MIEJSCA I PRZESTRZENIE INDONEZYJSKIEGO TEATRU śMIERCI
PLACES AND SPACES OF THE INDONESIAN THEATER OF DEATH

Summary/Abstract: The subject of the article are the thanatic practices of indigenous Indonesian peoples viewed from the perspective of places and spaces associated with the dead and the spirits of ancestors. The author points out that human refusal to die, creating the need to create substitute places of presence for those who no longer exist, is marked by „genetic” theat- ricality and that Indonesia is a particularly interesting area to study this phenomenon. The theoretical basis of the article are the reflections of Samuel Weber on the ghostly nature of theatrical space and of Mirosław Kocur on the performative space that both produces performances and is produced by performances. From this perspective, the author looks at specific burial places, ideas about the afterlife, and manifestations of the cult of ances- tors in various regions of Indonesia. She analyzes ritual strategies of creating the illusion of the immaterial presence of deities and spirits of the dead, as well as ways of inscrib- ing the image of the afterlife and the dead themselves into the existing, natural space and into the space of the immediate surroundings: home and village. Following this line of thought, she finally focuses on the special symbolic qualities of stone as a material used to mark places where the dead and spirits are present. In this respect, Indonesia creates a unique field for research, because in some of its regions the traditions of megalithic cul- tures are still continued.

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