Friendship as Liveliness, Friendship as Discipline: Un(der)employed Young People’s Peer-to-Peer Relations and the Reproduction of Everyday Village Life in Rural Indonesia

Abstract

In this article, I explore the enmeshment of educated, but un(der)employed, young people in their rural communities in Ngada District (Flores, East Indonesia). In particular, I focus on their friendships, which help these young people to navigate personal aspirations, frustrations, anxieties and social pressure by providing channels for projects of the self, mutual care and, most importantly, having fun. In doing so, these friendships also reproduce ‘liveliness’ (ramai), which is a highly valued social quality in Ngada, indicating a sense of togetherness. In Ngada, a strong morality of interdependence prevails and liveliness is one way in which this is expressed. Hence, the reproduction of liveliness by young people matters, as it transcends the everyday, giving sustenance to Ngada life and its social organisation. Yet, ‘enmeshment’ is not only visible in lively events; it also comes to the fore in friendship practices of disciplining and social monitoring, which reproduce gendered norms.