Overview

A study of the way in which the Kelabit utilise raw materials from the rainforest to construct a socially ordered world. Catalogues of the collections made by the author for the British and Sarawak Museums are included and there are numerous photographs of items being made and in use. The volume will be of interest to scholars of Borneo, and to those interested in the social and symbolic significance of material culture. Contents: Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; The Kelabit: background; Clothes, hair and personal adornment; The Kelabit language; The Kelabit hearth; Kelabit agriculture; Kelabit use of the wild; Life force from the wild: Lalud ; Irau feasts: statements of status, rice-growing success and potency; Rice and the wild: gender, the Rice Meal and the generation of Ulum ; Conclusion: crafting a human world; Plates; Appendices; Notes; Bibliography.

Full Product Details

9780861591435

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Reviews

This is a handsome, well-written and excellently organized broad-format book this is an engaging account of the relationship between material culture and Kelabit lofe, and a model reference book for a substantial collection of artefacts made during fieldwork and the method of recording it. --Michael Heppell Anthropological Forum (01/01/2006)

"""This is a handsome, well-written and excellently organized broad-format book...this is an engaging account of the relationship between material culture and Kelabit lofe, and a model reference book for a substantial collection of artefacts made during fieldwork and the method of recording it.""--Michael Heppell ""Anthropological Forum, 2006 "" This is a carefully presented book which will prove an invaluable guide for museum curators holding collections of Kelabit material, but it will also be of interest to ecologists and anthropologists with an interest in the relationship between people and the natural world.--Museum Anthropology, 28:1, 2006 Janowskis book will undoubtedly make an important mark on the literature of indigenous society in Borneo'--Jeff Oliver ""Assemblage, 2004 "" This collection sets new standards for what can and should be accomplished, and we can only hope that there are more collaborations of this type in future. Its value will only grow with the passing of the years.--Peter Metcalk ""Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2006 """

Janowskis book will undoubtedly make an important mark on the literature of indigenous society in Borneo'--Jeff Oliver Assemblage, 2004 This collection sets new standards for what can and should be accomplished, and we can only hope that there are more collaborations of this type in future. Its value will only grow with the passing of the years.--Peter Metcalk Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2006 This is a carefully presented book which will prove an invaluable guide for museum curators holding collections of Kelabit material, but it will also be of interest to ecologists and anthropologists with an interest in the relationship between people and the natural world.--Museum Anthropology, 28:1, 2006 This is a handsome, well-written and excellently organized broad-format book...this is an engaging account of the relationship between material culture and Kelabit lofe, and a model reference book for a substantial collection of artefacts made during fieldwork and the method of recording it. --Michael Heppell Anthropological Forum, 2006

Author Information

by Monica Janowski

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