Healing and morality: A Javanese example

Woodward, Mark

doi:10.1016/0277-9536(85)90422-8

Cited by 27 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Sorcery is practised by Islamic and non-Islamic groups throughout Indonesia (Atkinson 1989;Jordaan 1985;Lovric 1987;Wikan 1990;Woodward 1985). Among the Wana, according to Atkinson, sorcery is considered 'a predictable way to vent anger or hurt feelings.…”

Section: Conflictsmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Tradisi and Moderen, Village and State: Emergent Tensions in a Sasak Health Quest

Hunter

2000

Australian J of Anthropology

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On Lombok island, in the province of West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, indigenous medicine and biomedicine coexist. Nevertheless, biomedicine, a product of modernity and the development of the state has been superimposed on village life along with other state institutions such as education. In this paper I analyse the processes involved in Sasak villagers' quest for health. Operating within various and sometimes overlapping social fields and conflicting discourses, villagers utilise both local indigenous practices as well as the Indonesian national health system in their quest. Because local or ordinary knowledge is a rich resource for interpretation, I describe the health quest through the participant individuals: family members, neighbours,. doctors and nursing personnel involved. The subjectivity of the individual participants contributes to the intricate unfolding of health seeking quests to expose the various tensions which emerge between tradition (trudisi [A) and modernity (moderen [A) and between state and village.

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Section: Conflictsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…To provoke such feelings in others is to invite sorcery in retaliation' (Atkinson 1989:61). On Java, 'Sorcery is most commonly used against relatives, neighbours or business partners' (Woodward 1985: 101 4). Such statements suggest both that sorcery may indeed have been used and that Amaq Puk's denial may lack substance.…”

Section: Conflictsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tradisi and Moderen, Village and State: Emergent Tensions in a Sasak Health Quest

Hunter

2000

Australian J of Anthropology

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“…Initiation may only be conducted by an elder of the village, the small ceremony consisting of an oath (talek) in which one pledges allegiance to one's teacher and to follow certain behavioural proscriptions 10 and during which the supplicant is blessed by the initiator 11 (L. Wilson 2006: 149-52). Like the other elders in Cimande, Haji Yusuf can trace his descent from the founder of the original settlement, Embah Buyut, 12 and the figure recognized as the founderof thestyleof Cimande,EyangKahir.Thusheisabletoactasalinkintheunbroken chain of 'spiritual mediation' (wasila; van Bruinessen 1994: 125, see also Woodward 1985: 1010) that stretches from him, via the ancestors (karuhun), to Sunan Gunung Jati, one of the nine apostles of Islam in Java, to the Prophet Muhammad, and ultimately to God. For this reason he and the other elders are able to 'search for blessings' (ngalap berkah) on behalf of others, not to bestow blessings themselves directly.…”

Section: Powerful Relations In West Javamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While ilmu may be glossed as 'knowledge' , and indeed gained through the study of texts, it may also be acquired through ascetic practice, revelation, the learning of mantra, passages from the Qur'an, or transmitted via spiritual agency (cf. Wessing 1978;Woodward 1985). The term generally implies knowledge of a mystical nature.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the exemplary centre: knowledge, power, and sovereign bodies in Java

Wilson

2011

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

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The article explores the formative effects of forms of esoteric knowledge associated with Sundanese and Javanese martial arts in Indonesia. Those in possession of such knowledge are held to be efficacious and able to act in an intercessory capacity, mediating relations with the denizens of the unseen world, the alam ghaib, to afford protection to themselves and others. It is knowledge that implies a link to and ability to mediate relations with a higher form of authority. More recently, these forms of knowledge and its transmission have been transformed in modern, nationalist martial arts schools in which relationships based upon devotion to the martial arts teacher are reorientated towards the state as the progenitor of knowledge and material gain. Tracing these transformations, I argue that the portrayal of power as some form of ‘potency’ in academic accounts has obscured a model in which power is perceived to be relational, hierarchical, and instantiated through performance – a model sensitive to the role that violence plays as both a coercive and compelling force, and which accurately reflects the intrinsic instability of political authority consolidated through personal relations. In this respect, similarities in conceptions of power that circulate in Indonesia and more widely in Southeast Asia are not merely cultural, but rather reflect pragmatic concerns with the material relations of power. Résumé L'article explore les effets formateurs de formes de savoir ésotérique associées aux arts martiaux de la Sonde et de Java, en Indonésie. Les détenteurs de ce savoir ont la réputation d'être efficaces et capables d'agir en tant qu'intercesseurs, intermédiaires des relations avec les habitants du monde invisible, les alam ghaib, afin d'obtenir la protection de ceux‐ci pour eux‐mêmes et pour les autres. C'est le savoir qui implique un lien avec une forme d'autorité supérieure et la capacité de servir d'intermédiaire avec celle‐ci. Ces formes de savoir et leur transmission se sont transformées plus récemment en écoles d'arts martiaux modernes et nationalistes, dans lesquelles les relations basées sur la dévotion au maître d'arts martiaux sont réorientées vers l'État, source de savoir et de gains matériels. En retraçant ces transformations, l'auteur avance que la représentation savante du pouvoir comme une forme de « puissance virile » a occulté un modèle dans lequel le pouvoir est perçu comme relationnel, hiérarchique et réalisé dans la performance : un modèle sensible au rôle que joue la violence comme force à la fois coercitive et persuasive, et qui reflète fidèlement l'instabilité inhérente à l'autorité politique consolidée par les relations personnelles. À cet égard, les similitudes entre les conceptions du pouvoir qui ont cours en Indonésie et, plus largement, en Asie du Sud‐est ne sont pas seulement culturelles mais reflètent des préoccupations pragmatiques sur les médiations matérielles du pouvoir.

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“…However, he avidly criticized the dominant authorities of his day, especially church authorities (Troeltsch 1931:39) and considered the struggle to be against the misuse of wealth-in particular, a struggle against avarice and the accumulation of human and material possessions for the sake of self-aggrandizement and power. His is a message contiguous with that of many indigenous Asian religions (Woodward 1985;Pieris 1988;Brown 1992).…”

Section: Early Roots Of Resistance Theologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Peasant Resistance and Religious Protests in Early Philippine Society: Turning Friars Against the Grain

Nadeau

2002

Scientific Study of Religion

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One of the most important contributions to the study of religious resistance and rural rebellions in the Philippines has come from the works of nationalist scholars. They have shown that peasant revolts that have been widely studied cannot be constructively understood without considering their precolonial origins. This essay examines the role of religion in rural revolts in terms of its broader historical connections. It reviews some of the pre-Hispanic continuities in the selection of authentic leaders in the Philippines during the early Spanish period. It concludes that Christianity was localized not simply because it was imposed but because it was propagated by a small group of radicalized, educated friars meeting some of the indigenous criteria for effective leadership. These friars were some of the early ancestors of today's liberation theologians.

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Healing and morality: A Javanese example

Cited by 27 publications

References 13 publications

Tradisi and Moderen, Village and State: Emergent Tensions in a Sasak Health Quest

Tradisi and Moderen, Village and State: Emergent Tensions in a Sasak Health Quest

Beyond the exemplary centre: knowledge, power, and sovereign bodies in Java

Peasant Resistance and Religious Protests in Early Philippine Society: Turning Friars Against the Grain

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