ABSTRACT
The term adat (custom) is used frequently in Central Sulawesi. It has multiple meanings, and is picked up and instrumentalized for a variety of purposes. Although various authorities believe they know what adat is or should be, the polyvalence of the term makes it difficult to control. To invoke adat is to claim purity and authenticity for one’s cause. Adat is deemed to be naturally present in, indeed the essence of, Indonesian society. It also, paradoxically, defines an arena of intervention: adat is represented as fragile, deficient or in decline, in need of protection, strengthening and restoration. It shares these characteristics with the concept of community, imagined as a natural state that nevertheless requires intervention and correction in order to make it complete. These features of the term adat render it deployable for a wide range of political projects. On one end of the spectrum are attempts to institute orderly rule through adat. The adat invoked in the service of rule is conceptualized as hierarchical but still democratic, because it emerges from the people; it is disciplinarian but promotes harmony. On the other end of the spectrum are attempts to challenge state authority in the name of popular rights and capacities for self-government and social justice. Central to the oppositional agenda is the reclaiming of customary rights to land appropriated by the colonial regime and its successors. As I will show, one agenda for adat promotion and restoration can slide into or indeed be reversed by another, using key terms such as sovereignty, autonomy, and responsibility to different effect.
