The Many Ways of Being Human

6.9

Mentawai and Dayak

A man on the Mentawai Islands ties fresh leaves around his arm on a plank floor, his skin covered in soot-black lines and his front teeth filed to points, because a soul is a guest that should want to stay in a beautiful body. The chapter pairs these islands with Borneo's longhouses and the Dayak, and asks what states can see.