Priests and Programmers

by Lansing, J. Stephen; Clark, William C.

• ISBN13: 9780691130668
• ISBN10: 0691130663
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-04-09
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

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.

Author Biography

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).

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. xi
List of Tables	p. xiii
Foreword	p. xv
Preface to the 2007 Edition	p. xix
Acknowledgments	p. xxxi
Introduction: The Gods of the Countryside	p. 3
"Income to Which No Tears Are Attached"	p. 17
The Powers of Water	p. 37
The Waters of Power	p. 59
The Temple of the Crater Lake	p. 73
Chance Observations and the Metaphysics of Taxation	p. 95
Massive Guidance	p. 111
Conclusion: Sociogenesis	p. 127
Afterword	p. 134
Plan of the Temple of the Crater Lake	p. 145
Technical Report on the Ecological Simulation Model	p. 153
Notes	p. 159
Index	p. 181
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