Characteristics of the Bajo Tribe Settlements in Lagasa Village, Muna County, Southeast Sulawesi-Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to describe the characteristics of the Bajo tribe’s habitation in Lagasa village, which is a fishing community located in the suburbs of the capital of Muna County. The settlement has received the assistance of the local government through a reclamation policy intervention. It also gives an overview of the policy’s impact on the local community’s social condition and settlement. Inductive data analysis techniques are used with descriptive qualitative approaches, such as naturalistic and phenomenological methods, to make sense of things that happen in the field through interviews, questionnaires, and observations. According to the results, houses are categorized into three categories based on their location: (1) houses on land; (2) houses on water; and (3) houses situated partially on land and partially in water. The dominant settlement pattern is the grid pattern, next to the cluster pattern and the linear pattern. In general, the spatial configuration, roofing shape, construction system, and material composition of the dwelling have all contributed to its physical condition. Internal factors, such as the level of education and economic capacity of households, influence the characteristics of settlements, while external factors are the policies of the local government. Policy intervention has led to changes in most of the physical conditions of the settlement environment and has caused the majority of the Bajo tribes in Lagasa Village to adapt to land dwellings. The proximity of the settlements to the downtown has also influenced the Bajo tribe’s perception of houses.