BIBLIOGRAPHY
ON THE
BATAK
PEOPLES
Toeπggoel
P*
Siagian
Introduction
The
Batak region
has
been
much neglected
by
students
of
Indonesia
in
recent years
, and it was
therefore thought appro-priate that the second bibliography of
regional
materials
madeavailable to the readers of Indonesia should deal with thisimportant area. The following annotated selections representa sampling of those books and articles on the subject that areto befoundin theCornell University library, which
possesses
amajor collectionofmaterialson orfromtheBatak region*
As
a
sample,
this listing does not attempt to present complete
holdings on any one
aspect
or to
survey
all the
more importantworks on the subject. Hopefully, it will
elicit
comment byreaderswhich will guidethecompilerinpreparinganannotated
bibliography
of the entire Batak collection at Cornell forpublication.Fortunately,
the
Batak lands
have
not
always
been
subject
to
scholarly
inattention,
and three major bibliographies reveala former wide-ranging interest in the area, particularly on thepartof Dutch
missionaries
and civil servants. The
earliest
of the
bibliographies,
devoted exclusively to the Batak region,encompasses material published over halfacentury ago:M.Joustra,
Littβratuuroyerzicht der Bataklandβn,
Leiden, L
H,
Becherer,"TlΠΓΠThe
Batak section
of
Raymond Kennedy's bib-liography on Indonesia contains items of predominantly anthro-pological interest:R.Kennedy, Bibliography
of Indonesian
Pfopllg
and
Cultuffes
(rev ed., Thpmas W.
Maretzki
and
H. Th.
Fischer,
eds.),
New
Haven, Yale University Southeast AsiaStudies, 1962,
pp.
H9-57.
A
still
more specialized listingappears in a recent bibliography on Sumatran language and
literature:
P. Voorhoeve,
Critical
Survey of
Studies on
theLanguages of
Sumatra,
f
s-Gravenhage,
H. Nijhoff,
1955,
pp.
9-m.
Mostof theserials mentionedin the
Kennedy
bibliography
are
found among
Cornell's
collection* There are, however, twoserials which Kennedy does not mention and which are worthy ofmention: the
Jaarveralag
van den Topografischen
Dienst
andIndie.The
first,
althoughconfinedalmost exclusivelytotopographical
subjects,
often gives detailed technical accountsofBatak districts. Indie contains many short,
well-illustrated
articles on a great variety of Indonesian topics; they are use-ful,ifsuperficial. Certain workson theBatak people also
deserve
special mention becauseoftheir characterasstandardreferences* The most extensive study on Toba Batak adat is
undoubtedlyJ.
C.
Vergouwen,
Het Rechtsleven der
Toba-Bataks,
fe-Gravenhage, M.
Nijhoff,
193lkThe
relationship
of the marga
1S1
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