ABSTRACT
Maneo are a product of many choices; choices about where to reside and with whom, and choices made socially consequential after the fact because of purported historical effects linked to them. Even the name Maneo might have been different but for a particular choice. Maneo comes from the name of a specific ancestor, actually, the first in a succession of ancestors, from one particular clan (soa), and not even the most prominent clan at that. By choice, the name became affixed to this group of some 1,000 people inhabiting the territory between the Samal and Kobi Rivers in the north, between the villages of Kabohari and Manusela to the west and Seti in the east, and extending to the south side of the central Seram mountain range. Any one of the other of the nine clans’ apical ancestors might have descended to earth first and so had his name printed on the maps and associated with the people. It was something of an accident that Maneo came first and it was an accident in the sense that his descent literally resulted in one. Maneo jumped to the earth without first checking the landing spot which was gelatinous like cold, cooked sago (ipapeta), as was all the earth. Upon landing, he sank up to his head and was extricated only with the help of his brothers, the ancestors of two other clans who waited patiently for hard ground to form before they leapt.1 As a name for a group of people, thus, Maneo represents a curious appellation; it is not a misnomer once accurate but no longer; it is not celebrated, but neither is it a slur-the term alifuru (used by Portuguese explorers and derived from the Ternate word halefuru) serves that distinction (Aragon 2000:52). They do not object to being called by that name; yet there is less to it than might be expected. Maneo fits incompletely, excluding most people only related collaterally to the original founding ancestor of the one clan, at the same time as it includes and unites members of all nine clans in opposition to neighboring groups. In a way, Maneo represents an emergent entity taking shape under outside pressure and evolving as a result of local initiatives: from raising and selling cloves and certain forest resources, and from the education of children (a few of whom have schooled in Ambon, the provincial capital).
