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The Songs of Salanda and Other Stories of Sulu.
This collection of sixteen short stories is H. Arlo Nimmo's personal exploration of his anthropological fieldwork among the nomadic boat-dwelling Bajau (aka Sama Dilaut) of the southern Philippines. Inspired by people, places and events he encountered, the stories include a misanthropic Chinese fish-buyer, a brother and sister who sell sexual favors to save the family business, an imprisoned young man believed to be possessed by demons, an American GI who senses his impending death in the battlefields of Vietnam, and a Muslim pirate rebelling against the Christian Philippine government.
- GenresAnthropologyEthnography
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
4 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
H. Arlo Nimmo
14 books8 followersHarry Arlo Nimmo is a cultural anthropologist and short story writer. He has published twelve books and dozens of articles that have appeared in both academic and popular periodicals. Most of these publications are based on his Philippines research, but he has also written about American popular culture, San Francisco history and Hawaii's volcano goddess Pele. Nimmo is currently Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at California State University East Bay and resides in San Francisco.
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Also on Goodreads as Harry Nimmo: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 20, 2021
Sailing in Sulu Sea in the Philippines during a trip in 2014 was as far as I was able to get in the region. The desire to learn something about that place I wish to visit one peaceful day had me reading a copy. Today, the setting of these stories, Tawi-Tawi Province, is an area outsiders would need military escort to visit because of long-standing political conflicts.
Admittedly, the most and slightest brush we from the metro have with the indigenous Badjao people or the sea nomads of Sulu today is when they leave their houseboats for the urban during the Christmas holidays to play improv tin drums and sing on public jeepneys in exchange for peso coins. This literature, documented in the mid-1960's, allows for a glimpse and understanding of Badjao people's living, culture, and beliefs pre-modernization. The then Manila and Zamboanga also briefly share portions during chapter interludes.
What makes this collection of colorful, joint stories especially worth wading into is how its characters were rendered real by equally revealing their faith and fault, how it is like meeting them as the narrator did, and how it is inclusive of not only the Badjao but the others, too, in the community such as the land dwellers, businessmen, missionaries, and pirates. Among them, a reader is bound to find one or two that will move them. The recurring theme of death across will leave a bubble of contemplative mood.
Maintaining objectiveness while keeping sensibilities, the author permits the reader to feel the poignant moments for themselves. Completely agreeing with the buddy I read this with, the storyteller as an anthropologist is a convincing fictionist.
Admittedly, the most and slightest brush we from the metro have with the indigenous Badjao people or the sea nomads of Sulu today is when they leave their houseboats for the urban during the Christmas holidays to play improv tin drums and sing on public jeepneys in exchange for peso coins. This literature, documented in the mid-1960's, allows for a glimpse and understanding of Badjao people's living, culture, and beliefs pre-modernization. The then Manila and Zamboanga also briefly share portions during chapter interludes.
What makes this collection of colorful, joint stories especially worth wading into is how its characters were rendered real by equally revealing their faith and fault, how it is like meeting them as the narrator did, and how it is inclusive of not only the Badjao but the others, too, in the community such as the land dwellers, businessmen, missionaries, and pirates. Among them, a reader is bound to find one or two that will move them. The recurring theme of death across will leave a bubble of contemplative mood.
Maintaining objectiveness while keeping sensibilities, the author permits the reader to feel the poignant moments for themselves. Completely agreeing with the buddy I read this with, the storyteller as an anthropologist is a convincing fictionist.
When you finish writing for those anthropologists, why don't you write for the other people out there? Tell them about Sulu. Tell them what the people [are really like]. Tell them why we have to fight and kill and steal.
September 6, 2021
inggit ako. az an anthro student during this never-ending pandemic, ang masasabi ko na lang talaga ay sana all makakaranas ng "totoong" field work (aka HINDI ONLINE) :(
*3.5*
*3.5*
December 1, 2020
Dictator Ferdinand Marcos instigated the Moro resistance and displaced so many Moros out of their homeland. Wherever his soul might be I hope it is in eternal pain and suffering.
December 19, 2024
79%
This was described as a collection of short stories, but I don't think that does it justice. Harry Nimmo was an anthropologist who spent two years living with the Badjao, a nomadic sea people. This is a fictionalised account of his time there. He states in the forward that he has changed places and names, and neatened things up, but all the events happened. The book is nominally arranged into stories, but really they are just a closer look at one person he met, or aspect of the culture, and they can't really be taken in isolation.
Nimmo gives a fascinating account of a culture that had disappeared within a few years of his leaving. He has not only the eye for detail you would expect from an anthropologist but a knack for engaging prose. Nimmo's love for the islands and the people that lived there, shines through. He details not just the Badjao, but also, nuns, missionaries, Chinese business men and pirates.
The prose style is at times sparse and bleak, perfectly fitting the lonely seascapes.
This was described as a collection of short stories, but I don't think that does it justice. Harry Nimmo was an anthropologist who spent two years living with the Badjao, a nomadic sea people. This is a fictionalised account of his time there. He states in the forward that he has changed places and names, and neatened things up, but all the events happened. The book is nominally arranged into stories, but really they are just a closer look at one person he met, or aspect of the culture, and they can't really be taken in isolation.
Nimmo gives a fascinating account of a culture that had disappeared within a few years of his leaving. He has not only the eye for detail you would expect from an anthropologist but a knack for engaging prose. Nimmo's love for the islands and the people that lived there, shines through. He details not just the Badjao, but also, nuns, missionaries, Chinese business men and pirates.
The prose style is at times sparse and bleak, perfectly fitting the lonely seascapes.
March 5, 2021
This book is written with a great fondness of Sulu and the Bajau people. I didn’t know a lot about the Bajau except they are quite marginalized across the Philippines. In the area where I live some Bajau have been forced to travel around the Philippines and sell pearls or jewelry to make ends meet. People tend to shy away from them and it has always fascinated me why they are perceived as “different”. This book really generates a lot of respect and admiration for the Bajau and their hardships as a social group.
July 14, 2022
what an anthropological masterpiece! reflexive, simply and artfully written, and shows the ups and downs of ethnography so well. this book got me through my first, much shorter stint as an ethnographer and made me feel less alone. brava!
November 5, 2018
Leuk en pittig interessant antropologisch boek.
August 19, 2020
This is a great book. It's a deeply moving book that made a lasting impression on me and my ideas of anthropology. If there's one book about anthropology that you're going to read, read this.
November 11, 2023
I'm now in search for more anthropology books because of this. I wasn't even this interested in learning about people and their culture when I was still an anthro major.
November 9, 2023
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Fav stories!
-Child Bangsa
-The Songs of Salanda
-To Each His God
-A Death in Sunshine
-Amak
-Sulu
"Depending upon whom you asked, Amak was a pirate, a patriot, a smuggler, a philanthropist, a revolutionary, a hadji, or a murderer. To me he was a good friend. "
" Amak was dead, but his cause was very much alive"
"I shall never return to Sulu. I cannot. My lovely Sulu is gone. "
-Child Bangsa
-The Songs of Salanda
-To Each His God
-A Death in Sunshine
-Amak
-Sulu
"Depending upon whom you asked, Amak was a pirate, a patriot, a smuggler, a philanthropist, a revolutionary, a hadji, or a murderer. To me he was a good friend. "
" Amak was dead, but his cause was very much alive"
"I shall never return to Sulu. I cannot. My lovely Sulu is gone. "
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews