Dapur Ritual Komunitas Masyarakat Adat Osing: Ruang Epistemik Perempuan Adat di Ujung Timur Jawa

Abstract

This article examines the ritual kitchen of Osing people in Banyuwangi as an epistemic space of Indigenous women rather than merely a domestic sphere. Drawing on an ethnographic approach and a critical reading of olah rasa practices, the study positions Indigenous women as knowing subjects who actively produce, preserve, and transmit cultural, ecological, and spiritual values. The ritual kitchen is understood as a site of knowledge production that is embodied, relational, and contextual, where knowledge is transmitted through practice, bodily discipline, and adherence to ancestral mandates. Ritual culinary practices analysis reveals that Osing Indigenous women’s knowledge plays a vital role in sustaining tradition, ensuring local food resilience, and maintaining human–nature relations. Nevertheless, Indigenous women’s positions remain frequently marginalized in customary decision-making processes and development agendas, giving rise to epistemic injustice. Thus, recognizing the kitchen as an epistemic space is a necessary condition for the gender-just preservation of Indigenous knowledge.