Guardians of the Land in Kelimado

Book excerpt: In 1940, a Dutch colonial officer named Louis Fontijne (1902-1968) was commissioned to conduct an investigation of indigenous land tenure and leadership in the Residency of Timor and Dependencies. Dealing specifically with Kelimado, a region included in the Nage district of central Flores, its main product was a remarkable study of society and culture and the effects of over three decades of Dutch administration and Christian proselytizing. In regard to ethnographic detail and analytical insight, the work, entitled Grondvoogden in Kelimado, resembles more an academic thesis than a government report; yet another interest is Fontijne's forthright critique of colonial policy and recommendations for administrative reform.