An Inverted Quest: Cosmopolitanism and Religion in Baladeva Comics
As demonstrated by Benedict Anderson, media are powerful means in creating imagined community, and accordingly, mighty poles of both nationalism and cosmopolitanism. While the former gains much popularity in scholarly analysis, the latter needs to be considered as well, in understanding religious ex...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2019
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| In: |
Research in the social scientific study of religion
Year: 2019, Volume: 30, Pages: 130-151 |
| Further subjects: | B
Religious sociology
B Social sciences B Religion B Religionspsycholigie B Asien-Studien B Religionswissenschaften B Religion & Gesellschaft |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | As demonstrated by Benedict Anderson, media are powerful means in creating imagined community, and accordingly, mighty poles of both nationalism and cosmopolitanism. While the former gains much popularity in scholarly analysis, the latter needs to be considered as well, in understanding religious expression in present-day Indonesia, and both in particular with regard to the tensions of "nationalism" (often appeared in term of neo-tribalism and political populism) and religious transnationalism. The present article takes Anderson’s insight and through it explores the rhetoric represented in the series of historical comic entitled Baladeva, published by Tantraz Comics Bali, Denpasar. The analysis sought inspiration from the notions of micro-cosmopolitanism and cosmopatriotism. A micro-cosmopolitanism is a cosmopolitanism from below that is concerned with freedom, openness, tolerance, and respect for difference, while cosmopatriotism is a double articulation of patriotism and cosmopolitanism that grapples with the condition of territorialism and de-territorialism in the context of postmodern society. Through those conditions and framing, the analysis might reveal the complicated meaning of cosmopolitanism, beyond the popular understanding of the celebration of being the global citizen and the transcendence of traditional and national boundaries. Taking the last period of the Medang Kingdom (Hindu-Buddhist Mataram) as the historical context of the comic’s plot, the author consciously portrayed the glory and power of the pre-Islam, pre-colonial ‘Indonesian’ past. This narrative directly and indirectly became a critical position against the present condition of Indonesia, which is presumably Westernized, modernized, and implicitly Islamicized. Balinese socio-political and religious dynamic as the immediate context for the author is also part of the equation. Hence, the analysis might touch upon where the pressing questions of nationalism and cosmopolitanism, counter-transnational religious discourse, and religious minority are played out. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Research in the social scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/9789004416987_008 |