Paths of Origin, Gates of Life

Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, this work explores the historical and cultural dimensions of an indigenous Timorese domain in the southern central highlands of West Timor. Informing the study of Timorese social and cultural practice is an interpretative framework based on the concept of precedence and the rich repertoire of indigenous metaphor and binary categories by which Timorese articulate and classify social relations. Ideas of place and precedence are central to an understanding of local status differences within and between hamlet settlements. They also inform the historical patterns of present-day settlements and help explain aspects of the broader historical expansion and migration of meto populations across much of West Timor. For the little known region of Timor, this volume will be of interest to regional specialists, development planners and students of anthropology, seeking a more detailed understanding of indigenous history and sociality in this corner of the Lesser Sunda Islands of eastern Indonesia.