The aim of this thesis is to consider how both the Balinese people and their “culture”
have been represented within the anthropological canon, and whether this has been an
adequate representation of Balinese identity, for both the Balinese and the reader. Culture
itself is largely a scholarly construct, and is consistently exposed to further development,
critique and, at times, deconstruction. As it is difficult, with any degree of certainty, to
understand exactly what culture “is,” it is equally difficult to understand exactly what
constitutes any one particular culture. As theories have changed over the years, so have the
ways in which scholars approach and attempt to analyze specific cultures.
Bali is a well-studied and documented region of the world that has felt the impact of
tourism and other aspects of globalization, such as the advent of the worldwide web, and yet,
to a large degree, it has also been able to maintain its distinct traditions, such as its unique
religious practices based on Balinese Hinduism, and its acclaimed artistic history. It is often
held up for analysis within anthropology.
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| VIsit To Bali |
Bali is one of over seventeen thousand islands, most uninhabited, that comprise the
Indonesian Archipelago. It lies just west of Java, Indonesia’s most populous island and home to
its capital city, Jakarta. It is the only predominantly Hindu province within Indonesia, the most
populous Muslim country in the world. The current population of Bali is over 3.8 million.
Although Indonesian is the lingua franca throughout the nation, each island has its own
language and Bali is no exception. Basa Bali, the Balinese language, is still the language used
every day by the Balinese. The language itself is broken into several different variations, which
are dictated by caste. The sudra or jaba (Bln.) caste primarily speak “low Balinese” amongst
themselves, switching to “high Balinese” when they are in a temple setting or are speaking with
those of higher caste. Those who are of higher caste generally speak more prestigious variants
of the language but will often speak a less prestigious variant when amongst friends of lower
caste. This does seem to differ regionally, particularly in the Northern region where caste
designations are not adhered to as stringently.
To consider how the “culture” of Bali has been represented over the last century is,
indeed, a very large undertaking. It is a topic that could be studied over the course of an
academic lifetime and through the scope of several books and papers. Hence, this thesis
certainly could not consider every single source available. With this in mind, I have considered
scholars that are seemingly most influential to the study of Bali, and their relevance to
anthropology and to the North American reader. I anticipate that I may be able to continue this
discussion in future publications using sources and materials I was unable to use in this thesis.
I made every attempt to obtain the original sources cited wherever possible, including in cases
where the original text was not English but was translated for English readers at a later time, for
example Gregor Krause’s Bali 1912 (1922), with its original Dutch text. It was an honour to
spend so much time with a century’s worth of printed studies on Balinese history and culture
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