anthropologist is not only a field-worker but also an “author” (Geertz,
1965, 1988). As an author he or she carries intellectual baggage that makes
“thick description” totally devoid of implicit assumptions very difficult.
Every Symbolic Interactionist researcher also carries with her- or himself
implicit assumptions. By looking at a completely different set of cultural
assumptions we can gain some perspective on aspects of North American
and European cultural assumptions of which we may not always be fully
aware (Gandhi, 1993;Bakker, 2013).
INTERACTIONIST INTERPRETIVE SOCIOLOGY
This discussion of the Balinese anniversary temple ritual is meant as a
contribution to “Interactionist” social science, particularly Interpretive
Sociology. One aspect of that is Max Weber’s comparative-historical
verstehende Soziologie. Again, as stated, my intention here is to clarify
what one famous research study (i.e.,Geertz, 1972)actually represents
“Methodologically.” What I reject is “thick description” as a simplistic
Baconian inductive approach of the sort sometimes associated with simpli-
fied versions of grounded theory. The facts often donotspeak for them-
selves. The “data” do not put forward any factual conclusions. When we
speak of something being “empirically-based,” that does not mean that no
research theory was involved. A degree of interpretation and “understand-
ing” (Verstehen) is always necessary. It is especially important when we
generalize about a situation or culture that involves many things that can-
not be taken for granted on the basis of everyday life assumptions in our
own time and place (van Baal, 1969). Even the most inductive approach
still requires some kinds of abstractions and frameworks. But here the
main point is that when we study a specific place and a specific time we
form impressions. Those impressions are vague and often do not make a
lot of sense until we put them into a broader perspective. Thus, for me, a
bit of knowledge about the history of “Indic Civilization” has helped
greatly in my attempt to become better acquainted with Bali, Indonesia
(Hooykaas, 1964; Keay, 2010 [2000], pp. 20, 176178, 415515;Robb,
2011 , pp. 2856; Schulte-Nordholt, 1991). Furthermore, being steeped in
the classical CHS (verstehende Soziologie) of Max Weber also contributed
to a somewhat more sophisticated understanding (Verstehen). But such
abstractions only took on “real” meaning as a result of very specific real-
life experiences. So before continuing to talk about the theory and
86 J. I. (HANS) BAKKER