Tolerance of Ambiguity: Negotiating Religion and Sustaining the Lingsar Festival and Its Performing Arts in Lombok, Indonesia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for contributing to the study of religion in Indonesia through this fascinating study of a religious festival in Lombok--a place that is understudied in analyses of Indonesia--drawn on your many years of research at the Lingsar temple.   I find the notion of "a tolerance of ambiguity" to be a very useful concept and your argument built on this concept to be well-supported.  I find this a useful way to approach religion in other parts of Indonesia as well.  I also appreciate the discussion of Balinese-Sasak relations and Hindu-Muslim relations--that is, the intersections of ethnicity and religion.  

Author Response

Thank you, please check the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Line 24-28:

“Multiple forces vie to control the narratives of the Lingsar festival, a major annual 24 event initiated about 350 years ago that uniquely brings together the indigenous Muslim 25 Sasak and the migrant Hindu Balinese on Lombok, an island east of Bali in Indonesia. This 26 attention to the festival is not surprising because governments, political and religious fig- 27 ures, commercial interests, and tourist industries compete to define and benefit from such 28 events worldwide.”

These sentences are identical to the abstract just above it and therefore require paraphrasing or rewriting.

Line 135:

“…while the Sasak narrative seems to have been restricted to Sasak priests and nearby communities into the 1970s”

At the end of this section it is necessary to connect the Sasakologi intellectual discourse to the discussion. Because the term Sasakologi is used in the conclusion of this article but does not appear in the body of the article, it is suggested to mention it here and provide a brief explanation about its significance.

Line 160:

“The continuing push toward Islamization, assisted by …..”

The term ‘Islamization’ conjures up a large body of literature, specifically as it relates to processes of change and rapid transformation of local forms of Islam in Indonesia. Because Islamization is mentioned in this article on page 4, 5, 8 and 9 and it is more or less directly related to the excellent analytical observation of ‘ambiguity’ proposed by the author, it is suggested to write a brief paragraph overview literature on Islamization, particularly case studies in Indonesia. Suggested references on Islamization are listed below in ‘References’.

Lines 227-321:

This section of the article is extremely well written and its analytical content accurately and convincingly portrays Lingsar temple performing arts. The succinct chronological progression of historical events and evolving musical ensembles is particularly original and relevant to the broader framing of ambiguity among Sasak and Balinese religious groups on Lombok.

The only recommendation is to add an illustrative photo of one of the ensembles performing at the Lingsar temple, perhaps one for Sasak, the other Balinese.

Line 323

It may be the copy editing but the alignment of Table 1 is visually difficult to look at. Align the ‘Sasak’ and ‘Balinese’ categories on the left hand side. Also align the Performing Arts 1980s and its corresponding Performing Arts 1970s heading as well as ‘Musics’ and ‘Dances’.

Line 412:

“…I believe that there is no other place quite like Lingsar (or an event like its festival) elsewhere on the planet.”

Without this statement, the summary/conclusion is already very convincing and well written. With this statement, the well thought out conclusions about ambiguity, malleability and co-habitation of a festival by two religious groups becomes ‘over-simplified’ and ‘reductive’. It is suggested to down play the comparative statement ‘no other place on the planet’ and replace it with something like ‘highly exceptional’ or similar.

Line 418:

References

Suggested additions to a ‘review of literature’ on Islamization as mentioned, but requiring further exploration on pages 4, 5, 8 and 9: The literature review needs to make mention of the large body of theoretical work on Islamization. The term is used several times in the article and its relevance to the recent processes of co-habitation of Lingsar seem very relevant. However, the article lacks specific references to it. I have suggested possible literature on Islamization in the references section at the end of the article. A brief overview of relevant works of no more than a paragraph may be added to the article on Islamization but this can be left to the discretion of the editors and author.

Religion, Tradition, and the Dynamics of Islamization in South Sulawesi: Christian Pelras, Indonesia, Apr., 1993, No. 57, Archipel (Apr., 1993), pp. 133-154.

Indonesia's 1989 Religious Judicature Act: Islamization of Indonesia or Indonesianization of Islam?: Mark Cammack. Indonesia, Apr., 1997, No. 63 (Apr., 1997), pp. 143-168.

MAKASAR AND THE ISLAMIZATION OF BIMA. J. NOORDUYN. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 1987, Deel 143, 2/3de Afl. (1987), pp. 312-342.

ISLAMIZATION AND THE CHANGING ETHICAL IMAGINATION IN JAVA. M. C. Ricklefs. Islamisation and Its Opponents in Java: c. 1930 to the Present. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2012.

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Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf