Jawas Books

I found this book to be very entertaining and funny. People can relate to the events that occur in the story, remembering things that happened in their own lives. I advise people to read this book..!

After I wrote a Masters thesis on Indonesian culture and water management, I returned to Indonesia and discovered this book (English version) for a few dollars in one of the big bookstores. From my reading, and from living in East Java for 2 years, and speaking with those who were there much longer, I have to say this is the most insightful work I have found on the topic.

Other writers such as Benedict Anderson are very interesting, but Magnis-Suseno, a German-born Jesuit priest who has lived in Indonesia for 30 or 40 years, is the most successful I have seen in understanding how Javanese think, and their different understanding of ethics.

One example I remember from the book is that of young men and women. (I'm paraphrasing, it's about 5 years since I read it). In a traditional western culture, there would be an expectation that they should behave themselves in a proper, "moral" way (as defined by the culture), and exercise self-control, so as not to "sin". In traditional Javanese society, it is assumed that a young man and a young woman left unsupervised will follow nature's course, and there is no point teaching them to exercise self-restraint. Rather, social controls are used, i.e. making sure that a young woman and a young man are never left alone.

This made sense of what I'd observed in Javanese people's behaviour, putting it into an framework for the first time.

His other observations on divorce and sexual morality also rang true with my observations.

Of course, it's always worth noting that generalisations are never 100% true. However, even though I was living in Surabaya, which is somewhat santri ("Muslim") rather than purely "abangan" (traditional), his analysis was very consistent with my own experiences.

Of all that I have read on Javanese or Indonesian culture, this work stands head and shoulders above the rest. And it's quite readable.

This is certainly the best Book on Wayang Golek, the Puppet Theater of Sunda (West-Java) published to date. It is really the first Source Book ever: Well organized, concise, with many wonderful photographs and drawings. The only other Books written on Wayang Golek are neither avaiable nor reliable. Of particular interest to me was the list of Wayang Golek Puppets arranged on stage and the arrangement of a Set according to affiliation. The categorization of Puppets may be considered arbitrary by some, but is really well thought out, useful, and a first attempt as such. Buurman categorizes the Puppets into Series primarily according to Facial Types and Head Dress. The Family Trees and the large Glossary contain some errors, but are both usable. I hope that Oxford University Press will decide to reprint this excellent Book.

A Short Story about the Book: I first saw this Book in Bogor in the early 90's, where a Puppetmaker showed it to me in Dutch. I immediately procured it in English, and from then on we used the Categoriztion used by Buurman for the ordering of Puppets. In that way I commisioned several hundred Wayang Golek Puppets to be made for me, and there was never a misunderstanding on which type was meant.

Their imposing neighbors in Central Java -- beautiful Borobudur, with its beguiling tale of rediscovery after centuries lost, the eerie, mysterious specter of Hindu Prambanan -- have often overshadowed the charms of the temples of East Java.

Kinney endeavors to set the record straight and give the East Java wonders their historical and cultural due in this copiously detailed, lavishly illustrated and fascinating volume.

She puts the construction of the temples in historical context, including the entry and development of Buddhism and Hinduism in Java, describing the unique characteristics of the temple architecture from the great East Javanese kingdoms of Kediri, Singosari and Majapahit. She also speculates on the reasons for the "reversal of fortune" that led to Central Java's temples gaining more prominence with contemporary scholars.

The author has a concise, interesting, inviting style: This is no pedantic roll call of facts, but neither is it the light-weight academic exercise of the usual glossy coffee-table book.

Kinney writes in the prologue that much of the information on the temples and their architecture is only available in scattered sources, and her intent was to bring it together in one readily available source. She succeeds admirably; every page shows her scholarly credentials, but the care and precision in which she details the story of each temple, great and small, also reveals a deep love of the subject (as she laments, many of the sculptures are no longer at their original sites, but have been spirited away to museums around the world).

For those with aspirations of writing a great tome to Indonesia and its wonders, Kinney has met the standard and then some with this gorgeous work.