Matrifocal, Matrilineal or Matriarchal? Cultural Resilience and Vulnerability Among the Matrilineal and Muslim Minangkabau in Indonesia

Minangkabau society has been variously claimed to be matrilineal, matrifocal and matriarchal. This paper surveys some distinctive features of Minangkabau society—their kinship system and residence and inheritance patterns; their propensity to move away from their homeland (merantau); their education, occupations, and mode of governance; and their Islamic identity—in order to assess these claims and to gauge the vulnerability and resilience of the Minangkabau. The paper agrees that the kinship system is matrilineal and the society matrifocal, but not matriarchal. Social adaptations such as the increasing importance of husbands/fathers and the concomitant decline in the importance of the mamak (mother's brother), the growth of private property, and the growing importance of the nuclear family and neolocal residence patterns contribute to the cultural resilience of the Minangkabau.