Written by both scholars and performers, the nearly two-dozen essays that comprise this volume examine performance events in contemporary contexts to show how performances are involved in the changing sociocultural climate, economy, and politics of Indonesia. Issues include the life and work of performers; changing performance aesthetics; changes in ritual functions; interaction with mass media; local identity; gender; and the epistemologies and politics of writing on performance in the colonial and postcolonial periods.
The book is an excellent introduction to a fascinating subject, and will prove valuable not only to those working on performance studies, cultural theory, anthropology, and Asian studies, but also to anyone who simply wants to know something about a very highly developed form of art that is crucially important to understanding Indonesian society.
Jan Mrazek is a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University.
