Kunst, Kosmos, Kaste. Weibliche Körperinszenierungen, Tanz und Aspekte der Bewahrung balinesischer Kultur in Oka Rusminis Tarian Bumi

Abstract

An increasing number of Indonesian women authors have entered the literary stage since the fall of Suharto. Many of their books have become bestsellers, selling up to 100.000 copies. Reasons for this rising popularity of literature by women authors are tendencies of liberalization, lifting of censorship and a redefinition of women’s role. Some female authors have attracted attention by openly discussing female sexuality and desire, a taboo topic, which would not have been able to discuss during the New Order. Most of these writers, whose literature is often termed sastrawangi (fragrant literature), choose urban centres of Java as settings for their narratives. This paper discusses the novel Tarian Bumi (Earth Dance, 2000) by Oka Rusmini, who has opened the discourse about the female body and sexuality even before the ‘pioneer’ of so-called sastrawangi, Ayu Utami. The paper wants to contribute to point out links between female stagings of the body, dance and aspects of preserving Balinese culture. The paper directs special attention to the question, how stagings of the body are used to characterize women’s role in Balinese society between the poles of the Hindu caste system and hierarchy and against the backdrop of tourism, postcolonial criticism and preservation of Balinese culture in the course of time.