Grup Gedebong Goyang: Female, Funny, and Foreign

This research offers an overview of Grup Gedebong Goyang (Gyrating Banana Tree Trunk Group), composed of four Western women who have married Balinese. The group’s women-centered comedy demonstrates a high knowledge of Balinese cultural etiquette through presenting traditional dances, showing understanding of caste and ritual ceremony, and speaking Balinese, a complicated hierarchical language. By attempting to be viewed as “same,” they cleverly position themselves as “other” and encourage the audience to both laugh at and with them. The group challenges stereotypes in relation to tamu (guest) and bulé (“whitie”) to promote new, more positive definitions for the resident foreigner in Bali.