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Kota Djogo: The Island that Never Was: The Role of Legends and Islamic Beliefs in Understanding Calamity and Disasters in Flores, Eastern Indonesia

Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, 2023, Vol.179 (3/4), p.382-415 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

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Title:
Kota Djogo: The Island that Never Was: The Role of Legends and Islamic Beliefs in Understanding Calamity and Disasters in Flores, Eastern Indonesia
Author: Ramenzoni, Victoria C.
Is Part Of: Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, 2023, Vol.179 (3/4), p.382-415
Description: There is a large corpus of myths and legends about sea creatures in the maritime world, a record that portrays incredible and wondrous feats, wrecks, calamities, and disasters. In this article, I present an account of the mythological cosmology of the Endenese, a group of fearless seafarers that scoured the Eastern Indonesian seas for over four centuries. By discussing the legend of Kota Djogo, an island that disappeared into the sea in time immemorial, I reconstruct Endenese explanations for luck and uncertainty in a world plagued by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and typhoons. Going beyond the legend’s veracity, I build on the study of the narrative to show how symbolic accounts of environmental events can provide important clues to the understanding of ecological disasters. I argue that the indigenous rationalizations of uncertainty present in oral legends and myths can function as coping mechanisms that reconcile communities with the unpredictable and the ambiguous.
Publisher: Brill
Language: English
Identifier: ISSN: 0006-2294
EISSN: 2213-4379
DOI: 10.1163/22134379-bja10055
Source: Brill Open Access Journals
DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals

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