Reworking Solidarity from the Margins: The Transformation of Reciprocal Support in an Island Community of Eastern Indonesia

Rinaldi Natro; Hermien L. Soselisa; Christwyn Alfons

doi:10.67412/jsgs.v1i2.67

Authors

Rinaldi Natro Universitas Pattimura, Indonesia
Hermien L. Soselisa Universitas Pattimura, Indonesia
Christwyn Alfons Universitas Pattimura, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.67412/jsgs.v1i2.67

Keywords:

Customary Reciprocity, Island Community, Kinship, Reworked Solidarity, Social Change, Social Solidarity

Abstract

This article examines how reciprocal solidarity is reworked amid changing socioeconomic conditions in an island community of Eastern Indonesia. Focusing on the Puli customary practice within the Natro kinship group in Ilih Village, Damer Island, Maluku, the study investigates how changing forms of contribution and participation reshape the social relations sustaining collective support. Drawing on an interpretive qualitative case study, data were collected through semi-structured interviews, observation, and contextual analysis involving customary authorities, kinship leaders, and Natro community members. An abductive thematic approach was employed to examine the relationship between kinship obligations, reciprocal exchange, and changing patterns of solidarity. The findings show that Puli persists as a mechanism of collective support, while its material form has shifted from agricultural and marine products, labour, and direct assistance toward monetary contributions. This transformation does not indicate a straightforward decline of solidarity. Rather, it represents a reconfiguration of reciprocity in which customary obligations are retained while their material expression and patterns of participation are reorganised. The article conceptualizes reworked solidarity as a relational process through which customary reciprocity is continuously renegotiated rather than simply preserved or eroded. By placing island-based social experience at the centre of theoretical reflection, the study advances a context-sensitive understanding of solidarity from the Global South and highlights the adaptive capacity of customary institutions under socioeconomic change.

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