
In the Realm of the Diamond Queen
Marginality in an Out-of-the-Way Place
Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing(Author)
Princeton University Press
Published on 21. November 1993
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-0-691-00051-0 (ISBN)
Description
In this highly original and much-anticipated ethnography, Anna Tsing challenges not only anthropologists and feminists but all those who study culture to reconsider some of their dearest assumptions. By choosing to locate her study among Meratus Dayaks, a marginal and marginalized group in the deep rainforest of South Kalimantan, Indonesia, Tsing deliberately sets into motion the familiar and stubborn urban fantasies of self and other. Unusual encounters with her remarkably creative and unconventional Meratus friends and teachers, however, provide the opportunity to rethink notions of tradition, community, culture, power, and gender--and the doing of anthropology. Tsing's masterful weaving of ethnography and theory, as well as her humor and lucidity, allow for an extraordinary reading experience for students, scholars, and anyone interested in the complexities of culture.
Engaging Meratus in wider conversations involving Indonesian bureaucrats, family planners, experts in international development, Javanese soldiers, American and French feminists, Asian-Americans, right-to-life advocates, and Western intellectuals, Tsing looks not for consensus and coherence in Meratus culture but rather allows individual Meratus men and women to return our gaze. Bearing the fruit from the lively contemporary conversations between anthropology and cultural studies, In the Realm of the Diamond Queen will prove to be a model for thinking and writing about gender, power, and the politics of identity.
Engaging Meratus in wider conversations involving Indonesian bureaucrats, family planners, experts in international development, Javanese soldiers, American and French feminists, Asian-Americans, right-to-life advocates, and Western intellectuals, Tsing looks not for consensus and coherence in Meratus culture but rather allows individual Meratus men and women to return our gaze. Bearing the fruit from the lively contemporary conversations between anthropology and cultural studies, In the Realm of the Diamond Queen will prove to be a model for thinking and writing about gender, power, and the politics of identity.
Reviews / Votes
Winner of the 1994 Harry J. Benda Prize, Southeast Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies Honorable Mention for the 1994 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, Society for Humanistic Anthropology and American Anthropological Association One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1994More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
626 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-00051-0 (9780691000510)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2022
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€39.99
Available for download
Person
Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at University of California, Santa Cruz. She is coeditor, with Faye Ginsburg, of Uncertain Terms: Negotiating Gender in American Culture (Beacon).
Content
PrefaceOpening: In the Realm of the Diamond Queen3Pt. 1Politics of the Periphery391Marginal Fictions512Government Headhunters723Family Planning104Pt. 2A Science of Travel1214Leadership Landscapes1275Conditions of Living1546On the Boundary of the Skin178Pt. 3Riding the Horse of Gaps2077Alien Romance2138Riding, Writing2309The History of the World253Reprise285Notes303References Cited311Index335