Family communication and educational decision-making in the Indigenous maritime Bajo community of Indonesia

This study examines how family communication patterns shape children’s schooling decisions in the Indigenous maritime Bajo community of Wakatobi, Indonesia. Drawing on qualitative narrative interviews with parents and children, the study analyses decision-making within a collectivist seascape marked by patriarchal authority and spiritual ties to the sea. Findings show fluid communication patterns shaped by household economics, gendered power, and cultural meanings of marine livelihoods. Consensual, protective, and laissez-faire patterns appear, alongside a distinct semi-permissive maritime pattern in which children’s autonomy is conditional on returning to the sea when schooling ends. A pluralistic pattern does not emerge, reflecting norms of harmony, respect for elders, and structural constraints on educational choice. The study extends Family Communication Patterns theory by proposing cultural orientation as a third analytical dimension and highlights the value of culturally aligned educational support for coastal Indigenous families in practice.