Priests and Programmers:
Technologies of Power in the Engineered Landscape of Bali
J. Stephen Lansing

With a new foreword by William C. Clark
With a new preface by the author

Paper | 2007 | $19.95 / £11.95
216 pp. | 6 x 9

Shopping Cart | Reviews | Table of Contents
Introduction [PDF]

For the Balinese, the whole of nature is a perpetual resource: through centuries of carefully directed labor, the engineered landscape of the island's rice terraces has taken shape. According to Stephen Lansing, the need for effective cooperation in water management links thousands of farmers together in hierarchies of productive relationships that span entire watersheds.

Lansing describes the network of water temples that once managed the flow of irrigation water in the name of the Goddess of the Crater Lake. Using the techniques of ecological simulation modeling as well as cultural and historical analysis, Lansing argues that the symbolic system of temple rituals is not merely a reflection of utilitarian constraints but also a basic ingredient in the organization of production.

J. Stephen Lansing is a Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and in the departments of Anthropology and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. He is the author of Perfect Order: Recognizing Complexity in Bali (Princeton).

Reviews:

"[A]n enjoyable and stimulating book."--Geoffrey Samuel, Journal of Asian Studies

"Priests and Programmers is written with admirable clarity and should be of interest . . . to anybody working on applied social research."--Michael Hitchcock, Contemporary South Asia

"[B]rilliant and delightful. . . . [N]ot only has [Lansing] written a superb book, but he has contributed materially and humanely to the quality of life of the people he has studied. Too few scholars can make this claim."--Bryan Pfaffenberger, Technology and Culture

Table of Contents:

List of Figures xi
List of Tables xiii
Foreword xv
Preface to the 2007 Edition xix
Acknowledgments xxxi
Introduction: The Gods of the Countryside 1
Chapter One: "Income to Which No Tears Are Attached" 17
Chapter Two: The Powers of Water 37
Chapter Three: The Waters of Power 50
Chapter Four: The Temple of the Crater Lake 73
Chapter Six: Massive Guidance 111
Conclusion: Sociogensis 127
Afterword by Valerio Valeri 134
Appendix A: Plan of the Temple of the Crater lake 145
Appendic B: Technical Report on the Ecological Simulation Model by James N. Kremer 153
Notes 159
Index 181

Another Princeton book by J. Stephen Lansing:

• Perfect Order: Recognizing Complexity in Bali.

Link:

• For more information on this book, visit the author's site at: http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lansing/

Subject Areas:

• Anthropology
• Asian and Asian American Studies
• Earth Sciences

Shopping Cart:

For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Paper: $19.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-13066-8

For customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India
Paper: £11.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-13066-8

Prices subject to change without notice

File created: 7/1/2008

Questions and comments to: webmaster@press.princeton.edu
Princeton University Press