This book was the first book I bought in Indonesia when I was posted there 11 years ago as a climate change specialist for the Japanese government. I wanted to know what was going on in Indonesia, especially in Bali, and I wanted something to hang on to. The book was recommended to me by a professor of Balinese culture at the University of Udayana, where I have recently been awarded a visiting professorship. The book itself is written by a foreigner who has lived in Bali for over 30 years. I think the book is so well written that the Balinese teacher is surprised because the author is not a Balinese and he knows the unique culture of Bali. There was so much to learn from Sekala & Niskala that the Indonesian books I had stocked up before coming to Bali seemed obsolete. For example, Balinese people have a sense of east, west, north, and south, and instead of saying "please go to the right" or "please sit on my left side", they say "please go to the east" or "please sit on my north side". It's normal now, but at the time, it was helpful to have all sorts of explanations of the strange things we experience in this way of life. When I looked for books about Bali, I could only find books about tourism, crime or picture books. The only other books I could find were academic books. This book is not academic, but it is well researched and full of reliable information. I highly recommend it for its detailed description of the bright side of Bali outside of tourism.
This book was the first book I bought in Indonesia when I was posted there 11 years ago as a climate change specialist for the Japanese government. I wanted to know what was going on in Indonesia, especially in Bali, and I wanted something to hang on to. The book was recommended to me by a professor of Balinese culture at the University of Udayana, where I have recently been awarded a visiting professorship. The book itself is written by a foreigner who has lived in Bali for over 30 years. I think the book is so well written that the Balinese teacher is surprised because the author is not a Balinese and he knows the unique culture of Bali.
There was so much to learn from Sekala & Niskala that the Indonesian books I had stocked up before coming to Bali seemed obsolete. For example, Balinese people have a sense of east, west, north, and south, and instead of saying "please go to the right" or "please sit on my left side", they say "please go to the east" or "please sit on my north side". It's normal now, but at the time, it was helpful to have all sorts of explanations of the strange things we experience in this way of life.
When I looked for books about Bali, I could only find books about tourism, crime or picture books. The only other books I could find were academic books. This book is not academic, but it is well researched and full of reliable information. I highly recommend it for its detailed description of the bright side of Bali outside of tourism.
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