Geertz (1980)argues that the subak system is actually quite divorced
from the “theater state,” which may be true to some extent starting in the
nineteenth century; but, it probably was much less true many centuries ago.
My own theoretical understanding of the early precolonial period is that
we can usefully apply Max Weber’s notion of patrimonialism and prebends
(Bakker, 1995, 2010). The “Patrimonial-prebendal system” is, I believe,
characteristic of Java in the 8th century. When Central Javanese institu-
tions (from the Sailendra period) filtered into East Java, Bali, and West
Lombok their patrimonial prebendal character was modified by a variety
of circumstances, not the least of which is the way in which the geographi-
cal space of the island of Bali is organized by valleys running North-South.
Unfortunately,Geertz (1980)dismisses the Weberian ideal type argument
about patrimonial rulership in a sentence; but, he does not try to examine
its heuristic value. I believe the Ideal Type Model (ITM) of Patrimonial-
prebendalism deserves to be used with greater precision; but, that leads us
away from ethnographic fieldwork and into broader CHS considerations
that touch on Marxian ideas concerning the “Asiatic Mode of Production.”
Lansing’s important ethnographic study (1991)tendsto support the
main outlines of Geertz’s conclusions concerning the ritual cycle. At the
same time, Lansing concludes that a much greater level of coordination
is required for rice production, especially on wet rice paddies (sawa, or
sawah), than Geertz is willing to allow. It can usefully be considered
whether the Balinese subak system represents a type of agricultural produc-
tion where sacralized Feminine spiritual values related to fertility of the soil
and complemented by “Masculine” values related to ideas concern status
hierarchy and nobility. But such an idea runs beyond my competence and
would require extensive study for a long period of time. The political ideol-
ogy of the separate “princedoms” of Bali in the 19th and 20th centuries
does not necessarily represent the same basic kind of system as the earlier
centralized states of the “kingdoms” (empires) of Central Java (Raffles,
1956b [1817], Stutterheim, 1930; Schulte-Nordtholt, 1991).
METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF FIELDWORK
VERSUS METHODOLOGICAL ORIENTATION
In anthropology and sociology we regularly attempt to teach qualitative
methods and techniques (Filstead, 1985; Lofland& Lofland, 1984). The
techniques involved in ethnographic fieldwork are discussed in hundreds of
102 J. I. (HANS) BAKKER