Solo in the New Order: Language and Hierarchy in an Indonesian City

Siegel, James T.

ISBN 10: 0691000859 / ISBN 13: 9780691000855

Published by Princeton University Press, 1993

About this Item

Very good ex-library copy. Fine condition except for a stamp on front end-paper and copyright page. No further additions to text. Spine unbroken. Seller Inventory # 039426

Bibliographic Details

Title: Solo in the New Order: Language and ...

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Publication Date: 1993

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis:

In this brilliant ethnography of contemporary Java, James Siegel analyzes how language operates to organize and to order an Indonesian people. Despite the imposition of Suharto's New Order, the inhabitants of the city of Solo continue to adhere to their own complex ideas of deference and hierarchy through translation between high and low Javanese speech styles. Siegel uncovers moments when translation fails and compulsive mimicry ensues. His examination of communication and its failures also exposes the ways a culture reconstitutes itself. It leads to insights into the "accidents" that precede the formulations of culture as such.

About the Author:

James T. Siegel is Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Cornell University. He is the author of The Rope of God (California) and Shadow and Sound: The Historical Thought of a Sumatran Kingdom (Chicago).