Weaving the Will of the Land: A Performative Inquiry into Embodied Socio-Ecological Justice on the Land of Garut

This paper investigates the relational alignment between marginalized body vessels (taneuh adegan) and sentient landscapes (taneuh hamparan) to reclaim relational dignity and establish a deep sense of socio-ecological belonging on the Land of Garut. Specifically, it analyzes how marginalized bodies function as somatic archives of modern-colonial and state-sanctioned violence (conceptualized as a form of bodily and territorial unbelonging), documents how somatic pilgrimages cultivate more-than-human kinship (kekerabatan), and examines how a co-creative film integrates body and land to manifest an active, healing praxis.
Utilizing a practice-led, undisciplinary methodology, this research bridges indigenous Sundanese ontology, trauma-informed somatics, and performative inquiry to map pathways of reclaimed belonging. The inquiry unfolded through six collaborative phases: self-somatic exploration; somatic companionship among four marginalized collaborators; ancestral learning with the AKUR Sunda Wiwitan community in Kampung Pasir; the co-creative production of an experimental film on Mount Talaga Bodas; performative writing; and international decolonial dialogue.
The study reveals that systemic oppression, militarization, and moral policing manifest as physical, spiritual, and social pathologies (sakit fisik, batin, and sosial) locked within the body, severing the sacred threads of belonging. Somatic encounters, such as walking barefoot (nyeker) and practicing permission-seeking (sanduk-sanduk papalaku), dismantle anthropocentric hubris, co-regulating the individual vessel with the mountain's non-judgmental sanctuary to restore ancestral connection. Finally, the co-creative film, Menenun Kehendak Bumi (Weaving the Will of the Land), serves as a non-extractive material container for collective decompression. By reestablishing relationships between the microcosm of the body (jagad alit) and the macrocosm of the land (jagad ageng), this performative inquiry establishes an active, decolonial praxis of embodied socio-ecological justice and relational belonging.
Keywords: Somatic Archive, Sunda Wiwitan, Performative Inquiry, Embodied Socio-Ecological Justice, Decolonial Worldmaking