About Staff

Power, violence, money, and religion are deeply rooted in human imagination and desire. As I have engaged in research on the institutionalization of a minor religion, Hinduism, within Indonesia with the largest Muslim population in the world, I have been interested in the relationship between these elements for my next research. For example, making money is strongly connected with God, because the most salient cash product in Bali is its culture rooted in religion, as commoditized for the tourism industry. On the other hand, some Balinese violently exploit immigrant labor on the ground that the immigrants themselves exploit Balinese culture, even though the industry inevitably depends on their labor. Culture is also the most important base for political campaigning, sometime developing into violent confrontations. Balinese and Hindus outside Bali are increasing critical of this situation, especially the fetishism of culture. This controversy has led to the disruption of the representative organization of Hindus in Bali, indicating the predicament of culture under capitalism and exposing the real nature of imagination and desire for power, violence, money, and religion.