Abstract
This paper addresses current attempts to manage people, resources and ritual practices by government agencies in Timor-Leste. Based on the analysis of the tara bandu carried out in Ermera in 2012 and official propaganda, interviews and other documents produced in between 2012 and 2015, I argue how certain rationale about the disposal of material resources, oriented by the gift regime in ritual contexts, has come to be a matter of government concern. It gives origin to an economic pedagogy which intends to turn into commodities resources managed primarily as gifts. In addition, such economic pedagogy intents to decrease the material and symbolic investments people make in rituals and alliance prestations. One also proposes to consider such economic pedagogy as purification endeavors.
Keywords
culture; East Timor; economy; modernization
