Telling Other Tales: Experiencing the Balinese Mask World (Asian Heritages)

Book info: Telling Other Tales: Experiencing the Balinese Mask World (Asian Heritages) (Hardcover, 424 pages) – Routledge, 2026. Language: English.

Since it first mesmerized Western audiences in the early 20th century, Balinese masked dance–drama (Topeng) has drawn sustained scholarly attention. Yet until now, much of that attention has been filtered through non-Balinese perspectives. Telling Other Tales seeks to redress this imbalance by presenting Topeng as a living, plural tradition―one whose meaning is co-created by Balinese and non-Balinese performers, scholars and other observers alike. In these essays, academic rigor and personal testimony sit in rich dialogue. Historians, anthropologists and theatre scholars engage alongside Balinese priests, musicians and Topeng practitioners, weaving together formal analysis with evocative reflections. Together, they illuminate how this ancient theatrical form is not only studied, but lived, acted and re-imagined in the everyday.

This volume will appeal to scholars of performance, Asian studies and cultural anthropology―or to anyone curious about how traditional forms both shape and are shaped by the many people who carry them forward.

Irving Chan Johnson is an associate professor in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. He received his PhD in social anthropology from Harvard University in 2004. His research interests span issues of personhood, circulation, borderlands, artisanship and traditional performance in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Irving is the founder and artistic director of Eka Suwara Santhi, a Balinese dance group based in Singapore.