Asia Institute - Research Publications
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ItemBali Mula: An Introduction to Indigenous Highland Balinese History, Ritual and Social Organisation(National Museum of Prehistory, 2018)More than fifty villages in the central highlands and along the northern coast of the island of Bali, Indonesia, share a common indigenous culture distinct from that of mainstream Balinese society. Based on ethnographic research conducted in 1993-94, and then regularly for shorter periods every year until now, this article looks at the ethnohistory of this Austronesian-speaking people, known as the Bali Mula or Bali Aga (meaning ‘original’ or ‘mountain Balinese’ respectively). The focus will be the ritual order of their regional domains and characteristic local village councils. Ritual relationships define these two major institutions of Bali Mula society according to a principle of seniority or, more precisely, precedence (‘proximity to origins’). Bali Mula social organisation is rather similar to that of Taiwanese indigenous people, shedding light on the historical process of cultural dispersion of the Austronesian peoples.
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ItemUnity in Diversity: Why we need to do justice to local characteristics and identities while also cultivating a sense of global citizenship(Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2018)We have been witnessing a massive nationalist reaction to globalisation in recent years, the reasons for which can be difficult to untangle. If intellectuals hastily come to the defence of the globalist position and demonise this opposite point of view, we only add to a general climate of hostility that is poisoning the prospects for rational public debate in many countries. Rather, our duty is to reveal what is really at stake in this struggle, to identify the forces that are at play, and to make proposals for how to address the underlying problems associated with ‘real-existing globalisation.’ In short, we need to present the public with alternatives superior to those offered by a legion of democracy-, journalism- and science-bashing right-wing demagogues.