Anarchy in Alifuru: The History of Stateless Societies in the Maluku Islands

In the sprawling seas of the Maluku Islands lies a forgotten history – not of kings and sultans, but of people who lived without them.

Anarchy in Alifuru reclaims the stories of the stateless societies of eastern Indonesia, revealing a world where political authority was earned, not inherited, and communities thrived through consensus rather than command. Drawing from early European travelogues, oral folklore, and anarchist anthropology, Bima Satria Putra invites us into a realm where power was shared, and hierarchy was optional. This groundbreaking work flips the script on conventional Indonesian historiography. Instead of focusing on sultanates like Ternate and Tidore, it explores the Alifuru World: a vibrant mosaic of decentralized island societies who chose autonomy over submission. Through vivid accounts of communal deliberations and egalitarian leadership, Putra illustrates how these societies resisted both Islamic state-building and European colonial conquest by refusing to be governed.

Anarchy in Alifuru is a meditation on freedom and the human desire to live without domination. For readers of James C. Scott and David Graeber, this book offers a powerful testament to the ingenuity of societies often dismissed as primitive. In a world increasingly shaped by centralized power, the story of the Alifuru reminds us that another way of organizing life not only existed, but thrived.