Women in the Shadows: Gender, Puppets, and the Power of Tradition in Bali: 129 (Research in International Studies, Southeast Asia Series) - Softcover

Goodlander, Jennifer

 
9780896803046: Women in the Shadows: Gender, Puppets, and the Power of Tradition in Bali: 129 (Research in International Studies, Southeast Asia Series)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 089680304X ISBN 13: 9780896803046
Publisher: Ohio University Press, 2016

Synopsis

Wayang kulit, or shadow puppetry, connects a mythic past to the present through public ritual performance and is one of most important performance traditions in Bali. The dalang, or puppeteer, is revered in Balinese society as a teacher and spiritual leader. Recently, women have begun to study and perform in this traditionally male role, an innovation that has triggered resistance and controversy.
In Women in the Shadows, Jennifer Goodlander draws on her own experience training as a dalang as well as interviews with early women dalang and leading artists to upend the usual assessments of such gender role shifts. She argues that rather than assuming that women performers are necessarily mounting a challenge to tradition, “tradition” in Bali must be understood as a system of power that is inextricably linked to gender hierarchy.
She examines the very idea of “tradition” and how it forms both an ideological and social foundation in Balinese culture. Ultimately, Goodlander offers a richer, more complicated understanding of both tradition and gender in Balinese society. Following in the footsteps of other eminent reflexive ethnographies, Women in the Shadows will be of value to anyone interested in performance studies, Southeast Asian culture, or ethnographic methods.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Jennifer Goodlander is an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre, Drama, and Dance at Indiana University. She has performed Balinese shadow puppetry in China, Indonesia, and around the United States. Her research focuses on the relationship between tradition and modernity as expressed through puppetry in Southeast Asia.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Ohio University Press
Publication date
2016
Language
English
ISBN 10 
089680304X
ISBN 13 
9780896803046
Binding
Paperback
Edition number
1
Number of pages
216

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780896803039: Women in the Shadows: Gender, Puppets, and the Power of Tradition in Bali: 129 (Research in International Studies, Southeast Asia Series)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0896803031 ISBN 13:  9780896803039
Publisher: Ohio University Press, 2016
Hardcover