Culture and the Question of Rights

Abstract

Woodpecker's tap-tapOn the honey tree.I'm drunk with singing, But I shan't let go. Lower down the python's tailLet it to the ground Come down laughing ladiesAs we shower you with gold.-Meratus Dayak honey hunter's songIn the dark of night, in the forested Meratus Mountains of southeast Kalimantan, a young man crawls out along the branch of a tree known as ''Where He Fell'' to reach a honeycomb.Suspended high above the forest while excited men, women, and children wait below, he begins to sing, in the hope that his verses will keep the bees from stinging.When his song is finished, he swipes his torch against the beehive, releasing a shower of ''gold'' sparks ''that floats down in a spectacular display.'' 1 Hoping the bees will follow the sparks, he severs the honey-drenched brood comb from the rest of the hive and descends.In the Makassar Strait, coursing between Sulawesi and Kalimantan, Mandar fishermen in pursuit of flying fish tell stories of bees and swallows flying out to sea and becoming, in their confusion, schools of flying fish.Shouting Rabelaisian verses, these fishermen seek to cajole, entice, and arouse the spirits of the flying fish into their traps.In coastal coves, sweet bananas and clove cigarettes are offered to spirit guardians, said to be like regional government officials watching over their jurisdictions, in need of flattery, bribes, and ''sweet things.''The chapters in this volume explore terrain at the intersection of performance, poetics, and the politics of claiming nature and property. 2Like the mountaintop trails traversed by Meratus cultivators of southeast Kalimantan, this is a ridge runner of a book.It crosses ambiguous, shifting topogra-

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