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More than an Ethnic Marker: Toraja Art as Identity Negotiator
Author(s) -
Adams Kathleen M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1998.25.3.327
Subject(s) - ethnic group , identity (music) , negotiation , sociology , agency (philosophy) , articulation (sociology) , gender studies , elite , politics , aesthetics , anthropology , political science , art , social science , law
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]