Abstrack:
This paper will discuss indigenous tradition of Toba people of Sumatera. It will specifically discuss how Toba people conceptualize the protection and sustainability of environment based on their indigenous tradition. Toba indigenous tradition is characterized by ?inter-subjectivity? cosmology, which means that human beings and other beings who live in the environment are all ?subject.? Relationship between humans and environment is perceived as ?inter-subjective? relation. This paper will show how Toba people construct their inter-subjective cosmology through their concept ?tondi,? prevalent in Toba rituals in which data of inter-subjective concept are collected. Tondi for Toba people is a kind of ?life force? that determines the existence and life of a being: human and non-human beings. Human beings relate to other beings like trees, Water, mountains and so forth because those beings have tondi. The existence of tondi in a being constitutes the subjectivity of the being. Furthermore, Toba people understand that the life of human beings could only be guaranteed if tondi of other beings are protected, of if the environment in protected. This paper will analyze a ritual of ?manuk gantung? trough which the notion of tondi and of inter-subjectivity is conceptualized and reproduced. This paper, following Nurit Bird-David (1999), will finally argue that the Toba indigenous concept of environmental protection is local wisdom of Toba people that deserves more attention as an alternative to thinking about solving environmental crisis of the present time.
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