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"Waterson, Roxana"
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Reconciliation as ritual: Comparative perspectives on innovation and performance in processes of reconciliation
In the past three decades, extraordinary developments have taken place in a number of countries making a transition from authoritarian regimes to democratic governments. This has given rise to the emergent field of study of transitional justice. As for the best means of achieving such transitions, debates are still vigorous about the relative merits of truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) versus criminal proceedings, whether in the context of the International Criminal Court at The Hague or of hybrid national/international special courts such as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh, which is currently trying five former high-ranking members of the Khmer Rouge. TRCs are relatively new political and legal phenomena. Patricia Hayner lists 21 truth commissions formed since 1974 - the most successful of which to date appear to have been those in Chile and South Africa. She provides an excellent analysis of how these commissions have differed from one another and what they have achieved. Still, many urgent questions remain about how best to ensure the efficacy of the process.
Journal Article
Children's Perspectives on Ritual and its Responsibilities among the Sa'dan Toraja of Sulawesi (Indonesia)
The Toraja of highland South Sulawesi, Indonesia, are renowned for their elaborate ceremonies, particularly funerals. The value of livestock has inflated wildly throughout the twentieth century. Yet the social commitment to the sacrifice of buffaloes and pigs at funerals remains undiminished, and many adults take great pride in it. Children, as the next generation, can therefore expect to inherit remarkably heavy obligations. How do children learn about their expected roles in this system, and the values which adults claim it embodies? In 2007, I asked 451 children (aged 10-18) from eight schools in different parts of Toraja to write and draw about their ritual experiences. I asked them to describe what kinds of rituals they had so far attended, what they had seen and done there, what they had learned about through their participation, and how they saw their future roles as adults in maintaining ceremonial obligations. Their answers reveal their developing perceptions of Toraja ritual life. They reflect tensions also felt by adults between the social expectation of high ceremonial expenditure, and the need to meet other costs such as educational fees. They also demonstrate a pronounced and self-conscious sense of Toraja identity, as invested in the performance of rituals.
Journal Article
Edwin de Jong,Making a Living between Crises and Ceremonies in Tana Toraja: The Practice of everyday Life of a South Sulawesi highland Community. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2013, xiv + 332 pp. ISBN 9789004252400. Price: EUR 89.00 (hardback)
The search for a 'representative' community in which to base his study made de Jong aware of the extent of variation between districts and villages within the Toraja highlands, in terms of degrees of inequality, patterns of land distribution, the range of economic activities pursued, and even the motivations for migration. Given the recency of this development, and the continuing tensions that exist between the impulse to divide even further, and the occasionally resurgent expansionist visions of a 'Greater Toraja', first mooted in the 1930s, it might not be warranted to conclude, as the author does, that 'after' the long process of power politics that has played out at local, regional and national levels, 'Tana Toraja has settled into its present geographic identity' (p. 288). De Jong's ethnography offers a fresh contribution to Toraja studies, as well as a useful critique of livelihood studies, giving us a richly contextualised, multi-sited and translocal perspective on economic decision-making in a culture where ritual plays such a vital role in social relations.
Book Review
Holding Back the Mountain: Historical Imagination and the Future of Toraja- Bugis Relations
Tulisan ini mengkaji masa lalu dari sudut pandang 'ingatan sosial' (social memory) dan peranannya dalam mengonseptualisasi identitas serta hubungan-hubungan etnis dalam perubahan politik orang-orang Toraja dan Bugis di Sulawesi Selatan. Dalam perjalanan sejarah, kedua pihak selalu menjalin hubungan. Terdapat pula hubungan yang erat dalam bahasa dan kebudayaan mereka. Walaupun penduduk di dataran tinggi memiliki status yang marjinal dibandingkan dengan mereka yang tinggal di dataran rendah - yang secara politiklebih berkuasa - sepanjang sejarah mereka telah hidup bersama secara damai, dan dihubungkan oleh jaringan-jaringan perdagangan serta perkawinan campuran di antara kaum bangsawan kedua pihak. Tetapi, dalam ingatan sosial orang Toraja, beberapa kejadian memiliki signifikansi mitologis...[...] Dalam tulisan ini, perhatian penulisnya tertuju pada bagaimana dan mengapa cerita-cerita ini dan yang lain menjadi bagian dari 'ingatan' mereka, dan mengapa mereka tetap memanfaatkannya pada masa kini. Cerita telah menjadi bagian dari definisi orang Toraja tentang identitas, dan menyajikan suatu landasan untuk bertindak. Tindakan itu memperoleh kekuatan tambahan setiap kali cerita itu diaktifkan kembali. Dalam situasi masa kini dengan adanya ketegangan hubungan etnis, orang-orang Toraja merasakan kekhawatiran atas ancaman ekstrimis yang dapat membahayakan hubungan-hubungan baik dan masa depan yang damai.
Journal Article
