Music and Dance
Sasando Music and Rote Island's Cultural Memory
The sasando of Rote Island shows how bamboo, lontar palm, string technique, and local memory form one of eastern Indonesia's most distinctive musical traditions.
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Browse by letter: S
- Weapons and Regalia
Sasak Klewang from Lombok and the Memory of Local Resistance
This article reads the Sasak klewang as a Lombok blade shaped by local craft, village defense, and memories of resistance under changing island rule.
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Sumbanese Swords and Horseback Martial Culture
This article examines how Sumbanese blades, horses, and ritualized combat shaped ideas of courage, status, ancestral order, and public ceremony on Sumba.
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Sunda and Galuh Kingdoms in West Javanese Historical Memory
This article traces how the kingdoms of Sunda and Galuh survive in West Javanese memory through inscriptions, manuscripts, royal names, landscapes, and careful historical interpretation.
Read article - Ritual and Belief
Sacred Objects in Indonesian Culture: Weapons, Textiles, Masks, and Offerings
This article examines how selected Indonesian weapons, textiles, masks, and offerings become sacred through ritual use, inherited meaning, craftsmanship, and community memory.
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Srivijaya Maritime Power and the Buddhist World of Early Indonesia
Srivijaya joined Sumatra's river systems, Asian sea routes, and Buddhist scholarship into one of early Indonesia's most influential maritime worlds.
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Sacred Forests and Community Conservation in Indonesian Tradition
Across Indonesia, sacred and customary forests show how ecological care can be carried by ritual authority, local law, and community memory.
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Sago as Heritage Food in Eastern Indonesia
Sago shows how food heritage in eastern Indonesia is shaped by wetlands, communal labor, local identity, and changing ideas of food security.
Read article - Manuscripts and Literature
Sacred Texts and Manuscripts of the Archipelago
An account of how manuscripts from across the Indonesian archipelago preserved sacred knowledge, local literary traditions, and systems of learning.
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Symbolism in Balinese Temple Architecture
A museum-style introduction to how Balinese temple layouts, gates, courtyards, and shrine forms express ideas about sacred hierarchy, landscape, and ritual order.
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Sacred Mountains in Indonesian Spiritual Beliefs
A museum-style introduction to the spiritual significance of mountains in Indonesia, from sacred geography and pilgrimage to ritual landscapes shaped by local belief and later religions.
Read article - Masks and Sculpture
Standing Ancestor Figure with Staff: A Papuan Woodcarving from Eastern Indonesia
An analysis of a standing wooden ancestor figure holding a vertical staff, most likely associated with Papuan carving traditions of eastern Indonesia, exploring stylistic features and cultural context.
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