The Strategies of Indigenous Community in Dealing with the Pandemic
摘要
This chapter consists of three sections that describe the strategies of indigenous people in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Indigenous peoples adapt in numerous sectors, including the social, economic, and cultural fields. Indigenous people make some adjustments and methods to deal with uncertainty posed by the pandemic. Additionally, a synergy between individuals, communities, and government agencies is a crucial component in response to the pandemic. This chapter attempts to illuminate the strategies employed by indigenous peoples in answering, overcoming, and adapting to the numerous changes. Afriansyah et al. illustrate that a number of indigenous peoples have their own local knowledge that defines their identity as indigenous peoples in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. They do not see the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia and the rest of the world solely from a health standpoint, but also holistically through the lens of their local wisdom and culture in the face of the pandemic. Certain indigenous peoples, for instance, believe that COVID-19 is also a God-created thing; thus, humans must be able to coexist with it. This pandemic condition caused by exposure to COVID-19 requires prudent action. Most Indigenous peoples continue to rely on traditional medicinal knowledge as an integral part of their daily lives. However, indigenous peoples perceive and address the COVID-19 pandemic not only from a medical standpoint but also from a spiritual and cultural perspective. Various indigenous peoples at the research site also carry out a number of traditional rituals or ceremonies to shield their territory and people from the transmission of COVID-19. Moreover, there are strategies in the socio-economic-cultural domain during the pandemic. In the education part, the teachers are regularly visiting their students to teach. The coping strategies adopted to address economic difficulties during the pandemic entail optimizing agricultural and plantation activities. For example, the agricultural sector is most likely to absorb migrant workers returning to Bali. Some of them are working on land owned by their families, while others are cultivating someone else’s land or becoming hired labor.