Dams and Dynasty, and the Colonial Transformation of Balinese Irrigation Management (original) (raw)
Related papers
2011
The Batur Temple (Pura Ulun Danu Batur) in Kintamani is located at the geographic apex of a so-called ritual water hierarchy and has conventionally been described as a purely religious institution responsible for the coordination and distribution of the irrigation water. However, an analysis of historical palm leaf manuscripts reveals that the temple had a firm economic base with corresponding interests and that it was one of the most important landowners in late pre-colonial Bali. The article therefore explores from a socio-political and economic perspective the implications of this form of temple landlordism and its combination with ritual water control, particularly for the peasants and the portion of their annual surplus that they were obliged to deliver to this temple.
TEMPLE AND KING: RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, RITUALS AND REDISTRIBUTION IN EARLY BALI
Journal of The Royal Anthropological Institute, 2005
This article discusses the intricate relationship between economics, temples, rituals, and king and kingship in early Bali. So far the anthropological representation of the organization of the pre-colonial or early colonial Balinese state and society has oscillated between the ‘theatre state’ in which ‘power served pomp’ and the alleged disjunction of the state from an economy based for the most part on irrigated agriculture (rice). This article suggests that regional lords as well as kings had a substantial share in the economy as well as in the ritual organization of irrigation agriculture. This involvement functioned on both the local or regional level, with its corresponding irrigation associations (subak) and their rituals, and on the transregional level, with its major temples – which also acted as redistribution centres – and their authorities.
Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Law, Social Sciences, and Education, ICLSSE 2021, 09 September 2021, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia, 2021
The present study aims to analyze the origins of the Ulu Apad government system from old Bali to the Dutch colonial era. The theoretical frameworks underlying this study are village government system theory, hegemony theory, social organization theory, structural functionalism, and symbolic interaction theory. Meanwhile, the research method employed was the history writing method. The findings showed that Bali Aga Village was an old village inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and continued in the old Balinese era (VIII-XIV) up to the recently. Bali Aga village generally used the Ulu Apad government system. This system existed since the old Balinese period. After being conquered by Majapahit Kingdom (dated 1343 AD), there was hegemony in Bali towards the villages of Bali Aga by placing Majapahit/Gelgel representatives in the villages of Bali Aga. The study also discovered a change in Bali's power structure during the Dutch colonial rule. The king no longer occupied the to...
A case study of Balinese irrigation management: institutional dynamics and challenges
Rice cultivation in Bali cannot be separated from the intricate irrigation system that is part of the traditional water user associations called subak. Subak are socio-religious communities which organise activities related to rice cultivation. These include water allocation and distribution, the operation and maintenance of the physical infrastructure, as well as conflict resolution and religious ceremonies within a clearly defined geographical area. Subak have been widely recognised for their flexibility to operate efficiently, to incorporate new farming practices, and to adapt to external changes in the past. Nevertheless, today the subak system is again challenged due to internal and external pressures. Rising land prices, better paid off-farm employment (mainly in tourist related industries) and increasing living costs are but some of the factors that influence the incentives of farmers to seek alternatives to rice cultivation. This paper discusses several examples on how the subak was subject to change. The first section concentrates on the development phase in the 70s and 80s. During the Green Revolution the government implemented new agricultural technology. Traditional varieties and rotational cropping patterns were replaced. Religious practices closely related to irrigation and pest management were neglected. The result was fatal. During the 80s and 90s the Bali Irrigation Project implemented better irrigation infrastructure and new irrigation management structures. The project design didn’t take already long established traditional irrigation institutions into account. Again, the disturbance to the subak system was immense. The two development projects could stop further damage by restoring former components of the traditional Balinese irrigation system. The second section discusses present day changes to the subak system by presenting a case study. The authors analyse the impact of a recently established government-assisted federation (subak-gede) of five subak which share a common weir. In addition, the authors discuss what impact increased off-farm employment by farmers has on irrigation and agricultural management. All examples are examined using the concept of social-ecological systems. The authors argue that all levels within the subak system are both autonomous and interdependent at the same time. The analysis shows that although formal regulations are existent on the subak level, farmers at the bottom end finetune the system by relying on informal arrangement.
An Indonesian Administrative Tradition Before The Colonization Period
—This paper aims to explore an Indonesian administration tradition before the Dutch colonization period, especially in the Bugis empires in the South Sulawesi Province. This paper starts with a brief history of the Bugis kingdoms as a background and further explores the Bugis empires' administration system based on the administrative tradition concept of Painter and Peters. They offer four indicators to explore traditions as a pattern of certain administration, namely: relationship with society, relationship with political institution, laws vs management, and the accountability process. Lastly, this paper examines transformation process of the Bugis administrative tradition from the colonization period through present day.
2003 UCLA Anthropology PhD dissertation. This dissertation considers the origins, development, and function of complex social organization in Bali, Indonesia. It contributes to theory and method in and beyond the field of archaeology. Ethnographic depictions of Balinese social organization show a pluralistic collectivism pattern consisting of many function- specific corporate actor groups with intersecting memberships, most functioning also as temple congregations. This heterarchy also features many cases of concentric integration, since village, state, and irrigation management groups are each arranged into separate nested hierarchies. Drawing on work by Lansing and others, I posit that the geographic and technological growth of wet rice agriculture on Bali’s dissected slopes shaped the coevolution of the various hierarchies, favoring the independence of water management groups (subaks) and their self-organization into a yield-enhancing “complex adaptive system.” This may have limited legitimacy and finance mechanisms available to extractive polities, leading to development of the expressive negara form of the 19th century. Evaluation of this diachronic model begins by examining some of the early historical data; completion will require further archaeological investigation of changes in the agricultural economy and in patterns of social organization. As groundwork, I attempt to identify ideological strategizing meant to create and maintain solidarity, alliance, autonomy, and relative power among villages, states, and subaks. I stress the role of material culture in promulgation of ideological statements, since effective communication and control of ideas requires materialization (attachment to objects or events). In modern Bali, processions and courtyard temples employ indexical aspects of multiplex signs to link places and social groups. Such observations provide ethnoarchaeological support to analyses at two localities in Tampaksiring, Gianyar Regency. At Tirtha Empul, the past and present roles of the Manukaya inscription show how objects are used and reused to define relationships. Similarity and spatial proximity among large monuments at Gunung Kawi signify a strong statement of affiliation; the site thus reveals both the authority of the 11th century state and the limits of its power. These limits may have resulted from power negotiations among predecessors of the groups constituting today’s multicentric social system.
Aspects of irrigation development in the Netherlands East Indies
TD: Journal for Transdisciplinary Research, 2006
The 'Romijn' discharge measurement structure was developed in the Netherlands East Indies. By the end of the colonial period in the 1930s, it had become the standard structure in irrigation. The Romijn design is not only still the main discharge measurement structure in Indonesia, it is also used in Dutch water management practice and education. The question of continuity is at the heart of concepts such as 'technological tradition' or 'technological regime', and this continuity links the information embodied in a community of practitioners with the hardware and software the members master. Such communities define accepted modes of technical operation. Engineering education is an important mechanism in preference-guided selection of design solutions, and obtaining an engineering degree is much like passing the preparatory requirements for community membership. When, in 1967, a civil engineering student from Delft Polytechnic presented his final paper for an irrigation design to his supervisors, the first question they asked was why he had not used a Romijn weir as an off-take structure. The Dutch irrigation regime, which consists of the explicit and implicit rules of Dutch irrigation design, is the central subject of this paper. In this paper I shall discuss two related issues: (1) how the Netherlands East Indies irrigation regime developed, and (2) how the (dis)continuities in irrigation education and practice following Indonesian independence can be understood. Naturally, while discussion of these issues, to a certain extent at least, depends on the data available, it also depends on the researcher's perspective.
Waterschappen (Irrigation Agencies) in Vorstenlanden Surakarta and Yogyakarta, 1900-1942
Jurnal Humaniora, 2017
The purpose of this study is to track the introduction of the irrigation agency (Watershappen) in the Vorstenlanden area Surakarta and Yogyakarta as well as effects on the relationship between farmers, farmers and plantation owners. In addition, this study aims to understand the patterns of institutional change and the water distribution system in the Vorstenlanden region and consequently on agriculture and plantation. State involvement in the problem of water distribution in the Vorstenlanden area causing a collision between a proportional system that has been done by the traditional farmers with absolute system applied state. As a result, irrigation conflicts arise between plantation because of the use of a watershed point for some plantations. Conflicts between plantations and farmers because of water scarcity due to the autonomy of the estate in the distribution of water to agricultural land and conflicts between farmers as water encroachment without the knowledge of other farme...