Amaq Muda: becoming and being a young father in a rural North Lombok village

The ethnographic study reported in this thesis sheds light on early parenthood as it is understood and experienced by young Sasak men in rural North Lombok, Indonesia, an area characterised by endemic poverty and strong Muslim faith. In the rural villages of the east Indonesian island of Lombok, the Sasaks – the Indigenous people of Lombok – continue to enter parenthood earlier than other ethnic groups in neighbouring islands. Studies of the phenomenon so far have focussed on young women. This thesis offers something different. Drawing ethnographically on the narratives of young Sasak fathers living in a rural north Lombok village, and underpinned by contemporary perspectives on men and masculinity, the research project findings generate new knowledge about the various forces that drive and motivate young Sasak men to become fathers at a young age, and the ways they understand and practice both masculinity and fatherhood. Analysis focusses on the sustained and potent influence of traditional cultural and religious values and practices, normalised early youth transitions in a context of entrenched poverty and short life expectancy, and local gender norms that favour early marriage and proof of fertility. The findings challenge the standard deficit model of early fatherhood for men. Informants continually referenced the obligation of nafkah - a concept which encompasses not only economic provision (breadwinning), but caring/nurturing, where the two are intertwined. The construction of breadwinning as a form of care, and not antithetical to it, ensures that young Sasak fathers can readily achieve local ideals of masculinity regardless of their station in life. This gives reason to re-think definitions of hegemonic masculinity as the dominant and most “culturally exalted” form of masculinity in any given setting. Even while struggling to make ends meet, young Sasak fathers can embody the most culturally exalted ideals of masculinity in their local setting, directly through early marriage and early fatherhood.