Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the post-school aspirations and school-to-work transitions of Marind young people in lowland southern Papua, Indonesia. Young people drop out of school early and, although they aspire to "become somebody", their opportunities for work are extremely limited.

Paper long abstract:

The Marind live in the swampy hinterland of Merauke, in the southeast of Papua Province, Indonesia. They were settled into villages through the twentieth century, but in order to forage, fish and hunt, and to collect and process their staple food, sago, they often leave the village for weeks at a time. The people in the village of fieldwork have lost perhaps one-third of their clans' territory to a huge agri-business development. Many people now augment their diet and try to accumulate cash through hunting (meat and skins) for sale, cutting timber, and selling forest produce to traders. This lifestyle is not conducive to attendance at school, so it is not surprising that literacy rates and years of schooling are very low – even by the low standard of Papua Province. Young people usually leave school early – few get as far as senior high school, and no one from the village of fieldwork has yet obtained a bachelor's degree.

This paper uses survey data, life histories and field notes from participant observation conducted during 15 months of fieldwork among the Marind, 2018-2019, to examine the aspirations of young people and their actual school-to-work transitions – their occupations and livelihoods. The phrase, "menjadi manusia" literally means "to become human", and is used throughout Indonesia to refer generally to the hope that young people will make something of themselves, and “become somebody”. We examine what it means for Marind young people to "become somebody", and how that works out in practice.