Crossroads of Legitimacy and Illegitimacy: Transactions of Knowledge among the Ende of Flores, eastern Indonesia

The aim of this paper is to present two contrasting ways of transmission of knowledge among the Ende people of central Flores, and analyze the social significance of them.

People of Ende, if asked, translate the word ‘knowledge’ (“pengetahuan” in Indonesian) as orho mbé’o. This word (orho mbé’o), however, almost always refers to what can be termed esoteric and illegitimate knowledge, such as one with which to curse one’s opponent, or bring forth bad luck to one’s neighbours etc. To acquire such knowledge, one has to buy it from the original owner in an appropriate way. After the transaction, there is no social bond between the buyer and the seller — that is the Ende way of conceptualization of “buying”.

Now, There is another type of knowledge (even though native Ende speakers hardly refer to it as orho mbé’o), what can be termed as “authentic” type of knowledge, the type of knowledge concerned with traditional rituals of “land and rock”, The acquisition of knowledge of this type is through the authentic principle of the society, that is, patrilineal descent. There is no explicit transactions during the transmission of the knowledge — knowledge automatically, as it were, goes down from the previous generation to the next one. The knowledge thus permeates the patrilineal group. The effect of this transmission is to unite the patrilineal group.

Thus, one type of transmission of knowledge liquidates the bond of people, whereas the other solidifies the relationship.