Suspicious minds: Problems of cooperation in a Lio ceremonial council

► I analyze discourses of suspicion and cooperation in a Lio community in eastern Indonesia. ► I argue that mutual suspicion is a mode of intersubjectivity that entails neither shared agreement nor cooperation. ► Suspicion among community members hinders cooperation by undermining collective intentionality. ► Suspicion within the community is circumvented by styles of interaction that index shared agreement.