I. The people of Highland Bali -- Pt. I. Desa Ulu Apad, the ceremonial order of Bali Aga villages: Precedence and dualism in a council of elders -- II. Local communities and regional perspectives -- III. Sukawana: a village at the centre of a domain -- IV. Batukaang: a village at the periphery of a domain -- V. Variations in the regular distribution of resources -- VI. The ulu apad: rank and dual organization in Bali Aga communities -- Pt. 2. Sanggah, ancestral houses of origin: Domestic design and family life among highland Balinese -- VII. Umah and kuren: the house we dwell in and the hearth we share -- VIII. The sanggah: an ancestral origin group and its temple -- IX. Ancestral origins beyond the sanggah -- X. Umah - sanggah - pura: a society of houses?
Summary
The House of Our Ancestors is a study of the Mountain Balinese or Bali Aga, an ethnic group with a distinct history and culture who are thought to be the indigenous people of Bali, Indonesia. . This book explores their social organization and status economy from the perspective of an innovative theory of 'precedence'.The analysis of precedence ranking, evident at all levels of Bali Aga social organization, leads to the development of a new theory of status for Austronesian societies that departs radically from the notion of hierarchy as proposed by Louis Dumont in his classic study of the Indian caste system. [from publisher's advertisement]
Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. 345-353) and index