Abstract

For the Ngadha people of Central Flores, Indonesia, residential clan land, nua, is imbued with emotional connections as the locus of Ancestors, ceremony and the key symbols of clan unity, the Ngadhu post and Bhaga miniature house. Prominently located in the centre of the nua, the Ngadhu and Bhaga are grounding symbols, constant reminders of interdependence between clan members and their Ancestors. This spiritual commons (McWilliam 2009) anchors emotional connections not just to place but also to fellow clan members, living and deceased. To articulate the emotional ties that bind clan members to one another, I draw on Nancy's concept of ‘being singular plural’ to illustrate that to be Ngadha is to have a keen sense of being implicated in the existence of others. Being with others is a human concern, as people cannot exist in the singular. For Ngadha people, this is particularly explicit, so that individual independence is not a coveted state of being; rather, being singular plural is the principal mode of existence. In this context, the nua is the central heartland for the spatial and material expression of clan unity, although the emotions of being singular plural transcend time and space.