Carving Out a New Future: Waying Kulit Craftsmanship in Central Java, Indonesia.

Abstract

Wayang kulit puppets hold an intriguing position as not only a principle element or ‘actor’ in a major theatrical form but also as a marketable handicraft in Indonesia. This dissertation focuses on creating a cohesive history of wayang kulit craftsmanship in Central Java and analyzing how growing tourism in Central Java is shifting the creation process, aesthetics, and use of wayang kulit puppets in the region. Using an interdisciplinary methodology that combines influences from theatre, material culture, and oral history the project is broken down into four main sections: the history of wayang kulit craftsmanship and modern adaptations in the process; an analysis of how tourism and policy have influenced these changes; the development of business and puppet typologies; and finally, a larger analysis of how changes in craftsmanship might affect wayang kulit as a whole. This dissertation not only provides a history of traditional puppetry craftsmanship but examines and documents the current processes of wayang kulit production in Central Java, Indonesia. This includes innovations in training, materials, design, tools, carving, and painting. Additionally, this work examines how growing tourism has affected the methods, creativity, and business models of wayang kulit craftsmen in the area. Outside of creating a cohesive craftsmanship history, the ultimate goal of this research is that the new typologies developed in this work might be used more broadly in discerning how craftsmen’s views of tourism and tourism-induced changes to their art play into the view of ‘authenticity’ in handicraft markets, how tourism might drastically affect the future of puppetry, and how tourism might play a part in preventing some art forms from diminishing across Southeast Asia.