Negotiating indigenous Hindu identity: state recognition, cultural continuity, and the Nuaulu of Seram Island, Indonesia

Contestation over the recognition of indigenous religions has become an increasingly important issue in multicultural societies, where state administrative systems frequently privilege institutionalised religions over local belief traditions. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among the Nuaulu community of Seram Island, Central Maluku, this article examines how an indigenous community negotiates official Hindu identity while preserving its ancestral cosmology, customary institutions, and collective identity. The analysis is based on participant observation, in-depth interviews with customary leaders, religious instructors, and community members, together with documentary analysis. The findings demonstrate that the Nuaulu’s adoption of Hinduism should not be understood simply as religious conversion or cultural assimilation. Rather, it represents a strategic process through which the community secures state recognition while maintaining the continuity of its indigenous religious traditions. The article further argues that the Nuaulu experience extends conventional interpretations of cultural evolution by showing that cultural continuity is achieved through negotiation, coexistence, and selective adaptation rather than through linear replacement. These findings contribute to broader debates on indigenous religion, identity politics, and the politics of state recognition in contemporary plural societies.