Traditional market has been the main provider of various spices and herbs. This research aims to describe spices and herbs being traded in Warungkondang traditional market, West Java. It also aims to describe how people use those spices and herbs for various purposes such as seasonings, traditional medicine, as well as kias (amulet). This research was conducted using a qualitative method, in particular ethnography. Data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. This research identifies 32 species of spices and herbs being traded in the market. Among those, 21 species have been used not only for seasonings but also as traditional medicines, and kias. Cikur (Kaempferia galanga), honje (Etlingera elatior), jahe (Zingiber officinale), koneng (Curcuma longa), and laja (Alpinia galanga) are the most widely used spices and herbs. Parents and family members as well as electronic mass media have been the main sources of knowledge about spices and herbs, and its benefit. In Warungkondang market, knowledge about spices and herbs has been exchanged among buyers and sellers. This indicates the crucial role of traditional market which is not only serves as provider of spices and herbs, but also as the place where knowledge about it has been preserved and exchanged.

Traditional market is often one of the locations for economic turnover in an area. Various goods from villages, sub-districts, and other areas around the city are sent to be traded. In this market there is a large system that makes the market “live” in which there are interrelated actors. Some of the actors in the traditional market system such as the Beringharjo Market are women who work odd jobs. To see this phenomenon, this study used an ethnographic method to delve deeper into the phenomena that occur from the point of view of stakeholders in Beringharjo Market. The results of study showed that Beringharjo Market always changes from time to time, both physically and the actors who “live it”. Women who work in al kind of work become one of the actors who play an important role in the sustainability of dynamic market activities.

This article discusses the Palintang coffee and its social, cultural and ecological impacts on the people of the Palintang Hamlet. Palintang hamlet is located in directly adjacent to the forest under the management of the State Forestry Corporation (Perhutani). Last fifteen years, the government began to intensify the cultivation of coffee plant in the Palintang hamlet. Palintang hamlet is located approximately 1,400 above sea level. As a result, coffee of Arabica plant (Coffeea arabica L) grows well in the area. The purpose of this article is to elucidate at the impact of coffee on the social identity of the Palintang community. The method used in this study was ethnographic approach which aims to reveal meaning from the point of view which of cultural stakeholders. Some field research techniques, namely observation, deep interviews, and participant observation were applied in this study. The results of this study showed that the coffee cultivation in Palintang hamlet has been an important impact not only an economic, but also social and ecological aspects of the Palintang community. The community always highlight the distinctive characteristics of the Palintang coffee, even some people claim that Palintang coffee has a characteristic that no other coffee has. This process then makes coffee as one of the markers for the community of Palintang, because through coffee of the community members are known to other community groups. The distinctive characteristic of Palintang coffee also adds to the repertoire of varieties of archipelago coffee, especially those related to the character of coffee.

This research aims to describe women’s roles in managing the bubulak. Bubulak is one of the agricultural land near the forest. This research was conducted in Cisukadana Village, Kadugede Districts, Kuningan District, West Java. Cisukadana Village was chosen because women farmers in this village must adapt themselves with the changing of labor division in agriculture because of the absent of their husbands). The husbands have to work outtside the village as non-agriculture workers. The method that used in this research is qualitative with case study approach. Data collection is done by collecting secondary and primary data. The primary data collected by observations and interviews.The results showed the majority work in bubulak are done by women. Women managing bubulak by themselves or sometimes employing male farm laborer for some types of work, the husbands will help the work when they were home. Women choose type of plant that do not need intensive care/maintenance, so they can also work on another type of agricultural land and finished their domestic tasks. Based on the result, the lack of men worker and the dominant of women in manage the bubulak from the maintaining the crops, harvesting, and proccessing  the harvest before consume, and also all of the knowledge about the technology, made bubulak as a women’s bubulak.

Tulisan ini ialah tentang bentuk-bentuk perilaku mistis di antara pedagang Jawa di pasar tradisional. Melalui pendekatan etnografis-kualitatif, perilaku-perilaku seperti melempar koin, pedagang sebagai pembeli pertama, menutup kios pada hari buruk, menepuk-nepukan uang ke barang dagangan, slametan, sukuran, dan solat berjamaah, bisa dianggap perilaku mistis karena di dalamnya ditemukan kepercayaan bahwa jika mereka melakukannya maka keuntungan akan datang dan kemalangan akan pergi. Meski di permukaan tampak irasional, pada dasarnya perilaku-perilaku tersebut ialah manifestasi dari rasionalitas tertentu. Secara teoritis, perilaku mistisnya pedagang bisa ditempatkan dalam situasi ‘irasionalitas rasional’, situasi yang di situ tindakan irasional dilakukan karena dianggap rasional secara instrumental meskipun secara epistemologis irasional. Konteks situasi ini ialah tuntutan kultural dan sosial dari dalam pengalaman sehari-hari pedagang sebagai anggota dari suatu semesta sosial tertentu. This paper is about forms of mysticl behavior among Javanese traders in a traditional marketplace. Through an ethnographic approach, behaviors such as tossing coins, buying their own product, closing kiosk on bad day, tapping money on merchandise, and others can be condidered as mystical behaviors because it is found in the belief that if they do then profit will come and misfortune will go away. Although on the surface they appear irrational, basically these behaviors are manifestation of a certain rationality. Theoritically, the traders’ mystical behavior can be placed in a situation of rational-irrationality, a situation in which irrational actions are carried out because they are considered, instrumentally, rational eventhough epistemologically irrational. The context of this situation is the cultural and social demands of the trader’s daily experience as a member of a particular social universe.