ABSTRACT
Fataluku funerary monuments are a tableaux comprised of symbols that represent lisan, Church and State juxtaposed within the same shared physical space. One prominent feature of local communities in Timor-Leste is their diverse procedures for reconciling pressures emanating from three institutions, local tradition, the State and the Catholic Church. The more ancient of the cultural institutions, lisan, has adapted over centuries to the pressures wielded by Church and State. Some national leaders are prone to assume that Timor-Leste’s transformation into a modern nation-state must require the displacement of customary procedures or the syncretism of modern and traditional beliefs. Despite its presence in Timor for centuries, the Catholic Church’s proselytising has met with uneven success over space and time. Many government agents, concerned with pushing modernisation and clergy promoting their religion, appear unaware that their respective institutions are already engaged in relations of cohabitation.
