Deaf Bodies Filled with Sound

Musical Participation, Solitude, and Self-sufficiency in Bengkala, the "Deaf Village" in Bali

Abstract

This paper discusses various aspects of deaf people's (non-) participation in music by examining the cases in Bengkala village in Bali, Indonesia, which is famous for its high ratio of deaf residents. Though deaf people have not generally been perceived as extensive participants in music, the anthropology of music has deconstructed the sound-centricity of musicology mainly through the ideas of the "acoustic body" and "musicking." Using these ideas, this paper shows how deaf residents in Bengkala participate in musical interactions that allow them to resonate with others. However, these approaches tend to be simultaneously affected by relational thinking, which places too much value on the sense of unity during performances. This paper also analyzes the "loneliness" that a deaf girl faces when engaging in children's dance and reveals the possibility of "self-sufficiency" and the social and linguistic divide between deaf and hearing residents as a crucial factor contributing to loneliness.