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Webb Keane, Signs of recognition: Powers and hazards of representation in an Indonesian society. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Pp. xxix, 297. Hb $50.00, pb $20.00.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1999

Jean DeBernardi
Jean DeBernardi
Affiliation:
Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2H4, jean.debernardi@ualberta.ca
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Abstract

This book is an ambitious attempt to wed a semiotic metatheory with the close analysis of ritual language and ritual exchange on Sumba Island, in eastern Indonesia. Keane explores the paradoxes of ritual formality, which seeks to make social encounters predictable and formulaic but nonetheless faces risks and hazards in performance. At the same time, he examines “the power and value” of the objects exchanged by the Anakalangese people, concluding that “the materiality of objects and the social constraints on circulation prevent even the wealthiest Anakalangese from full mastery over the goods they transact” (24).

Type
REVIEWS
Information
Language in Society , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , January 1999 , pp. 145 - 148
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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