The Polyphony of Oral History:

A Case Study in Tana Lise of Central Flores, Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

  The internal construction of Tana Lise, the largest political domain in central Flores is described in the lengthy historical narrative of ancestors’ heroic deeds performed to expand its territory. Although interwoven with highly stylized expressions, oral history in Tana Lise is usually rich in variants, which differ profoundly in many cases. It is tautological to interpret their coexistence in the context of the present, because most of existing conflicts and land disputes between chiefs in Tana Lise derive from irreconcilable discrepancies between the variants which they maintain independently, but not vice versa. This article argues the following points. It is possible to understand meaningfully such discrepancies, if they are set against the historical background of fluid political situations brought about by the slave trade and other profit-seeking activities which chiefs in central Flores pursued before this area came under Dutch colonial rule early in the 20th century. Therefore, the oral history in Tana Lise is not merely a pile of infinitely variable fabricated tales but should be conceived as the key data which make it feasible to trace political dynamics in Tana Lise and its adjacent domains at least as far back as the latter half of the 19th century.