Sea Hunters of Indonesia is a comprehensive study of the coastal community of Lamalera, whose traditional ways of life make it unique. One is an unusual kind of sea-fishing: the hunting of whales, porpoises, and giant manta rays. The other is the production, by the women of the community, of remarkable fine dyed textiles.
Recently these traditions have come under intense pressure from external economic influences, and the people of Lamalera are starting to move into modern occupations. The community, famous for the beauty of its setting as well as for its crafts, is now a major tourist...

In this book, six anthropologists pool their knowledge of the three ancient Newar cities of Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur, and of other settlements nearby. The social institutions of all the main caste groups--priests, patrons, artisans, farmers, and low castes--are given extended consideration, and the study is framed by a historical introduction and a comparative conclusion. In addition, it is well illustrated with fascinating black and white photos which have been specially taken to illustrate aspects of the society under study. The result is the most complete description and analysis...

This is one of the first book-length studies of the Jains as a migrant group overseas, where they are studied in their own right rather than simply as an ethnic minority. The author describes the religious and caste organizations of the Jains. He also examines the use and transformation of urban space by religious and other groups, and he concludes with comments on the definition of religion and religious identity. The study will be valuable both for its documentation of a small but influential population and for its direct comparison of aspects of communal and religious organization in India...

Society in the Keo region of the eastern Indonesian island of Flores reveals a pervasive pairing of villages, clans, and other groups. This work studies such pairing, using results from fieldwork conducted by the author over a period of fifteen years. It analyzes a form of society that has occupied anthropologists since the inception of their discipline--morphological dualism, or dual organization--and explores these issues through original ethnographic studies of numerous Keo domains and settlements.

Since the Chinese Communists took control of Inner Mongolia, very little has been written about that region, the vast steppeland of northern China. This book charts the recent history of the pastoral Mongolian minority there. It examines the effects of five decades of social engineering by the Chinese state, and explores the role of economic forms, ritual, symbolism, and ideology in the transformations and continuities of life on the inner Mongolian steppe.

This book is a study of a serious illness in a New Guinea village. It records the failure of local treatments and Western medicine, and of a communal ritual to bring a spirit to heal a man; it also shows how cultural beliefs and assumptions may influence events. The author, an anthropologist and medical doctor, focuses on how those closely involved maintained their hope and beliefs, and how they faced the realization of failure.