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Through the exploration of the everyday lives of Minangkabau mothers and their married daughters, the book reveals how Minangkabau women actively participate in the making and remaking of adat (a collective term for Minangkabau laws and customs) in urban Padang, West Sumatra after the implementation of the new Indonesian Regional Autonomy Laws. It examines the continuing agency of Minangkabau women and how they negotiate changing historical, political and cultural forces. This study argues that Minangkabau women have played a central part in applying and reshaping Minangkabau matrilineal systems. It also argues that matrilineal systems, traditionally rooted in rural Minangkabau village areas, have been reworked in contemporary urban Minangkabau, and new versions of mother-centredness have appeared within modified matrilineal systems. Although there has been much research on Minangkabau women, the literature is lacking ´voices from within´. This study aims to further understanding of Minangkabau social relations and organisation from a Minangkabau woman´s standpoint.

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Mina Elfira is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia, Indonesia. She received her Ph.D. on Gender Studies from the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne, Australia.

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