Ritual Authority and the Legitimation of Masculinity in Malay–Balinese Interethnic Marriages in Belitung, Indonesia

Interethnic marriage is often framed as cultural exchange, yet it can also be a key site where masculinities are produced and legitimized. This article is a qualitative study of fieldwork in Sijuk, Belitung (Indonesia) that examines how Balinese husbands mobilize ritual authority and kinship legitimacy as symbolic capital within marriages with Malay Muslim women. Based on interviews with 12 Malay–Balinese couples and 2 widows ( n = 26 participants), supplemented by observations and documents, we show that masculine authority is rarely enforced through overt coercion. Instead, it is naturalized through moral discourses of harmony, duty, and respect, a process consistent with symbolic violence. Wives exercise constrained agency through strategic compliance and everyday negotiations over cultural practice and children’s upbringing. We argue that this local configuration of hegemonic masculinity is intersectional, entangling gender, ethnicity, religion, and kinship.