Toraja
- Description
- About the Author
-
In 1985, Dr Nigel Barley, then senior anthropologist at The British Museum, taught himself Indonesian and set off for the relatively unknown Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Here he hoped to find unsullied cultures to study and unspoilt natives to investigate. Barley soon found plenty to wonder at and plenty to admire among the Toraja, a vastly interesting people whose culture includes headhunting, transvestite priests and the massacre of buffalo. In witty and finely crafted prose, Barley offers fascinating insight into the people of Sulawesi and their lifestyles, and he recounts hilarious tales of the many memorable characters he meets there, not least the four Torajan woodcarvers the author invites back to London to construct an Indonesian rice barn in The British Museum. This quartet of Indonesian Marx Brothers soon discover the joys of pornographic films and the London Zoo, although they never get to grips with turning off bathroom taps.
-
Nigel Barley was born inĀ Kingston upon ThamesĀ in 1947. He gained his bachelor's degree in modern languages atĀ Cambridge University, and hisĀ doctorateĀ inĀ social anthropologyĀ atĀ Oxford University. He worked for some years as an academic at London University and then served from 1980 to 2003 as an assistant keeper ofĀ EthnographyĀ at theĀ British Museum.
Barley's first travel book,Ā The Innocent AnthropologistĀ (1983), gave a popular account of anthropological fieldwork among theĀ DowayoĀ people ofĀ Cameroon. Barley then worked as an anthropologist inĀ Indonesia. His first book based on his time there was the humorousĀ Not a Hazardous SportĀ (1989) describing his anthropological experiences inĀ Tana TorajaĀ in the mountains of centralĀ Sulawesi.
Barley has written on many other subjects includingĀ Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, andĀ Sir James Brooke, the "white rajah" of Sarawak.Ā He has been twice nominated for theĀ TravelexĀ Writer of the Year Award. In 2002, he won the Foreign Press Association prize forĀ travel writing.
Product Information
Product Information
Shipping & Returns
Shipping & Returns
Description
- Description
- About the Author
-
In 1985, Dr Nigel Barley, then senior anthropologist at The British Museum, taught himself Indonesian and set off for the relatively unknown Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Here he hoped to find unsullied cultures to study and unspoilt natives to investigate. Barley soon found plenty to wonder at and plenty to admire among the Toraja, a vastly interesting people whose culture includes headhunting, transvestite priests and the massacre of buffalo. In witty and finely crafted prose, Barley offers fascinating insight into the people of Sulawesi and their lifestyles, and he recounts hilarious tales of the many memorable characters he meets there, not least the four Torajan woodcarvers the author invites back to London to construct an Indonesian rice barn in The British Museum. This quartet of Indonesian Marx Brothers soon discover the joys of pornographic films and the London Zoo, although they never get to grips with turning off bathroom taps.
-
Nigel Barley was born inĀ Kingston upon ThamesĀ in 1947. He gained his bachelor's degree in modern languages atĀ Cambridge University, and hisĀ doctorateĀ inĀ social anthropologyĀ atĀ Oxford University. He worked for some years as an academic at London University and then served from 1980 to 2003 as an assistant keeper ofĀ EthnographyĀ at theĀ British Museum.
Barley's first travel book,Ā The Innocent AnthropologistĀ (1983), gave a popular account of anthropological fieldwork among theĀ DowayoĀ people ofĀ Cameroon. Barley then worked as an anthropologist inĀ Indonesia. His first book based on his time there was the humorousĀ Not a Hazardous SportĀ (1989) describing his anthropological experiences inĀ Tana TorajaĀ in the mountains of centralĀ Sulawesi.
Barley has written on many other subjects includingĀ Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, andĀ Sir James Brooke, the "white rajah" of Sarawak.Ā He has been twice nominated for theĀ TravelexĀ Writer of the Year Award. In 2002, he won the Foreign Press Association prize forĀ travel writing.
