Who are the Pendalungan?
The Pendalungan (also identified as the Jawa-Madura or Jawara people) people reside in the eastern portion of East Jawa (Java). The center of their region is the Jember Municipality. Starting from the western suburbs of Surabaya on the north coast, across to Lumajang in the south, the range of the Pendalungan spreads east to Banyuwangi (the port facing the island of Bali). The Pendalungan are made up of two groups: 1. Jawa people who have been raised in Madura villages. They speak both the Madura and Jawa languages but have been assimilated into the Pendalungan culture. 2. The offspring of Jawa-Madura marriages. This group has been common since 1671 when Madura Prince Trunojoyo awarded Madura brides to Jawa soldiers who united with him to fight King Mangkurat I.This practice of 'perpaduan' (merging) rapidly accelerated when British Governor Raffles transmigrated thousands of Jawa to work in the newly opened plantations in the midst of Mountains Semeru, Argopura, Yang, and Ijen. It wasn't long before Dutch officials responded by pouring more Madura into the same district.The language used by the Pendalungan people is the Madura language and some also use the Surabaya dialect of the Jawa language (ngoko suroboyo).

What are their lives like?
The Pendalungan economic life is centered on farming and raising livestock. Their main crop is rice, which is grown in irrigated rice fields. They typically cultivate fruit, vegetables, and other crops planted as secondary crops during the dry season. They also work as traders, wood and batik craftsmen, and in a variety of other professions.Generally, rural Pendalungan people live in woven bamboo houses with dirt floors, while those in the cities have more modern houses with brick walls, which have become more common as the area has become more developed. Pendalungan people are known for their specialty foods, such as suarsuwir (fermented rice taffy), pindang koyong soup, rujak cingur (salad with slices of beef snout), Surabaya semanggi (vegetables steamed with spices), lontong balap (rice steamed in banana leaf) and hoof sate (skewered meat kebabs).

What do they believe?
The majority of Pendalungan people are Muslims. However, in their daily lives they still heavily rely on spiritist practices for treating sicknesses as well as for defense against mental illness and harm from spirits. The Pendalungan populace can be characterized in the following way: 30% are nominal (abangan) Muslims; 30% are Tarekat fundamentalist Muslims; 25% are Ha'kikat conservative Muslims; 10% are Ha'kikat moderate Muslims who are supporters of Pancasila, the more tolerant Indonesian national policy; and 5% are Ma'rifat mystical Muslims.

What are their needs?
Researchers have determined that about half of Pendalungan people do not own land and live in poverty. Modern farming technology only benefits a small wealthy elite, and mechanization has left many farmers unemployed. The Pendalungan need appropriate technology and job opportunities to escape their poverty. Furthermore, rural Pendalungan people need access to more educational facilities since their are no high schools outside the cities.