Paradoxes of collective drinking: The role and meaning of air kata-kata among young people in Jayapura and Sentani, Papua, Indonesia -Dr Ratih Eka Pertiwi
This thesis explains the role and meaning of alcohol consumption among young people in Jayapura and Sentani, two sites in Papua, a resource-rich Indonesian province on New Guinea Island. In describing the youths’ experience with alcohol, this study critically engages with previous studies focusing on alcohol globally as well as with theories from health and anthropological studies specific to Papua. Based on 24 months of fieldwork conducted with young people from Jayapura and Sentani, I investigate the youths’ drinking patterns, the benefits and costs of their alcohol use and how the social, cultural and political contexts in which they live interact with their drinking practices. This includes examining the wider societal expectations by gender that there might be for drinking among young people.