Southeast Asian Studies Research Papers (original) (raw)

Studies of early Southeast Asia focus largely on its ‘classical states’, when rulers and their entourages from Sukhothai and Ayutthaya (Thailand), Angkor (Cambodia), Bagan (Myanmar), Champa and Dai Viet (Vietnam) clashed, conquered, and... more

Studies of early Southeast Asia focus largely on its ‘classical states’, when rulers and their entourages from Sukhothai and Ayutthaya (Thailand), Angkor (Cambodia), Bagan (Myanmar), Champa and Dai Viet (Vietnam) clashed, conquered, and intermarried one another over an approximately six-century-long quest for legitimacy and political control. Scholarship on Southeast Asia has long held that such transformations were largely a response to outside intervention and external events, or at least that these occurred in interaction with a broader world system in which Southeast Asians played key roles. As research gathered pace on the prehistory of the region over the past five decades or so, it has become increasingly clear that indigenous Southeast Asian cultures grew in sophistication and complexity over the Iron Age in particular. This has led archaeologists to propose much greater agency in regard to the selective adaptation of incoming Indic beliefs and practices than was previously ...

In 2009 China surpassed the United States and Japan to become Southeast Asia’s most important trade partner, comprising 14 percent of total external trade for ASEAN in 2013 ( Miller 2015 , 1). China will become an even more important... more

In 2009 China surpassed the United States and Japan to become Southeast Asia’s most important
trade partner, comprising 14 percent of total external trade for ASEAN in 2013 ( Miller 2015 , 1).
China will become an even more important trading partner, particularly with the completion of
the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement in November 2015 ( Li and Xu 2016 ). As an immediate
neighbor, Southeast Asia represents an enormous market for Chinese trade, goods and infl uence.
The establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), spearheaded by the
Chinese government and focusing on the Asia Pacifi c region, also signals the increasing Chinese
role in fi nancing aid-related projects ( Kamal and Gallager 2016 ).
The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization of Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) comprises 24 industrialized countries and the European
Union. These countries make up more than two-thirds of external fi nance for the least developed
countries ( OECD 2015a ) and have a strong interest in promoting global norms of good
governance through the disbursement of offi cial development assistance (ODA). China is not a
member of the DAC, and although current Chinese aid levels are low compared to traditional
OECD donors, the estimated combined fi gures for Chinese preferential export buyers’ credit,
grants, interest-free or concessional loans reached US$14.1 billion in 2013 (Kitano 2014, 301).
As such, there has been increasing scholarly research on the levels and impacts of Chinese overseas
aid, particularly in Africa (Bräutigam 2009; Davies et al. 2008 ; Moyo 2009 ), and at global
and regional scales ( Brautigam 2009 , 2011 ; Kitano 2014 ). However, there is currently little data
on Chinese foreign aid to Southeast Asia and its developmental impacts within the region. The
absence of information is compelled by the lack of understanding of the different types of Chinese
aid as well as a lack of transparency and information.

The policy phrase Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is rapidly gaining ground across Southeast Asia (and beyond). Despite numerous policy reports, little is known about how vocational training and education work as... more

The policy phrase Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is rapidly gaining ground across Southeast Asia (and beyond). Despite numerous policy reports, little is known about how vocational training and education work as sites of practice. This is especially true for informal household-based apprenticeships and privately organized, commercial classroom-based training. Yet, these latter arrangements are numerous, an integral part of the widespread informal economy, and reflecting the fact that homes have retained their productive character in much of the Global South. Combining a village-based perspective (Laos) with an urban-based perspective (Cambodia), we analyse how these informal and privately organized training spaces are situated in rural youth’s gendered lives and shaped by, but also generative of, aspirations of ‘becoming someone’. In addition, comparing informal apprenticeships with classroom-based training leads us to raise some important questions about the implications of the (global) policy emphasis on the standardization and formalization of TVET.

Japan’s strategic objective of the Quad Plus is not anti-China coalition-building, but to create an ad-hoc coalition-building device that serves the maintenance and enhancement of the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific... more

Japan’s strategic objective of the Quad Plus is not anti-China coalition-building, but to create an ad-hoc coalition-building device that serves the maintenance and enhancement of the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region. There is no open official discussion or declaration about the “Quad Plus”, and thus, there is no clear definition or fixed membership for such a framework. Rather, it functions as a flexible strategic tool to attract like-minded states and induce their functional and strategic cooperation, depending on their needs and demands of the day. As such, the Quad Plus is an informal cooperative security and non-traditional collective self-defence mechanism, which is not exclusive to any state, including China. At the same time, Japan has two target states to be included into the Quad Plus, the United Kingdom and France, because they are residential powers in the Indo-Pacific region. To this end, Japan has steadily strengthened its bilateral ties with them.

Despite their other theoretical differences, virtually all scholars of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agree that the organization's members share an almost religious commitment to the norm of non-intervention. This... more

Despite their other theoretical differences, virtually all scholars of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agree that the organization's members share an almost religious commitment to the norm of non-intervention. This article disrupts this consensus, arguing that ASEAN repeatedly intervened in Cambodia's internal political conflicts from 1979 to 1999, often with powerful and destructive effects. ASEAN's role in maintaining Khmer Rouge occupancy of Cambodia's UN seat, constructing a new coalition government in exile, manipulating Khmer refugee camps and informing the content of the Cambodian peace process will be explored, before turning to the 'creeping conditionality' for ASEAN membership imposed after the 1997 'coup' in Phnom Penh. The article argues for an analysis recognizing the political nature of intervention, and seeks to explain both the creation of non-intervention norms and specific violations of them as attempts by ASEAN elites to maintain their own illiberal, capitalist regimes against domestic and international political threats.
[the full version is available via my website, http://www.leejones.tk]

The dislocated, deterritorialized discourse produced by repatriates from formerly European colonies has remained overlooked in academic scholarship. One such group is the Eurasian “Indo” community that has its roots in the former Dutch... more

The dislocated, deterritorialized discourse produced by repatriates from formerly European colonies has remained overlooked in academic scholarship. One such group is the Eurasian “Indo” community that has its roots in the former Dutch East Indies, today’s Indonesia. This article focuses on Tjalie Robinson, the intellectual leader of this community from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. The son of a Dutch father and a British-Javanese mother, Robinson became the leading voice of the diasporic Indo community in the Netherlands and later also in the United States. His engagement resulted in the foundation of the Indo magazine Tong Tong and the annual Pasar Malam Besar, what was to become the world’s biggest Eurasian festival. Robinson played an essential role in the cultural awareness and self-pride of the eventually global Indo community through his elaboration of a hybrid and transnational identity concept. By placing his focus “tussen twee werelden” (in-between two worlds) and identifying “mixties-schap” (mestizaje) as the essential characteristic of Indo identity, Robinson anticipated debates on hybridity, transnationalism, and creolism that only much later would draw attention from scholars in the field of postcolonial studies. This article highlights Robinson’s pioneering role in framing a deterritorialized hybrid alternative to nationalist essentialism in the postcolonial era.

Religion and Orientalism in Asian Studies analyzes the role of religion in past and present understandings of Asia. Religion, and the history of its study in the modern academy, has exercised massive influence over Asian Studies fields in... more

Religion and Orientalism in Asian Studies analyzes the role of religion in past and present understandings of Asia. Religion, and the history of its study in the modern academy, has exercised massive influence over Asian Studies fields in the past century. Asian Studies has in turn affected, and is increasingly shaping, the study of religion. Religion and Orientalism in Asian Studies looks into this symbiotic relationship - both in current practice, and in the modern histories of both Orientalism and Area Studies

Examines convict life when Singapore was a penal colony between 1825 and 1873 and the unusual convict system where prisoners were their own warders. The magnificent buildings and construction that still stand today are a legacy of their... more

Examines convict life when Singapore was a penal colony between 1825 and 1873 and the unusual convict system where prisoners were their own warders. The magnificent buildings and construction that still stand today are a legacy of their enduring contributions.

Built in the early twelfth century, Angkor Wat is one of the world’s largest ancient religious structures. Each year thousands of visitors make the pilgrimage to Angkor Wat to witness the equinox sunrise over the temple’s lotus-shaped... more

Built in the early twelfth century, Angkor Wat is one of the world’s largest ancient religious structures. Each year thousands of visitors make the pilgrimage to Angkor Wat to witness the equinox sunrise over the temple’s lotus-shaped towers. In addition to the equinox alignment, however, there are other alignments at Angkor Wat and many of the surrounding temples. In this article multiple solstice alignments are identified for Angkor Wat and eleven nearby temples to include: Bakong, Phnom Bakheng, Phnom Bok, Phnom Krom, East Mebon, Pre Rup, Banteay Srei, Ta Keo, Baphuon, Preah Khan, and Bayon.
Subsequent to ground and aerial reconnaissance of the above sites, archaeoastronomic assessments were made using Google Earth, with solstice azimuths calculated using standard protocols. More than seventy solstice alignments were thus identified.
The multiplicity of solstice alignments combined with other data suggest that it was important for Angkor temples to be connected to the sun. If, as endorsed here, Angkor temples were microcosmic models of the cosmos, then arguably, solstice alignments connected the temples to the cyclic movement of the cosmos as manifested by the solar cycle.

This work is a beguiling prospect for anyone who has been involved in South Asia or has an interest in the region. The idea of analysing so many distinct insurgencies and counter-insurgency (COIN) campaigns within the covers of a single... more

This work is a beguiling prospect for anyone who has been involved in South Asia or has an interest in the region. The idea of analysing so many distinct insurgencies and counter-insurgency (COIN) campaigns within the covers of a single book is both ambitious and tantalising. Unfortunately, and in spite of occasional good moments, this book provides few of the answers. It has a clunky structure, is peppered with editorial and factual errors and unsupported statements. The British General Templer in Malaya argued that COIN should only be 25% shooting. The remainder should be winning "hearts and minds". Sadly this has all too rarely been the case in South Asia where many of the COIN campaigns have been heavy-handed and brutal. Partly this is a function of capability; effective COIN needs excellent intelligence and highly trained and equipped Special Forces. Yet it is interesting to reflect that two "successful" COIN operations of recent years; the Indian defeat of the Khalistan movement and President Rajapaksa's suppression of the Tamil Tigers owed little to Templer or the proponents of minimum force

This book investigates the lived cultures of the individuals within collectives who are part of creative cities in Southeast Asia. Such individuals and their creative collectives are all too often rendered silent and unnoticed within the... more

This book investigates the lived cultures of the individuals within collectives who are part of creative cities in Southeast Asia. Such individuals and their creative collectives are all too often rendered silent and unnoticed within the official narratives of creative city branding. This monograph examines the articulation of creative collectives in two cities: the creative city of Bandung in Indonesia and the creative, heritage city of George Town in Malaysia. The research enriches the field of urban media and communication studies, trying to understand how the tactics of individuals within the creative collectives – as the articulated voices from a bottom-up approach – disrupt, or counteract, the official narratives and the top-down strategies of Bandung and George Town as UNESCO-inscribed cities. Methodologically, this research combines ethnography and visual methodology, providing a situated and nuanced context for street-level analysis, in particular analysing how spatial and visual contexts are significant aspects of urban creative collectives. The analysis illuminates the creative politics of space and placemaking in local settings, highlighting how the collectives in this study form alternative spaces to live and work, developing an organic and dynamic interplay between the physical, social and digitally mediated spaces of creative cities. A key argument concerns the articulation of alternative voices through the form of ‘subtle resistance’ by creative collectives. Through an analysis of themes related to spatial practice in the city, cultural memory and cultural identity, the ethnographic and visual research offers a lens within which to understand and value everyday creative practices such as inventiveness and resourcefulness. The articulation of various identities, as urban dwellers, artists, craftspeople and creative collectives, offers a powerful alternative understanding of what it means to live and make do in the local streets, creative hubs and residential neighbourhoods of Southeast Asian creative cities.
The book excerpts can be seen and downloaded here: https://portal.research.lu.se/en/publications/creative-voices-of-the-city-articulating-media-space-and-cultural or here https://bit.ly/CreativeVoicesOfTheCity-Habibi2020

This interdisciplinary study allowed me to establish, on the basis of linguistic, genetic, archaeological, historical and religious data, that linguistic concordances between Gaulish and Slavic were linked with Neolithic migrations from... more

This interdisciplinary study allowed me to establish, on the basis of linguistic, genetic, archaeological, historical and religious data, that linguistic concordances between Gaulish and Slavic were linked with Neolithic migrations from NorthWestern India and Pakistan to Iran, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, the Caucasus, the North of the Black Sea, Danubic and Balkan Europe, Gaul and Iberia, where Neolithic farmers contributed to the formation of the megalithic civilisation which developed in Gaul from 5.000 BC and brought an archaic language stemming from a Trans-Eurasian original language. This explains the linguistic concordances I established between Gaulish and Dravidian languages-250 common words from the 500 words I studied (and 160 with Burushaski), as well as with Altaic, Uralic, Kartvelian, Anatolian and Middle-Eastern languages. This also explains similarities I have found in the organisation of the Society and religion, which lead certain researchers to suggest, on the basis of the spread of the very ancient haplogroup H2 P-96 from India to Western Europe, that first Europeans and proto-Dravidians had an ancient common origin, as macrohaplogroups F and K, from which stem all European haplogroups, and haplogroup H could appear in India.

We investigate pattern and process in the transmission of traditional weaving cultures in East and Southeast Asia. Our investigation covers a range of scales, from the experiences of individual weavers ('micro') to the broad-scale... more

We investigate pattern and process in the transmission of traditional weaving cultures in East and Southeast Asia. Our investigation covers a range of scales, from the experiences of individual weavers ('micro') to the broad-scale patterns of loom technologies across the region ('macro'). Using published sources, we build an empirical model of cultural transmission (encompassing individual weavers, the household and the community), focussing on where cultural information resides and how it is replicated and how transmission errors are detected and eliminated. We compare this model with macro-level outcomes in the form of a new dataset of weaving loom technologies across a broad area of East and Southeast Asia. The lineages of technologies that we have uncovered display evidence for branching, hybridization (reticulation), stasis in some lineages, rapid change in others and the coexistence of both simple and complex forms. There are some striking parallels with biological evolution and information theory. There is sufficient detail and resolution in our findings to enable us to begin to critique theoretical models and assumptions that have been produced during the last few decades to describe the evolution of culture.

Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS; Oriental University, 2019. — 244 pp., ill. The book is a collection of essays dealing with various aspects of Southeast Asian and Cambodian epigraphy and state formation. The first essay shows... more

Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS; Oriental University, 2019. — 244 pp., ill.
The book is a collection of essays dealing with various aspects of Southeast Asian and Cambodian epigraphy and state formation. The first essay shows the decisive step to the territorial state in Southeast Asia that took place in the seventh century CE. The second essay offers English and Russian translations of the Văt Luong Kău inscription K. 365 issued in honour of the King Devānīka and found near Vat Phou in Laos. Devānīka’s kingdom had no relation to the kingdom of Zhenla, except the possibility that Zhenla conquered the kingdom of Devānīka or his successors. The third essay gives English and Russian translations of the earliest dated Old Kkmer inscription K. 557/600 of 611 CE found in Angkor Borei. The essay includes a short overview of the personal names in the inscriptions of Cambodia. The fourth essay includes English and Russian translations of the Phnom Preah Vihear inscription K. 733 and a discussion of the root vidyā in Old Khmer inscriptions. The fifth essay outlines the history and archaeology of Funan and its transition to Zhenla. The essay is written in Russian. It shows a gradual Indianization of the Lower Mekong River Delta where the kingdom of Funan emerged in the beginning of the Common Era.
Предлагаемая монография «Становление государственности в Юго-Восточной Азии: Фунань и Ченла» состоит из двух частей. Первая написана на английском языке, вторая – на русском. В первой части предлагается концепция формирования территориального государства в регионе в VII в., даны комментированные переводы ключевых ранних надписей, найденных на территории Индокитая. Это санскритская надпись царя Деваники из Ват Пху K. 365, древнейшая датированная древнекхмерская надпись из Ангкор Борея 611 г. K. 557/600 и недатированная санскритская надпись из Преах Вихеар K. 733, в которой упоминаются такие школы индийской философии, как ньяя и вайшешика. Анализ надписей показывает как множественность политических центров в ранней Юго-Восточной Азии и значительные масштабы влияния на неё индийской культуры, так и сложный характер местной антропонимики, в которой одновременно существовали санскритские, древнекхмерские и другие австроазиатские имена. Вторая часть монографии посвящена изложению сведений о древнейших царствах Индокитая – Фунани и Ченле, известных из китайской исторической традиции. Данные письменных источников сопоставляются с результатами археологических исследований в Индокитае. Дана характеристика культуры Окео. В отдельном параграфе рассматриваются царские надписи эпохи Фунани, которые могли быть изданы её правителями или в их честь. Другой параграф показывает циклический характер завоевания Фунани древнекхмерским царством Ченлой: её правители Читрасена-Махендраварман и Ишанаварман оба именуются победителями Фунани в древнекитайских источниках. Особый параграф касается положения зависимых лиц в доангкорской Камбодже – кхнюмов, которых традиционно считают рабами, но чей статус остаётся не вполне ясным.

從蔡明亮、雅斯敏、阿牛、陳翠梅、劉城達、黃明志到廖克發:探索華語電影在後馬來西亞的崛起以及處於離散與反離散間距中的不即不離... more

This is the first of two articles that examines how knowledge about Singapore and its Straits circulated within European literary circles between 1511 and 1819. The present exposé surveys close to three centuries worth of references to... more

This is the first of two articles that examines how knowledge about Singapore and its Straits circulated within European literary circles between 1511 and 1819. The present exposé surveys close to three centuries worth of references to Singapore and its adjacent straits in European printed materials in order to make the case for its visibility and significance in readership. Besides offering a categorization of the references at hand, it argues that several thematic impressions emerge: of danger, division, antiquity and concentration which would be reached by an interested and resourceful reader. These references point to public familiarity with Singapore which was dismissed by British colonial scholarship after 1819.

Written for the centenary year of the presence of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in South Asia, this article looks back at their methods of communication during the pioneering years, describes the many communication initiatives... more

Written for the centenary year of the presence of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in South Asia, this article looks back at their methods of communication during the pioneering years, describes the many communication initiatives undertaken across the century, takes stock of the situation in the year of its publication, and proposes possibilities for the flourishing of SDB communication in South Asia beyond 2006.

This thoroughly updated new edition of an already popular text brings together specially-commissioned chapters by leading authorities, rigorously edited to ensure systematic coverage. It provides students with an accessible and up-to-date... more

This thoroughly updated new edition of an already popular text brings together specially-commissioned chapters by leading authorities, rigorously edited to ensure systematic coverage. It provides students with an accessible and up-to-date thematically-structured comparative introduction to Southeast Asia today.

The Colonial Public and the Parsi Stage is the first comprehensive study of the Parsi theatre, colonial South and Southeast Asia’s most influential cultural phenomenon and the precursor of the Indian cinema industry. By providing... more

The Colonial Public and the Parsi Stage is the first comprehensive study of the Parsi theatre, colonial South and Southeast Asia’s most influential cultural phenomenon and the precursor of the Indian cinema industry. By providing extensive, unpublished information on its first actors, audiences, production methods, and plays, this book traces how the theatre—which was one of the first in the Indian subcontinent to adopt European stagecraft—transformed into a pan-Asian entertainment industry in the second half of the nineteenth century. Nicholson sheds light on the motivations that led to the development of the popular, commercial theatre movement in Asia through three areas of investigation: the vernacular public sphere, the emergence of competing visions of nationhood, and the narratological function that women served within a continually shifting socio-political order. The book will be of interest to scholars across several disciplines, including cultural history, gender studies, Victorian studies, the sociology of religion, colonialism, and theatre.

In Catherine Lim’s short story “Monster” from her collection Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore, the grandmother’s bed is the monster. The old-fashioned wooden carved bed, along with her other possessions, causes more than an eyesore to... more

In Catherine Lim’s short story “Monster” from her collection Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore, the grandmother’s bed is the monster. The old-fashioned wooden carved bed, along with her other possessions, causes more than an eyesore to the daughter-in-law, who is determined to get rid of it. The situation represents the conflicts between older and younger generations in Chinese Singaporean society. The story examines how values have changed or been challenged through time and how Singapore, a former British colony, is influenced by the western world. Although the story’s main focus is the generational clash and the change of values, there are some traditional values that still persist in later generations.

China’s dazzling infrastructure and energy-driven Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a US$1 trillion investment across Eurasia and beyond, has lost its shine. Increasingly, China’s leveraging of the initiative is being perceived by a growing... more

China’s dazzling infrastructure and energy-driven Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a US$1 trillion investment across Eurasia and beyond, has lost its shine. Increasingly, China’s leveraging of the initiative is being perceived by a growing number of recipients and critics alike as a geopolitical power play, a tool to shape a new world order partly populated by autocrats and authoritarians, and progressively characterized by intrusive surveillance, potential debt traps, and perceived as a self-serving way to address domestic overcapacity