The Encoded Cirebon Mask: Materiality, Flow, and Meaning Along Java's Islamic Northwest Coast (Studies on Performing Arts & Literature of the Islamicate World)

Laurie Margot Ross

ISBN 10: 9004311378 / ISBN 13: 9789004311374

Published by Leiden : Brill, 2016

About this Item

xvi + 392 pages : 24 cm. Contents: Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Notes on Orthography and Transliteration; List of Illustrations; Introduction ; Part 1; Cultural Markers ; Chapter 1; The Pasisir in the Age of Steam, Sail, and the Railway ; Chapter 2; Independence: Registration Cards, Theme Parks, and Topeng Tours; Chapter 3; Floating Artists on the Circumambulatory Road; Part 2; Mystic Travelers ; Chapter 4; Tuning the Body: Dzikir Flows and Sonic Theism ; Chapter 5; Engaging the Body and the Senses; Part 3; Objects that Speak ; Chapter 6; Looking Closely: The Iconic Mask; Chapter 7; Looking Closer: The Inner Face. Chapter 8Mapping Tarekat: Performing the Mosque/Grave Complex; Conclusion; Appendix 1; Appendix 2; Glossary; Bibliography ; Index.

Seller Inventory # 12jbew452

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Encoded Cirebon Mask: Materiality, Flow, and Meaning Along Java's Islamic Northwest Coast (Studies on Performing Arts & Literature of the Islamicate World)
• Publisher: Leiden : Brill
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004311378
• ISBN 13: 9789004311374
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 5th or later Edition
• Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Southeast Asia
  • Islam
  • Anthropology

About this title

Synopsis

In The Encoded Cirebon Mask: Materiality, Flow, and Meaning along Java’s Islamic Northwest Coast, Laurie Margot Ross situates masks and masked dancing in the Cirebon region of Java (Indonesia) as an original expression of Islam. This is a different view from that of many scholars, who argue that canonical prohibitions on fashioning idols and imagery prove that masks are mere relics of indigenous beliefs that Muslim travelers could not eradicate. Making use of archives, oral histories, and the performing objects themselves, Ross traces the mask’s trajectory from a popular entertainment in Cirebon―once a portal of global exchange―to a stimulus for establishing a deeper connection to God in late colonial Java, and eventual links to nationalism in post-independence Indonesia.

About the Author

Laurie Margot Ross, PhD is the Director of Glocal Matters, a research center in upstate New York, which focuses on inter-Asian studies at the nexus of religion, visual culture, and performance. She is an expert on masks, particularly their psycho-physiological impact on the mask wearer and audience.