More than an Ethnic Marker

Toraja Art as Identity Negotiator

Bibliographic Data

ID2467798
AuthorsKathleen M Adams (0000-0001-5041-076X, Loyola University Chicago, corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume25
Issue3
Pages327-351
Publication date1998-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Ethnologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-0496 • E-ISSN: 1548-1425
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/ae.1998.25.3.327
OpenAlexW2048411922
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited45

In this article I suggest that art can be more than a passive ethnic marker. Focusing on the architecturally based carvings of the Toraja of Indonesia, I argue that artistic forms are sites for the assertion, articulation, and negotiation of various hierarchical identities and relationships. I trace the contested transformation of Toraja architectural symbols of elite authority into generalized icons of Toraja ethnic identity. As I chronicle these shifts I also illustrate how Toraja architectural carvings serve as vehicles for the rearticulation of assorted sets of rank, ethnic, regional, and political relationships. A key objective in this article is to highlight the complicated and often ironic relations between material culture, identity negotiation, and human agency. Drawing on Scott (1985, 1990), I suggest that while art may serve as a weapon of the weak, it can also be a weak weapon, [identity, art, ethnicity, tourism, agency, Indonesia, Toraja

Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Art · Articulation (sociology · Elite · Ethnic group · Identity (music · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian Studies and History · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Gender Studies · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies