Emotion Work and the Value of Emotional Equanimity among the Toraja

Abstract

Jane Belo (1960:1) begins her book on Balinese trance by saying Balinese are a people whose everyday behavior is measured, controlled, graceful, tranquil. Emotion is not easily expressed. Dignity and an adherence to the rules of decorum are customary. Such a description fits, to a greater or lesser degree, many western and central Indonesian groups--highlander or lowlander, inner island or outer island, Islamic or non-Islamic. The literature from Java suggests that this value on and preference for emotional equanimity and reserved demeanor is often associated with high status, refined (halus) behavior, and spiritual potency. Geertz (1960), Anderson (1972), and Keeler (1987) all report that a graceful, smooth exterior (the lair), as expressed through the proper use of language, etiquette, and bodily posture is thought to reflect, or be determined by, a calm and controlled emotional or subjective interior (the batin), which in turn is the prerequisite for the accumulation and maintenance of both spiritual and worldly power. While this connection between emotional balance and control, in at least some contexts, and both spiritual and worldly power seems to be especially strong in those groups which have been most directly influenced by Indic notions of potency as concentrated at a divine, immobile center and of ascesis as a means of acquiring and/or maintaining such potency (see, for example, Errington 1983, 1989), I suspect that it can also be found in groups like the Toraja where Indic influences are attenuated but where notions of hierarchy nonetheless have played an important part in social organization. The wide distribution of these ideas might be accounted for by the fact that, as Keeler (1987) has noted, notions of ascesis and emotional control can themselves be understood as resonating with the pan-Indonesian practice of sacrifice in which valued objects or gratifications are voluntarily given up in return for future blessings. This article,1 however, leads in a different direction. Rather than examine the ways in which the value of emotional equanimity can be linked to the quest for power and good fortune, it draws attention to an aspect of emotional control in Indonesia that has been somewhat less emphasized and commented upon in the literature: namely, that emotional equanimity is also prized because its opposite, intense feeling, especially dysphoria and emotional distress, are often thought to lead to and/or accompany severe physical, mental, and social disorder. This refocusing will show that the Indonesian appreciation of emotional balance and equilibrium is partly motivated by a strong awareness of the dangers of disorder and impulsive desire (cf. Heider 1991:34-38), and that emotional equanimity, when it is achieved, requires active effort and vigilence. I begin by noting the disvaluation and fear of strong emotion found among the Toraja of South Sulawesi, and then examine in some detail the strategies the Toraja