TASA Conference 2006, University of Western Australia & Murdoch University, 4-7 December 2006 1 TASA 2006 Conference Proceedings Kith and Kin: Theft, Strangeness, and Suspicions Within Nicholas Herriman Anthropology and Sociology/ Asian Studies School of Social and Cultural Studies University of Western Australia nicholasherriman@hotmail.com Abstract: In his pioneering essay, “The Stranger”, Simmel reminds us that strangeness tinges all human relations—even the most intimate or familiar. Some societies reconcile this apparent paradox by projecting strangeness onto outsiders, but this strategy is not universal. In this paper, I demonstrate that strangeness and intimacy are managed differently in Tegalgaring, a village in rural Java. In Tegalgaring village, social interaction in the built environment and understandings of theft render the ‘organically connected’ person strange. In the back of the house, which is the preserve of kith and kin, doors and cupboards are locked. By contrast, open gates, a relaxed trespass etiquette, a veranda which is open to passers-by, and open front doors, welcome the outsider. The demands of maintaining outwardly harmonious relations among family, neighbours, and friends mean that the ‘disappearance’ of an object is usually euphemistically ascribed to ‘outsiders’. In practice, unresolved suspicions are directed towards family, acquaintances, and neighbours. Instead of being projected ‘outside’ the group, strangeness permeates ‘close’ relations and ‘inner’ spaces. Estrangement and Intimacy Dichotomies of near-far, close-distant, inside-outside, and intimate-strange structure understandings of reality and social relations in many cultures. In his pioneering essay, “The Stranger”, Simmel (1950:402) demonstrates how a “group” of people who are “organically connected” (1950:404) constructs the person “outside” (1950:402) the group as a stranger. However, it is not just within ‘European’ cultures that these dichotomies operate. Fox (1995), for example, analyses origin myths in Austronesian cultures (cultures which predominate in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific) and finds inside–outside categories to be widespread. As with most myths (Barthes 1973), these origin myths explain how a people was created and also legitimise power