Beautiful Lives: Priests, Beauticians, and Performance of Islamic Piety in a Non-Gendered ...

149 Pages·2016·4.47 MB·English

UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title
Beautiful Lives: Priests, Beauticians, and Performance of Islamic Piety in a Non-Gendered
Economy in South Sulawesi, Indonesia
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/87s453f5
Author
Umar, Umar
Publication Date
2016

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library
University of California
Beautiful Lives: Priests, Beauticians, and Performance of Islamic Piety in a Non-Gendered
Economy in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

By:
Umar Umar

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in
South and Southeast Asian Studies
and the Designated Emphasis
in
Critical Theory
in the
Graduate Division
of the
University of California, Berkeley

Committee in charge:

Professor Sylvia Tiwon, Chair
Professor Jeffrey Hadler
Professor Charles Hirschkind

Summer 2016
Abstract
Beautiful Lives: Priests, Beauticians, and Performance of Islamic Piety in a Non-Gendered
Economy in South Sulawesi, Indonesia
by
Umar Umar
Doctor of Philosophy in South and Southeast Asian Studies and Designated Emphasis in Critical
Theory
University of California, Berkeley
Professor Sylvia Tiwon, Chair

The dissertation unravels how the indigenous transgender identity of the bissu experiences
reconfigurations within the Indonesian modern culture dominated by Islamic heterosexual norm.
Based on the data collected from the field research in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, archival
research in the Netherlands, and media research, the dissertation traces the inflections of bissu
identity at the intersection between local traditions and the emergent modern spectator
community, artistic experimentation, global culture industry, and homosexual movement in the
aftermath of Suharto’s fall in 1998. Within this multicultural network, the indigenous identity of
the bissu constitutes a paradox in which the convergence between the bissu traditional practices
and modern artistic practices transcends the bissu’s distinct transgender position from its local
reality and engenders a discursive and social space that allows the bissu to overcome the
constraint of Islamic heterosexual norm and to provide a cultural and historical register for the
urban transgender groups to claim their local cultural root. The location of the bissu indigeneity
and transgender identity lies within the dynamic interactions among the bissu, the state, and
culture industry, in which moral sentiments and aesthetic sensibility emerge in their distinct
forms. The research poses a critique against the failure of the mainstream narratives to address
the emerging moral space the bissu inhabit. The space, which I call a spiritual aesthetic space,
contains disparate religious and cultural elements as the bissu unite three strands of identity:
transgender, Islamic, and indigenous.
For my father, Thamrin Mardhan
Table of contents

Abstract 1
Acknowledgement vi

Chapter One: Introduction
A. Bissu: Body and Gender as Tradition 1
B. Polemics on Adat 6
C. The Textual and Living Bissu 12
Chapter Two: Tradition of the Living and the Dead
A. Spirit of Tradition 16
B. Seductive Tradition 17
C. From Heart onto Paper 19
D. Speak Dutch to Us: Race and Class in the East Indies 23
Chapter Three Hermaphrodite Priests of the Bugis
A. Hermaphrodite in the World 29
B. Hermaphrodite: Dispossessed Body in South and Southeast Asia 32
C. Bissu’s Life on Screen and Stage 37
D. The Last Bissu: Sacred Transvestites of I La Galigo 38
E. Taboo: The Third Sex 39
F. Queer Culture 40
G. I La Galigo 42
H. Dispossessed Body as Culture 45
I. Domination of Sign 47
Chapter Four: Behind the Scene: the Bissu’s Struggle to Survive
A. Bissu and Adat 52
B. Bissu: a Community? 54
C. Priest of Crisis 55
D. Priest of as You Wish 56
Chapter 5: Different Fields, Different Stories
A. Bissu and Transgender Identity 59
B. Bissu Nika
1. Festival of Maritime Culture in Makassar 63
2. Temmu Taung in Labakkang 64
3. Year End Ritual in Punranga 70
4. Nika and Bissu Rusda 75
5. Nika and Daeng Patta 79
6. Nika and Haji Yusuf 82
7. Mangolo Salo (River Ritual) in Pangkajene 84
8. Indo Botting in Segeri 86
9. Healing Ritual in Soppeng 88
10. Nika and Bissu Ina 92
11. Wedding Ceremony in Padang Lampe 97
C. Bissu Ciang 102
D. Bissu Mina
1. Songka Bala 108
2. Ritual of Three Nights in Bungoro 112
E. Bissu Japa 119
F. Mappalili: the Joy of Water 122
Chapter Six: Conclusion. Paradox Life 131
Bibliography 134
List of Figures

Fig. 1. Nika is working in their salon 65
Fig. 2. Nika and their to boto 66
Fig. 3. Mak Rusda at the year-end ritual (temmu taung) 68
Fig. 4. Mak Rusda’s house 75
Fig. 5. The high school girls are rehearsing before their performance of
lalosu-arumpigi dance in the festival of Cap Gomeh 77

Fig. 6. Mak Rusda, the third from left, wearing a black shirt and purple
flower sarong is performing a ritual in a Chinese temple during
the Chinese New Year Festival (Cap Gomeh) 78

Fig. 7. Nika is performing a healing ritual in the attic of the regalia house in Soppeng 91
Fig. 8. Mak Ina and their altar. Photo by the author 96
Fig. 9. Nika has just completed the bride’s makeup 99
Fig. 10. Pirda is making up the bridegroom 100
Fig. 11. The Bride is carried by her uncle 101
Fig. 12. Ciang in Rhoda Grauer’s The Last bissu: Sacred Transvestites of I La Galigo 102
Fig. 13. Ciang in their salon 103
Fig. 14. Ciang’s salon 104
Fig. 15. Mina’s house and salon 109
Fig. 16. Bissu Mina on the right, wearing white shirt, praying with the imam
during the tola’bala ritual in their house 111

Fig. 17. Wa Nadir, on the left, wearing a black shirt and sarong 114

Fig. 18 Wa Mina under the royal canopy is watching the tellumpenni ritual
preparation 116

Fig. 19. Mina (on the right), Mawar (in the middle) and Wati (on the left)
are receiving alms before performing ma’giri 117

Fig. 20. Bissu Japa is explaining the spirit in the altar 121

Fig. 21. The sacred tree of labu lalle in the Segeri Market parking lot 124
Fig. 22. The feast for mappalili is ready 126

Fig. 23. Mappalili convoy 128

Fig. 24. The sacred plough is touching the ground,
placed next to the Puang Longki grave 129
Acknowledgment

The dissertation will not take its full shape without the careful guidance from my
dissertation committee: Professor Sylvia Tiwon (chair), Professor Jeffrey Hadler, and Professor
Charles Hirschkind. Professor Sylvia Tiwon’s attention and motivation is beyond what I expect.
She shows me what it means to treat a person with compassion and dignity. She always reminds
me to give voices to the people I write. This makes my writing critical as many voices try to
occupy the white blank pages. I learn from Professor Jeffrey Hadler how to engage closely with
the data, how to represent them accurately, and how they shape the theoretical trajectory I
attempt to pursue, which is often unpredictable. Professor Charles Hirschkind inspires me to take
into account senses and affect, and how they orient and limit social interactions. This leads me to
approach the bissu differently, and I become more sensitive to the way they experience my
presence.
I am truly honored to receive the assistance of Professor Judith Butler and Professor
Martin Jay. I feel lucky to get admitted at the Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory founded
by Professor Judith Butler and Professor Martin Jay. With the training in the DE in Critical
Theory, I learn how scholars employ critiques and take the side of the oppressed. Objectivity
does not mean without action.
Outside of the academic circle, there are some people involve who make the completion
of my PhD become possible. Lee Amazona, Elodie Steffen, Cephas John, Genia Freeman,
Rebecca Sablo, Vanina Granell , Rita Lindahl-Lynch, and Susan Miller. I am greatly indebted to
Sekar Cortes for her generosity, and the best friends of mine whom I cannot mention one by one
on this piece of paper, but keep in my heart for the joy and enthusiasm they bring in my life.
I will never forget the bissu in Pangkep who welcomed me as if I was their lost son who
had just returned home.
I would like to express my special thanks for Eka Kahar, Rustam, Daeng Tappa,
Mannang, Tapa’ja, Mak Temmi, Mak Oja, Dr. Halilintar Lathief, Andi Ummu Tunru, and Basri
Baharuddin Sila for their hospitality, invaluable information and help during my field research in
South Sulawesi.
The last but not least, I dedicate this dissertation to my father, Thamrin Mardhan, who
passed away in Ramadhan 2014. He once said, "let this house rotten and fall to the ground. I
don't care, as long as you, all my kids, are well educated!" The old house still stands strong, but
my father does not live longer to see the completion of my PhD. I miss the chance to thank him
and to show him that I keep my promise.
No words I could say to express how grateful I am to have the beautiful women and sons
in my life. My mother, Siti Asnam, whose love makes me ageless. My wife who has shown me
her great patience and perseverance. The joy and celebration for the PhD completion is hers. My
sons: Fahri (who remains alive in my heart), Nevan, and Ayman who fill my life with hope.