Between performativity and orthodoxy: Literacy and religious transformation on Bali

This paper deals with the present transformation of religious tradition and practice in Bali with respect to different mediums of religious communication. While in Bali religious traditions have Usually been represented in the form of rituals including aural performances of the written Word, the religious politics of the Indonesian state emphasises a concept of doctrinal religion (agama) that is directly linked with a modern form of literacy and implies far reaching consequences for the content of religion. In this paper I examine the impact of these different types of literacy on Balinese religion and I will argue that the ongoing transformation of religion cannot simply be understood as a shift from ritual orthopraxy to doctrinal orthodoxy, as some scholars have claimed, but rather creates a standardized form of ritual which has formerly been communicated as a flexible and pluralist practice.