Richard Jernigan -> RE: Subjugate the poor without pity !! (Jan. 4 2014 22:09:40)
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ORIGINAL: BarkellWH The point of all this is to suggest that most Third World cultures, including the Marshallese, Micronesian, and Balinese discussed here, are not so much "victims" of Western cultural and material encroachment as they are of their own decisions, acting on their own agency. They determine how they will act (or react) given the circumstances they encounter. But that is how we all respond to circumstances whether we live in the developed or the developing world. We all possess agency; how we respond is up to us. I would say these are essentially the points I meant to make, phrased from a different viewpoint. But I would add that this viewpoint seems to be pretty much in line with the viewpoint that has governed our interaction with the Pacific cultures discussed here, with less than desirable results in many cases. In Palau there was social mobility before the white people showed up. If you were energetic or particularly fortunate to acquire surplus resources, and employed them to the benefit of the community at large, your status rose. You could rise from commoner to chief in a single lifetime. As Bill observes, the Palauans have made use of the aid given them in many ways that we would hope Americans or Western Europeans would respond. But they have responded in slightly different ways as well. Ways that our culture might not view as ideal. The last time we were in Palau, we went diving with Sam's. Years before my buddy Don H. and I dove with Fish 'n Fins. Fish 'n Fins was founded by Francis Toribiong, a Palauan who was the pioneer of tourist diving in Palau. When Toribiong retired he sold his business to an Israeli couple who had operated a live-aboard dive boat in Palau for several years. I talked to both of the Israelis a fair amount, because they were interested in expanding to the Marshall Islands. Both impressed me as energetic, intelligent people, likely to be successful in business. They abandoned their Marshalllese hopes due to the usual difficulties met by foreigners. In 2006 when Larisa and I were there, Sam's celebrated an anniversary with a party. There were several Palauans of high traditional rank there. Sam's had just been starting out when Don and I were there. In 2006 Sam's facilities were bigger and better than Fish 'n Fins, Sam had many more boats, and was obviously the most prosperous of all the Palauan dive operations. I commented on this. My casual Palauan acquaintance immediately pointed out a fact I hadn't known. The highest traditional chief of Palau married an American woman. Sam, her son, was the chief's stepson. My acquaintance seemed to see this as sufficient explanation for Sam's prosperity. For my part, I found Sam to be personable and competent. The USA funded a road that goes all the way around the main island of Palau. Out in the middle of nowhere, in the jungle far from any sizable settlement, there is a capitol complex, interestingly modeled on the U.S. capitol building in miniature. It is the seat of the Palauan government. I said that I bet some important traditional chief lived nearby. Larisa demurred, saying it was probably a tactic to bring development to the area, as with Brasilia in the interior of Brazil. A few days later we took separate dive trips. She returned saying she had got talking to the Palauan divemaster, who confirmed my suspicion. Furthermore the Palauan described a network of nepotism and favoritism among the officeholders of the Palauan government, and said many had been convicted of white collar crimes, but still enjoyed political power and preferment. Still, the spirit of individual initiative and entrepreneurism is quite evident in Palau. It is sadly lacking in the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia. In the latter two cultures there was no social mobility before the white people showed up. In the Marshalls at least, social mobility is nearly nonexistent now. Still our "aid" monetizes the economy at Kwajalein and Majuro, and accelerates the destruction of the old culture--through choices made by the Marshallese themselves, as Bill points out. Choices made largely by the Marshallese upper class, who have retained their custom of living better than their inferiors, but who have lost almost any sense of responsibility for the Dri-jerbal class of common people. Many of our actions in the Marshalls have been meant to compensate them for injustices we imposed from a position of such obviously overwhelming military power that only a fool would have put up any resistance at all. The Japanese dominated the Marshallese for decades through military intimidation. We wiped the Japanese off the islands in days. The Marshallese at Kwajalein still celebrate Liberation Day in February, the anniversary of the WW II battle in 1944. They are better off now than they were under Japanese colonization, which grew more militarist as time went on, and became violently repressive as the Japanese military situation grew worse and worse in WW II. The Palauan culture adapted to modernization in a way that improved the general welfare. The Marshallese culture adapted to modernization by making millionaires of the Iroij, and leaving the Dri-jerbal in the dirt, while destroying the old culture at the population centers of Kwajalein and Majuro. We didn't intend the present Marshallese outcome, nor impose it on them. We meant to help. _______________________________________________________________ Present day Balinese visual art is well known to be the product of imported European influences. The artists and galleries make their living from the tourist trade. A good friend of mine is a member of the gamelan of Bangli, the seat of one of the seven Rajas who reigned in Bali before the Dutch invasions of the 1920s. The members of the orchestra are not paid for performances. Indeed, they pay dues to defray the expenses of maintaining the instruments and the stipend of the guru. The gamelan members are seen as trustees of the extensive and expensive collection of instruments, not their owners. My friend makes his living as a cab driver in Kuta, the main tourist center of Bali. There are very few professional musicians on Bali. But almost every village of any size has an active orchestra and dance troupe. It would be a dishonor not to have one. When my friend saw my guitar, he asked me to play for him. Then he invited me to rehearsals of the gamelan, where the guru was teaching them a new piece to be played in the annual island wide contest at Denpasar. The piece was as long and complex as an early Mozart symphony. It was taught by the guru sounding out each of the many contrapuntal parts. The players immediately and accurately copied him and memorized their parts with only one, or at most two or three repetitions. The Bangli gamelan plays for temple festivals, for more secular festivals, for town ceremonies, and in the big annual island wide contest. Dance performances of the great Hindu epics and Balinese traditional stories may last all night, accompanied by the orchestra. The strong influence of tourism is seen at Ubud, where the Cokorda (ranking just below royalty) maintains a dance troupe in the old aristocratic style. But there are regular performances for tourists, with admission charged. The tourists are not prepared to spend the night, so the epics and traditional stories are abridged to a length of not more than a couple of hours. The Tirta Sari dance troupe and orchestra are world famous, traveling every year to London, Paris, Tokyo, New York and other cultural centers. They are the descendants of the dance troupe of the Raja of Karangasem. One of his daughters was the principal artistic director. One of his younger sons returned to Bali from a medical career in the World Health Organization. He was the main impresario of the troupe's worldwide fame. Tirta Sari's performances, though billed as "classical Legong" are nothing of the sort. They are pastiches drawn from many traditional sources, melded into a spectacular performance, but devoid of the narrative and often devotional character of traditional Balinese ballet. Some of the most popular elements were devised by Colin McPhee, an American composer who lived in Bali for several years in the 1930s. Tirta Sari's performance space at Peliatan is perhaps ten times as large as the Cokorda's palace at nearby Ubud. It takes several large tourist busses to fill it up. Tirta Sari is a purely commercial operation at present, though the last time I was in Bali the Raja's son and daughter were still involved to some extent. The present Raja of Karangasem has nowhere near the wealth, influence nor political power of his father. So I see tourism influencing Balinese music and dance, much as commercialization has influenced flamenco. The transition is fairly gradual, and may take another generation or more before commercialization is the dominant influence in Bali. Just as with flamenco, traditional culture is likely to survive, but Balinese ballet requires a large cast of dancers and musicians, with expensive costumes and instruments, so its survival in more traditional form is bound to be much attenuated from the old days of the Rajas. The Australian and European tourists to Bali are not imposing this. The Balinese are doing this of their own choice and free will. But the tourists are enabling and motivating the transformation of Balinese music and dance into commercialized forms, just as they enabled the flowering of modern Balinese painting. I enjoy modern Balinese painting. I have two good sized ones in my house. But the narratives of even the Cokorda's abridged dance epics and stories have more emotional power for me than the spectacular pastiches of Tirta Sari. My friend takes pride in helping to maintain the artistic traditions of his princely town, and laments the commercialization of Balinese music and dance. RNJ
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