8 th Euroseas conference Vienna, 11–14 August 2015

— Sinitic Traits in Viet and Muong Song Lore
Ekaterina Starikova (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Saint-Petersburg) 
The traditional view on folk songs of the Viets assumes autochthonous music and poetry as opposed to high Viet-
namese Sinicized culture. In reality, high and popular culture in Vietnam were in a state of mutual influence, therefore 
folk songs of the Viets have many Sinitic traits. Among folk songs can be found those that use word-play with Chinese 
characters, there is evidence that people with Confucian education loved to take part in the singing of folk songs. In 
Vietnamese folk poetry allusions to Chinese classical texts, quotes from Chinese books are found. Folk music of the 
Viets is also significantly Sinicized.
However, Chinese influence touched not only the song lore of the Viets, but also song lore of the Muong. Muong folk 
songs have many features in common with Viets’ folk songs, and this similarity refers to poetry, music and the way of 
performance (for example, so-called call-and-response songs exist both in Viet and Muong song lore). In addition, 
there are symbols and images of Chinese origin.
To sum up, I argue that the idea of totally autochthonous nature of the Viet and Muong folk songs is untrue and should 
be rethought.
— Features of Sinitic Borrowings through the History of Vietnamese (Viet-Muong) 
Tran Tri Doi (Vietnam National University)
Throughout history, languages interact with each other and this process leads to mutual borrowings. There have 
been different ways of word borrowing in the history of the Vietnamese language and this is manifested in its mod-
ern vocabulary. Among all the borrowings that Vietnamese has adopted during its history Sinitic (Hán) loanwords 
are considered to be the most important. As the result of lexical borrowings many elements of Sinitic language and 

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culture were brought into Vietnamese and transformed according to Vietnamese linguistic and cultural norms. That 
was one of the reasons which determined the divergence of Vietnamese and Muong after the period of the common 
Viet-Muong language.
Therefore, Sinitic elements are abundant in the history of Vietnamese. This abundance has been reflected in various 
kinds of borrowings adopted in different historical periods and social groups. Comparative analysis of Sinitic ele-
ments in Vietnamese and Muong sheds light on the issues of language contact between the two East-Asian neighbor-
ing countries and the process of Viet-Muong divergence.
XII. Cultural Heritage and Museum Representations
Panel: Do Clothes Make the Man? New Studies in Indonesian Textiles 
convener: Roy Hamilton (University of California Los Angeles)
discussant: Traude Gavin (Independent researcher)
panel abstract
In popular imagination, differences in locally produced textiles are widely held to correlate with broad distinctions 
between ethnolinguistic groups—that is, each group of people (defined by culture or language) makes or uses its own 
styles of cloth, which in turn play a role in the formulation of the identity of the group. Recent research in Indonesia 
and neighboring areas is showing that this is far too simplistic. In this panel, four speakers will examine various, more 
complex ways in which the distribution of textile styles reflects historical and genealogical relationships among social 
groups.
Each speaker will discuss the results of recent field research in regions that are currently underrepresented or absent 
from the textile literature.
— Seamless Cloths—A Link between Societies of Eastern Indonesia?
Genevieve Duggan (Independent scholar)
The paper takes a broader view on textiles produced in eastern Indonesia. A number of these hand-woven cloths share 
some characteristics in their structure, composition, patterns, as well as in the type of loom on which they are woven. 
The back tension loom for instance allows the production of a circular weave which in some cases stays uncut when 
it is used in ceremonies or worn during festivals. These seamless cloths have been found in a number of societies like 
Sulawesi, Bali, the Moluccas and in the Province of Nusa Tenggara Timur. In some areas the production has ceased as 
is the case for the Bentenan textiles of Sulawesi; in others, seamless tubular cloths are still made, for instance on the 
islands of Bali, Lembata and Savu; in the latter case great care is taken in the finishing of the piece so that it is not obvi-
ous at first sight that the cloth is of the category seamless weave. The aim of the paper is to study seamless hand-woven 
cloths in their social, religious or cultural context and to highlight their particular traits. It will further deal with the 
type of loom which allowed their production and raise the question of a possible common origin of these textiles and 
therefore of the common identity of the people who produce(d) them.
 
— Cloth of Ibanic groups in West Kalimantan and Sarawak
Traude Gavin (Independent researcher)
“Naming the tribes,” or defining ethnic units in Borneo, is notoriously complex. Broader cover terms such as Sea 
Dayak, Dayak, Iban or Ibanic devised by colonial administrators, linguists and others tend to have their limitations 
and may be superseded or change their meaning over time. While indigenous labels give a more complex insiders’ 
perspective, they often have their own problems. Stylistic markers of textiles provide another angle to explore cultural 
affinity from the female domain of weaving. In general these markers confirm the broader distinctions of Ibanic eth-
nic labels, such as Iban, Mualang, Kantu’ and so on, that is of groups that share a common language or dialect, origin 
and migration histories, and former alliance in war. However, my field research in Kalimantan between 2005 and 2009 
produced a few surprises: instances when one could reasonably expect groups to have adopted design styles from each 
other in the past and instances when a borrowing has occurred without evidence of a close contact.

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— Malaka Regency, Timor: Cloth of the Plain, Cloth of the Hills
Roy Hamilton (University of California Los Angeles)
Malaka Regency in south central Timor is a multi-ethnic region, in which Tetun-speakers inhabit the lowland plain 
while primarily Atoin Meto peoples inhabit the adjacent hills. Many of the most highly regarded Timorese textiles 
that have entered collections around the world came originally from this relatively small region but nearly all were 
removed from Timor without proper documentation of their specific point of origin. Learning to distinguish among 
local styles within this region was the most fundamental goal of recent field research conducted in both language ar-
eas, yet this goal proved frustratingly elusive.
While some of the regions textiles can be assigned to specific locations on stylistic grounds, others are more challeng-
ing. This paper follows a trail that begins with a few rare cloths that have reliable documentation of their origin and 
then follows the style of those cloths as it crosses ethno-linguistic borders and becomes characteristic of the work of 
a different group of people. This disjointed pattern of distribution appears to be more heavily influenced by historical 
tribute relationships established long ago in the hinterlands of the Wehali-Wewiku domain than by current ethno-
linguistic affinities.
— Mobility and the Construction of Meaning of Ceremonial Clothes in Sahu, Halmahera
Leontine Visser (Wageningen University)
Sahu is the only culture in Northwest Halmahera where a rich variety of ikat, woven, embroidered, and batik textiles 
are integral part of the annual harvest ceremony (Visser 1989; Jouwersma and Visser 1985). None of these originate 
from Sahu, and there is no weaving tradition in the northern Moluccas. For example, cotton sarongs, looms, and ikat 
cloth (ba’a boba; ba’a suje) originate from different places in Sulawesi and during the last two centuries were brought 
to Ternate, the cultural-political centre of eastern Indonesia. Sahu workers bought and/or ordered cloths from there, 
brought them home and imbued them with new ceremonial meaning. Also, when nomad Halmahera societies settled 
in different territories, painted bark loin cloth was replaced by locally embroidered cotton scarfs and blouses. 
The article is an update of the description of foreign textiles in Sahu (Visser 1989). The non-intentional movements 
through eastern Indonesia of weaving technology and materials and the replacement through time of locally produced 
bark cloth with embroidered clothes is explained with the help of Deleuze and Guattari’s (2005) conceptualization of 
‘smooth space’ and ‘striate space’. Building on the mixture of the two, the Sahu construction of meaning of woven and 
ikat textiles and embroidered tendrils seems to represent the historical process of sedentarization and the importance 
of territorialisation of cognatic kin groups. The apparent multitude of techniques, shapes, and colours assembles and 
disassembles male and female performers, ceremonial space and rice producing land, overseas mobility, identity and 
place making.
— Ikats for Others: Textile Production in the Offshore Islands in Pantar Strait, Alor 
Emilie Wellfelt (Linnaeus University)
In Alor, Eastern Indonesia, handwoven textiles are an integral part of the material culture. Textiles are wealth associ-
ated with ceremonial gifts and with festive gear. Handwoven tube skirts are also used in informal settings, while bark 
cloth which was the main material for clothing until the mid-20th century has fallen out of use. Producers and users 
of Alor textiles typically belong to distinct ethnolinguistic groups, with both religious and economic factors behind 
the separation. A widespread taboo forbids weaving in the mountainous interior of the island where the bulk of the 
population lives. Weaving in the mountains is believed to cause illness and untimely death. The taboo is enhanced 
by ancestral oaths between specific inland and coastal groups. These oaths take the form of peace agreements which 
were designed to regulate production and thus create the basis for barter. Weaving is always a product provided by the 
coastal partner in a barter relationship. 
Today, local textiles are used by the multitude of ethnolinguistic groups in Alor and are to a large extent produced on 
the offshore islands in the Pantar strait. A particular centre of weaving in the Pantar strait is the island Ternate (named 
after Ternate in Maluku) and the village Uma Pura. The population in Uma Pura has developed a gendered economy: 
Men are pearl divers and fishermen. Women combine seasonal farming with weaving for barter or sale. The women in 
Uma Pura are specialised in producing ikats for others. The paper discusses the historical background to the develop-
ment of Uma Pura into a weaving centre in a traditional bark cloth area in Eastern Indonesia. This includes a blending 

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of local religion and Islam, pointing to how Alor and the offshore islands in the Pantar Strait fit into in a larger histori-
cal trade- and alliance-network.
— Thinking through the Luka Sema: Complex Ways of Being (Trans)Local in Flores
Willemijn de Jong (University of Zurich)
In the textile and anthropological literature, knowledge about the shoulder cloth luka semba is scant, and sometimes 
disputable. This is astonishing because it is the iconic shoulder cloth with patola-derived design and motifs, often re-
produced in publications on Southeast Asian and Indonesian textiles. Together with the sarong lawo luka semba that 
displays similar motifs, it can be considered as representative of the formal style of clothing in the Lio area of Central 
Flores and as the trademark of the ikat art of the weavers there. The aim of the paper is to think through the technical, 
iconographic, aesthetic, ritual, social and economic dimensions of the luka semba to elucidate its role in local ways of 
being in Central Flores. Thinking through these dimensions reveal at the same time surprising translocal relations of 
this cloth with other places, people and issues in Flores, in Indonesia and beyond. By thinking through the luka semba, 
and taking inspiration regarding globalization and textiles from Barnes and Niessen, regarding art and agency from 
Gell, and regarding things and ontology from Pedersen, intriguing aspects of textiles as mobile objects come to life 
that hitherto were hardly visible. They show complex ways in which humans come to be through cloth and clothing.
Panel: Cultural Display in Bali and Lombok 
convener: David Harnish (University of San Diego)
panel abstract
The peoples on the neighbor isles of Bali and Lombok engage in a proliferation of cultural display. All cultural dis-
plays follow “display rules” pertaining to cultural and social identity and these have been uniquely formed. In Bali, 
cultural display often takes of shape of processions parading emblems of status and socio-religious positioning, while 
in Lombok the type of public event expresses specific cultural orientation and dress becomes a marker of religiosity 
and status; while there is overlap in the underlying stakes of display on Bali and Lombok, all display rules are gen-
dered. For residents on both islands, displays are means of cultural, religious, and sometimes political self- and group-
identification and may mediate intra- or inter-ethnic tensions.
Both islands are undergoing political, religious, and cultural shifts as a result of reformation movements, the federal 
granting of regional autonomy, and new emerging interreligious relationships. The issues are not precisely the same: 
Bali, a province unto itself, is primarily Hindu and a long-time tourist center that has formulated new rules of village 
belonging based on religion, while Lombok, part of Nusa Tenggara Barat, is overwhelmingly Islamic and the majority 
ethnic group, the Sasak, struggle with issues of identity vis-à-vis adat (customary practice) and past and contemporary 
forms of Islam. Minorities on both islands affect ethnic identity as twenty-first century Balinese and Sasak negotiate 
“others,” their mutually entangled pasts and the modern state and global worlds.
This panel will explore the various ways in which Balinese and Sasak display cultural emblems and behaviors that 
reflect clan and religious affiliations, political and majority/minority positions, and orientation to Indonesian citi-
zenship and globalization. We explicate cultural phenomena such as processions, where identities and mastery over 
territoriality and time are dramatically expressed, along with “ritual technologies” and the stimulation of shrine con-
struction in Bali and the tensions of “localized Islam” in Lombok.
— The Role of Adat in Pluralizing Localised Islam: Maulud in Lombok Revisited 
Erni Budiwanti (Indonesian Institute of Sciences)
Unlike many areas in Asia and beyond, Indonesia has long been a model of religious pluralism. The nature of the In-
donesian religious pluralism is apparent not only in the six recognised official religions - Islam, Christianity, Catholi-
cism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucainism - but also in the recognition of religious celebrations stipulated as national 
holidays. Indonesia also acknnowledges different new years based on the Indian-based lunar calendar (Tahun Baru 
Saka), the Islamic lunar calendar (Hijri), and the Gregorian calendar, marking further its religious pluralism.
 Since the fall of New Order (1998) and the beginning of reformation era, the image of Indonesia’s ethno-religious 

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pluralism has been tainted by a series of ethnic and religious conflicts in many regions. The challenge to pluralism 
began pre-independence and concerned whether the state should be based on Islamic teachings, or whether Islam 
should occupy the same position as other religions in Indonesia. The debate revived during the Soekarno era over the 
Jakarta Charter (PiagamJakarta 1945), which stated that all Muslims should follow syari’ah (Islamic law) and that the 
state should be more generally based on syari’ah. The Charter was eradicated in the founding principles of Indonesia, 
Pancasila, which was considered the triumph of religious pluralism. The following authoritarian regime under Su-
harto (1977-1998) enforced harmony and tolerance that was epitomized in the Taman Mini, a miniature model of In-
donesia built on the initiative of the late Madame Tien Suharto in 1985 to represent the country’s ethnic and religious 
traditions co-existing as strands in the tapestry of Indonesia. This was the New Order’s cultural policy of preserving 
cultural heritage, promoting an artificial image of Indonesia’s harmonious (tolerant) plurality, while maintaining po-
litical control over diverse Indonesian communities at the same time.
This paper examines the dynamics of religious change in Lombok by looking specifically at how identity politics are 
used to weaken the Wetu Telu’s adat while at the same time to convert the Wetu Telu to orthodox Muslims. The suc-
cess of this orthodoxisation movement has, at the same times, brought an impact of giving stronger articulation on 
the image of Lombok as the island of thousand mosques (pulau seribu masjid). Tuan Gurus are important figures 
playing at the fore front to boost and strenthen this image across the island through their orthodoxisation movement 
at the expense of reducing the Wetu Telu shrines (pedewak or kemaliq) and adherents from time to time. This move-
ment marks the heightening of scriptural religion over the native religion as an identity marker while at the same time 
restraining the expression of localised adat. Tuan Gurus’ mission in restrengthening the notion of Lombok as island 
of thousand mosques with orthodoxism at the frontage gains substantial support from the regional government. The 
provincial and sub-dsitrict governments involve strongly in the formation of Lombok’s orthodox face by facilitating 
fundings for Tuan Guru’s project targeting the Wetu Telu, besides restricting the construction of places of worship be-
longing to religious others, including the maintenance of Wetu Telu shrines (Kemaliq or pedewak) while at the same 
time officially permitting more and more new mosques to be constantly built.
— Theoretical Contours in the Sacred Landscape of Agriculture in Bali 
Lene Pedersen (Central Washington University)
Bali’s spectacular cultures of display have long attracted the keen interest of outsiders, bestowing an attention that, in 
turn, has led new generations of observers to view what now presents itself as Balinese culture to be thoroughly reified 
and touristified. However, anyone that spends any amount of time in Bali away from the main tourist centers also will 
know that ritual performances remain integral to the cultural and social identities of most Balinese, and, moreover, 
that such performances are embedded in vivid sacred landscapes. I shall consider one such realm of ritual display that, 
in the context of Indonesia’s shift toward regional autonomy, appeared to receive a government-sponsored boost that 
had farmers in local irrigation associations busy building or renovating shrines and temples pertaining to irrigated 
rice agriculture. This provided an opportunity to query the relationship between external ideas of cultural display in 
relation to Balinese irrigated rice agriculture and what these practices mean to local farmers.
My aim in this paper is multi-fold: First, I will make an ethnographic contribution by characterizing the sacred land-
scape for irrigated rice agriculture in East Bali, which has not yet been defined in the literature. This will allow for 
comparison to those described for central Bali by other scholars (e.g. Lansing, R. Lorenzen, S. Lorenzen, and Ottino). 
Secondly, I will make two theoretical arguments: Pertaining to the role of ritual in agriculture, I argue that, while the 
ritual infrastructure of irrigated rice agriculture may represent cultural heritage displays, not only are they also ritual 
technologies, but they are technologies of magic playing out in what, to Balinese farmers, remains an enchanted world. 
Further, with regard to theories of cultural process, I argue that the example of pest rituals may serve to challenge 
extreme positions of external constructivism.
— Fun and ‘Deep Play’: Playing with ‘Demons’ on Lombok 
Kari Telle (Chr.Michelsen Institute) 
This paper examines Lombok Balinese aesthetic forms and dynamics with particular reference to processions involv-
ing the display of large puppets (ogoh-ogoh) depicting ‘demonic’ forces. Over the past decade, processions with ogoh-
ogoh puppets have become an integral but somewhat controversial part of the Hindu Balinese New Year celebrations 
in urban Lombok. While this new tradition is clearly inspired by developments on Bali, such exuberant display as-

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sume different meaning on Lombok, where Balinese are an ethnic and religious minority. Drawing on anthropological 
perspectives on aesthetics and performance, I use this paper to reflect on why the process of making and parading 
these ‘demonic’ figures has captivated the interest and imagination of Balinese youth and young adults in Cakranegera 
and Mataram. My aim in this paper is also to make a theoretical contribution to ritual studies by showing how mate-
rial objects mediate interpersonal relations and relations with non-human beings. 
Making these puppets is a collective endeavor, and I will show how several aspects of this process are designed to turn 
them into temporary ‘bodies’or ‘vessels’ for ‘demonic’ forces. Besides animating the fabrication process with a sense 
of risk and danger, I suggests that the ‘deep play’ at stake pivots around an existential tension between taming and 
controlling ‘demonic’ cravings and passions and succumbing to, or being overpowered by, such forces. Taking inspi-
ration from Geertz’ (1972) analysis of the Balinese cockfight, my analysis of the ogoh-ogoh parade in Cakranegera, 
stresses its playful and potentially transformative potential. Whereas Geertz described the cockfight as ‘a story they tell 
themselves about themselves,’ the ogoh-ogoh procession is in large part ‘a story Balinese tell ‘others’ about themselves.’ 
The procession is a moment when a minority asserts control over public space, displaying their creativity and ability 
to bring destructive ‘demonic’ forces under control. Oscillating between ‘order’ and the wrestling with ‘demons’ who 
possess their carriers, I suggest that the heavily guarded procession conveys the message that the Balinese are not to 
be messed with.