...Rita Smith Kipp Motifs of Life in Toba Batak Texts and Textiles . By S. A. Niessen . Dordrecht-Holland : Foris , 1985 . (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, no. 110.) vii, 249 pp. Maps, Bibliography, Index. $14 (paper). Copyright ©...

...Susan Rodgers Abstract In Sumatra's Angkola Batak culture, rituals celebrating major kinship-related events such as marriage have many layers of social and symbolic meaning; they have political, kinship, musical, mythic, and philosophical dimensions as lengthy, oratory-filled ceremonies that unite...

...Alfred B. Hudson Kinship, Descent and Alliance among the Karo Batak . By Masri Singarimbun . Berkeley : University of California Press , 1975 . xxii, 246 pp. Appendixes, References, Index. $14.75 Cutlass and Crescent Moon: A Case Study of Social and Political Change in Outer...

...Mario D. Zamora On the Road to Tribal Extinction: Depopulation, Deculturation, and Adaptive Well Being Among the Batak of the Philippines . By James F. Eder . Berkeley and Los Angeles : University of California Press , 1987 . xvi, 276 pp. $36.00. Copyright © The Association...

...John R. Bowen Rice, Rupees, and Ritual: Economy and Society Among the Samosir Batak of Sumatra . By D. George Sherman . Stanford : Stanford University Press , 1990 . viii, 366 pp. $42.50. Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1990 1990 1010 THE JOURNAL OF ASIAN...

...Robert R. Jay The Social Organization and Customary Law of the Toba-Batak of Northern Sumatra . By J. C. Vergouwen . The Hague : Martinus Nijhoff , 1964 . xv, 461 . Map, Appendices, Index. 38 guilders. Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1966 1966 BOOK REVIEWS 803...

...Lorraine V. Aragon Batak Cloth and Clothing: A Dynamic Indonesian Tradition . By Sandra A. Niessen . Kuala Lumpur : Oxford University Press , 1993 . xi, 136 pp. $45.00. Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1995 1995 906 THE JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES progress towards...

... anniversary celebration. REBECCA BRUFF AIKEN McGill University Batak Cloth and Clothing: A Dynamic Indonesian Tradition. By SANDRA A. NIESSEN. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1993. xi, 136 pp. $45.00. Sandra Niessen's Batak Cloth and Clothing not only adds to the burgeoning literature on Southeast...

... and economic differences. With the consolidation of Dutch colonial rule, Batak men seeking status under the new administration began to adopt European as well as Malay-style clothing. Married as well as unmarried Batak women began to cover their breasts and, among the Karo people, staid indigo blue cloth...

... adjunct to a book of this sort. In short, A Vietnamese Grammar is a most welcome contribution from a pioneer in the study of Vietnamese in America. FRANK H. TUCKER The Colorado College The Social Organization and Customary Law of the Toba-Batak of Northern Sumatra. By J. C. VERGOUWEN. The Hague: Martinus...

... arts scene in Bali. He serves here as Scheherazade leaving his audience eager for the next installment. A N N P. MCCAULEY Johns Hopkins University On the Road to Tribal Extinction: Depopulation, Deculturation, and Adaptive WellBeing Among the Batak of the Philippines. By J A M E S F. E D E R . Berkeley...

... on two and a half years of research (1975 78) among the Samosir Batak, in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Publications based on this research include a pioneering article in the journal Indonesia (1980), "What 'Green Desert'? The Ecology of Batak Grassland Farming." He also is the author of "Men who are called...

... either, and we should all have been poorer for that. JAMES SCOTT Yale University Motifs of Life in Toba Batak Texts and Textiles. By S. A. NIESSEN. DordrechtHolland: Foris, 1985. (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, no. 110.) vii, 249 pp. Maps, Bibliography...

... counts in the Ngaju. But his major case is the Toba-Batak, who "of all ethnic communities best allow recognition of the essence and manifestation of Old Indonesian culture" (p. 40). Stohr acknowledges the importance of dualism in Old Indonesian religion a major theme of Leiden ethnology. But he finds...

... of rushing through the Asia wing of an art museum before closing time, with only moments to glance at the object labels. Although entire chapters are devoted to the more celebrated Toraja and Batak arts, only six pages of text address the arts of Nusa Tenggara cultures, and the Philippines, Vietnam...

..., richer description of a text than a single mode of grammatical description can provide; it makes available to readers more than one means of access to the text. Symbolic Patterning in Angkola Batak Adat Ritual SUSAN RODGERS Pages 765-778 In Sumatra's Angkola Batak culture, rituals celebrating major...

... at the University of Illinois in Chicago. A pioneer in the study of the Batak (the Philippines), Warren wrote The Batak ofPalawan: A Culture in Transition (University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology, Philippine Studies Program, 1961), as well as studies of language among the Batak and the ethnography...

... at the University of Illinois in Chicago. A pioneer in the study of the Batak (the Philippines), Warren wrote The Batak ofPalawan: A Culture in Transition (University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology, Philippine Studies Program, 1961), as well as studies of language among the Batak and the ethnography...

... to accomplish. The East-West Center WlLHELM FLIEGER Kinship, Descent and Alliance among the Karo Batak. BY MASRI SINGARIMBUN. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975. xxii, 246 pp. Appendixes, References, Index. $14.75 Cutlass and Crescent Moon: A Case Study of Social and Political Change in Outer...

... images of the Saints and the 143 144 THE FAR EASTERN QUARTERLY Snake God, side by side. The Indonesians believe that the body is permeated by what might be defined as soul substance, which contains magic power and must be preserved with much care. The Bataks call it tondi, the Javanese semangat...