Film Screening: Borneo Beyond the Grave

Dr. Anne Schiller, Professor of Anthropology at George Mason, will discuss and show the film "Borneo: Beyond the Grave," a documentary on which she collaborated with the National Geographic Society. The film examines how the indigenous people known as Ngaju Dayaks, who live deep in the Indonesian rainforests, prepare the remains of deceased family members for the afterlife in a festive and complex ritual called tiwah. Participants in tiwah disinter the bones of their kin, cleaning them and placing them in above-ground bone repositories. At the same time, the souls of the dead are sent to the Upperworld, where they are reunited with their ancestors. The rituals of tiwah are performed over 30 days and involve hours of chanting, dancing, and animal sacrifice. A village in the midst of tiwah is simultaneously considered part of this world and the next.

Light Refreshments Provided