Dark Trembling: Ethnographic Notes on Secrecy and Concealment in Highland Sulawesi
Date
1993-10
Authors
George, Kenneth M.
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Publisher
George Washington University, Institute for Ethnographic Research
Abstract
This ethnographic commentary explores the role of secrecy and concealment in a minority
religious community in highland Sulawesi (Indonesia), and their place in the construction
of ethnographic discourse. Discussion shows how a "culture of concealment" has emerged
as a practical and realistic response to encroaching ideologies and social formations since
the pre-colonial era. At the same time, the political use of secrecy takes its idioms from
ritual practice, a site in which concealment may have "ontological" signficance. These
dimensions of secrecy shaped the ethnographic dialogue between researcher and hosts, and
highlight the need for a critical and reflexive anthropology to ground itself in the sociohistorical
concerns of those whom ethnographers study. [secrecy, ritual, cultural politics, Sulawesi,
reflexive ethnography]
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Source
Anthropological Quarterly
Type
Journal article