The Awak People
The Awak People
The Moral Aesthetics of Social Unity
There is an aesthetic of social unity created through everyday interactions in Minangkabau society, where mixing in (bagaua) and being normal (biaso) are powerful moral concerns, supported by the threat of shame. Being sombong, seeming to be set apart from as if superior to others, is considered the epitome of moral failure. Interactions directed toward the creation of this aesthetic, most notably ritual forms of etiquette known as baso-basi, keep individual autonomy out of direct public view. While this aesthetic constitutes a very real locus of moral selfhood, it is not ultimately a way of fashioning or even valuing the self as one kind of thing (socially integrated, deferential) as opposed to another (individual, autonomous), but a way to manage conflicting aspects of selfhood, keeping each in its proper place.
Keywords: morality, aesthetics, sombong, baso-basi, etiquette, autonomy, social unity, self, Minangkabau
Hawaii Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.