Ajeg Bali: Multiple Meanings, Diverse Agendas

Based on research and interviews conducted in Bali in 2003-04, this paper explores ways in which a new term, ajeg Bali, has become part of public and performance discourse on culture and identity in Bali since the October 2002 Kuta bombings. It examines the variety of meanings and attributes that have been attached to the term, concluding that the elusiveness of its meaning makes it potentially a powerful ideological weapon.