'cum laude'
In response to your request to evaluate Johann Angerler's Phd thesis I would like to make the following remarks:
It is evident that J. Angerler's thesis is the result of years of intensive research, including library as well as field research, incorporating sources from various languages including Batak, Dutch, English, German and Indonesian. As Angerler speaks all these languages either fluently or at least semi fluently he has a major advantage over most other researchers.
Being a Batak specialist myself with a similar linguistic background as Angerler, and knowing most of the sources Angerler has used myself I can testify that he has made excellent use of the sources which, in combination with his extensive fieldwork in Sumatra, has lead to a publication which in the future is most likely to become an important, if not the most important resource for everyone who is concerned with the history and culture of the Batak people.
As a PhD thesis Angerler's work exceeds the size of a typical dissertation by quite a margin. This is probably the weakest point of this otherwise outstanding work. On the other hand he presents the information, which is already available in other publications, in a condensed way so that many of his sub-chapters, such as 2.5.2 for instance that deals with trade and markets, almost read like encyclopedical entries, and add considerably to the usefulness of his work to fellow researchers, which has not only become a specialized work on a particular aspect of the social-political organization of the Toba-Batak society, but a general reference work on the pre- and protocolonial history, social organization, religion, and culture of the Batak in general.
I therefore fully endorse the Ph.D. committee's proposal to award the qualification ‘cum laude’ for Angerler's doctoral dissertation.
Info: Uli Kozok ist inzwischen:
Associate Professor, Department of Indo- Pacific Languages and Literatures, University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
Direkt zu seiner website >>>Ulikozok.com
