''The Bugis'' is a book written by Christian Pelras about the

Bugis The Bugis people (pronounced ), also known as Buginese, are an ethnicity—the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar and Toraja), in the south-western province of Sulawe ...

people produced in 1996 and published in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1997 by

Blackwell Publishing Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...

. It is the first book ever to describe the history of the Bugis ranging from their origins 40,000 years ago to the present. The book is one of the books under ''The Peoples of South-East Asia and the Pacific'' book series. ''The Bugis'' contents are divided into two parts; the first part "The Shaping of Identity: from Origins to the Classical Age" which covers five topics and the second part "Society and Culture: Lasting Aspects and Modern Transformation" which contains four topics.

Reception

In a review in the ''

Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society The ''Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society'' (JMBRAS) is a scholarly journal published by the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (MBRAS). The journal covers topics of historical interest concerning peninsular Ma ...

'', Zawawi Ibrahim praised the text, stating "It excels not only as a scholarly work which is sensitive to both the nuances of anthropology and history, but also as a text which is readable to both scholars and non-scholars of Bugis society, as well as the general public." Writing a review for the book in the '' Journal of Southeast Asian Studies'', Ian Caldwell praised the text, saying "It is a work produced of sound scholarship coupled with an unrivalled personal knowledge of its subject, and is certain to become the introductory reference on its subject for years to come." Caldwell also adds "The book's historical section is controversial but provides archaeologically testable interpretations, while the anthropological section offers an excellent introduction to modern Bugis society. Reviewing the book in the journal '' Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde'', Sirtjo Koolhof gave a mixed critique. While Koolhof praised the originality and the comprehensive account of Bugis history and culture, he criticized Pelras's reconstruction of early Bugis history which relied on the

La Galigo Sureq Galigo or La Galigo is a creation myth of the Bugis from South Sulawesi in modern-day Indonesia, written down in manuscript form between the 18th and 20th century in the Indonesian language Bugis, based on an earlier oral tradition. It was ...

. Koolhof stated "Taking the contents of an epic-mythological work as historical references to actual past events is a hazardous operation, demanding a sound, consistent analysis approach to the material. Pelras does not take such an approach."

References

External links

The Bugis book information from Blackwell's website
Books about Indigenous Australians 1997 non-fiction books {{sociology-book-stub