Matthew H Amster
Biographic Data
| ID | 638149 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matthew H Amster |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matthew H |
| FAMILY NAME | Amster |
| SIGNATURE | AMSTER M H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Gettysburg College |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 25 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
It’s Not Easy Being Apolitical
Portable Potency
In this paper I explore religious conversion and Christian identity among the Kelabit, an indigenous group from the interior of Borneo. The main thesis of the paper is that Christianity facilitates wider geographic mobility and urban migration and, over time, has led to a re-inscription of spiritual meanings in the local landscapes of rural homelands in the Kelabit Highland region. Beginning with a brief sketch of contemporary Kelabit life, prese…
Where Spirit and Bulldozer Roam
This paper explores changing perceptions of the natural environment among the Kelabit, an indigenous people of the Borneo interior. It considers both traditional and post-Christian conversion understandings about forest spaces. The former animistic ritual practices of the Kelabit centered on a spiritual dialogue with the natural world and this dialogue was often marked by active efforts to avoid or mitigate danger through ritual practice. One key…
The Social Optics of Space
The aim of this article is to show, through a detailed ethnographic case, how social space can be viewed as consisting of superimposed layers. Building on theoretical frameworks of Lefebvre and Foucault in terms of their approaches to space, power, and visibility, the article looks at the Kelabit people, a small, indigenous group whose homelands lie in the interior highlands of Borneo along an international frontier. Examining various facets of t…
General Anthropology Division
The Rhetoric of the State
This article examines dependency on cross-border labor and marriage along the international frontier in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia (Borneo) and some local efforts to restrict outsiders. The international border in this remote region of Borneo is highly permeable, and border-crossing activities, including seasonal migrant wage labor and cross-border marriage, are crucial both to the local political economy and to the reproduction o…
Fishing, Hunting and Headhunting in the Former Culture of the Ngaju Dayak in Central Kalimantan
Frontiers, Sovereignty, and Marital Tactics
This article considers transnational relationships between men and women from two Southeast Asian border zones, the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia, and the Indonesian island of Batam, part of the growth triangle that connects Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. It expands on Aihwa Ong's discussion of ‘graduated zones of sovereignty’ by examining how social relations are being reconfigured along these two international frontiers in the con…
Cross-Border Marriage in the Kelabit Highlands of Borneo
In this paper I examine the role of cross‐border marriage in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia, and the social, economic and political conditions in this border zone that motivate such mar
The "Many Mouths" of Community
This paper considers the role of gossip and social interaction among the Kelabit of Sarawak, Malaysia. Focusing on gossip in everyday life, the paper explores the tension between desires for individual privacy, concerns for group cohesion and, more broadly, desires to adopt a more modern style of living and social interaction. These tensions are vividly manifested in discourses about the problematic nature of gossip in the Kelabit community. Crit…
Exchanging the Past
Media Worlds
Language, Charisma, and Creativity
The Globalization of Charismatic Christianity: Spreading the Gospel of Prosperity. Simon Coleman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. xii + 264 pp., photographs, references, index.Language, Charisma, and Creativity: The Ritual Life of a Religious Movement. Thomas J. Csordas. Berkeley: University oi California Press, 1997. xxii + 320 pp., illustrations, tables, appendix, notes, reference, index
“Tradition”, Ethnicity, and Change
As we reach the end of the twentieth century, anthropology has come to embrace the fluidity of cultural forms. Ethnographic analyses today are often framed in a manner in which serious consideration is given to the movement of people and ideas through space and change over time. In treating “cultures”, “communities”, and “ethnic groups”,as continually shifting entities,we face new challenges in terms of the range and scope of ethnographic investi…
Frontiers, Sovereignty, and Marital Tactics
This article considers transnational relationships between men and women from two Southeast Asian border zones, the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia, and the Indonesian island of Batam, part of the growth triangle that connects Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. It expands on Aihwa Ong's discussion of ‘graduated zones of sovereignty’ by examining how social relations are being reconfigured along these two international frontiers in the con…
The Social Optics of Space
The aim of this article is to show, through a detailed ethnographic case, how social space can be viewed as consisting of superimposed layers. Building on theoretical frameworks of Lefebvre and Foucault in terms of their approaches to space, power, and visibility, the article looks at the Kelabit people, a small, indigenous group whose homelands lie in the interior highlands of Borneo along an international frontier. Examining various facets of t…
Cross-Border Marriage in the Kelabit Highlands of Borneo
In this paper I examine the role of cross‐border marriage in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia, and the social, economic and political conditions in this border zone that motivate such mar
The "Many Mouths" of Community
This paper considers the role of gossip and social interaction among the Kelabit of Sarawak, Malaysia. Focusing on gossip in everyday life, the paper explores the tension between desires for individual privacy, concerns for group cohesion and, more broadly, desires to adopt a more modern style of living and social interaction. These tensions are vividly manifested in discourses about the problematic nature of gossip in the Kelabit community. Crit…
Portable Potency
In this paper I explore religious conversion and Christian identity among the Kelabit, an indigenous group from the interior of Borneo. The main thesis of the paper is that Christianity facilitates wider geographic mobility and urban migration and, over time, has led to a re-inscription of spiritual meanings in the local landscapes of rural homelands in the Kelabit Highland region. Beginning with a brief sketch of contemporary Kelabit life, prese…
Where Spirit and Bulldozer Roam
This paper explores changing perceptions of the natural environment among the Kelabit, an indigenous people of the Borneo interior. It considers both traditional and post-Christian conversion understandings about forest spaces. The former animistic ritual practices of the Kelabit centered on a spiritual dialogue with the natural world and this dialogue was often marked by active efforts to avoid or mitigate danger through ritual practice. One key…
Fishing, Hunting and Headhunting in the Former Culture of the Ngaju Dayak in Central Kalimantan
“Tradition”, Ethnicity, and Change
As we reach the end of the twentieth century, anthropology has come to embrace the fluidity of cultural forms. Ethnographic analyses today are often framed in a manner in which serious consideration is given to the movement of people and ideas through space and change over time. In treating “cultures”, “communities”, and “ethnic groups”,as continually shifting entities,we face new challenges in terms of the range and scope of ethnographic investi…
Language, Charisma, and Creativity
The Globalization of Charismatic Christianity: Spreading the Gospel of Prosperity. Simon Coleman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. xii + 264 pp., photographs, references, index.Language, Charisma, and Creativity: The Ritual Life of a Religious Movement. Thomas J. Csordas. Berkeley: University oi California Press, 1997. xxii + 320 pp., illustrations, tables, appendix, notes, reference, index
Exchanging the Past
Media Worlds
The "Many Mouths" of Community
This paper considers the role of gossip and social interaction among the Kelabit of Sarawak, Malaysia. Focusing on gossip in everyday life, the paper explores the tension between desires for individual privacy, concerns for group cohesion and, more broadly, desires to adopt a more modern style of living and social interaction. These tensions are vividly manifested in discourses about the problematic nature of gossip in the Kelabit community. Crit…
The Rhetoric of the State
This article examines dependency on cross-border labor and marriage along the international frontier in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia (Borneo) and some local efforts to restrict outsiders. The international border in this remote region of Borneo is highly permeable, and border-crossing activities, including seasonal migrant wage labor and cross-border marriage, are crucial both to the local political economy and to the reproduction o…
Fishing, Hunting and Headhunting in the Former Culture of the Ngaju Dayak in Central Kalimantan
Frontiers, Sovereignty, and Marital Tactics
This article considers transnational relationships between men and women from two Southeast Asian border zones, the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia, and the Indonesian island of Batam, part of the growth triangle that connects Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. It expands on Aihwa Ong's discussion of ‘graduated zones of sovereignty’ by examining how social relations are being reconfigured along these two international frontiers in the con…
Cross-Border Marriage in the Kelabit Highlands of Borneo
In this paper I examine the role of cross‐border marriage in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia, and the social, economic and political conditions in this border zone that motivate such mar
General Anthropology Division
Where Spirit and Bulldozer Roam
This paper explores changing perceptions of the natural environment among the Kelabit, an indigenous people of the Borneo interior. It considers both traditional and post-Christian conversion understandings about forest spaces. The former animistic ritual practices of the Kelabit centered on a spiritual dialogue with the natural world and this dialogue was often marked by active efforts to avoid or mitigate danger through ritual practice. One key…
The Social Optics of Space
The aim of this article is to show, through a detailed ethnographic case, how social space can be viewed as consisting of superimposed layers. Building on theoretical frameworks of Lefebvre and Foucault in terms of their approaches to space, power, and visibility, the article looks at the Kelabit people, a small, indigenous group whose homelands lie in the interior highlands of Borneo along an international frontier. Examining various facets of t…
Portable Potency
In this paper I explore religious conversion and Christian identity among the Kelabit, an indigenous group from the interior of Borneo. The main thesis of the paper is that Christianity facilitates wider geographic mobility and urban migration and, over time, has led to a re-inscription of spiritual meanings in the local landscapes of rural homelands in the Kelabit Highland region. Beginning with a brief sketch of contemporary Kelabit life, prese…
It’s Not Easy Being Apolitical
Sociology (10 works) · Political science (8 works) · Asian Studies and History (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (4 works) · Geography (4 works) · History (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Philippine History and Culture (4 works)