Kawanua International Journal of Multicultural Studies
Vol 7 No 1 (2026)

Freedom, Custom, and Indigenous Minority Life: The Baduy Through Geertz and Sen

Lea Menage (Cendekia Harapan School, Bali)
Putu Ega Yudia Mastika (Cendekia Harapan School, Bali)



Article Info

Publish Date
27 Jun 2026

Abstract

This article examines how freedom may be understood in the Baduy community of Banten, Indonesia, within broader debates on indigenous minorities and multicultural evaluation. Public discussion often judges minority communities through majoritarian assumptions that associate freedom with mobility, formal schooling, technological access, and expanded individual choice. Using an exploratory qualitative case study based on a bounded three-night field encounter, this study draws on conversational interviews, participant observation, and reflective fieldnotes to analyze how Baduy participants explained their way of life. The findings suggest that customary discipline is commonly narrated not as deprivation, but as inherited moral order, spiritual obedience, ecological relation, social coherence, and chosen simplicity. Read through Clifford Geertz’s interpretive anthropology, these practices appear as meaningful elements of a moral world rather than isolated restrictions. Read through Amartya Sen’s capability approach, the case indicates that freedom cannot be reduced to the visible expansion of externally valued options alone. The article contributes to multicultural studies by arguing that indigenous minority life should be approached through interpretive humility, non-assimilationist evaluation, and culturally respectful forms of educational and social support.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

KIJMS

Publisher

Subject

Religion Humanities Economics, Econometrics & Finance Education Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice

Description

Kawanua International Journal of Multicultural Studies is an international and open-access journal published by State Islamic Institute of Manado (IAIN) Manado, Indonesia. It aims to represent the multiculturalism as the vision of IAIN MANADO in 2035. The scope of this journal is international ...