Caged in on the Outside: Moral Subjectivity, Selfhood, and Islam in Minangkabau, Indonesia
- ISBN-10
- 0824875214
- ISBN-13
- 9780824875213
- Category
- Social Science
- Pages
- 270
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2017-08-31
- Publisher
- University of Hawaii Press
- Author
- Gregory M. Simon
Description
Caged in on the Outside is an intimate ethnographic exploration of the ways in which Minangkabau people understand human value. Minangkabau, an Islamic society in Indonesia that is also the largest matrilineal society in the world, has long fascinated anthropologists. Gregory Simon’s book, based on extended ethnographic research in the small city of Bukittinggi, shines new light on Minangkabau social life by delving into people’s interior lives, calling into question many assumptions about Southeast Asian values and the nature of Islamic practice. It offers a deeply human portrait that will engage readers interested in Indonesia, Islam, and psychological anthropology and those concerned with how human beings fashion and reflect on the moral meanings of their lives. Simon focuses on the tension between the values of social integration and individual autonomy—both of which are celebrated in this Islamic trading society. The book explores a series of ethnographic themes, each one illustrating a facet of this tension and its management in contemporary Minangkabau society: the moral structure of the city and its economic life, the nature of Minangkabau ethnic identity, the etiquette of everyday interactions, conceptions of self and its boundaries, hidden spaces of personal identity, and engagements with Islamic traditions. Simon draws on interviews with Minangkabau men and women, demonstrating how individuals engage with cultural forms and refashion them in the process: forms of etiquette are transformed into a series of symbols tattooed on and then erased from a man’s skin; a woman shares a poem expressing an identity rooted in what cannot be directly revealed; a man puzzles over his neglect of Islamic prayers that have the power to bring him happiness. Applying the lessons of the Minangkabau case more broadly to debates on moral life and subjectivity, Simon makes the case that a deep understanding of moral conceptions and practices, including those of Islam, can never be reached simply by delineating their abstract logics or the public messages they send. Instead, we must examine the subtle meanings these conceptions and practices have for the people who live them and how they interact with the enduring tensions of multidimensional human selves. Borrowing a Minangkabau saying, he maintains that whether emerging in moments of suffering or flourishing, moral subjectivity is always complex, organized by ambitions as elusive as being “caged in on the outside.”
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2014-07-31
- 248 pages
- Ebook
- University of Hawaii Press
Similar books
-
Caged in on the Outside: Identity, Morality, and Self in an Indonesian Islamic Community
By Gregory Mark SimonThis is an ethnographic study of moral personhood among Minangkabau people in the city of Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, Indonesia.
-
The Fantasy of Love: The Caged Heart
By Tshombe Amen... outside your cage and outside this house into the wind in any direction you choose for as far as you can fly but you don't know what's really out there. You only dream in your foolish ignorance about what lays outside that door. A cat ...
-
Caged
By New Jersey Prison Theater Cooperative... outside the prison walls. All this was not by design. Professor Hedges, when he first arrived in the classroom intending to teach a course on drama, did not initially propose writing a play. His goal was to make us familiar with ...
-
The Cage Mentality: From the Mind to the Mountaintop
By Edgar MangwendeThis hands-on guide zeroes in on cutting-edge discoveries in neuroscience and translates them to easy-to-understand, practical steps to help you develop your sense of direction or improve an already existing one, redirecting and/or turning ...
-
Aquatic Toxicology and Hazard Assessment: 12th volume
By Ursula M. CowgillAquatic Toxicology and Hazard Assessment: 12th volume
-
Birds and Cages
By Ida Tomshinsky... Ecology and Management of Blackbirds [Icteridae] in North America. Loying, Denton. (2014) Crimes Against Birds: Poems. Lutwack, Leonard. (1994) Birds in Literature. Martin, Steve. (2011) Rare Bird Alert Tablature Book. Massie, Suzanne ...
-
Caged: A Novel
By Ellison CooperFBI profiler Sayer Altair hunts a brilliant serial killer with a dangerous obsession in Caged, a gripping thriller from debut author Ellison Cooper.
-
The Caged Graves
By Dianne K. SalerniReturning to her hometown of Catawissa, Pennsylvania, in 1867 to marry a man she has never met, seventeen-year-old Verity Boone gets caught up in the mystery surrounding the graves of her mother and aunt and a dangerous hunt for ...
-
Caged
By Shay SavageThis is not made for TV. This is the raw, brutal underground of no-holds-barred combat.
-
Caged Warrior: Dragon Kings Book One
By Lindsey PiperNynn gives birth to the first natural-born Dragon King, but after her and her son are kidnapped by an evil scientist, it is up to Leto, a superhuman Cage warrior, and Nynn, with her new-found powers, to save Nynn's son.