En quête de l’identité balinaise à la fin de l’époque coloniale

In the 1920s, Balinese identity was construed as being based simultaneously on agama and on adat. It is only during the 1930s that culture (budaya) was added to religion and tradition in order to build the three pillars of Balinese identity (Kebalian). This paper assesses the emerging occurrence of the category of culture in the discourse of the Balinese intelligentsia, as it appears in the journals published on the island during the late colonial period : Bhawanagara (1930-1935) and Djatajoe (1936-1941). This emergence is linked to the decision taken in the late 1920s by the colonial government to "culturalise" Balinese identity •literally, to "Balinese Bali" (Baliseering) with a view to avoid the contamination of the island by nationalism and Islam. Hence arose a wavering tension between the "Balinisation" policy conducted by Dutch Orientalists in order to further a renaissance of Balinese culture, and the adoption by progressive Balinese intellectuals of the nationalist ideal pursued by their Javanese neighbours.Picard Michel. En quête de l’identité balinaise à la fin de l’époque coloniale. In: Archipel, volume 75, 2008. pp. 27-62