実践的問題解決過程としての技術 : 東部インドネシア・ティドレ地方の土器製作

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  • Technology as a Process of Practical Problem Solving : Pottery Making in Tidore, Northern Maluku, Indonesia
  • ジッセンテキ モンダイ カイケツ カテイ トシテノ ギジュツ トウブ インドネ

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This paper explores the possibility of analyzing technology as asystem of practical knowledge. In particular, it examines the operationalsequence (chaine operatoire) of making utilitarian pottery inTidore, Northern Maluku, Indonesia. The problem of the cognitivesystem concerned in pottery making is also addressed.The Maluku (Moluccas) of Indonesia have been famous for theirspice trade since the 15th century. Although the importance of spicesfor subsistence has gradually decreased, the traditional economic systembased on market exchange has continued until today. In particular, subsistenceactivities in the Tidore Region have been characterized by communitiesspecializing in products (i.e. pottery, iron tools, stone tools,baskets, fish or vegetables) .The women on the Island of Mare, south of the Island of Tidore,have kept up a traditional technology for making utilitarian pottery.This includes various kinds of pots and vessels used for cooking tubers,rice, fish and sago powder. Since the Island of Mare is not rich in othermeans of subsistence such as large-scale gardens, the pottery vessels pro-duced here have been the main source of obtaining cash for generations.The people on Mare Island are now the sole provider of potterythroughout the Northern Maluku, and their products are transported tomost of the adjacent islands, as far as Irian Jaya. It is the men of eachhousehold that engage in this sea-trade.Detailed observations have been made of the process of pottery making.The research did not aim just to describe standardized manufacturingstages. Observations were directed toward explicating both normand deviation of manufacturing behaviors between and within individuals.Also many questions were put to the potters, concerning theirrecognition of (1) manufacturing stages, (2) morphology of unfinishedproducts, (3) kinds of behaviors used to shape various parts of pottery,and (4) the process of decoration.As a result of the observations, it has been shown that potterymanufacturing technology on Mare Island consists of a body of structuredknowledge of the physical and morphological nature of materialsand manufacturing tools. Potters also seem to have a practicalknowledge system concerning (1) the taxonomy of unfinished products,(2) the geometry of parts (e.g. topology and partonomy), and (3)decorative elements and structures. The process of shaping pottery anddecorating it is also constrained by several factors, such as the recognitionof symmetricity, the motor habits of the human body, and thephysical characteristics of materials and tools.In conclusion, the manufacturing design of pottery is a hierarchy ofdecision-making that consists of the interplay between objects (makingparticular types of pottery in certain numbers) and constraints. Theobscure concept of "cultural tradition" should be replaced with thishierarchical and processual view of material styles.

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