578 Berichte und Kommentare Gomang, Syarifuddin R. Stokhof, W. A. L. 1993 The People of Alor and Their Alliances In Eastern In- 1984 Annotations to a Text in the Abui Language (Alor). donesia. A Study in Political Sociology. Wollongong. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 140: 106– [Unpublished M. A. Thesis, University of Wollongong, 162. Australia] Sutherland, H. 1999a Dampak mekaniasasi angkutan laut terhadap hubungan 1983 Slavery and the Slave Trade in South Sulawesi, 1660s– kekearbatan antara penduduk pesisir dan pedalaman di 1800s. In: A. Reid (ed.), Slavery, Bondage, and Depen- kecamatan Pantar Timur Kabupaten Alor (Hasil Peneli- dency in Southeast Asia; pp. 263–285. St. Lucia: Uni- tian). [Unpublished] versity of Queensland Press. 1999b Malua Galiyao, Taman Makam Pahlawan Kabupaten Alor. Sebuah kritik singkat. Harian Pos Kupang Vickers, A. H. (23 May). 1987 Hinduism and Islam in Indonesia, Bali, and the Pasisir 2006 Muslim and Christian Alliances. “Familial Relation- World. Indonesia 44: 31–58. ships” between Inland and Coastal Peoples of the Be- 1993 From Bali to Lampung on the Pasisir. Archipel 45: 55– lagar Community in Eastern Indonesia. Bijdragen tot de 76. Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 162: 468–489. Heyman, Albertus 1895 De Timor-Tractaten (1859 en 1893). Leiden: S. C. Van Doesburgh. [Proefschrift, Rijks-Universiteit te Leiden] Kniphorst, J. H. P. E. 1885 Een terugblijk op Timor en onderhoorigheden. Tijd- schrift voor Nederlandsch Indië (nieuwe serie) 14/2: 321–362. TheLegacyofEugeneA.Nida Lynden, D. W. C. Baron van 1851 Bijdrage tot de Kennis van Solor, Allor, Rotti, Savoe en A Contribution to Anthropological Theory Omliggende Eilanden, Getrokken uit een Verslag van de and Missionary Practice Residentie Timor. Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Neder- landsch-Indië 2: 317–336, 388–414. R. Daniel Shaw [Maier, R. E. P.] 1914 De Eilanden Alor en Pantar, Residentie Timor en On- derhoorigheden. Tijdschrift van het Koninklijk Neder- landsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap 31: 70–102. Introduction Metzner, Joachim K. “Good missionaries have always been good ‘an- 1977 Man and Environment in Eastern Timor. A Geoeco- thropologists’” (Nida 1954: xi). Missionaries like logical Analysis of the Baucau-Viqueque Area As a Possible Basis for Regional Planning. Canberra: The this opening line of Nida’s book “Customs and Cul- Australian National University. (Development Studies tures,” which has served as a basal anthropology Centre Monograph, 8) text for thousands of missionaries around the world for fifty years. But Nida also knew that missionaries Needham, Rodney 1983 Sumba and the Slave Trade. Melbourne: Monash Uni- were desperately in need of anthropological theory versity. (Centre of Southeast Asian Studies. Working Pa- that could work itself out in the reality of their field pers, 31) experience. He went on to point out that he had “be- come increasingly conscious of the tragic mistakes Pigeaud, Theodore 1938 Javaanese volksvertoningen. Bijdrage tot de Beschrijv- in cultural orientation . of missionary work” – ing van Land en Volk. Batavia: Volkslectuur. something missionaries do not like to hear. Finally 1967 The Literature of Java. Vol. 1. The Hague: Martinus Nij- he concluded that opening paragraph by stressing hoff. the need for missionaries to take both theory and Reid, Anthony practice seriously (1954: xi): 1983 Introduction. Slavery and Bondage in Southeast Asian History. In: A. Reid (ed.), Slavery, Bondage, and Depen- Accordingly, this treatment of Anthropology for Chris- dency in Southeast Asia; pp. 1–43. St. Lucia: University tian Missions [the subtitle of the book] is directed to of Queensland Press. those who may have been unaware of the invaluable as- sistance which the science of anthropology can provide Rodemeier, Susanne or who have become desirous of knowing more of its 1995 Local Tradition on Alor and Pantar. An Attempt at Lo- implications in various parts of the world. calizing Galiyao. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Vol- kenkunde 151: 438–442. Ten years later, in his preface to “Toward a Sci- 2006 Tutu kadire in Pandai – Munaseli. Erzählen und Erinnern auf der vergessenen Insel Pantar (Ostindonesien). Berlin: ence of Translating,” Nida made the same point Lit Verlag. (Passauer Beiträge zur Südostasienkunde, 12) (1964: ix): Anthropos 102.2007 https://doi.org/10.5771/0257-9774-2007-2-578 Generiert durch IP '170.106.202.8', am 01.10.2021, 11:24:59. Das Erstellen und Weitergeben von Kopien dieses PDFs ist nicht zulässig. Berichte und Kommentare 579 Increasingly it became obvious that in order to assist to treat those people with dignity. Thus, Nida used translators more satisfactorily it was necessary to provide anthropological theory to sensitize an entire gener- something which would not only be solidly based on ation of missionaries to apply principles of cross- contemporary developments in the fields of linguistics, cultural sensitivity to the practice of Christian mis- anthropology, and psychology, but would also relate the sion. This new attitude, in turn, has contributed specific area of Bible translating to the wider activity of hundreds of cultural descriptions, orthographies, translating in general. grammars, and translations that have provided un- precedented field data for anthropological analysis In other words, Nida understood that scientific the- that would otherwise be unavailable. ory must be combined with practical application for field-oriented researchers to benefit sufficiently from the theoretical input. Nida had a knack of Nida’s Theoretical Beginnings enabling his recipients to recognize the benefit of anthropology and linguistics.1 Furthermore, Nida Eugene Albert Nida was born in Oklahoma City acknowledged the importance of working across in 1914 into a medical doctor’s family. He pursued cultures to bring into one context (a specific lan- an early interest in languages by taking a major in guage and culture) insights from other places and Greek and a minor in Latin from the University of other disciplines. His appreciation of anthropologi- California at Los Angeles, graduating summa cum cal theory and contributions to grammar2 expanded laude in 1936. Immediately following graduation the work of Charles Fries and others and eventually he headed for Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, where he led to his major contribution to translation theory attended “Camp Wycliffe” for training in linguis- as a science of transferring information “from one tics and Bible translation. It was there he first met language to another” (de Waard and Nida 1986). In William Cameron Townsend (founder of Wycliffe 1969 Nida again applied this principle of combin- Bible Translators) and Kenneth L. Pike (founder ing theory and practice in his coauthored work with of the Summer Institute of Linguistics – SIL). At Charles Taber, boldly titling the book “The Theory summer’s end he headed off to northern Mexico and Practice of Translation.” In Nida’s experience to study the Tarahumara language with an eye to both were essential in order to treat “the problems eventually translating the Bible into that language. of translating primarily in terms of a scientific ori- However, due to illness, teaching at SIL every sum- entation to linguistic structures, semantic analysis, mer from 1937–1953, and study programs (first a and information theory,” yet “not lose sight of the M. A. in Greek from the University of Southern fact that translating is far more than a science” California in 1939, and then a Ph. D. in linguistics, (Nida and Taber 1969: vii). under Charles Fries, from the University of Michi- At the end of the colonial era, Nida realized that gan in 1943) he was never able to continue seri- “good missionaries [needed to be] good anthropol- ous research among the Tarahumara (North 1974: ogists” to slightly adjust the phrase. He devoted vii–ix). his life to enabling those who sought a missionary For Nida, 1943 was a banner year; he com- vocation to do so more effectively through the ap- pleted his Ph. D., married Althea Sprague, was or- plication of cultural and linguistic understanding. dained as an American Baptist minister and, with He encouraged Christian and largely Western non- Townsend’s encouragement, joined the American anthropologists who were monoculturally oriented Bible Society (ABS). The task at the ABS was to to become aware of the people around them and utilize his Greek studies and apply his linguistic training to provide some control over the quality 1 Like many anthropologists of his day, Nida viewed anthro- of ABS-sponsored translations. This set a course pology as being multidisciplinary, and his wide interest in for Nida that established his interests and set an language always accounted for the context in which that agenda for the rest of his life. As the Executive language made sense. Thus both cultural and linguistic study Secretary of Translation for the ABS, Nida soon (along with folklore, acculturation, and applied anthropol- found himself traveling extensively to consult with ogy) were central to cross-cultural research as he understood it (1954: 25f.). translators on translation problems resulting from 2 Nida’s book “Morphology” (1946) contributed to a deeper source text issues (drawing on his background in understanding of how the words of a language go together the classics), receptor language concerns (applying to build a grammar. The linguistic data produced by Nida’s his linguistic degrees), or cultural issues of trans- students around the world, contributed both to theories of grammar and the practical