Cultural History In Focus | “Hornbill, Naga and Cock in Sa'dan and Toraja Woodcarving Motifs” by Roxana Waterson

Ancestor Figure Astride a Boat's Prow © The Dallas Museum of Art | Texas, USA — Ancestor Figure Astride a Boat's Prow
© The Dallas Museum of Art | Texas, USA

Hornbill, Naga and Cock in Sa'dan and Toraja Woodcarving Motifs

by Roxana Waterson

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This article was generously provided by Roxana Waterson.

Architectural Fragment in the Form of a Hen | Katik © The Fowler Museum at UCLA | California, USA — Architectural Fragment in the Form of a Hen | *Katik*
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA | California, USA

Vaunted Ancestor Figure from a Mamasa Aristocrat’s House © The Dallas Museum of Art | Texas, USA — Vaunted Ancestor Figure from a Mamasa Aristocrat’s House
© The Dallas Museum of Art | Texas, USA

House Door with Carved Buffalo © The Fowler Museum at UCLA | California, USA — House Door with Carved Buffalo
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA | California, USA

Vaunted Ancestor Figure from a Mamasa Aristocrat’s House © de Young Museum FAMSF | California, USA — Vaunted Ancestor Figure from a Mamasa Aristocrat’s House
© de Young Museum FAMSF | California, USA

Sacred House Divider | Ampang Bilik © The British Museum | United Kingdom — Sacred House Divider | *Ampang Bilik*
© The British Museum | United Kingdom

Toraja House Door with Buffalo Motif © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | Massachusetts, USA — Toraja House Door with Buffalo Motif
© Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | Massachusetts, USA

Granary Door with Carved Buffalo © Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA — Granary Door with Carved Buffalo
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

Sacred House Divider | Ampang Bilik © The Fowler Museum at UCLA | California, USA — Sacred House Divider | *Ampang Bilik*
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA | California, USA

Vaunted Ancestor Figure from a Mamasa Aristocrat’s House © The Fowler Museum at UCLA | California, USA — Vaunted Ancestor Figure from a Mamasa Aristocrat’s House
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA | California, USA

© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen | The Netherlands

Roxana Waterson

Roxana Waterson is a social anthropologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, where she has been teaching since 1987. She has done fieldwork since 1978 with the Sa'dan Toraja people of Sulawesi, Indonesia about whom she has recently published a monograph, Paths and Rivers: Sa’dan Toraja Society in Transformation.

Her publications also include The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in Southeast Asia, The Architecture of South-East Asia through Travellers’ Eyes and Southeast Asian Lives: Personal Narratives and Historical Experience. She has written extensively on the topics of vernacular architecture, landscape and social memory.