New Fataluku diasporas and landscapes of remittance and return

Observers of post-independence cultural landscapes in Timor-Leste have highlighted the resurgence of customary practices and ceremonies, especially in settlements more distant from the moneyed resources of the capital, Dili.1 The revival of customary practices often accompanies a considered return among displaced communities to their ancestral lands and settlements (knua tuan). There they work to re-establish food gardens and reclaim inherited entitlements to communal resources. The shift might be understood as a retreat from the state in some respects, certainly in terms of modern services and the administrative gaze, in favour of the familiar certainties of customary governance and sacrificial blessing.2