Grounded Cosmopolitans and the Bureaucratic Field: Musical Performance at Two Yogyakarta State Institutions

Drawing on ethnographic research in Yogyakarta (Indonesia) in 2001, this article discusses two musical events with clear political dimensions. It seeks to broaden the parameters of discussion on music and politics by engaging two theoretical perspectives. The first, Bourdieu's bureaucratic field, highlights various "species of capital"; the second, grounded cosmopolitanism, considers attitudes, practices, and outcomes not easily explained within a framework of political contestation. The cases explored are a campursari Awards Night at the Regional Parliament and a street music (musik jalanan) contest at the National Air Force Academy. While maintaining that musical performance cannot be reduced entirely to politics, the article concludes that the bureaucratic capital of physical force dominated the particular cases.