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Showing papers in "Sojourn in 2004"


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 2004-Sojourn
TL;DR: The Thai regime of images as mentioned in this paper is an internally differentiated form of power that exerts systematically different types of policing and control over actions and discourse in the private and public spheres, respectively.
Abstract: This study analyses the empirical character and logical form of modes of Thai power, which the author calls the Thai regime of images. The regime of images is an internally differentiated form of power that exerts systematically different types of policing and control over actions and discourse in the private and public spheres, respectively. Under this regime, actions performed and statements uttered in the public ( satharana ) domain are more stringently monitored than identical actions and utterances restricted to domains that may be no less visible but which are culturally labelled as private ( suan tua ). When statements or representations do not conform with idealized forms, and are perceived as disrupting, "the image of smooth calm" ( phap-phot haeng khwam-sa-ngop-riap-roi ), then both formal (legal) and informal (cultural) modes of power may be mobilized to expel the unwanted representations from the public domain. This regime of power/knowledge has epistemological implications, determining what can and cannot be articulated as public knowledge in Thailand.

88 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 2004-Sojourn
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the history of this regime of power/knowledge and power/prestige and show that rather than being traditional, it took its present form as part of Siam's responses to the encroachment of the Western powers in the nineteenth century.
Abstract: Previous accounts of the Thai regime of images have been largely ahistorical, presenting the phenomenon as something of a cultural given. This study traces the history of this regime of power/knowledge and power/prestige and shows that rather than being "traditional" it took its present form as part of Siam's responses to the encroachment of the Western powers in the nineteenth century. As a modern form of power, the regime of images came Into being as a product of the distinctive character of Siam's semi-colonial relations with the West, Noncolonized Siam did not need to wage a war of independence to expel foreign colonizers. Nevertheless, to preserve national autonomy a new form of local power was called into being, and the regime of images emerges from this strategic mobilization of local power In the service of preserving Siamese independence. The contemporary Thai political system remains authoritarian. To a considerable extent this is a legacy ofthe country's semi-colonial history when, as a strategic response to the challenges that nineteenth century colonialism presented to national autonomy, the absolute monarchy mobilized a new form ofpower to construct a public field of images of a "civilized" Siam. While this "regime of images" was called into being to placate Western demands for "civilized" behaviour, it simultaneously realized the potential of the indigenous absolutist state, especially in the sphere ofpublic appearances. In contrast, in the private sphere of everyday life significant disjunctures with public performances of Western-style civilization were often tolerated and

63 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 2004-Sojourn
TL;DR: In this paper, a review article of ethnological literature on the area straddling southern Thailand and peninsular Malaysia is the author's first attempt to show the historical development of Muslim-Buddhist relations in the period 1969-2002.
Abstract: This review article of ethnological literature on the area straddling southern Thailand and peninsular Malaysia is the author's first attempt to show the historical development of Muslim-Buddhist relations in the period 1969-2002. The literature mirrors the transformation of Muslim-Buddhist relations from shared cosmos to the mobilization of hatred by illustrating the local institutions of coexistence (intermarriage, local beliefs in common ancestors, syncretism in healing practices, reciprocity in cultural niches, and the transformation and collapse of these institutions by extra-local factors, the impact of the state and globalization, illustrating the diversity of Muslim-Buddhist relations in southern Thailand.

32 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 2004-Sojourn
TL;DR: In this paper, Anderson et al. explored the complex transnational dimensions and trajectories of East Timorese long-distance nationalism and reflected on the implications of interconnections with "outside" groups and discourses.
Abstract: This article is based on ethnographic research with the East Timcrese refugee community in Sydney, Austraiia, undertaken between 1998 and 2002. It considers the transnational dimensions to their practices of "iong-distanoe nationaiism". Moving beyond a simpie "homeland" to "refugee" trajectory, the author takes the position that transnational oonnections and infiuenoes must be seen to be both located (that is, consumed and experienoed in place) and interconnected beyond the bounds of the group and its homeland. The article aims to map out some of the "imaginative resouroes" within the "diasporio public sphere" • which have contributed to the coilective imagination within the East Timorese community, in addition to mapping out the "cultural products" and symbolic production of the East Timorese diasporic public sphere, the article explores both the intercommunai and transnationai iinks entailed therein, and the impiications of these on the shape of East Timorese diasporic identity. This article explores the complex transnational dimensions and trajectories of East Timorese long-distance nationalism (Anderson 1998, p. 73)' and reflects on the implications of interconnections with "outside" groups and discourses. Based on four years of research with the East Timorese exile community in Sydney between 1998 and 2002 I begin by mapping some ofthe "imaginative resources" of long-distance nationalism which have contributed to the collective imagination of the East Timorese community in the diaspora to describe some of the primary content of what Appadurai (1996, pp. 21-22) and Werbner (1998) have called the "diasporic public sphere".^ In addition to mapping the "cultural products" and symbolic production ofthe East Timorese diasporic

26 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 2004-Sojourn
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors deal with the various meanings attached to the models of Islamic governance in contemporary Malaysia, particularly with the ones introduced by Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), and show how Islamic discourses of modernity and traditionalism have been interwoven by acquiring new and often ambiguous meanings in a multitude of ways.
Abstract: This paper deals with the various meanings attached to the models of Islamic governance in contemporary Malaysia, particularly with the ones introduced by Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS). Rather than highlighting the clash between Islamic fundamentalism and the state, it tries to show how Islamic discourses of modernity and traditionalism have been interwoven by acquiring new and often ambiguous meanings in a multitude of ways: From its nationalist roots PAS has turned to the shia-style Islamic state to advocate Islamic democracy and civil society after the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim in 1998, and the ensuing calls for more political transparency and reliability. Since the events of "September 11", PAS has been forced back to its Islamist basics to secure the core support of conservative Malay voters in the east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu.

24 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 2004-Sojourn
TL;DR: This paper examined the question of national identity and belonging in Singapore and found that the government's approach to nation-building based on economic developmentalism and survivalism has created an ambivalent and tenuous relationship of mutual obligation between the individual and the nation state.
Abstract: This paper draws on research data gathered from an Internet discussion forum, e-mail survey, and newspaper report to examine the question of national identity and belonging in Singapore. It considers how Singaporean citizens relate to the kinds of discourses on national identity presented by the government and articulate their experiences and sense of belonging to the Singapore nation. It argues that the government's approach to nation-building based on economic developmentalism and survivalism has created an ambivalent and tenuous relationship of mutual obligation between the individual and the nation-state. It is therefore crucial that the basis of national identity is dislodged from the ideology of survivalism if an ethical practice of obligation/reciprocity is to emerge.

11 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 2004-Sojourn
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore local issues concerning the consequences of recent changes in Indonesia for village people in eastern Indonesia, issues include access to health procurement, structural changes in the administration of internal affairs, regional autonomy, and the reassertion of cultural and regional associations.
Abstract: The last few years in Indonesia have seen many changes occurring as a result of unprecedented events — a financial crisis in 1997, the downfall of Soeharto's New Order in 1998, the instability of several governments 1998-2001, all amidst religious, economic, and ethnic disturbances and violence in many areas in Indonesia. At the same time laws of decentralization and regional autonomy provide new processes incorporating a democratic response and reaction to Soeharto's New Order. This paper explores local issues concerning the consequences of recent changes in Indonesia for village people in eastern Indonesia, Issues include access to health procurement for village people who have recently experienced the financial crisis, the downfall of the New Order government, structural changes in the administration of internal affairs, regional autonomy, and the reassertion of cultural and regional associations.

11 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 2004-Sojourn
TL;DR: Farming households with close kinship ties in northeast Thailand have long been practising joint utilization of farmland, but the share decreased drastically by 2000, and economic growth has reached a point where farmers have to discard the communal system and introduce a market system of land utilization, such as sharecropping.
Abstract: Farming households with close kinship ties in northeast Thailand have long been practising joint utilization of farmland. They used this multihousehold farming method even more actively to cope with the macroeconomic development beginning in the 1960s. A 1989 survey of a village by the author found more than one-third of farmland under such communal use. However, the share decreased drastically by 2000, Economic growth has reached a point where farmers have to discard the communal system and introduce a market system of land utilization, such as sharecropping even between households of close kin.

10 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
01 Apr 2004-Sojourn
TL;DR: Romano's paper as discussed by the authors is a welcome contribution to the scholarship and is a result of an extended period of grounded research, demonstrating an admirable wealth of detailed information, particularly for those who have little of no familiarity with Indonesia.
Abstract: Indonesia's recently expanded media industry has gained the serious attention it deserves from local and foreign analysts alike. Romano's publication is a welcome contribution to the scholarship. It is a result of an extended period of grounded research, demonstrating an admirable wealth of detailed information. The information would be especially instructive for those who have little of no familiarity with Indonesia, particularly regarding the dynamics of its contemporary

2 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 2004-Sojourn
TL;DR: The authors examines the interrelationships between regional development programmes introduced in Indonesia during Soehartos New Order and women responses to such programmes in the northern Sulawesi community of Tomohon.
Abstract: This article examines the interrelationships between regional development programmes introduced in Indonesia during Soehartos New Order and womens responses to such programmes in the northern Sulawesi community of Tomohon. Three major areas of socio-economic change and development in Indonesia are considered: industrialization and factory work tourism-related activities and overseas contract work. Women are seen as active and reflexive actors in these processes and it is argued that they seek alternative employment for reasons of economic advancement and personal circumstances and importantly in search of new life experiences. (authors)