Toraja people
The Toraja people had their traditional values, which they needed to protect from the tourist’s intrusion. With this in mind, the conflict must have arisen in one way or another. To maintain the traditions and cultural values, the Toraja people had to reject what the tourists were bringing. Some of the main conflicting areas that the Toraja people and tourists conflicted in included:
the incompatible cultures of the east and the west. Toraja people were from reserved Indonesian tribes who had their way of burial. Due to an increase in the number of tourists visiting the sacred funeral rituals conducted by the Toraja, people were changed to meet the tourists’ demands in the 1980s. It became an automatic threat to the community as their culture and tradition had been changed. What was created was an unauthentic experience for the tourist. But the four main conflicting zones were the socialization, ideology, forms of discourse, and the face systems.
When looking at the socialization, it goes hand in hand with acculturation and cultural assimilation. It means that when the number of tourists began to increase, their purchasing power also increased, which meant that the Toraja people would become irrelevant. With this in mind, it means that western culture would assimilate the younger Toraja culture. At the start, the tourist had come with the ideas of understanding the local Toraja culture, but soon, the Toraja people’s sacred burial rituals were changed to align with the tourist’s needs. It does go without noting that even the dressing code among the younger generation started to change drastically. With this happening, the elders and the community leaders had to reject what the tourists were bringing. Although they empowered the community and supported the community economically, chances were higher that the Toraja’s culture and traditions were at risk of being wiped out. The solution was to reject anything that the tourists were brought to the community.
The second cultural difference involved the differences in ideologies and the general worldview among the two groups. It was unfathomable for the Toraja people to change their beliefs and their religious values to make peace with the tourists. With this in mind, the change in many rituals such as the sacred burial, made many Toraja people resent. The fact was that there was no way a foreign culture would come and take over what the people believed and had practiced for years. The introduction of western-based religion also didn’t align with the Toraja community. With this, the community had to resent protecting their values and maintaining their social norms.
The third cultural area of conflict was the form of discourse. The Toraja believed in having a living soul. It was something that was shared by the tourist. Although this was the case, the Toraja people have a different view in that it was present in all living things, and it would suddenly flee. It a moment of shock; the Toraja people believed that their soul would flee. They would proclaim that ‘My sumanga’ flew off,” It is observed that the soul had bird-like qualities of flying at any given instance. While this was the case among the Toraja people in the western world were most tourists came from, the human soul was with an individual until their death. It is not something that can fly. With this conflicting analogy, then chances of getting to an understanding between the community and the tourists were getting even slim. A continued resentfulness among the Toraja people became a norm.
The last area of cultural contention was the face systems. The Toraja face system is denoted through elaborate funeral rituals. The burial sites are curved from rocky cliffs or, in some cases, in the traditional house’s peaked roofs. The event is a meaningful ceremony, which in most cases, can last for several days. The funeral rituals are what make the community stand out and be recognized. Although this was the case in the 1980s, a changed in the community’s burial aspects was introduced to appeal to the tourists. It was the breaking point, as this was the face value of the Toraja community. The community had to resent to safeguard and protect their beliefs and values. The community had to stand firm and use acculturation to pass their traditions to the young generations.