Field Notes on Making Wajangs [Shadow Puppets]
Mead and Bateson’s field trip to study the
Balinese of Indonesia and the Iatmul of
Papua New Guinea from 1936—1939
was a landmark in the history of visual anthropology.
Field Notes on Making Wajangs [Shadow Puppets]
They took approximately 35,000
photographs, hundreds of feet of motion picture film, and
copious field notes. In this sequence they
recorded the work of an artist making wajangs
or shadow puppets.
Field Notes on Making Wajangs [Shadow Puppets]
This page of field notes provides
background information about the artist, I Wara
of Negara.
At the top of the page Mead has indicated that there are “LEICAS” (photographs), “CINE” (motion picture film), and “MK TEXT” (notes made by their Balinese
secretary, Madé Kaler) for this event.
Field Notes on Making Wajangs [Shadow Puppets]Mead and Bateson worked out a precise system for recording field data in Bali. They would
synchronize their watches along with their Balinese
secretary and record the time of each action minute by
minute, providing a written description of the event and
noting when photographs (“LEICAS” or “L”) and
motion picture film (“CINE”) was taken.
Field Notes on Making Wajangs Shadow Puppets
This is a description of the final stages in
creating a wajang. Throughout the
description, Mead notes the various words associated with the process.
Field Notes on Making Wajangs Shadow Puppets
Mead and Bateson’s Balinese secretary, Madé
Kaler, recorded descriptive material
about an event or story in the Balinese language.
In this text, he notes the various tools used by
I Wara in the process of making a wajang.
Field Notes on Making Wajangs Shadow Puppets
Madé Kaler provides a drawing of each
tool used by I Wara in making a wajang.
The numbers for each drawing
correspond to the names of the various
tools listed on the previous page of
text.
Field Notes on Making Wajangs Shadow Puppets
These notes indicate the source of Mead’s
information as well as the existence of
photographs and motion picture film for
particular events or objects. She also notes
some of the purposes for the collection she is
acquiring.
Field Notes on Making Wajangs [Shadow Puppets]
Mead’s notes often include a summary of
descriptive material related to an event under
study. In these notes, she provides information
about the “dalangs”or shadow play experts, and
lists other supporting material accumulated on
this topic.
Field Notes on Making Wajangs [Shadow Puppets]
She includes accounts of wajang
performances in which plots and
conversations were recorded, as well as
sets of children’s drawings using wajang figures.
Field Notes on Making Wajangs [Shadow Puppets]
Field Notes on Making Wajangs [Shadow Puppets]
Field Notes on Making Wajangs [Shadow Puppets]
All of the photographs and a large selection of the field
notes from this field trip have been digitized and are
available online in the Manuscript Reading Room.