Bond of Brotherhood: Cultural Negotiation in Uniting Differences and Strengthening Honour and Dignity in the Lampung Community, Indonesia

The Lampung community is one of the ethnic communities in Indonesia that is often viewed by many researchers as a community that is vulnerable to violence, even though this is not always true. This negative view is often associated with piil pesenggiri (honour and dignity), which is always fought for by the Lampung community, but is often given negative connotations. Many researchers forget that the Lampung people's understanding of honour and dignity cannot be separated from their cultural values, namely angkon muwakhi (adopted siblings), which is a bond of brotherhood formed by the Lampung community to strengthen their honour and dignity. This article aims to describe the results of our anthropological study of adopted siblings (angkon muwakhi) as a cultural value of the Lampung ethnic community in accepting non‐Lampung ethnic groups into a bond of brotherhood. Our study shows that the more diverse the ethnic groups integrated into the bond of brotherhood, the stronger the recognition of a person's honour and dignity. Therefore, the bond of brotherhood is not only a unifying tool between ethnic groups in minimizing conflict, but also a smart medium for strengthening their honour and dignity as Lampung people.