South-east Asian Social Science Monographs
1 total work
This is a study of the dynamics of community organization in contemporary Bali and of the ambivalent relationship between village institutions (adat) and those of the Indonesian state (dinas). Profound links between earth, ancestral ties and death ceremonial obligations form the cultural basis for co-operative relations in the village domain and for the defence of local interests in engagements with the state. Most striking is the power and cohesion exhibited by the bajar, the civic community in Bali and the primary focus of this study. The book traces the banjar's role in serving the collective needs of its members and the tensions implicit in its function as an intermediary in the implementation of Indonesian development policies.