Becoming An Anthropological Approach to Understandings of the Person in Java

Description

An ethnographic monograph centring on the island of Java that also makes a singular contribution to the anthropological theorising of the person.

‘Becoming – An Anthropological Approach to Understandings of the Person in Java’ falls within the long-standing tradition of anthropological theorising regarding the person, and takes inspiration from the philosophical writings of G. Deleuze. It comprises a critical intervention in the said literatures, develops new conceptual tools and reconfigures ‘old’ methodological strategies. As a thought experiment, it foregrounds and advances the concept of the ‘diaphoron’ person – a person who constantly differs from him/herself and who is always already involved in an unlimited process of becoming – as a new figure for considering the problem of the subject in anthropology. In addition, the book breathes new life into one of the most distinctive methodological strategies to be found in anthropology since its inception, re-invigorating the approach of ‘total ethnography’ in such a way that it is able to meet the challenges posed by living in a postmodern world.

The volume is also an ethnographic monograph based upon qualitative research undertaken in the town of Probolinggo in East Java, Indonesia. It is the first book-length ethnographic study of this part of Java and its peoples, who identify themselves as ‘mixed persons’. The volume not only serves as a source of new ethnographic data about a place and a situation we know very little about, but it also re-thinks key categories of Javanese ethnography from a new and unanticipated perspective.

List of Illustrations; Acknowledgements; Prolegomenon; Chapter 1: The Becoming of Place: Moving, Clearing, Inhabiting; Chapter 2: The Perception of Difference: Embodying, Reversing, Encompassing; Chapter 3: The Blood of Affinity: Marrying, Procreating, Housing; Chapter 4: Matters of Scale: Feeding, Praying, Sharing; Chapter 5: A Pulsating Universe: Annihilating, Enhancing, Magnifying; Chapter 6: The Marital and the Martial: Gendering, Killing, Oscillating; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index

Subjects

• Books
• Savoirs
• Humanities and social sciences
• Social sciences

Informations

• Published by: Anthem Press
• Published: 15 August 2012
• Reads: 0
• EAN13: 9780857285317
• Language: English
• Document size: 8 MB

Exrait

Becoming

An Anthropological Approach to Understandings of the Person in Java

Becoming

An Anthropological Approach to Understandings of the Person in Java

Konstantinos Retsikas

Anthem Press An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2012 by ANTHEM PRESS 75-76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK and 244 Madison Ave. #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

Copyright © Konstantinos Retsikas 2012

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Retsikas, Konstantinos. Becoming : an anthropological approach to understandings of the person in Java / Konstantinos Retsikas.  p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-85728-529-4 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Ethnology–Indonesia–Java. 2. Ethnospychology–Indonesia–Java. 3. Personalism–Social aspects–Indonesia–Java. 4. Kinship–Indonesia–Java. 5. Java (Indonesia)–Social life and customs. I. Title. GN635.I65R47 2012 305.8009598’2–dc23  2012021807

ISBN-13: 978 0 85728 529 4 (Hbk) ISBN-10: 0 85728 529 7 (Hbk)

This title is also available as an eBook.

For M.

List of Maps and Figures Acknowledgements Prolegomenon Subjects as motion Becoming

C

O

N

TEN

Chapter 1: The Becoming of Place: Moving, Clearing, Inhabiting The unity of the beginning The diversity of poverty The civility of emplacement Becoming-place

TS

Chapter 2: The Perception of Difference: Embodying, Reversing, Encompassing Kinds of bodies The flesh of the social Origins, originals and ruptures The corporeal and the phenomenal Sensible distinctions Reversibility and thediaphoronperson Living hierarchy The fabric

Chapter 3: The Blood of Affinity: Marrying, Procreating, Housing Disjunctive synthesis The House Incestuous affines Becoming-siblings The ‘nature’ of siblingship

ix xi xiii xiii xx

1 1 10 21 30

33 33 37 39 43 45 53 58 65

69 69 71 73 76 89

viii

Moving parts A manifold of manifestations

BECOMING

Chapter 4: Matters of Scale: Feeding, Praying, Sharing A topography of relations Vitality for the living Vitality for the dead Sound and sentiment Ex-changing scales Digesting the multitude Thekampong

Chapter 5: A Pulsating Universe: Annihilating, Enhancing, Magnifying Intimate contractions The enlightenment of the enchanted Ambiguous animals Sets of four Reciprocal motions Chapter 6: The Marital and the Martial: Gendering, Killing, Oscillating Cross-regional perspectives Agency and affect Masculine and feminine bodies Androgyny ‘Chronicle of a death foretold’ Becoming-gendered Epilogue

Bibliography Index

96 98 103 103 104 111 116 120 124 127

131 131 135 144 151 158

161 161 164 169 173 177 184 189

193 207

Map 1 Map 2

LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES

Indonesia East Java

Figure 1 Ploughing the field for rice planting Figure 2 Harvesting onions Figure 3 The central market in downtown Probolinggo Figure 4 The key members of Bayu Kencana Figure 5 Husband and wife feeding each other in public Figure 6 Requesting and acquiring blessings Figure 7 Generating merit for the dead Figure 8 Celebrating a complete reading of the Quran Figure 9 The gender uniform newlyweds Figure 10 Parading androgyny Figure 11 Purifying the bride

xxxii xxxiii

13 17 25 53 86 88 113 119 176 176 183