List of Documentary Sources

This is a basic list of articles and books, both published works and unpublished manuscripts having the Mentawai islands as their focus, or engaging with them in some capacity. It should be noted that many of these sources can be classified as "popular" literature insofar as they are not written from any identifiable disciplinary outlook in the humanities or social sciences. Much of their content, therefore, is based upon impressions gained by their respective authors in the course of visits of short duration often resulting in superficial "snapshots" of aspects of the societies and cultures at various locations across the islands. This needs to be kept in mind when consulting any of these sources.

An exception to this is perhaps the accounts of the early missionaries and colonial officials whose accounts stem from interactions with various local populations that are both qualitative and often extend over long periods of time; these accounts, therefore, contain much useful and interesting information. There also exists a good range of sources dealing with primates. However, these have not been included since the subject matter is not directly relevant to the purposes of this website. The items appearing in this list cover most of the published sources up until the early 1990s, nevertheless it is certain that some unpublished documents have been overlooked. The list should be regarded as provisional and merely a place to start a detailed literary exploration of the islands.

For those on location in West Sumatra, a rich source of current information and reports on current affairs is to be found in the local press: Pandang Ekspres; Mimbar Minang; Singgalang.
PS

Abidin, M.

Adriani, N.

Neumann, J.B.