Tanya Murray Li. Land’s End. Durham: Duke University Press, 2014. 248 pp.

• Main Author: Paredes, Alyssa
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2016
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/stjgs/vol4/iss1/6; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/stjgs/article/1078/viewcontent/ST_204.1_206_20Book_20reviews_20__20Paredes.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Excerpt: Tanya Li’s Land’s End describes the formation of capitalist relations among the Lauje highlanders of central Sulawesi in Indonesia. Based on almost twenty years of field research (1990–2009) in ten hillside neighborhoods in the middle and inner hills, the author traces elusive social and economic transitions in the context of closing frontiers, land loss, and increased reliance on tree crops such as clove and cacao (24). Central to her analysis is an “analytic of conjuncture,” that considers economic elements, material qualities of crops, social boundaries and values, institutional elements, meanings and desires, and unseen spirits as part of a dynamic constellation of forces. By analyzing how these elements collide and intersect, Li traces the histories that shape “structures of feeling” among the Lauje, compelling them to desire the very changes that rob them of their own sustainability (16–18).