical location.
First, I describe the social relations centering on this one field in the setting of a hierarchical village society, with special reference to the relationship between the wealthy landowner, a member of the nobility, and the poor tenant cultivators of lower class. I then trace how this field was cultivated and managed in the agricultural year 1976–77, and consider its ecological, economic, and ritual implications. Finally, I evaluate the social changes of the 1970s. This approach reveals how the Sa'dan Toraja behave and think in relation to their rice field.
