Indonesia in transition: Concluding reflections on engaged research and the critique of local knowledge

Abstract

Indonesia has experienced a quick succession of new governments and fundamental reforms since the collapse of Suharto's dictatorial regime in 1998. Established patterns in the distribution of wealth, power and knowledge have been disrupted, altered and re-asserted. The contributors to this volume have taken the unique opportunity this upheaval presents to uncover social tensions and fault lines in this society. Focusing in particular on disadvantaged sectors of Balinese society, the contributors describe how the effects of a national economic and political crisis combined with a variety of social aspirations at a grass roots level to elicit shifts in local and regional configurations of powe..