Skip to content
Scan a barcode
Scan
Added to your cart
Paperback Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali Book

ISBN: 0691007780

ISBN13: 9780691007786

Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali

Select Format

Select Condition ThriftBooks Help Icon

Recommended

Format: Paperback

Condition: Good

$5.39
Save $38.61!
List Price $44.00
Almost Gone, Only 1 Left!

Book Overview

Combining great learning, interpretative originality, analytical sensitivity, and a charismatic prose style, Clifford Geertz has produced a lasting body of work with influence throughout the humanities and social sciences, and remains the foremost anthropologist in America.

His 1980 book Negara analyzed the social organization of Bali before it was colonized by the Dutch in 1906. Here Geertz applied his widely influential method of cultural interpretation to the myths, ceremonies, rituals, and symbols of a precolonial state. He found that the nineteenth-century Balinese state defied easy conceptualization by the familiar models of political theory and the standard Western approaches to understanding politics.

Negara means "country" or "seat of political authority" in Indonesian. In Bali Geertz found negara to be a "theatre state," governed by rituals and symbols rather than by force. The Balinese state did not specialize in tyranny, conquest, or effective administration. Instead, it emphasized spectacle. The elaborate ceremonies and productions the state created were "not means to political ends: they were the ends themselves, they were what the state was for.... Power served pomp, not pomp power." Geertz argued more forcefully in Negara than in any of his other books for the fundamental importance of the culture of politics to a society.

Much of Geertz's previous work--including his world-famous essay on the Balinese cockfight--can be seen as leading up to the full portrait of the "poetics of power" that Negara so vividly depicts.
More by Clifford Geertz
Interpretation of Cultures
Interpretation of Cultures
Clifford Geertz

from: $5.49

Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology
Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology
Clifford Geertz

from: $4.79

Works and Lives: The Anthropologist As Author
Works and Lives: The Anthropologist As Author
Clifford Geertz

from: $5.69

Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics.
Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics.
Clifford Geertz

from: $9.29

After the Fact: Two Countries, Four Decades, One Anthropologist (The Jerusalem-Harvard Lectures)
After the Fact: Two Countries, Four Decades, One Anthropologist (The Jerusalem-Harvard Lectures)
Clifford Geertz

from: $6.29

The Religion of Java
The Religion of Java
Clifford Geertz

from: $9.99

Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia
Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia
Clifford Geertz

from: $4.39

Agricultural Involution: The Processes of Ecological Change in Indonesia
Agricultural Involution: The Processes of Ecological Change in Indonesia
Clifford Geertz

from: $6.59

Peddlers and Princes: Social Development and Economic Change in Two Indonesian Towns (Comparative Studies of New Nations)
Peddlers and Princes: Social Development and Economic Change in Two Indonesian Towns (Comparative Studies of New Nations)
Clifford Geertz

from: $4.29

Life among the Anthros and Other Essays
Life among the Anthros and Other Essays
Clifford Geertz

from: $33.00

Kinship in Bali
Kinship in Bali
Hildred Geertz, Clifford Geertz

from: $5.09

The Social History of an Indonesian Town.
The Social History of an Indonesian Town.
Clifford Geertz

from: $75.88

Ideology and Discontent
Ideology and Discontent
Clifford Geertz

from: $23.79

Old societies and new States: the quest for modernity in Asia and Africa
Old societies and new States: the quest for modernity in Asia and Africa
Clifford Geertz, Clifford Editor Geertz

from: $10.19

Clifford Geertz by His Colleagues
Clifford Geertz by His Colleagues
Clifford Geertz

Out of Stock

Hermeneutics of culture <1> (Iwanami modern Sensho) (1987) ISBN: 4000047876 [Japanese Import]
Hermeneutics of culture <1> (Iwanami modern Sensho) (1987) ISBN: 4000047876 [Japanese Import]
Clifford Geertz

Out of Stock

PEDDLERS AND PRINCES: Social Change and Economic Modernization in Two Indonesian
PEDDLERS AND PRINCES: Social Change and Economic Modernization in Two Indonesian
Clifford Geertz

Out of Stock

Suq: Geertz on the Market
Suq: Geertz on the Market
Clifford Geertz

Out of Stock

Peddlers and Princes: Social Development and Economic Change in Two Indonesian Towns
Peddlers and Princes: Social Development and Economic Change in Two Indonesian Towns
Clifford Geertz

Out of Stock

New Views of the Nature Man
New Views of the Nature Man
John R. Platt, Clifford Geertz

Out of Stock

Meaning and Order in Moroccan Society: Three Essays in Cultural Analysis
Meaning and Order in Moroccan Society: Three Essays in Cultural Analysis
Lawrence Rosen, Hildred Geertz, Clifford Geertz

Out of Stock

The Social History of an Indonesian Town
The Social History of an Indonesian Town
Clifford Geertz

Out of Stock

Customer Reviews

3 customer ratings | 3 reviews

Rated 5 stars
Negara

The pleasure of the prose alone is worth the price of this book. I was interested in what Geertz had to say and found the book hard to put down. Neatly done and neatly argued.

0Report

Rated 5 stars
Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth Century Bali

Geertz, a social anthropologist at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, is a prolific scholar on Balinese and Indonesian political and state organization. "Negara" is a Sanskrit word which originally meant "town"; in Bahasa Indonesia it now signifies nation or realm--the seat of political authority. Its opposite is "desa," the village, place, region, or governed area. Between these two contrasting poles-negara...

0Report

Rated 5 stars
""Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show"

Bali flits in and out of the Western imagination: Conradian tropic kingdoms, National Geographic star attraction, Mead-Covarrubias-Belo-Geertz himself, tourist paradise (ever-fading). What is Bali all about besides emerald rice terraces, bare breasted beauties, cheap surfing holidays, and tremendously elaborate ceremonies featuring gamelan orchestras and graceful dancers ? Bali is indeed a mystery. If you approach NEGARA...

0Report

Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
GoDaddy Verified and Secured