Negara : The Theatre State in 19th Century Bali

Combining great learning, interpretative originality, analytical sensitivity, and a charismatic prose style, Clifford Geertz has produced a lasting body of work with influence throughout the humanities and social sciences, and remains the foremost anthropologist in America. His 1980 book Negara analyzed the social organization of Bali before it was colonized by the Dutch in 1906. Here Geertz applied his widely influential method of cultural interpretation to the myths, ceremonies, rituals, and symbols of a precolonial state. He found that the nineteenth-century Balinese state defied easy conceptualization by the familiar models of political theory and the standard Western approaches to understanding politics. Negara means "country" or "seat of political authority" in Indonesian. In Bali Geertz found negara to be a "theatre state," governed by rituals and symbols rather than by force. The Balinese state did not specialize in tyranny, conquest, or effective administration. Instead, it emphasized spectacle. The elaborate ceremonies and productions the state created were "not means to political ends: they were the ends themselves, they were what the state was for.... Power served pomp, not pomp power." Geertz argued more forcefully in Negara than in any of his other books for the fundamental importance of the culture of politics to a society. Much of Geertz's previous work—including his world-famous essay on the Balinese cockfight—can be seen as leading up to the full portrait of the "poetics of power" that Negara so vividly depicts. This is a portrayal of the myths, symbols, rituals, and world view of the traditional Indic cultures in Bali. Combining great learning, interpretative originality, analytical sensitivity, and a charismatic prose style, Clifford Geertz has produced a lasting body of work with influence throughout the humanities and social sciences, and remains the foremost anthropologist in America. His 1980 book Negara analyzed the social organization of Bali before it was colonized by the Dutch in 1906. Here Geertz applied his widely influential method of cultural interpretation to the myths, ceremonies, rituals, and symbols of a precolonial state. He found that the nineteenth-century Balinese state defied easy conceptualization by the familiar models of political theory and the standard Western approaches to understanding politics. Negara means "country" or "seat of political authority" in Indonesian. In Bali Geertz found Negara to be a "theatre state," governed by rituals and symbols rather than by force. The Balinese state did not specialize in tyranny, conquest, or effective administration. Instead, it emphasized spectacle. The elaborate ceremonies and productions the state created were "not means to political ends: they were the ends themselves, they were what the state was for.... Power served pomp, not pomp power." Geertz argued more forcefully in Negara than in any of his other books for the fundamental importance of the culture of politics to a society. Much of Geertz's previous work--including his world-famous essay on the Balinese cockfight--can be seen as leading up to the full portrait of the "poetics of power" that Negara so vividly depicts. -- Amazon.com Contents Illustrations Preface Introduction: Bali and Historical Method 1. Political Definition: The Sources of Order The Myth of the Exemplary Center Geography and the Balance of Power 2. Political Anatomy: The Internal Organization of the Ruling Class Descent Groups and Sinking Status Clientship Alliance 3. Political Anatomy: The Village and the State The Village Polity The Perbekel System The Politics of Irrigation The Forms of Trade 4. Political Statement: Spectacle and Ceremony The Symbology of Power The Palace as Temple Cremation and the Struggle for Status Conclusion: Bali and Political Theory Notes Glossary Bibliography Index Bali And Historical Method -- Political Definition: The Sources Of Order -- Political Anatomy: The Internal Organization Of The Ruling Class -- Political Anatomy: The Village And The State -- Political Statement: Spectacle And Ceremony -- Bali And Political Theory. Clifford Geertz. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 267-288. In 1891 what was to be the last of the dozen or so kings of Mengwi, an inland Balinese palatinate some fifteen kilometers north of the present capital, Den Pasar (see map 1), found his capital besieged by his two most familiar enemies, Tabanan and Badung, allied at last against him. Analyzes the social organization of Bali before it was colonized by the Dutch in 1906. This book finds that the nineteenth-century Balinese state defied easy conceptualization by the familiar models of political theory and the standard Western approaches to understanding politics.