Art as Politics

Acknowledgments

In the course of working on this book I have become indebted to many people . So many acquaintances, friends, colleagues, and family members have generously shared their time, reflections, and support that it is hard to know where to begin my thanks. Numerous people in Tana Toraja Regency contributed to this book. I am deeply grateful to my friends, mentors, and adoptive family in the Toraja highlands: their warmth, humor, gentle guidance , and patience with my endless questions and blunders touched me deeply. I hope that they are equally patient with the flaws in what I have written. I especially want to acknowledge my Toraja “family” in Ke’te’ Kesu’. They generously opened their homes and hearts to me—without them, there would be no book. Although they are geographically far away now, they will always occupy a special place in my heart. It is to the memory of my Toraja “father,” known in this book by the pseudonym Ne’ Duma, that this book is dedicated. While it is impossible to name all of my Sulawesi benefactors and mentors here, I wish to express my appreciation to the following families: the Sarungallo family, Bpk. Sampe Daun and family, the Sandarupa family , the Syamsul Arief family, Rini Sulaiman and family, Indo Nurhayati Baru and family, Bapak Aman Sentosa and family, the Hagiwara family, the Rantesalu family, ex-Bupati A. Jacobs and family, Almarhum Anton Palinggi and family, and Stanis Dammen. Bapak Mangawe was my Toraja language teacher, and I thank him for his dedication and patience. I also wish to thank the guides, hoteliers, shopkeepers, and carvers who generously shared their thoughts and experiences with me. My research sponsors at Hasanuddin University’s Pusat Latihan Ilmu Ilmu Sosial deserve mention here as well. I especially thank Dr. Mukhlis, Madjid Kallo, and Kathy Robinson. Kathy frequently hosted me in her Makassar home, and I took great delight in our visits. Other Sulawesi scholars who deserve thanks include Harum Kadir, Drs. L. T. Tangdilintin and Moses Eppang. Far more people in Sulawesi deserve mention here—I hope that all those who helped me in this enterprise but could not be listed know they are appreciated . The seeds of this book first germinated in a dissertation. I am espeACKNOWLEDGMENTS x : acknowledgments cially grateful to Charles F. Keyes for setting me on my path as my dissertation chairperson and introducing me to the delights and challenges of studying Southeast Asian identity politics. I also thank Mimi Kahn for her dissertation committee work, as well as her mentoring and friendship. Finally, I am grateful to James Nason, Daniel Lev, and Simon Ottenberg for their intellectual guidance and encouragement over the years. Prior to my first departure to Indonesia, and prior to subsequent returns, various scholars offered varied forms of help: I thank Dick McGinn, John Wolff, Amrih Widodo, Peter Suwarno, and Ismet Fanany for their tutelage in the Indonesian language. My gratitude also goes to Shinji Yamashita, Eric Crystal, Toby Volkman, Doug Hollan, Jane Wellenkamp, and Elizabeth Coville for their advice before I departed. In subsequent years many Sulawesi scholars have enriched my understanding of Tana Toraja, often in conversations over palm wine, red rice, and buffalo meat in highland food stalls: I especially want to thank Lorraine Aragon, Wim Beijer, Terry Bigalke, Ken George, Jeannine Koubi, Hetty Nooy-Palm, Maria van Toor, and Roxanna Waterson. Several friends—fellow anthropologists with artistic sensibilities— deserve special note here for reading much or all of the manuscript and offering their astute insights, gentle critiques, and encouragement. I owe much to these generous friends—Andrew Causey, Jill Forshee, and Elizabeth Coville—and I offer them my deepest appreciation. Their influences on my thinking and prose have strengthened this book in immeasurable ways. The shortcomings in the pages that follow are all my own. I also wish to thank the series editors, Rita Smith Kipp and David Chandler, and the anonymous reviewer for the energy and thought they put into their readings of this manuscript: their suggestions have greatly enhanced the book. Pam Kelley, my editor at the University of Hawai‘i Press, also deserves accolades for her patient perseverance and thoughtful work with the manuscript , as do Margaret Black and Cheri Dunn. My research assistants— Rebecca West, Sarah Schott, and Selvan Maria Augustine—also merit acknowledgment here for their help in tracking down obscure bibliographic references and preparing the manuscript. I am honored and humbled by valuable feedback from J. Peter van der Veen and Marjolein van...