“Tradition”, matriliny and change among the Minangkabau of Indonesia

Abstract

Minangkabau is p>erhaps best known in anthropological circles for its system of matrilineal clans and lineages. This fame is more than any- thing else due to the important work of de Josselin de Jong (1951) based on a vast amount of literature devoted to the study of Minangkabau adat (customary law) which appeared in the 19th century and the early decades of the 2Oth century.