https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/hdethn/issue/feed Heidelberg Ethnology 2017-10-20T16:29:01+02:00 Karin Polit editor@eth.uni-heidelberg.de Open Journal Systems <p>Heidelberg Ethnology is a peer-reviewed Occasional Paper Series devoted to the publication of new and innovative research in socio-cultural anthropology. Its guiding purpose is to stimulate critical dialogue that brings to bear the findings of nuanced empirical study on issues of wider theoretical import. Papers in the Series address themes both traditional and contemporary, from ritual, economy and kinship to media, gender and politics. In addition to conventional monographs the Series also welcomes submissions in other formats, including multimedia presentations, conference proceedings, research data and related materials of wider ethnological significance. In line with the interests of its institutional home, the regional emphasis of the Series is on Southern Asia and Oceania. However, the Editorial Board actively seeks outstanding contributions from those working in other parts of Asia and the Pacific region, Africa, Europe, Australia and the Americas. With the aim of reaching as wide an audience as possible, the Series publishes papers on a rolling basis in an open-access electronic format in collaboration with the Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg. Papers may be submitted for publication in either English or German.</p> <p>The journal was completed in 2017.</p> https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/hdethn/article/view/18998 Beyond the Whorfs of Dover: A Study of Balinese Interpretive Practices 2016-10-24T08:02:02+02:00 Mark Hobart mh5@soas.ac.uk Scholars generally assume that current Euro-American theory is both necessary and sufficient to understand other societies. Analyzing the presuppositions of linguistic and anthropological models indicates however that they are fatally flawed. Examining Balinese practices of speaking and understanding others shows they work with a consistently pragmatic approach with coherent modes of interrogating situated utterances. Close study of examples highlights how far existing theories from truth-conditional semantics to speech act theory not only fail to appreciate what is said and done, but insulate themselves from realizing this. So the many studies of Balinese ‘symbolism’ are only possible by failing to listen to what people say. According to Balinese, speech is inseparable from other acts, so meaning can only be judged from its consequences. If other people have diverse ways of speaking, acting and understanding, should we not finally lay aside our comfortable hegemony and inquire critically what is going on? Copyright (c) 2015 Mark Hobart https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/hdethn/article/view/18999 Optical Allusions: Looking at Looking, in Balinese and Dutch Encounters 2016-10-24T08:02:03+02:00 Margaret Wiener mwiener@email.unc.edu This article revisits vision’s relation to power and knowledge through a symmetrical discussion of Balinese and Dutch ideologies and practices of seeing. Juxtaposing Balinese and Dutch allusions to matters optical in anecdotes about meetings between envoys of the Netherlands Indies state and members of pre- colonial Bali’s ruling classes invites a consideration of the role optical technologies play in assembling (partially connected) worlds. Highlighting the mediators that visual practices require, it argues that familiar claims about vision rest on hegemonic ontologies. Looking back at colonial encounters from Bali shows that what eyes see and do goes beyond observation. Copyright (c) 2015 Margaret Wiener https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/hdethn/article/view/25362 Islam and the Perception of Islam in Contemporary Indonesia 2016-10-24T08:02:04+02:00 Vincent Houben vincent.houben@rz.hu-berlin.de <div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Islam in post-</span><span>reformasi </span><span>Indonesia is covered by a wide multi-disciplinary literature, in which ‘Islamization’ has gained acceptance as the predominant frame for understanding contemporary developments. Here Islamization is taken to be a move away from an Indonesian Islam that was highly localized and mystical in nature. Adopting an area studies approach, this paper reviews the literature on contemporary Islam in Indonesia and challenges this understanding of Islamization. It is argued that older cultural styles and variations within local Islam have not disappeared, and that, more generally, characterizing the development of Indonesian Islam by using a single label is misleading. </span></p></div></div></div></div> Copyright (c) 2015 Vincent Houben https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/hdethn/article/view/29971 The Other Side of the Gift: Soliciting in Java – A Discussion 2016-10-24T08:02:06+02:00 Konstantinos Retsikas kr1@soas.ac.uk This paper inquires into some of the hidden dimensions of anthropological thought about the gift and giving, making the case for a new approach to value transfers. Such an approach is delineated through critical engagement with both Mauss’s original work on the subject and the work of other scholars, in particular Strathern’s new Melanesian ethnography and Derrida’s deconstructive readings. In addition, by means of drawing upon ethnographic research on Muslim practices in Java, Indonesia, the paper highlights the importance of soliciting as an alternative concept for thinking about value transfers, stressing, in particular, the significance of activities of taking for a new and different perspective on the complexities that permeate the social. The main article is followed by commentaries from Carla Jones, Daromir Rudnyckyj and Guido Sprenger, as well as a reply from the author. Copyright (c) 2016 Konstantinos Retsikas https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/hdethn/article/view/41548 Studying Sites of Buddhist Leisure: A Discussion of Justin Thomas McDaniel’s Architects of Buddhist Leisure 2017-10-11T07:44:50+02:00 Thomas N. Patton tpatton@cityu.edu.hk David Morgan david.morgan@duke.edu Anne Hansen arhansen@wisc.edu Thomas Borchert thomas.borchert@uvm.edu Richard Fox rfox@eth.uni-heidelberg.edu Justin Thomas McDaniel jmcdan@sas.upenn.edu <div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Justin McDaniel’s most recent book theorizes ‘Buddhist leisure’ through a critical comparison of public Buddhist sites in several countries. He aims to show how the people who create and visit these places see them as transcending the boundaries often thought to separate secular and religious spheres of life. Grounded in closely observed studies of sites in Japan, India, Singapore and elsewhere, McDaniel argues that these practices of leisure reflect a growing Buddhist ecumenism that is at least partially the result of new technologies of construction and global communication. The discussion, organized by Thomas N. Patton, brings together a group of scholars with differing disciplinary and regional areas of expertise to reflect on the claims and implications of the book. </span></p></div></div></div></div> Copyright (c) 2017 Thomas N. Patton, David Morgan, Anne Hansen, Thomas Borchert, Richard Fox, Justin Thomas McDaniel https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/hdethn/article/view/42017 Goods and Ethnicity: Trade and Bazaars in Laos from a Gift Perspective; A Discussion 2017-10-20T16:29:01+02:00 Guido Sprenger sprenger@eth.uni-heidelberg.de Chris Gregory chris.gregory@anu.edu.au Kostas Retsikas kr1@soas.ac.uk Hans Peter Hahn hans.hahn@em.uni-frankfurt.de <div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Drawing on ethnographic observations in Lao markets and bazaars, this article proposes a new and experimental framework for the analysis of multi-ethnic trading. It explores bazaars and trade as sites of the (re-)production of ethnicity through the perspective of gift exchange theory. On markets, transcultural differences can be identified and stabilized through the exchange of goods and money. This draws attention to the role of trade items as foci – and perhaps even as non-human agents – in the emergence of ethnicity and other forms of local identity. The value of items’ specific origins is thus linked to social structure. This helps us to see how the shaping of group identity can be better understood by considering how the goods they bring to market carry with them some features of the gift. </span></p></div></div></div></div> 2017-10-20T00:00:00+02:00 Copyright (c) 2017 Guido Sprenger, Chris Gregory, Kostas Retsikas, Hans Peter Hahn