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.

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)

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter I: Toraja and their neighbours: Historical perspectives / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter II: The view from the mountains / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter III: The Ancestors of the Same Dream / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter IV: A time of chaos / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter V: The awakening of the oath: Memory, identity and historical action / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter VI: The colonial encounter and social transformation / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter VII: The mythical origins of humans and their houses / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter VIII: A system of rank under strain / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter IX: Trunk and branch / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter X: Blood and bone / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter XI: Women and men / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter XII: Planting a hearth / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter XIII: Land, labour and inheritance / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter XIV: The structure of Aluk To Dolo / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter XV: The enhancement of fertility / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter XVI: A changing religious landscape / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter XVII: The making of ancestors / Roxana Waterson -- Chapter XVIII: Dynamics of the ceremonial economy / Roxana Waterson -- Conclusion / Roxana Waterson -- Appendices / Roxana Waterson -- Glossary / Roxana Waterson -- Bibliography / Roxana Waterson -- Index / Roxana Waterson.