In the Realm of the Diamond Queen

This ethnographical work challenges not only anthropologists and feminists but all those who study culture to reconsider some of their assumptions. By choosing to locate her study among Meratus Dayaks, a marginal group in the deep rainforest of South Kalimantan, Indonesia, the author deliberately sets into motion the familiar and stubborn urban fantasies of self and other. Unusual encounters with remarkably creative and unconventional tribespeople provide the opportunity to rethink notions of tradition, community, culture, power and gender. Engaging the Meratus people in wider conversations involving Indonesian bureaucrats, family planners, international development, Javanese soldiers, American and French feminists, Asian-Americans, right-to-life advocates and Western intellectuals, the author looks not for consensus and coherence in Meratus culture, but rather allows individual Meratus men and women to voice their own opinions.