Description
Book SynopsisIn Martial Arts and the Body Politic in Indonesia Lee Wilson offers an innovative study of nationalism and the Indonesian state through the ethnography of the martial art of Pencak Silat. Wilson shows how technologies of physical and spiritual warfare such as Pencak Silat have long played a prominent role in Indonesian political society. He demonstrates the importance of these technologies to the display and performance of power, and highlights the limitations of theories of secular modernity for understanding political forms in contemporary Indonesia. He offers a compelling argument for a revisionist account of models of power in Indonesia in which authority is understood as precarious and multiple, and the body is politically charged because of its potential for transformation.
Trade Review"Lee Wilson’s excellent new book is carefully crafted, ethnographically rich, historically grounded, politically savvy, and theoretically sophisticated. It provides an interesting, insightful, and important re-visiting of classic debates on Power in Southeast Asia. A must-read." – John Sidel, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) "Abundant historical, ethnographic, and linguistic observations drive theoretical reflection in this innovative perspective on power in Indonesia. Anyone interested in the politics of bodily practice will find much to consider here." – Harri Englund, University of Cambridge
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface I. From out of the Shadows II. Bodies of knowledge: the pedagogy of Pencak Silat III. Blessings, bone setting and the blood of the ancestors IV. The management of tradition V. From the Mystical to the Molecular VI. Sovereign bodies and the practicalities of power Bibliography
