Clan narratives and territory in Makili, Atauro

Dominique Guillaud Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), FRANCE
Gabriel Facal Centre Asie du Sud-Est (CASE), FRANCE

This presentation explains the close links between the construction and reproduction of the territory of the local communities and the production and transmission of narratives in each of the clans making up the local society of Makili. It insists on the spatial dimension of oral tradition and on the customary exchanges (notably marriage alliances) that constitute the cement and the frame of reference of a local society that is in the process of being transformed by modernity and religion.