Local Papuan Migrants: Wamena Migrants in an Urban City of Jayapura, Papua-Indonesia

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the role of local migrants in urban economic development. A qualitative case study approach was used to examine the characteristics and role of the social capital of migrants from Wamena in Jayapura, Indonesia. The data used in this study were collected through in-depth interviews and field observation as well as statistical data from the Central Statistics Agency of Jayapura. The results indicate that the social capital of migrants reconstructed cultural values through an intensification of multi-ethnic relations within the domestic economic system of urban areas. Wamena migrants contributed to the economic growth in urban areas because of the correlation between norms, beliefs and social networking as forms of local wisdom. Local wisdom was able to strengthen the internal and external social relations of the Wamena migrant community in various economic activities as coping and survival strategies. Specifically, the findings of this study offer an additional view to the conceptual framework of sustainable livelihoods from Robert Chambers and Gordon Conway (1991), namely that local wisdom integrated with forms of social capital can be utilized to create sustainable livelihoods. Thus, this study shows that the local migrants from Wamena have formed a community-based economic system integrated with local wisdom to maintain a livelihood in urban areas, in this case Jayapura, Indonesia.