Observers of post-independence cultural landscapes in Timor-Leste have
highlighted the resurgence of customary practices and ceremonies, especially
in settlements more distant from the moneyed resources of the capital, Dili.1
The revival of customary practices often accompanies a considered return
among displaced communities to their ancestral lands and settlements (knua
tuan). There they work to re-establish food gardens and reclaim inherited
entitlements to communal resources. The shift might be understood as a
retreat from the state in some respects, certainly in terms of modern services
and the administrative gaze, in favour of the familiar certainties of customary
governance and sacrificial blessing