Talk:Rumah Gadang

i m husna I m sumatran people so i know much about "rumah gadang: i live there when i was childhood. e-mail me al_barra@yahoo.com—Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.23.66.20 (talk • contribs)

Reference to education in background

I removed it since I don't think it has direct relevance to the article. It would be better placed on the West Sumatra or Minangkabau articles. Also, it is true for colonial times and the period afterwards, but in current times I'm not sure that Minang are any more educated than another ethic groups in Indonesia (Caniago 02:41, 26 December 2006 (UTC))

hhm - that's probably fair enough. My reference did mention the colonial context and Padang being a major dutch admin centre. Although, does this 'former' educational prowess then have any carry-over effect til today, in the context of architectural heritage, wealth and standard of housing? My reference is dated 1994, so many of the houses at that stage (and today?) would have been built in the 2 decades or so following the independence. As for relevance I was just trying to "paint a picture" or "set the scene" but you are correct in that one has to be careful not get carried away on tangents. It also said they were one of the more "economically successful" groups in Indonesia.

Just have a general concern about having too much general information about Minangkabau in an article about rumah gadangs. Would be fine in an academic paper or a book, but in a hyperlinked online reference I think it is best to be quite selective about what goes in. As for "It also said they were one of the more "economically successful" groups in Indonesia.", this is the picture often painted in some books, but I have a recent comparison of the provinces of Indonesia, and West Sumatra isn't all that well off compared to the others in Sumatra, since it doesn't have oil reserves (like Riau, Aceh, etc), and it located on the west coast of Sumatra, which hinders trade/shipping to the rest of Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, etc.). They are however entrepreneurial and commonly merantau to seek opportunities elsewhere in Indonesia or overseas. (Caniago 00:51, 27 December 2006 (UTC))

It is not in the context of their Province's resources. Many well-off Indonesians are in fact Minangkabau. Apparently, they are among those of the more prominent merchants than other Indonesian ethnicities ;) Matahari Pagi 07:29, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Yes, there are successful people in the Minang diaspora, but the majority of the Minang population is located in West Sumatra. (Caniago 07:39, 3 April 2007 (UTC))

Construction

This section could do with some expanding. Ie, a description of the steps involved. Also any ceremonial/ritual aspects?Merbabu 09:16, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, there are quite a few aspects that need work and some sections needed which don't exist yet. Some of the general references I listed in the article are available online, so there is an opportunity to add more material from them if I don't get to it first (Caniago 00:51, 27 December 2006 (UTC))

References

Surely the General references could be tied more closely to support statements in the text of this article, which doesn't yet offer any sources for its statements but the one title. Couldn't this be brought up to Wikipedia standards? --Wetman (talk) 05:13, 18 November 2007 (UTC)