Table of Contents

Acknowledgment Map 1 Money, Magic, and Fear of the Orang Suku Laut 2 The Setting 3 Ranking in Riau 4 Ilmu 5 The Meaning of Things: Constructions of the Orang Laut's Identity 6 Sharing and Helping: Constructions of the Orang Laut's Identity 7 Money: Reconstructing the Meaning of Things 8 Reflections and Challenges Glossary References

About the Author

Cynthia Chou is Assistant Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Reviews

'Finely crafted ... an important and welcome addition to the anthropology of modern Southeast Asia.' - ASEASUK News'Chou's book makes an important contribution to the study of identity of indigenous peoples in insular Southeast Asia, particularly in the Malay World, and more so of sea nomads. The frequent use of excerpts of interviews with Orang Laut and other people in these maritime communities well illustrates the author's arguments and make this book very pleasant to read, giving the interviewees a voice they normally do not have in most (Indonesian) publications.' - Manon Osseweijer, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV)

'Finely crafted ... an important and welcome addition to the anthropology of modern Southeast Asia.' - ASEASUK News'Only a few major works have been published on [the Orang Laut] world since the 1960s, and Chou's thick ethnography makes a welcome contribution.' - Asian Journal of Social Science