Beschreibung
Social security is a particularly precarious issue where states hardly
provide any services in periods of need and distress. The book analyses
the arrangements relationships through which food, shelter and care are
provided on the island of Ambon, famous spice island in Eastern
Indonesia. It also shows how relations of support tie Ambonese migrants in
the Netherlands to their home villages, and how normative conceptions of
need and care among kinsmen and villagers change over time. Though special
in their own historical setting, Ambonese networks of care and support are
illustrative of poor rural populations in the Third World. Focusing on the
precursors of the violent conflict that erupted in 1998, the book shows
that social security is like a magnifying glass linking past, present and
future.
