ETHNONYMS: Orang Madura, Tijang Madura, Wong Madura
Most of the Muslim Madurese are dispersed from their home island of Madura, located off the east coast of Java. Some live in the nearby archipelagoes of Sapudi and Kangean, but nearly 8 million of the total 10.9 million Madura population live elsewhere in Indonesia (this article refers to Madurese living on Madura). The Madurese language is Austronesian, closely related to Javanese, and has two main dialects.
The vast majority of Madurese living in Madura reside in hamlets created as administrative units, rather than being organized by kinship or indigenous political units. Each hamlet may consist of between five and fifteen compounds, which are dispersed over farmland.
Madurese reckon kinship bilaterally. Both nuclear and extended families constitute the basic units of society.
Touwen-Bouwsma, Elly (1984). "Madurese." In Muslim Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey, edited by Richard V. Weekes, 458-462. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
DANIEL STROUTHES
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