Ethnographer Donald Tuzin returns to field work in Papua to discover that
in his absence he has been incorporated into the origin myths of the people of
Ilahita. News of his impending return precipitates the “suicide” of the
once-powerful men’s cult and spurs the rise of a revelatory Christian movement
led by women. A guilty Tuzin must understand the meaning of The Cassowary’s
Revenge, and anthropology meets its uncertainty principle. Published by
University of Chicago Press, £15.25/$18.95, ISBN 0226819515.
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