DEEPER PLAY: GEERTZ’S “THICK
DESCRIPTION” AND A BALINESE
TEMPLE RITUAL (THEODALAN)
J. I. (Hans) Bakker
ABSTRACT
Geertz is well known for his methodology. Many Symbolic Interaction-
ists refer to his notion of “thick description.” They may not know his
work on Indonesia in general, but they often know his famous essay on
the Balinese cockfight: “Deep Play” (Geertz, 1972, 1973). That essay is
often held up as an exemplary “model” of ethnographic fieldwork. But
we need to examine what he calls “thick description” more carefully.
After the first few pages of the essay there is actually very little “idio-
graphic description” per se. Much of the paper concerns general descrip-
tion and analysis. We do not get a blow-by-blow account of a cockfight
as viewed by Geertz. Instead we get an analysis that is based on Jeremy
Bentham’s Utilitarianism (Parekh, 1998). There is a good deal missing
from the broader analysis as well. Much of that can be found in other
work (Geertz, 1959, 1966, 1980, 1995). Students who only read “Deep
Play” often form a superficial impression of the method of “thick
description” and a distorted sense of Balinese culture (Howe, 2001;
Vickers, 1996 [1981]; Warren, 1993). This essay supplements Geertz’sContributions from European Symbolic Interactionists: Reflections on Methods
Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Volume 44, 79 116
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