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Bali's silent crisis : desire, tragedy, and transition
Jeff Lewis and Belinda Lewis
Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, c2009
ISBN: 0739128205
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Book description
Bali and Balinese culture have become central to western
imaginings of “the east.” Along with its natural beauty and tropical
sensuality, Bali’s rich and complex culture has proved intensely alluring
for western artists, scholars, and travelers. However, as this aesthetic
imagining and desire for beauty have evolved into a mass tourism industry,
the island people and their culture have experienced radical and rapid
transformation. While many in the international community were stunned by
the horror of the militant bombings in 2002 and 2005, these attacks were
merely the apex of a profound and ongoing crisis that resonates through the
period of Bali’s modernization and engagement with the global economy of
pleasure.
Bali’s Silent Crisis examines and elucidates the complex cultural and
political environment of contemporary Bali. This book explains the
conditions of crisis in Bali in terms of a powerful collision of cultural
elements and trends, focusing specifically on the double matrix of “desire”
and “violence” that has characterized Bali’s recent past. Moving beyond a
simple opposition between “tradition” and “the modern,” this book reveals a
society that is struggling to reconcile its own profound aesthetic and sense
of historical identity with the intense agonisms that are generated through
rapid social and cultural change. Through its thematic approach, Bali’s
Silent Crisis presents an image of community trauma, creative
resilience, and pluralization. This book records the challenges and horrors
associated with transition, as well as the formidable beauty that remains
intrinsic to the island’s sense of cultural destiny.
About the author
Jeff Lewis is a professorial research fellow in the
Global Cities Institute, School of Applied Communications at RMIT
University.
Belinda Lewis is a researcher in health promotion and
international health in the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University.
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