Language and Social Identity: Speaking Javanese in Tengger (Indonesia).

The Tengger are an ethnically Javanese people living in some thirty villages in the Bromo massif of highl and s East Java. They speak a non-st and ard dialect of Javanese traditionally characterized by the absence of the speech levels so important for speech interactions in other areas of Java. To speakers of st and ard Javanese the Tengger dialect thus appears crudely insensitive to social hierarchy. The Tengger are also heirs to the only remaining explicitly non-Islamic Hindu priesthood in contemporary Java. This study examines the structure and use of the Tengger dialect and its role within the speech repertoire of the Tengger speech community. The dialect is a variety of the familiar level of st and ard Javanese, ngoko. It differs only slightly from the st and ard in features of its pronunciation, verb morphology and lexicon. The dialect continues to be used in intravillage speech interactions as the code of Tengger identity and solidarity. "High" Javanese kromo however has always been the code of Tengger liturgical texts. Examination of ritual liturgy reveals that a linguistic hierarchy exists in the codes used to address the human congregation, various spirits, and deities which is similar to that of the speech levels of st and ard Javanese. The texts are in addition linked to an earlier Javo-Balinese Hindu tradition. This study investigates the manner in which popular interpretation of the ritual texts has been rendered increasingly problematic in the face of an Islamizing Java.Ph.D.LinguisticsUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/159651/1/8324289.pd

Khmer American: identity and moral education in a diasporic community

In the early 1980s, tens of thousands of Cambodian refugees fled their war-torn country to take up residence in the United States, where they quickly became one of the most troubled and least studied immigrant groups. This book is the story of that passage, and of the efforts of Khmer Americans to recreate the fabric of culture and identity in the aftermath of the Khmer holocaust.Based on long-term research among Cambodians residing in metropolitan Boston, this rich ethnography provides a vivid portrait of the challenges facing Khmer American culture as seen from the perspective of elders attempting to preserve Khmer Buddhism in a deeply unfamiliar world. The study highlights the tensions and ambivalences of Khmer socialization, with particular emphasis on Khmer conceptions of personhood, morality, and sexuality. Nancy J. Smith-Hefner considers how this cultural heritage influences the performance of Khmer children in American schools and, ultimately, determines Khmer engagement with American culture