Pada tahun 1985, Dr. Nigel Barley, seorang antropolog senior di British Museum, bertolak menuju Pulau Sulawesi di Indonesia—sebuah wilayah yang kala itu belum banyak dikenal—untuk mencari suku Toraja, masyarakat yang budayanya mencakup tradisi perburuan kepala manusia, pendeta pria yang berpakaian wanita, serta ritual penyembelihan kerbau. Melalui gaya penulisan yang cerdas dan apik, Barley menyajikan wawasan memikat mengenai penduduk Sulawesi serta mengisahkan pengalamannya bersama empat perajin kayu Toraja yang ia undang ke London untuk membangun sebuah lumbung padi khas Indonesia di British Museum.
Entrance to a Torajan village showing ricefields and traditional houses.
Torajan ricebarns at Nangala.
Nenek Tulian in priestly dress for a funeral.
Schoolchildren performing on traditional bamboo instruments
Men parading in warrior dress
A coffin containing the deceased, wrapped in cloth with gold decoration.
Reopening of the coffin for rewrapping of body and final insertion in tomb.
A sacrificial buffalo being washed in a stream
Distribution of buffalo meat to relatives and neighbours.
Tombs hollowed out of the rockface.
The market at Rantepao.
The start of a cock fight.
The interior of traditional house, Baruppu’.
A woman weaving a cloth, Mamasa.
Constructing the roof, Museum of Mankind, London.
Fitting together the body of the barn.
Fitting together the body of the barn.
Fitting together the body of the barn.
Fitting together the body of the barn.
Nenek Tulian carving a panel
The door of the ricebarn showing a stylised buffalo.
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