Grandchildren of the GaĆe Ancestors focuses on the social organization, cosmology and ritual system of Hoga Sara society on the island of Flores. The first anthropological account of this eastern Indonesian people, this study challenges the classical models of descent and alliance by demonstrating the limitations of these analytical abstractions for understanding the social system of the Hoga Sara. The intricacies of social organization and the formation of social identities of groups and individuals are disentangled by utilizing the concepts of 'house society', 'origin structures' and 'orders of precedence'. Aspects focused on include the pivotal role of the first-born, historical development of the society, sacrificial practices, and the instrumental role of the ritual system in the continuing exchanges among people and with their ancestors.
Author(s): Andrea Katalin Molnar
Series: Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde
Edition: 1
Publisher: Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: xi; 306
City: Leiden
Tags: Ngada (Indonesian people) -- Indonesia -- Flores -- Rites and ceremonies; Ngada (Indonesian people) -- Indonesia -- Flores -- Social life and customs; Ngada (Indonesian people) -- Indonesia -- Flores -- Religion
Contents
List of figures, maps, plates, and tables iv
Preface ix
I Introduction 1
II We are the Hoga Sara
Formulations of local group identity 25
III The traditional village 67
IV Clan
A minimal definition 89
V The house as the basic unit of social organization 115
VI Material symbols of group identity 155
VII The continuity of a house or a clan
The role of the ancestors 200
VIII Maintaining continuity through rituals 219
IX The Hoga Sara in a broader context 245
Appendix 263
Glossary 277
Bibliography 283
Index 301