Title: Involution in small-scale lava tour enterprises among people affected by the Mount Merapi eruption, Indonesia

Authors: Bambang Hudayana

Addresses: Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Department of Anthropology, Universitas Gadjah Mada Sosio-Humaniora Street 1, Bulaksumur Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia ORCID: 0000-0003-2220-7005

Abstract: Victims of the 2010 Mount Merapi eruption propelled recovery by shifting from dairy farming to small-scale lava tour enterprises, taking tourists to tour the affected areas using jeeps. This paper explores the relevance of moral economy in the enterprises for recovery and livelihoods. This research was conducted in Umbulharjo Village, Merapi, Indonesia. This ethnographic research held in-depth interview with 12 key-informants, 11 participatory observations, and used Q method to gather information about the relevance of tour packages for sustainability. 36 respondents were also surveyed to describe the lava tour profile. This paper contributes to the discussion on equal access of livelihoods. It finds out the local concept of moral economy and its relevance to community resilience. Although undergoing an involution process, the implementation of the moral and rational economies has succeeded in protecting tourism resources as a collective asset for community livelihood, rather than being controlled by outside capitalist entrepreneurs.

Keywords: Mount Merapi; Lava tour enterprise; community; moral economy; rational economy; post-disaster recovery; livelihood; resilience; tourist; resources; involution; Indonesia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTA.2020.113930

International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, 2020 Vol.8 No.1, pp.79 - 102

Received: 07 Jul 2020
Accepted: 21 Nov 2020
Published online: 01 Apr 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article