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Re: OT: Worcestershire sauce

From:Roger Mills <romilly@...>
Date:Wednesday, October 15, 2003, 16:04
Andreas Johansson wrote:
> If I've got it right, there's multiple cultures on Java, but only one
known
> as "Javanese". Could be wrong, of course. (See, the pro-drop disease is > spreading!) Roger Mills can perhaps clarify? >
Not very much, I fear. Java was not my field of interest, though I lived there-- not by choice-- for approx. 2/3 of the year I spent in Indonesia. Furthermore I think it's fair to say I experienced a good deal of culture shock, esp. with respect to the food. The defining characteristic for me (and other Indonesians focused on this as well) was the extreme politeness-to-a-fault which probably results from the rather rigidly stratified and status-conscious society. Between urbanized/rural, high/low etc.-- there's probably as much cultural difference as one finds in most societies. Much of what we in the West associate with Java-- the wayang kulit, the gamelan, dance-- nowadays is pretty much the playground of the wealthy. (Not so in Bali, of which we see more on TV etc-- those things are indeed derived from old Javanese models, but still have popular/religious relevance to the Balinese) I have a nice paper, by a Javanese, that may give a more sympathetic view. No scanner at the mo, but I'll see if I can summarize what he says.