Image: UGA-Franklin: Bali and Beyond Maymester 2025 (May 10 -June 6, 2025) The island nation of Indonesia is famous for the richness and diversity of its cultural and natural heritage. One of Indonesia’s best known islands is Bali, which is most notable for its distinctive brand of Hinduism and its elaboration of ritual and the arts. Beginning in the 1930s, when an international collection of artists and writers began to make Bali’s unique culture known to Western audiences, the tourism industry began to flourish, and this process continues up to the present. But the development that goes along with tourism has been a mixed blessing. All over the island, and the neighboring island of Nusa Lembongan, rampant development challenges local communities to maintain the rich cultural and natural heritage that attracts visitors in the first place. In this program, students will learn about Balinese culture through first-hand experience, traveling to a variety of communities, temples and other cultural sites throughout Bali and surrounding islands. In Bali, students will visit temple sites nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status, the center of Balinese arts and culture in Ubud, the thousand year old rice terraces of Tampak Siring, the highland village of Puakan, and the world-famous surf break Uluwatu. At each place we visit, we’ll seek out a diversity of perspectives on the challenges that tourism and development create as the people of Bali and its neighbors strive to maintain their rich natural and cultural heritage. Students in the Bali & Beyond program earn credit from two anthropology courses. The courses are specifically designed to complement each other by the inclusion of a series of contemporary overlapping concepts focused on understanding representation and perspective, with a focus on how Bali has been represented both by Balinese and non-Balinese past and present. These concepts guide students' observations and analyses of the intersections between Balinese culture and tourism. The Bali & Beyond program fulfills several UGA General Education Core Curriculum requirements, University-wide requirements, and Franklin College requirements. For more information, click here.
