THE DECLINE OF MARITIME CULTURE IN WADURI AND WAKALINGKUMA 1960-1990

Abstract

This article attempts to describe the maritime-based culture on social interactions in Waduri and Wakalingkuma Village, Kaledupa District, Wakatobi Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, in 1960-1990. People of these villages used to be sailor communities who used bhangka and soppe boats for their sailing activities. The boats were created by both villagers themselves. In every boat making process, they were always involved an elder as a leader on certain rituals that needed. Boats making process in both villages shows typical communalism in their social interaction which is appeared in pohamba-hamba system and in nabu’a nu bhangka process as the boats had been finished. These social-cultural pattern slowly disappeared along with the decline of traditional-based sailing activities in the mid-1980s. This article contained a description of how the community responds these changes by switching to farmer activities or deciding to leave their island to find a living in another land. Based on an oral sources that is supported by relevant literature sources, this research found that changes in production schemes that depended on traditional-based sailing had a direct impact on maritime-based culture pattern on social interactions that once existed in both villages.KEYWORDS: Maritime culture, Waduri, Wakalingkuma, Bhangka, Soppe