ART AS POLITICS

Re-Crafting Identities, Tourism, and Power

in Tana Toraja, Indonesia
Kathleen M. Adams

Art as Politics explores the intersec- She also considers how outsiders—be they
tion of art, identity politics, and tour- tourists, art collectors, members of rival eth-
ism in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Based on nic groups, or government officials—have
long-term ethnographic research from appropriated and reframed Toraja art ob-
the 1980s to the present, the book of- jects for their own purposes. Her account il-
fers a nuanced portrayal of the Sa’dan lustrates how art can serve as a catalyst in
Toraja, a predominantly Christian mi- identity politics, especially in the context of
nority group in the world’s most popu- tourism and social upheaval.
lous Muslim country. Celebrated in
anthropological and tourism literatures KATHLEEN M. ADAMS is associate pro-
for their spectacular traditional houses, fessor of anthropology at Loyola University
sculpted effigies of the dead, and pag- Chicago and adjunct curator at the Field Mu-
eantry-filled funeral rituals, the Toraja seum of Natural History.
have entered an era of accelerated en-
gagement with the global economy
marked by on-going struggles over Publication date: August 2006
identity, religion, and social relations. 304 pages, 35 illustrations, 15 in color
$57.00, Cloth; $25.00, Paper
In her engaging account, Kathleen
Adams chronicles how various Toraja Cloth ISBN:
individuals and groups gave drawn 0-8248-2999-9 / 978-0-8248-2999-5
upon artistically-embellished “tradi- Paper ISBN:
tional” objects—as well as monumen- 0-8248-3072-5 / 978-0-8248-3072-4
tal displays, museums, UNESCO ideas
about “word heritage,” and the World Southeast Asia
Politics, Meaning, and Memory
Wide Web—to shore up or realign as-
pects of a cultural heritage perceived to
be under threat.

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Please send ___ copies of Art as Politics: Re-Crafting Identities, Tourism,
and Power in Tana Toraja, Indonesia at $25.00, Paper to:
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