Funerals and Schools

From Jakarta to Makassar to Toraja and back to Makassar. Jakarta seems like a distant memory. The days are long and full; it seems like we’ve been gone for weeks. It’s a different world out here on Sulawesi. No megacities , but plenty of people, rice patties and knife edge ridges. We’ve had little Internet access and even less time to use it because our host, Ratna, has done a tremendous job of arranging school visits, meetings with local leaders and visits to cultural and religious sites.

The school visits have been especially eye-opening. We’ve been to four types of schools: a university, public high schools, a Muslim boarding school and a Christian boarding school. The boarding schools are private but hardly luxurious institutions. The public high school in Makassar was one of our first stops. Every student in Indonesia studies English from the 7th Grade on, so most of the students are eager to put it to some use – listening or asking questions. There’s been a pattern with every visit. We meet an assembly of students and faculty, where we’ve been treated to some delightful opening ceremonies including regional songs and dances. Then it’s question and answer time with the microphone. Students at all the schools are interested in more contact with American schools, the recent elections and American politics, what classes are like in the United States. They’re particularly interested in the status of Muslims in the US and in American schools. When we’re lucky, we move from the group meeting to the actual classrooms where we get a chance to see how classes are actually run and to talk with students in smaller groups. It’s intriguing, but not surprising, to watch boys check their facebook pages on a laptop while the teacher leads a discussion on tolerance in Islam. Both the teachers and the students want to know more about why their peers in the US don’t have to wear uniforms. Mr Fricke thinks that the teacher uniforms are pretty styling, but doesn’t want to give Mr Jackson any unpopular ideas. Our overwhelming, consistent impression is that tolerance is, in fact, a deeply held value in all these schools and in the students daily lives.

It hasn’t all been classrooms and uniforms; we spent much of yesterday touring the countryside of Toraja and visiting a traditional funeral ceremony. In addition to Christianity and Islam, Aluk To Dolo is an a widely practiced indigenous religion in Toraja. In fact, multiple religions are sometimes practiced within one family. Aluk To Dolo is the “Way of the Anscestors” which is an animistic religious tradition. Torajan appreciate attendance at the funerals because large numbers of guests are sign of a successful ceremony. Hundreds of guests, and sometimes thousands, visit the home of the deceased over the course of seven days. We were part of a crowd. We watched as groups of Torajan guests took turns making offerings to the family of the deceased. When there are many guests, as there were yesterday, the presentations can go on for hours. The offerings range from fruit to several water buffalo depending on the wealth and status of the deceased and of the people presenting the offering. Kristen couldn’t watch the slaughter of the pigs while Ms Camera bounded around compulsively video taping every moment. It’s going to be a compelling trimester for the Anthropology students.