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Abstract
In Balinese, a distinction is made between different types of stories. While fiction, unsourced mythological tales and hearsay stories are known as satua, there are a specific group of cultural narratives, carrying a different set of meanings altogether, which are identified as tattwa. Stories described as tattwa do something that goes beyond providing information, entertainment, or instruction (even though they may also do any or all of these things.)
This thesis is about what tattwa narratives are and what they do. What is it that makes tattwa narratives different from other stories? How do tattwa narratives enliven the past in the present; engender intimate encounters with elements of the world which can’t be seen; and produce real effects on bodies and in the world today?
The thesis combines ethnographic research and creative writing, and takes shape through two distinct forms, a Dissertation and a Screenplay. While structurally different, both of these projects share an abiding preoccupation: how best to model the efficacy of tattwa? How might emulating particular Balinese narrative devices, such as juxtaposing different types of stories and storytelling styles, serve to not only portray but to enact the potency of tattwa as lived cultural knowledge?