Why a Booktrail?
1962, 2017: Art, religion, and anthropology in a mystery set in a lost world…
Rituals of the Dead
What you need to know before your trail
Art history student Zelda Richardson is working at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam on an exhibition of bis poles from the Asmat region of Papua – the same area where a famous American anthropologist disappeared in 1962. When his journal is found inside one of the bis poles, Zelda is tasked with finding out more about the man’s last days and his connection to these ritual objects.
Zelda is pulled into a world of shady anthropologists, headhunters, missionaries, art collectors, and smugglers – where the only certainty is that sins of the past are never fully erased.
Join Zelda as she grapples with the anthropologist’s mysterious disappearance fifty years earlier, and a present-day murderer who will do anything to prevent her from discovering the truth.
Locations
Reset- Netherlands - Amsterdam
- A: Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam
- B: Steyl - Missiemuseum Steyl
- Indonesia - Papua/Papua New Guinea
- C: Bis Agats
- D: Monastery
- E: Lorentz River - "Kipo"
- F: Papua - Otsjanep
Travel Guide
Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam
This is one of the largest museums in Amsterdam which has eight permanent exhibitions and an ongoing series of temporary ones on traditional visual arts and photographic works. The museum is part of the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Dutch Museum of World Cultures)
Asmat Art – Steyl Museum
The author mentions in her author note that the Asmat artifacts housed in Steyl were created by herself although the museum is real
Dutch New Guinea
The village of Kopi is fictional and was created by the author although it’s based o the villages and settlements she read about up and down on the Lorentz River in the 1940s through the 1960s
In the writing of the novel the author explain that the problems inherent to the missionaries roles in developing contries had to be simplified in order to write a clear story. The Church’s policies regarding Asmat art is based on her research – some were against it and others more supportive of the art. The real life Dutch missionary Gerard Zegwaard was in support of it and in 1953, he established the first mission post in Agats, New Guinea
An important point – Nicolas Mayfield in the book is NOT based on or inspired by Michael Rockefeller – the latter really did disappear in 1961 whilst on a collecting trip in Dutch New Guinea.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Rituals of the Dead
Destination : Indonesia, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea Author/Guide: Jennifer S Alderson Departure Time: 1962, 2017
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