Description
Book SynopsisIn Bali in the Early Nineteenth Century, Helen Creese examines the nature of the earliest sustained cross-cultural encounter between the Balinese and the Dutch through the eyewitness accounts of Pierre Dubois, the first colonial official to live in Bali. From 1828 to 1831, Dubois served as Civil Administrator to the Badung court in southern Bali. He later recorded his Balinese experiences for the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences in a series of personal letters to an anonymous correspondent. This first ethnography of Bali provides rich, perceptive descriptions of early nineteenth-century Balinese politics, society, religion and culture. The book includes a complete edition and translation of Dubois’ Légère Idée de Balie en 1830/Sketch of Bali in 1830.
Trade Review"The book is a major achievement in the study of Balinese history and culture. The complex of letters, sometimes in a fragmentary and unfinished state, offers a vast panorama of Bali in the early nineteenth century, seen by a prejudiced but sharp-eyed official who had seen much of this world. [...] The highly useful and down-to-earth comments by Helen Creese, together with her meticulous efforts to trace the life and times of Pierre Dubois, makes the book an inexhaustible source of information." – Hans Hägerdal, Linnaeus University, in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 175 (2019), p. 81–135.
Table of ContentsPreface Editorial principles and conventions List of Illustrations Part 1: Historical and Cultural Context Ch. 1: The Textual Traces of a Colonial Life: Pierre Dubois (ca. 1776-1838) Ch. 2: Overtures: The Dutch in Bali, 1808-1826 Ch. 3: The Recruitment Post at Kuta Ch. 4: The Transcendent Art of Balinese Politics Ch. 5: The Return to Kuta, 1829-1831 Ch. 6: The Kuta Post: An Assessment Ch. 7: An Accidental Ethnographer Ch. 8: In Pursuit of Truth: Dubois in the Field Ch. 9: A Textual Cabinet of Curiosities: Commentaries on History, Society, Religion and Ritual Ch. 10: The Dubois Manuscripts: Transmission and Intertextuality Ch. 11: A Textual Postscript: The Journey of the Manuscripts Part 2: Pierre Dubois: Légère Idée de Balie en 1830 List of Letters Letters – French Transcription Part 3: Pierre Dubois: Sketch of Bali in 1830 List of Letters Letters – English Translation Glossary Bibliography Index
