Focusing on the social organization, cosmology, and ritual system of the Hoga Sara society on the island of Flores, this anthropological account challenges classical models of descent and alliance by demonstrating the limitations of such analytic abstractions. The intricacies of social organization and the formation of social identities are disentangled by utilizing the concepts of "house society," "origin structures," and "orders of precedence." Attention is given to the pivotal role of the first-born, historical development, sacrificial practices, and the instrumental role of the ritual system in the continuing cycle of exchanges among houses and with ancestors. Molnar teaches anthropology at Northern Illinois University. The book is distributed in the US by The Book Bin-Pacifica. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
