The book focuses on the
historical trajectories of Savu, an island in the Nusa Tenggara Timur province,
eastern Indonesia. While Savu is a relatively small island, aspects of its
society, as well as this study’s blend of anthropology and historical method,
makes this book of fundamental relevance to the ongoing comparative examination
of Austronesian-speaking populations from Madagascar to Hawaii and from Taiwan
to Timor.
This book brings together Duggan’s detailed understanding of Savunese
society and genealogies with Hägerdal’s deep knowledge of the Dutch and
Portuguese archives to understand the overlap between these perspectives on
Savu’s past. The text discusses the precolonial period up to the sixteenth
century, and then examines how early-colonial encounters with the Portuguese
and Dutch (VOC) changed the system of governance. In the nineteenth century,
the Savunese embarked on minor colonial enterprises in Timor and Sumba, and
were still largely autonomous vis-à-vis the colonial state. Protestant missionaries
gained foothold after 1870, though Christianization was a slow process.
Colonial rule via a Dutch-appointed raja was introduced in the early twentieth
century. The text follows the fate of Savu during the struggle for independence
and the postcolonial era, discussing the dilemmas of modernization and the
resilience of the unique local culture.
Detail; Press Chicago
0 comments:
Post a Comment