Ana Bui Pa Kepue: How the Sabu Indigenous Community of Indonesia Affirms Every Child's Personhood Through Birth Rituals and Naming Practices

Aim. Children born outside marriage have historically faced legal, social, and symbolic exclusion, often through stigmatising naming practices, restricted inheritance, and ritual marginalisation. This study examines how the Sabu Indigenous community in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, institutionalises child inclusion, focusing on Dabba Ana(newborn incorporation ritual) and the status of ana bui pa kepue ("child fallen from a tree stump"), the local category for children born outside marriage. Methods. An Exploratory Descriptive Qualitative design was used. Fieldwork was conducted between August and October 2025 in three sub-districts of Sabu Raijua Regency, purposively selected to capture variation in customary continuity and religious composition. Data comprised 21 semi-structured interviews with parents, customary leaders, ritual specialists (mone ama), and cultural scholars; three Focus Group Discussions with 16 children aged 11–17; and one month of participant observation, including attendance at Dabba Ana and Ruketu ceremonies. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis with member checking and triangulation. Results. Three interrelated mechanisms of inclusion were identified: ritual incorporation through Dabba Ana, including restorative adaptations for children born outside marriage; affirmative naming practices encoding positive moral identity (e.g., Mengngi, "good fortune"); and equal inheritance rights secured through a dual kinship system (udu and hubi). Conclusions. Child personhood in Sabu is constructed as a communal achievement rather than a parental prerogative. The study introduces the concept of cultural inclusion infrastructure, in which inclusion operates as a moral baseline rather than a corrective response to exclusion, suggesting that legal protection may function most effectively when aligned with culturally embedded moral systems.