Not A Hazardous Sport: Misadventures of an Anthropologist in Indonesia

Nigel Barley travels to Sulawesi in Indonesia to live among the Torajan people, known for their spectacular buildings and elaborate ancestor cults. At last he is following his own advice to students, to do their anthropological fieldwork ‘somewhere where the inhabitants are beautiful, friendly, where you would like the food.’ Barley explores the island on horseback and in buses jammed to the gunnels, and meets priests faithful to the old animist rituals. With his customary wit, he takes the...