The Balinese Society - Essay Example

NAME : XXXXXXXXXX TUTOR : XXXXXXXXXX TITLE : XXXXXXXXXXX COURSE : XXXXXXXXXX INSTITUTION : XXXXXXXXXX @2009 Introduction This essay will tend to explain why the visiting experts do not take seriously the information details they get from visiting the water temples and the priest in Bali. The visiting experts in Bali do not take seriously the information they obtain from visiting water temples and the priests because of the Balinese belief system which is attached too much to magic and superstition. Bali is a traditional society and hence the Balinese adore their culture very much. On the other hand, consultants and other visiting experts come mostly from the western society which is considered modern. Hence, there is a great contrast in their belief system; each party believes that theirs is the best. It has thus become very difficult for the development consultants in Bali to convince them to abandon their belief system to adopt a modern perspective towards development which is based on science rather than superstition (Hobart A, et al 1996). The major point of disagreement between the Balinese and the western world is the presumed incompatibility between their two knowledge systems, the religious and the scientific knowledge. The Balinese hold strongly onto religious knowledge while the western sceintist held into scientific knowledge. Each party believes that thier knowlege is the best and the most superior. There is was no hope for any significant changes in the Balinese belief system as they believe thier belief system works best for them. In this case, the consultants found out that they made little or no influence at all to the Balinese belief system . To them, such a belief system could not translate to development and therefore they found no interest in visiting the water temples which were managed by priest who practiced magic and superstition. This belief system of the Balinese has attracted a lot of criticism from the western world. Their belief in magic has no foundation in reality. The western world has engaged itself in a century old battle against superstition. Magic is seen as being the direct opposite of rational thought. The aim of Western science has been to strip away superstition, to show that society is our own creation, not that of the gods (Hobart A, et al 1996). The process of modernization has emphasized on the importance of change and hence the coming into being of a new kind of person. This kind of view has its root in a Christian worldview. The western scientists believe that only in the modern world is the self free to realize its own nature. Unless the Balinese do away with their magical worldview, they will never gain the modern sense of the self which bring about a new sense of freedom and self-possession. From this point of view of the new sense of self, the world of magic appears to involve a thralldom, the punishing of the self in eerie external forces, even a ravishing or loss of self. The western science recognizes that the human mind is not completely rational, since it is restrained by being personified and by living in the world. The social science helps us identify such constraints and hence, help us to gain mastery over them. However, the Balinese anthropologists stress on the freedom of the mind by understanding the restraints imposed on it by the fact of being embodied in the material world (Thierry 158). The real discrepancies between the perceptions of Western consultants and Balinese priests are not a simple issue of science against superstition. Their differences run deeper into their views about the nature of society. These differences reveal their deeply contrasting views about the nature of society. The western science believes that the world is a human making and that societal institutions are flexible. Balinese Brahmancal views of society are based on the idea of caste. In a caste structure, each individual acquire his/her caste status at birth, and variations between castes are taken to be reality about the world and not about the past. So for a Brahmin scholar, the basic framework of the social world is a given, and the notion of human freedom seems merely impossible. They hence believe that we have no power over our social status as they are predetermined from birth. The social institutions present in a society reveal the level of development and self-awareness of a specific society. The social institutions in Bali such as the “Subak” which are based mainly on the cooperation of farmers reveals that such a society is still ragging behind as far as modernization is concerned. Genuine self-knowledge is one basic characteristics of a modern society. Indeed, this characteristic makes modern Western social scientists to be honored worldwide. The Balinese priests allege to speculative knowledge about human nature which they gain from observing the world (Stefan H 263). The Balinese structures of agriculture organization are intrinsically connected to their belief and customs. The tireless effort of planners and consultants to introduce modern farming techniques has been futile. The farmers in Bali have strongly resisted the modernization programs introduced by these planners and consultants. While these new technologies may have been ill suited to Balinese situation, the unwillingness to adopt them was seen as lack of interest and a sign of backwardness by planners and consultants. The farmers opted to plant the local Balinese rice instead of the hybrid "Green Revolution" varieties authorized by consultants. This showed that they were against the whole process of modernization which the western world was advocating for (Lansing 1996). The traditional Balinese structure of water control is founded on principles directly opposite to those favored by planners and consultants. The conventional irrigation structures in Bali are founded on ancestral, religious knowledge and are controlled by the priests of a Hindu-Buddhist temple devoted to Dewi-Danu, the goddess of the lake. Their techniques of water control and rice terrace management are based on bottom-up approach whereas planners and consultants prefer top-down control structures. The Balinese control their water by use of nested chains of command of water temples that collaborate in setting irrigation schedules. To a consultant educated in the western world, a modern world which believes in individualism rather than communism, the idea of water management by use of water temples appears like a mysterious artifact from the pre-modern age. The modernization programs advocated for by planners called for the replacement of these systems of water management with devices referred to as "Romijn gates,”. However, instead of using them, the farmers started uprooting them and lifting them out of the water and leaving them to rust. This obviously displeased the consultants when they finally became aware of it. "Everybody can criticize and damage a project," a senior official complained, "but only few people can overcome those difficult problems and make the project viable". However, problems like this could have been expected as practical difficulties in the transition towards modern agricultural practices. But when the next program "Massive Guidance," failed to achieve its objective, the planner were disappointed and resigned to fate (Lansing 1996). The consultants who share the same view with the conventional Western social science, feels that the details of how "traditional" societies like Bali are organized really don't matter. The officials from the Asian development bank feels that the Balinese priests assigned to water temples have no active role to play in the irrigation activities schedule. The rituals they perform are of no significant use. The idea of the water temples networks as being self-organized contradicts itself. We whole idea of water temple networks relies on extraordinary levels of teamwork among farmers; if one team of the “subak” fails to cooperate, then the whole process fails. We find out that the farmers at the bottom of the stream are at the mercy of the farmers at the top of the stream as they manage the water flow. If the farmers at the upstream fail to cooperate or opt to reap the most by using much of the water, then the farmers at the downstream of the river will have no water for use. Hence, the whole process of water temple management depends on the cooperation of farmer, a thing which is difficulty to achieve especially in this modern world dominated by people who mind about their own interest at the expense of others. A great deal of what conspires in the subak falls into the Western class of "religion" or even "magic." Water temple ceremonies draw on Hindu and Buddhist customs which tends to generate the prerequisites for a robust structure of self-governance. The uniting of these thoughts with the management structure of temple networks offers influential tools for the people to enforce an imagined order on the world. Nevertheless, the farmers' acknowledgment that the existence of such tools is tied to understanding of the ease with which they can fail. A certain type of self-mastery, and understanding of interdependencies, is implicit for managing both the communal and natural worlds. These Balinese views on selfhood contrast with the commemoration of the surfacing of the independent issue in Western social world. The world of the water temples has no role to play in the modern world (Stefan H 263). Over the last 100 years, the population in Bali has increased greatly reducing the size of landholdings for farmers. In spite of the initially successful family planning program, population continues to grow at an alarming rate. Food production needs to be increased to meet the needs of this population. Considering the farmers’ minute size of landholdings, the BIMAS programs proposed by planner had much to offer to these farmers and especially to the poorest farmers. It could have led to increase in harvest due to the hybrid seed, more harvest per year made possible through the short period of malnutrition required by the new strains. The BIMAs program advocate for two to three new rice crops per year as opposed to one traditional crop. Lastly but not the least, the BIMAS program come up with an agricultural credit which could have enabled farmers to get access to pesticides, fertilizers and new-rice technologies. The Balinese has engaged in a century old peasants production methods. They only produce for subsistence use rather than for both subsistence and for the wider market. Most Non-Government organizations and consultants have advocated for large scale production (Thierry 158). Stephen Lansing made use of a microcomputer to form the conventional religious organization of irrigation in Bali. He simply looked at one side of the matter and ignored the other. He did not see the importance of science in development. His work reveals the technological reasonableness of the Balinese conventional management, which emphasizes on well-organized use of water and pest management rather than on scientific management. His success is seen a communication policy rather than a scientific accomplishment. As a result, Bali as a society has remained behind as far as modernization is concerned. However, his recent works, Lansing has recognized the importance of science in development. He has emphasizes on the importance of Green revolution technologies (Lansing 2005). Conclusion From the above discussion, it is clear that the major reason behind the declining interest among visiting expert as concerns visiting water temples and the priests in Bali is a result of their religious beliefs in magic and superstitions. The Balinese society has continued to rely on magic and superstition to manage their rice terraces and to control their water despite the unwavering efforts of planners to introduce modern technologies and hybrid seeds. Their unwillingness to change and adopt to modern belief systems which emphasizes on scientific knowledge and the modern sense of the self which is free has continued to irritate these consultants even more. The Balinese society has refuted change which is a precondition for a successful modernization process. Bali as a country has remained backward as far as modernization is concern The transitions from myth to reason remain a problem even to those who recognize that myth do not contain reason. References Hobart A, et al 1996, The Process of Modernization of The Peoples of Bali, Oxford: B Blackwell Stephen L 1996, The Goddess and the Green Revolution in the Balinese, Stanford University press, New York. Stefan H 1999, Digitizing "Development – Balinese Water Temples, complexity and the politics of simulation, Critique of Anthropology, Vol 19 (3) 249-265. Stephen L 2005, On Irrigation and the Balinese State, Current Anthropology Volume 46, Number 2. Thierry 1994, A Translation Analysis of the green revolution in Bali Science, Technology and Human Values, Vol 19, no 2, 152-168. Read More