Lahanan Lunettes: Images of a Borneo Long House

Abstract

This paper frames the fieldwork and life experiences of an anthropologist over the course of twenty-five years in terms of dreams and practicalities. The dreams are vivid accounts of fieldwork relived in a liminal state, following the death of my spouse, but are primarily taken from field notes, diaries and publications. The dreams took on a particularly intense quality in the two years following his death, because of the unexpected nature of the death, my isolation in an unfamiliar environment and the feeling of tasks left unfinished. The practicalities are a commentary on the nature of fieldwork; the problems faced and solutions sought for the difficulties that all anthropologists face in the field.

Keywords:

• Borneo
• Long House
• Childhood
• Youth
• Maturity
• Death
• Lunette
• Fieldwork

Acknowledgements

Three Australia National University academics have been crucial to the development of this piece from its beginnings as a conference paper, to a seminar paper and to the final essay: my sponsor, Kathryn Robinson, Andrew Kipnis and Philip Taylor. Other colleagues in anthropology departments throughout Australia have been supportive, but my only regret is that I was reluctant to consult them and thus expose my ignorance. Two anonymous referees provided the appropriate carrot-and-stick to enable me to carry out revisions. Others who have contributed to the development of this essay include Lanei Alexander, Maria Florencia Amigo, Liese Baker, Niko Besnier, Catherine Churchman, Mary Hawkins, Elizabeth Hinton, Cynthia Hunter, Alison Leitch, Rozanna Lilley and Lesley Potter.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Alexander

Jennifer Alexander is a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology, College of Asia and the Pacific, at the Australian National University