The term 'national economy' lacks clarity in modern Chinese history. China's modernization is often treated as a feature of the central government's economic policy, but regional and local economic activity and the involvement of foreign powers were integral to the process. Takeshi Hamashita approaches this issue by examining the country's coastal ......
Ornament, Emotion, Zombies and the Study of Buddhism in Thailand
A collection of essays engaging with Buddhism in Thailand and the virtues of distraction and variety within the materialist turn in studies of religion. In Thailand, Buddhism is deeply integrated into national institutions and ideologies, making it tempting to think of Buddhism in Thailand as a textual, institutional, cultural, and conceptual ......
Sea nomads have been part of the economic and political landscape of Southeast Asia for millennia. They have played many roles over the longue-durEe: in certain periods proving central to the ability of land-based polities to generate wealth, by sourcing valuable maritime commodities, facilitating trade, forming a naval force to secure and protect ......
Policing As Politics in Colonial Indonesia, 1926-1941
Digul was an internment colony for political prisoners that was established in 1926 in West Papua. This book argues that Digul is the key to understanding Indonesia's colonial governance between the failed communist rebellion of late 1926 and the declaration of independence in 1945, a time when the Dutch regime attempted to impose what they called ......
Locating History and Ethnography in Early Dutch Colonial Films of Indonesia
How should colonial film archives be read? How can historians and ethnographers use colonial film as a complement to conventional written sources? Sandeep Ray uses the case of Dutch colonial film in Indonesia to show how a critically-, historically- and cinematically-informed reading of colonial film in the archive can be a powerful and unexpected ......
Global Christianity and the Local Church in Penang and Singapore, 1819-2000
In postcolonial Singapore and Malaysia, Pentecostal megachurches dominate the Christian landscape, but the "big four" Protestant churches-Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and Brethren-remain religions of heritage for many. Sixty Malaysian and nineteen Singaporean assemblies identify themselves as Christian Brethren, and most trace their roots to ......
Islam is at home in many of the areas of the eastern Indonesia, with the early 15th century Masjid Tua Wapauwe in Northern Maluku arguably the oldest mosque in Indonesia. The studies collected in this volume present a rich introduction to the myriad ways of being Muslim across this diverse archipelago, from Sulawest to Maluku and Nusa Tenggara ......
Language and Politics in the Toraja Highlands of Indonesia
The expression "one or two words" is used by the Toraja highlanders of Indonesia to refer euphemistically to their highly elaborate form of political speechmaking. Moving from this understatement, which denotes the meaningfulness of transient acts of speech, One or Two Words offers an analysis of the shifting power relations between centers and ......
Progress, Retrenchment and Ambiguity Amidst Liberalization
The optimism provoked by Myanmar's political reforms in 2011-2012 has now given way to a sense that the uneven nature of change in this nation of 54 million has lead to instability and uncertainty. The liberalization of critical sectors and expansion of certain freedoms - such as political and legal opportunities for expression and mobilization ......
