• Author: Jeong Hun Jeong
• Publication Date: November / 2022
• Publisher: SNUPRESS

Rethinking the value of life and community through the story of Nyuh Kuning Village, a rural village in Bali, Indonesia

The story starts in ‘Banjar Nyuh Kuning’ (Yellow Coconut Village) located in the central southern part of Bali. It was a typical rural Balinese village without sufficient resources for tourism, but as the Ubud area turned into a tourist spot, the village changed, too.  In this process, residents who have earned wealth, those who pursue a rich life, and those who fell behind in earning wealth all become one and try to practice their traditions. There are conflicts in opinions in the process, but they are smoothly taken care of through social agreement among the villagers.

Banjar Nyuh Kuning: Bali and People of Ubud discusses how the discourses of tourism and traditions are reflected in the village community in the process of a Balinese rural village turning into a tourist village. The focus is on the practical action of keeping and utilizing the traditions in the village community; the book examines the historical process and sociocultural context that bring out the cultural practices of the community.

Author

Jeong Hun Jeong

Jeong Hun Jeong is a cultural anthropologist who researches and writes about Indonesia (Bali). He graduated from Jeonbuk National University’s department of archaeology and cultural anthropology and received his master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the same university’s graduate school. His doctoral dissertation was on cultural tourism and the reconfiguration of traditions in Nyuh Kuning village in the central southern part of Bali, Indonesia. He currently works as a research professor at Sogang University’s Institute for East Asian Studies.

Major publications include Southeast Asian History Through Cities (co-author), Keywords of Southeast Asia (co-author), “The `Existential Authenticity` and the Re-recognition of Tourist Attraction: The Cultural Practices of Residential Tourists in Bali” and “Involution of tradition and existential authenticity of the resident group in Nyuh-Kuning Village”.