Kota Djogo: The Island that Never Was … The Role of Legends and Islamic Beliefs in Understanding Calamity and Disasters in Flores, Eastern Indonesia

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Abstract

There is a large corpus of myths and legends about sea creatures in the maritime world, a record that portrays incredible and wondrous feats, wrecks, calamities, and disasters. In this article, I present an account of the mythological cosmology of the Endenese, a group of fearless seafarers that scoured the Eastern Indonesian seas for over four centuries. By discussing the legend of Kota Djogo, an island that disappeared into the sea in time immemorial, I reconstruct Endenese explanations for luck and uncertainty in a world plagued by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and typhoons. Going beyond the legend’s veracity, I build on the study of the narrative to show how symbolic accounts of environmental events can provide important clues to the understanding of ecological disasters. I argue that the indigenous rationalizations of uncertainty present in oral legends and myths can function as coping mechanisms that reconcile communities with the unpredictable and the ambiguous.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)382-415
Number of pages34
JournalBijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde
Volume179
Issue number3-4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cultural Studies
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Anthropology
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Linguistics and Language

Keywords

  • Eastern Indonesia
  • disasters
  • legends
  • marine

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