Making Blood White : : Historical Transformations in Early Modern Makassar / / William Cummings.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Backlist (2000-2014) eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Cummings, William,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2002]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2002
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (272 p.)

In this study of early modern Makassar in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, William Cummings traces the social, cultural, and political significance of the transition from oral to literate culture in one region of Indonesia. He examines "history-making"--the ways in which the past is perceived, interpreted, and used--at a crucial moment in early modern Makassar when conceptions of history are being transformed by the advent of literacy. Central to his argument is the notion that histories are not just records or representations of the past but are themselves forces or agents capable of transforming the worlds in which humans live. Not simply structured by the prevailing social, cultural, and ideological contexts in which they are made, they also shape these contexts. Making Blood White bears in important ways on the historiography of Southeast Asia in general and will be read by students of the region's history and anthropology as well as by those interested in the relationships of history, literacy, and politics in premodern Asia.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- ABBREVIATIONS -- A NOTE ON MAKASSARESE LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION -- Introduction Making a History of Early Modern Makassar -- Part I. History-Making -- 1. Early Modern Makassar and Its Contexts -- 2. Culture and History-Making -- 3 .Transformations in Makassarese Perceptions of the Past -- Part II. Making History -- 4. Historical Literacy and Social Hierarchicalization -- 5 . Historical Literacy and Gowa as the Center of Makassar -- 6 . Historical Literacy and Makassarese Culture -- Conclusion The Force of History -- APPENDIX EARLY MODERN RULERS OF GOWA AND TALLOQ -- NOTES -- GLOSSARY -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX