Organizer: Nancy I. Cooper, National University of Singapore
Chair: Christine R. Yano, Bowdoin College
Discussant: R. Anderson Sutton, University of Wisconsin
"Art" in the broadest sense refers to anything crafted by humans, be it an image, textile, story, or sound and movement. Yet in the sense of aesthetic traditions the term becomes problematic because the "arts" may not be conceived of as separate categories everywhere, but rather as integrated elements of ritual. Rituals here refer to culturally meaningful events symbolically utilizing image, space, sound, and movement in attempts to influence phenomena perceived to be beyond humans' ordinary abilities to understand and control.
Indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia have long histories of ritual performances from storytelling and healing rites to elaborate musical theater productions. As their governments embark on unprecedented development programs to modernize their ways of life, these traditions are responding, in some cases transforming, in ways that blur scholars' prior distinctions of art and ritual.
The performance genres discussed in these papers represent prime examples which, through their recontextualizations, transform and/or synthesize ritual and art in ways relevant to their contemporary contexts. Some of the arts of ritual have become separate arts in their own right, suitable for contests, academies, tourists, and export, while others have retained their ritualistic meanings for a portion of society, while being viewed as objects of scholarship and/or industrial commoditization by others. In the cases given here from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, the genres and the performers have adapted and survived in the face of remarkable change.
Innovations as Reflections of Cultural Change
Hardja Susilo, University of Hawai'i
Performing arts, as any aspect of culture, do not exist in a vacuum. The changes that take place are reactions, reflections, or consequences of, among other things, the changing society. Such is the case with Central Javanese wayang wong (traditional dance theater).
Although it is claimed that wayang wong ancestry dates back to the time of the 16th century Majapahit kingdom in East Java, the immediate ancestor of today's version was created by Prince Mangkubumi, the first sultan of Yogyakarta in the second half of the 1750s. Almost concurrently a similar theatre was initiated by his rebellious son-in-law, Prince Mangkunegara, at the latter's palace (Soedarsono 1984:39).
Since then wayang wong has transformed from symbol of royal legitimacy to state ritual, royal entertainment, commercial enterprise, tourist attraction, and regional dramatic expression. It seems to owe its longevity to its ability to transform into different shapes and forms to meet the needs and contexts at hand. It may be performed in a closed theatre, on an outdoor stage or private veranda, at an international hotel or a royal palace, or in a temporary thatched structure. It may be presented in the context of a competition, a pure entertainment, or as an adjunct to ritual and celebratory events. In the contemporary milieu of modernizing Indonesia, wayang wong's versatility has enabled it to transcend its elite origins to become an art form "for all seasons."
The Exorcist: The Symbiosis of Believers, Scholars, Officials, and Tourists
through Javanese Ruwatan Performance
Nancy I. Cooper, National University of Singapore
It is becoming less acceptable in Javanese society to openly adhere to indigenous beliefs involving supernatural power, deities, and benevolent and malign spirits. Partially the result of increasing Islamization and partially a reaction to modern notions of progress and rationality, this shift away from the syncretic religion of Java (kejawen) occurs at the level of practice in intriguing ways.
One particularly significant example is provided by exorcism (ruwatan) rituals in the context of shadow plays (wayang kulit) which have become the focus of scholarship and objects of tourism. Traditionally, ruwatan were performed to protect vulnerable individuals, often children, from anomalous circumstances and unseen evil forces symbolized by the motherless demon "Kala." They seemed to be prophylactic in function, preventing spontaneous eruptions in social balance, called "social dramas" by Victor Turner.
A mass ruwatan held in 1990 in Yogyakarta satisfied not only the ritual requisites, but was accompanied by a scholarly conference and attended by journalists and tourists. Such multi-purpose performances result in a symbiotic relationship among the exorcist (dhalang/puppeteer), scholars, and officials who wish to promote the "arts" for tourist consumption. By categorizing exorcisms as "culture and the arts" rather than as religious rituals, people can continue their practices without stigma in an increasingly "rational," yet religious world.
A Kenyah Warrior Dance: From Ritual to Entertainment
Ang Swee Lin, University Malaya
This paper compares two choreographies of a Kenyah solo male warrior dance called Kanjet Lasen-one that is perpetuated by Tusau Padan, one of the foremost bearers of Kenyah traditional arts in Sarawak (in Malaysian Borneo), and the other which is performed at the Sarawak Cultural Village, a tourist destination center. The former was originally performed after a successful head hunt and the latter is presented primarily as entertainment for tourists. The foci of comparison are form (movement and music content), performance styles and presentation, and aesthetic choices. By comparing these elements, I will elucidate some aspects of the ritual history of the Kenyah ethnic group and the changing socio-cultural context that surrounds them today. I will show how the choices a people make in their dance, as in other aspects of culture, are inevitably related to their worldview and life experience.
Now in his late 60s, Tusau Padan grew up in a hunter-gatherer society in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) and eventually emigrated to Sarawak. His knowledge of and skills in Kenyah performance traditions have made him advisor, teacher and mentor to students and government bodies alike. He was consulted in the planning of the Sarawak Cultural Village, modeled after Hawai'i's Polynesian Cultural Center, where visitors watch a panorama of dances from the major ethnic groups of Sarawak. This transition of ritual dance to commercial art form in less than one generation highlights the correspondingly rapid transformations of culture.
Filipino Rituals as Icon and Performance: Survival and Recontextualization within
a Development Dynamic
Ricardo Trimillos, University of Hawai'i
The basic questions to be addressed include: (1) In the politics of development, what are the strategies of survival or recontextualization invoked by traditional rituals in the Philippines? (2) How do the different layers of "insider" and "outsider" identities interact in the process and what are the outcomes? (3) How do these changes relate to theories of aestheticization as developed by Schechner et al?
I propose to use one ritual from each of three groups-the Upland Kalinga group, the Muslim Tausug group, and the Lowland Cebuano group