Review by Choice Review
Tsing's ethnography of Dayak people living in the Meratus hills on the island of Borneo spotlights several fascinating women and men who, through their activities as shamans, storytellers, and farmers, express their own marginality vis-a-vis the nation-state. Tsing emphasizes the marginal position of Meratus people in relation to Muslim lowlanders and government officials. She richly contextualizes her cases and stories in ongoing Meratus engagements with an environment under state-sponsored attack. Less emphasized are the ways in which residents of other highlands conceive of their cultural identities. Although Tsing relies on the notion of a "meratus" identity, the ideas, forms, and practices associated with this identity are less well described than are the fascinating inventions and border crossings of marginal individuals. Tsing deftly situates her own analysis in relation to the current competing accounts of marginality, subordination, difference, and resistance in the fields of cultural studies, social history, and cultural anthropology. Brilliantly and in a fluent prose style, Tsing uses these ethnographic insights to reflect on gendered politics and theory in Europe and North America. Advanced undergraduates and above. J. R. Bowen Washington University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Tsing ventured to Indonesia to study the Meratus Dayaks. After years of research devoted to knowing more about their lives in a South Kalimantan rain forest, Tsing has produced a densely worded study that manages to incorporate a lively perspective on gender issues, as well as examine the interactions between the remote group and powerful Indonesian officials who govern. Her interests also led Tsing to spend time with a female leader regarded as a shaman, Oma Adang. In sharing her knowledge of the culture and many of its individuals, Tsing reveals a great deal about the Meratus Dayak. But even more, in her passionate reprise at book's end she creates amazingly effective links between the diverse cultures of the West and those of the Far East. (Reviewed Dec. 1, 1993)0691033358Alice Joyce
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
