Hard Bargaining in Sumatra : : Western Travelers and Toba Bataks in the Marketplace of Souvenirs / / Andrew Causey.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter UHP eBook Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Causey, Andrew,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2003]; ©2003
• Year of Publication: 2003
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.)

Hard Bargaining in Sumatra is an artfully written and penetrating examination of interactions between Western travelers and Toba Batak wood carvers in the souvenir marketplaces of Samosir Island, North Sumatra. Toba Batak carvings, ranging from simple human figures of wood to elaborately engraved water buffalo horns, are described in tourist guidebooks and by Toba Batak vendors alike as "traditional" and "antique," despite many recent changes and inventions in form. This pathbreaking work investigates how notions of place and self are constructed by the travelers and the Bataks in the context of ethnic tourism. The author proposes that these interactions be understood in light of Louis Marin's concept of utopics, suggesting that tourist venues such as hotels and marketplaces are neutral spaces where both locals and visitors can act out behaviors that would ordinarily be constrained by their respective cultures.The transformation of Toba Batak woodcarving is one result of such marketplace interactions. The Western tourist's desire for traditional art has encouraged Batak carvers to continue to make objects based on forms developed by their animist predecessors, the majority of whom converted to Christianity at the turn of the century. Toba Batak carving style, however, is far from static; artisans create innovative pieces that they frame within the same historically legitimizing narratives used for "traditional" objects.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction "Tunggu Dulu Tesnya...": Stories from the Fancy Mat -- Chapter 1. Orienting the View -- Chapter 2. Locating Lake Toba -- Chapter 3. Knowing Who Is Who -- Chapter 4. Carving a Life in Batakland -- Chapter 5. Creating Value and Meaning -- Chapter 6. Locating Spaces of Interaction -- Chapter 7. Innovating Traditions -- Conclusion: Someplace in Between -- Notes -- Glossary -- References -- Index -- about the author