Living far from home: Javanese culture among transmigrants

Transmigration processes in Indonesia have heavily influenced incoming and hosting communities’ sense of identity and belonging. However, the social and cultural aspects of building a new life elsewhere are still an unexplored topic. In this article, I would like to show how modern descendants of Javanese transmigrants living in the village of Waemital in West Seram, part of the Moluccas, sustain links with Java in their everyday lives. Despite their extended residence, internal migrants struggle with the stigma of being outsiders. This article also explores how resistance to local adaptation has fostered social tensions between transmigrant and indigenous communities, hindering mutual understanding. How might a description of Waemital inhabitants’ everyday lives help us understand the impact of organized migrations in Indonesia?