VOLUME 13 SPRING 2017 Featured in this issue: Mystical Practice and Musicianship in Central Java, ORIANA FILIACI Art Jog and Indonesia’s New Art Republic, KATIE BRUHN Gender Representation for Development in Myanmar Media (2010-2014), AYE LEI TUN Decolonizing Cham Sculptures as Art: From Cultural Appropriation to Cultural Revitalization, MIRAMAS HOSAN MOSTILLER Geostrategic Competition and the Future of ASEAN’s Hedging Strategy, LANCE DEVREAUX JACKSON The Threat of IS (Islamic State) in Southeast Asia, NEDA JEBELLIE EXPLORATIONS is a publication wholly managed and edited by a board of graduate students, in conjunction with the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at EXPLORATIONS: the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and partially funded by the United States Department of Education, through a Title VI grant. a graduate student journal of southeast asian studies The principle mission of EXPLORATIONS is to offer a forum for students to present disciplinary and interdisciplinary research on a broad range of issues relating principally to the region which today constitutes Southeast Asia. Embracing both the diversity of academic interests and scholastic expertise, it is hoped that this forum will introduce students tot he work of their colleagues, encourage discussion both within and across disciplines, and foster a sense of community among those interested in Southeast Asia. The views expressed in EXPLORATIONS are those of the authors and not Dear Readers, necessarily those of the editorial board. If you have interested in participating in the production of EXPLORATIONS or have questions, comments, or Welcome to EXPLORATIONS: a graduate student journal of south submissions, please contact the editors at: [email protected], or east asian studies. This year, the editorial team is pleased to announce or EXPLORATIONS c/o CSEAS University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Moore Hall 416, journal theme, 1890 East-West Road, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822. Southeast Asia’s (Dis)integration: Re-examining approaches to the Cover Picture: Study of Southeast Asia Please visit us on the web atL This issue of EXPLORATIONS re-examines established approaches to the http://www.cseashawaii.org/students/exlorations/ study of Southeast Asia. The articles included in this issue attempt to destabilize or problematize existing notions of homogeneity/integration in light of contemporary research. In addition, a broad range of disciplines and areas of research are covered here including mystical practices in Central Java, gender representation in Editorial Team CSEAS Coordinator Myanmar, and impinging threats of the Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia. In Caroline Baicy Paul Rausch raising these questions, we hope to bring alternative ways of thinking about Wyatt Gordon Southeast Asia, both past and present. Daniel Pham Faculty Coordinator Desiree Simandjuntak Ehito Kimura The 2015 editorial team is glad to be a part of this student-initiated platform to encourage and promote graduate scholarship in Southeast Asian studies, and we look forward to seeing further advancement of research in this area. Design and Layout Support Daniel Pham Aloha, Benjamin Moseley 2015 EXPLORATIONS Editorial team. Desiree Simandjuntak ABSTRACT Mysticism plays a significant role within the tradition of Javanese gamelan. This work focuses specifically on central Java, and the questions it posits and attempts to answer are: How does MYSTICAL PRACTICE AND MUSICIANSHIP mysticism manifest itself in Javanese gamelan traditions? How has IN CENTRAL JAVA this changed? And, how does mysticism survive within the context of music and performance today? Ethnomusicological and ethnographic Oriana Filiaci methodologies were utilized in the composition of this paper, relying on academic research done by past scholars as well as primary sources. Master’s of Asian Studies School of Pacific and Asian Studies Dialogues, interviews, and participation in various performing University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa gamelan groups both in the United States and Indonesia have further informed the scope of this work. Most recently, those groups have been Kyai Gandrung based at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and Sumunar based in St. Paul, Minnesota while at a performance exchange trip in Surakarta, Java. Introduction archipelago, is composed of many different regions, each with its unique history and provincial dialect. Indonesia is home to Mysticism is an inherent part of Javanese culture, a multitude of religious, cultural, and ethnic traditions. including within the tradition of gamelan music. Gamelan can Javanese comprise the largest ethnic group in the country. refer to the instruments that comprise an ensemble as well as Moreover, Javanese culture permeates the broader cultural the music and tradition itself. It encompasses metallophones sphere of Indonesia as nation-state. and gongs, the ideal material being bronze, with the addition of wooden percussion, stringed instruments, and vocals. It To be Javanese is to be Indonesian but the reverse is clearly not the case…Javanese culture occupies a position of “first among equals,” or can be played in a wide variety of contexts, ranging from hegemony depending on one’s perspective, in the larger Indonesian rituals to public weddings and celebrations. A synthesis of society because the Javanese are the largest ethnic community and textual research on the history and tradition of gamelan music have been politically dominant since the beginning. [2] by scholars such as Judith Becker, Marc Benamou, Currently, Bahasa Indonesia is recognized as the Sumarsam, and Neil Sorrell as well as works on Javanese national language, although there are countless regional mystic practice by Koentjaraningrat, Mark Woodward, languages that preceded the establishment of a common Clifford Geertz, Niels Mulder, and Susan Pratt Walton will language. This is due to the political unification of many help to demonstrate how Javanese mystical practice is disparate cultures under Dutch colonialism, beginning with intimately tied to the sphere of gamelan performance and the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (the V.O.C.), or, the musicianship.[1] A gamelan performance is fundamentally Dutch East India Company. The standardization and lacking if it is bereft of rasa, a concept tied closely to mystical implementation of Malay, from which the Indonesian practice and defined pithily as sentiment or aesthetic affect. language developed, was “the means through which colonial Javanese gamelan performance, called karawitan, provides a hegemony was established and strengthened.”[3] Compared cultural context through which mysticism can be expressed to the complex hierarchical linguistic systems specific to the and experienced. Javanese language, Indonesian is considered to be relatively “egalitarian” because of its lack of speech registers traditionally employed to distinguish relative social status. Java’s Geographic and Historical Milieu Along with the establishment of a unifying national The historical diversity of Java provides fertile ground language, there is a sense of religious pluralism within the for the development of its rich musical and mystical context of a majority Islamic population. This includes the traditions. Java, one of the five main islands of the Indonesian 4 survival of older indigenous practices found in each region power in East Java: Kediri (1045-1222); Singasari before the early, external influences of Hinduism, Buddhism, (1222-1292); and Majapahit (1294-c. 1520)…Shivaism [sic] and Islam, and later by the Dutch and Japanese. The cultural and Buddhism coexist and sometimes merge in syncretic cults and religious diversity of central Java, let alone Indonesia as a strongly tinged by Tantric mysticism.”[6] The Indian whole, is unsurprising upon examining a timeline excerpt of influence on theatre, dance, art and culture in general can still its history. The dynamic historical, religious, and cultural be witnessed today, particularly in certain elements of interchanges are demonstrated today by the remnants of an Javanese dance. For instance, “the use of Hindu mythology, architecturally resplendent past. The Sailendra kingdom is albeit thoroughly assimilated into Javanese culture through credited for building the monumental Mahayana Buddhist the wayang and other art forms, is one of the main examples candi (monument) Borobudur (a world heritage site) along of Indian influence…”[7] The most common South Asian story with smaller candis Mendut and Pawon in the late 8th to early cycles that have been localized in Java are the epics 9th centuries.[4] The subsequent Sailendra and Sanjaya royal Mahabharata and Ramayana. families’ Hindu revival occurred at candi Prambanan, known colloquially as Loro Jonggrang in the 9th century.[5] One of the many ways this rich diversity and syncretic character On Localization and “Indianization”/“Sinicization” expresses itself is through traditional cultural practices, such as the many varieties of theater and dance. The central When examining any tradition in Southeast Asia, it is Javanese court cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta necessary to discuss how the multitude of cultures in and (alternatively known as Solo) are known as hubs of Javanese around the region informed its development. These historical culture and art where various forms of theater still thrive settings create the cultural contexts and matrices that allow today. for the cultivation of traditions like Javanese gamelan music and forms of mysticism. The term “localization” is readily Circa the 7th-10th