Bali's silent crisis: Desire, tragedy, and transition

Bali and Balinese culture have become central to western imaginings of 'the east'. Along with its natural beauty and tropical sensuality, Bali's rich and complex culture has proved intensely alluring for western artists, scholars, and travelers. However, as this aesthetic imagining and desire for beauty have evolved into a mass tourism industry, the island people and their culture have experienced radical and rapid transformation. While many in the international community were stunned by the horror of the militant bombings in 2002 and 2005, these attacks were merely the apex of a profound and ongoing crisis that resonates through the period of Bali's modernization and engagement with the global economy of pleasure.