The Ecological Insight of the Bunga’ Lalang Rice Farming Tradition in Luwu Society, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

The ecological insights of local farming traditions have the potential to be adapted to modern agricultural practices. The article presents an exploration of the ecological insights of the bunga’ lalang rice farming tradition in the Luwu society, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Four rituals that form part the tradition were observed directly during their performance, followed by interviews with eleven figures including the ritual masters. Each ritual that forms part of the bunga’ lalang tradition was treated as a discourse and the meanings of the biological elements are extracted to generate ecological knowledge that is biologically logical and compatible with modern scientific knowledge in rice farming.