Synopses & Reviews
How do Balinese manage to present to the world the clear, bright face, the grace and poise, that they regard as crucial to self-respect and social esteem? How can the anthropologist pass behind the conventions of such a complex culture to recognize what is going on between people, in terms that convey their own experience?
Wikan's study of the Indonesian island of Bali is an absorbing debate with previous anthropological interpretations as well as an innovative development of the anthropology of experience.
"This is indeed an important book, a landmark in studies of Bali and one surely destined to have major theoretical impact on anthropological research well beyond that famous Indonesian island."and#8212;Anthony R. Walker, Journal of Asian and African Studies
Synopsis
How do Balinese manage to present to the world the clear, bright face, the
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-336) and index.
About the Author
Unni Wikan is professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo, Norway, andand#160;the author of numerous books. She has also taught at Harvard University, Beersheba University, L'and#233;cole des hautes and#233;tudes en sciences sociales, and the London School of Economics. In 2004 she received the Norwegian Fritt Ord Award for "her insightful, openhearted and challenging contributions to the public debate on the value conflicts in multicultural societies."and#160;She is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Beyond Spectacle and Bright Face
Part One: Experience and Its Interpretation
1. Grief, Gaiety, and Laughter
2. Interpreting Everyday Practice
Part Two: Bridgings, and Cares Carried Across
3. Hidden Hearts and Bright Faces
4. Movement in Social Space
5. Could People See . . . All Would Perish from Fright
6. Managing the Heartand#8212;To Please as Virtue Pleases
Part Three: Feeling-Thoughts, Morality, and Health
7. Feeling-Thoughts and Their Interpretation
8. Laughter, Sadness, and Death Reconsidered
9. Vitality and Health
Part Four: Coping with the Suffering Life Inevitably Brings
10. Finding a Way Out of Sadness
11. Power, a Fight for Freedom, and Covert Violence
12. At the Balian's: Seeking Relief for Life's Strains and Stresses
13. The Power to Heal
Part Five: Culture and Translation
14. Going Beyond the Words: A Plea for Resonance
Notes
Glossary
References
Index