DARK TREMBLING - ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON SECRECY AND CONCEALMENT IN HIGHLAND SULAWESI

This ethnographic commentary explores the role of secrecy and concealm ent in a minority religious community in highland Sulawesi (Indonesia) , and their place in the construction of ethnographic discourse. Discu ssion shows how a ''culture of concealment'' has emerged as a practica l and realistic response to encroaching ideologies and social formatio ns since the pre-colonial era. At the same time, the political use of secrecy takes its idioms from ritual practice, a site in which conceal ment may have ''ontological'' significance. These dimensions of secrec y shaped the ethnographic dialogue between researcher and hosts, and h ighlight the need for a critical and reflexive anthropology to ground itself in the sociohistorical concerns of those whom ethnographers stu dy.