The Land of Gold : Post-Conflict Recovery and Cultural Revival in Independent Timor-Leste / Judith M. Bovensiepen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bovensiepen, Judith M., author.

Contributor:

Project Muse, Content Provider.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rites and ceremonies--Timor-Leste.

Rites and ceremonies.

Anthropology--Timor-Leste.

Anthropology.

Timor-Leste--Rural conditions--21st century.

Timor-Leste.

Timor-Leste--Social conditions--21st century.

Timor-Leste--Social life and customs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 200 pages :) illustrations,

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the village of Funar, located in the central highlands of Timor-Leste, the disturbing events of the twenty-four-year-long Indonesian occupation are rarely articulated in narratives of suffering. Instead, the highlanders emphasize the significance of their return to the sacred land of the ancestors, a place where "gold" is abundant and life is thought to originate. On one hand, this collective amnesia is due to villagers' exclusion from contemporary nation-building processes, which bestow recognition only on those who actively participated in the resistance struggle against Indonesia. On the other hand, the cultural revival and the privileging of the ancestral landscape and traditions over narratives of suffering derive from a particular understanding of how human subjects are constituted. Before life and after death, humans and the land are composed of the same substance; only during life are they separated. To recover from the forced dislocation the highlanders experienced under the Indonesian occupation, they thus seek to reestablish a mythical, primordial unity with the land by reinvigorating ancestral practices.Never leaving out of sight the intense political and emotional dilemmas imposed by the past on people's daily lives, The Land of Gold seeks to go beyond prevailing theories of postconflict reconstruction that prioritize human relationships. Instead, it explores the significance of people's affective and ritual engagement with the environment and with their ancestors as survivors come to terms with the disruptive events of the past.

Contents:

Frontmatter

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Notes on Language and Transcription

Introduction. The Land of Gold

Chapter One. Sacred Origins of Life

Chapter Two. Concealing Trunk Knowledge

Chapter Three. The Hazards of House Reconstruction

Chapter Four. On the Pain of Separation

Chapter Five. Keeping the Dead Away

Chapter Six. Fear of the Land

Epilogue. Not Ancestor, Not Not-Ancestor

Glossary. Idatè Words and Acronyms

Bibliography

Index

SOUTHEAST ASIA PROGRAM PUBLICATIONS. Cornell University

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (pages [173]-190 )and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Mrz 2019)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781501725920

1501725920

9780877272274

0877272271

OCLC:

942361222