The People of Alor

Judul	:	The People of Alor, A Social-Psychological Study of an East Indian Island
Penulis	:	Cora Du Bois
Penerbit	:	The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Tahun Cetak	:	1944
Halaman	:	654
ISBN	:	-
Harga	:	Rp. 350.000
Status	:	Kosong

A trained psychologist and anthropologist, DR. Du Bois spent a year and a half on Alor, a Netherlands East Indies island, collecting the material presented in this volume. On her arrival on Alor Dr. Du Bois, already equipped with a working knowledge of Dutch and Malay, quickly learned the language of the Alorese and, by administering simple medical aid, gained the confidence and interest of the vilagers. An important feature of Dr. Du Bois’ work is the use of modern psychological techniques, among which are the Porteus Maze tests and the Rorschach test.

“A landmark in the development of methods of cultural research,” says Dr. Ralph Linton, noted anthropologist, “The People of Alor describes  a piece of research which is unique in the range and variety of psychological techniques applied to the study of a primitive group.”

During her stay on Alor, Dr. Du Bois obtained detailed autobiographies of eight Alorese men and women – filling what Dr. Kardiner calls “the lamentable gap in the study of the relationship between personality and culture.”

“The People of Alor,” says Ruth Benedict of Colombia University, “offers a pioneering contribution to the study of personality in an alien culture,”

Aided by grants from both the American Council of Learned Societies and the Coolidge Foundation, the publication of Dr. Du Bois study represents a contribution not only to anthropology but to psychology and, less directy but significantly, to economics and political science.

Enlightened administrators of the postwar era will also find study of value, offering as it does background for the better understanding, psychologically, of primitive people.

Miss Du Bois, professor of anthropology at Sarah Lawrence College, ia a native of New York City. She took her doctorate at the University of California, and did much field work among the West Coast American Indians.

Dr. Du Bois has written several scientific monographs, among them “Anthropological Perspectives on Psychoanalysis,” which has direct bearing on this book. Articles about her experiences on Alor have appeared in Asia.