The Potent Dead: Ancestors, saints and heroes in contemporary Indonesia

by Anthony Reid and Henri Chambert-Loir

Book Overview

The dead are potent and omnipresent in modern Indonesia. Presidents and peasants alike meditate before sacred graves to exploit the power they confer, and mediums do good business curing the sick by interpreting the wishes of deceased forebears. Among non-Muslims there are ritual burials of the bones of the dead in monuments both magnificent and modest. By promoting dead heroes to a nationalist pantheon, regions and ethnic groups establish their place...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1865087394
• ISBN13: 9781865087399
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"