Local Wisdom-Based “Pedawa Palm Sugar” Brand: Caught Between Laments and Gazes

Local wisdom in processing palm sugar in Pedawa Village, Buleleng, Bali, remains preserved amidst incoming global influences. This study aims to (1) explain the ideology behind maintaining the palm sugar enterprise, (2) describe the local wisdom that serves as the umbrella for the palm sugar business, and (3) elucidate the dynamics of the palm sugar business within global contexts. The theoretical frameworks of ideology, as developed by Althusser, Gramsci, and Habermas, are employed to analyze the struggle between civil society and the capitalist presence. Within this context, one can understand the challenges Pedawa’s palm sugar artisans faced under capitalist structures within the ideological superstructure. A phenomenological approach unpacks, interprets, and gives meaning to social realities, aligning well with Gramsci’s hegemony theory; accordingly, this qualitative study is packaged within that theoretical framework. Findings show: (1) artisans of palm sugar grapple between the ideology of adherence to ethnoscience and the market ideology; (2) local wisdom in Pedawa’s palm sugar enterprise manifests as taboos that serve as protective bastions for preservation; (3) what began as a home-industry has organized into a village-level community named “Getah Uyung.” Despite generations-old sugar-making practices and recognition of Pedawa palm sugar as a provincial brand, artisans have yet to compete globally. This urgent research reveals the structural and ideological issues that artisans face, which demand intervention at the ideological superstructure level.