Paths and rivers : : Sa'dan Toraja society in transformation / / Roxana Waterson.

• Author: Waterson, Roxana.
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Series: Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 253; Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 253.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (552 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.
• Other title: Preliminary Material /; Chapter I: Toraja and their neighbours: Historical perspectives /; Chapter II: The view from the mountains /; Chapter III: The Ancestors of the Same Dream /; Chapter IV: A time of chaos /; Chapter V: The awakening of the oath: Memory, identity and historical action /; Chapter VI: The colonial encounter and social transformation /; Chapter VII: The mythical origins of humans and their houses /; Chapter VIII: A system of rank under strain /; Chapter IX: Trunk and branch /; Chapter X: Blood and bone /; Chapter XI: Women and men /; Chapter XII: Planting a hearth /; Chapter XIII: Land, labour and inheritance /; Chapter XIV: The structure of Aluk To Dolo /; Chapter XV: The enhancement of fertility /; Chapter XVI: A changing religious landscape /; Chapter XVII: The making of ancestors /; Chapter XVIII: Dynamics of the ceremonial economy /; Conclusion /; Appendices /; Glossary /; Bibliography /; Index /
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. [475]-498) and index.
• ISBN: 9004253858
• ISSN: 1572-1892
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Roxana Waterson.

Fieldwork extending over a thirty-year period provided materials for this book. Paths and Rivers offers an unusually deep and broad picture of the Sa’dan Toraja as a society in dynamic transition over the course of the past century. The Toraja inhabit the mountainous highlands of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and are well known for their dramatic architecture, their unusual cliff burials, and their flamboyant ceremonial life, which places extraordinary economic demands on individuals and families. The analysis is informed, firstly, by a comparative perspective which sets Toraja social structure in the context of the Austronesian world. Secondly, the author delves deeply into Toraja social memory to show how people think about the past. She examines the usefulness of history and myth in the present as a source of identity, a template for action, or a resource by means of which to claim precedence. The book gives a clear picture of the structure and ethos of the indigenous Toraja religion, the Aluk To Dolo or \'Way of the Ancestors\', with its complex cycle of rituals. The book concludes with an analysis of the ceremonial economy, which draws upon both domestic subsistence production and the global market economy. Paths and Rivers draws together a fascinating picture of one society’s journey into modernity. Full text (Open Access)