Distilling Livelihoods in Timor-Leste: Fataluku Ecologies of Practice.

This paper builds on the celebrated monograph by James J. Fox, entitled, Harvest of the Palm: ecological change in eastern Indonesia (1977). Fox's work drew attention to the contribution of sugar palm economies among the communities of south-eastern Indonesia. His study highlighted the contrasting ecologies of two orientations to livelihoods; one approach celebrates the benefits of low impact, sustainable lontar palm economies on the islands of Rote and Savu. The second approach foregrounds the destructive 'slash and burn' maize economies on the neighbouring Islands of Sumba and Timor. In this paper I offer a comparative, middle path perspective, focusing on the practice of sugar palm production and liquor distilling among Fataluku people of far-eastern Timor, but in a context of strong farming practices focused on seasonal maize and rice production. The strength of Fataluku traditions reinforces the role of the sugar palm as a vital component in a mixed economy of livelihood foraging and farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]