Showing papers in "Sojourn in 2014"

"Authenticity" and "Foreign Talent" in Singapore: The Relative and Negative Logic of National Identity

Abstract: Singapore’s constitutive sociocultural hybridity has meant that this postcolonial island-nation’s national identity has always been a problematic construct. The developmental state’s pragmatism and self-re-inventiveness further undermine the efforts to construct a stable national identity, frustrating the desire for an authentic nationhood in the essentialist and positive sense. Focus on the more recently arrived “foreign talent” subjects who inhabit the margins of the Singaporean imagination of the national body informs an alternative analytical angle on the question of Singaporean national identity. It is suggested that a sense of national togetherness and belonging emerges through constructing these national Others as “inauthentic”. Examination of two particularly visible and controversial types of “foreign talent” in Singapore — foreign sports professionals and foreign students who have received scholarships from the Singapore government — and of the ways in which they are discursively framed suggests that the “foreign talent” unwittingly constitute a relative and negative solution to Singapore’s national identity problem.

Singapore's Balancing Act, from the Perspective of the Linguistic Landscape

Abstract: Messages displayed or exposed in public spaces have begun to receive attention from scholars, as they turn to the study of what has been referred to as the linguistic landscape or as geosemiotics — if we consider how the text interacts with the social and physical world. Like traditional media, these messages are also public communication, in that the designated audience is the general passer-by rather than specific individuals. In multilingual and multicultural areas of the world, the extent to which different languages are represented in these displays is of particular interest. A distinction is made between official signs, in which the specific languages to be used and even their order might be dictated by by-laws, and unofficial signs erected by individuals or private companies, who have a free hand in deciding what goes on a sign. Singapore has struggled to be even-handed with its official languages (English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese and Tamil), and its linguistic landscape can be seen as evidence of some tension in the balancing act between the official languages. Evidence is drawn from a sampling of data from various key locations in Singapore.

Muay Thai: Inventing Tradition for a National Symbol

Abstract: Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand and one of its major cultural exports. Scholars have paid little attention to Muay Thai in its role as national sport or to the cultural politicking that attends it. As Muay Thai becomes increasing popular internationally, conservative proponents of the sport in Thailand are reifying its history and inventing tradition to ensure that its Thai cultural trappings are not eroded. On the basis of a slim set of historical references, several Thai institutions — including government ministries and universities — characterize muay as an integral part of royalist national history, and concretize those characterizations in the form of museums, academic institutionalization and the registration of Muay Thai as intangible cultural heritage.

Local Political Elites in Indonesia: "Risers" and "Holdovers"

Abstract: Local political elites in post-Soeharto Indonesia have become increasingly diverse, challenging the dominant characterizations of them as leftovers of the old regime or political opportunists. Existing literature on Indonesia’s local politics tends to focus on top-tier elected officials, such as provincial governors, district regents and municipal mayors. Political elites and elite aspirants at intermediate and lower levels of governance have received less attention. Field-study data collected in Pontianak, the regional capital of West Kalimantan, serves as the basis for analysis of the changing profiles of local elites and elite aspirants and for scrutiny of their efforts and tactics to acquire and retain power. The analysis demonstrates that local political elites in Indonesia consist not only of "holdovers" from the New Order era, but also new and diverse "risers". "Old" elites remain, as some survived the political transition and as young generations have inherited the resources and constituencies of their forbears. But at the same time "new" elites have entered the local political scene from various socio-economic and cultural backgrounds by taking advantage of new opportunities, resources and strategies. This local political diversification does not, however, necessarily indicate the level of the country’s democratic maturity.

Beyond "Chinese Diaspora" and "Islamic Ummah": Various Transnational Connections and Local Negotiations of Chinese Muslim Identities in Indonesia

Abstract: Going beyond the paradigm of a “Chinese Diaspora” and an “Islamic Ummah”, this article examines various transnational connections, translocal imaginings and local negotiations of Chinese Muslim identities in contemporary Indonesia. By constructing Chinese-style mosques, Chinese Muslim leaders have forged a distinctive translocal identity through transnational linkage with Muslims in China and reconfigured it within Indonesian contexts. This transnational imagining is not a form of desire for return to China, but rather an effort to redefine Chinese Muslims’ social position in Indonesia. Moreover, a closer exploration of ordinary Chinese Muslims in Indonesia reveals that their transnational connections are not limited to Muslims in China, and their local participation is not limited to Chinese Muslim organizations.

Civility's Footprint: Ethnographic Conversations about Urban Civility and Sustainability in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract: Vietnamese discourses and practices of “civility” ( van minh ) both intersect and come into conflict with conceptions of urban sustainability. On one level, as ideas , both sustainability and civility are born of the same will to discipline the present-day actions of individuals in order to achieve long-term, future-oriented goals for social collectives. On the level of lived practice , however, the actual lifestyles that accompany contemporary Vietnamese concepts of civility present challenges to sustainable cities. Conversely, many ecologically sustainable urban lifestyles, when viewed through the lens of civility, appear to be socially unsustainable. Ongoing tensions between the concepts of civility and sustainability in Ho Chi Minh City suggest that a nuanced understanding of civility and sustainability in contemporary Vietnamese cities might most productively emerge if one considers the two concepts in dialogue with each other.

Building a Human Border: The Thai Border Patrol Police School Project in the Post–Cold War Era

Abstract: ��� Enjoying royal patronage, the school project of the Border Patrol Police contributed to the construction of a “human border” for Thailand during the Cold War. The project continues to have an impact on current struggles for identity among the country’s highland minorities. Historical and anthropological analysis suggests that the hierarchical integration of the border population into the Thai nation resulted in a tension between the national and ethnic identities of the country’s highland minorities. This tension challenges the sustainability of the modern nation-building effort of the Border Patrol Police and the Thai royal family.

“Playable” Nationalism: Nusantara Online and the “Gamic” Reconstructions of National History

Abstract: Nusantara Online is an Indonesian-made massively multiplayer online role-playing game that imaginatively reconstructs the history of the archipelago. As an “allegorithm” for the Indonesian nation, the game suggests a distinct model of digital nationalism, here dubbed “playable” nationalism. This concept captures the formulation of “Nusantara” as the idealized yet playful version of the Indonesian archipelago, a version emphasizing the principles of digital collaboration. The promotion of this model of “digital nationalism” as an egalitarian model of Indonesian popular nationalism has certain limitations.

Organizing Autarky: Governor General Decoux's Development of a Substitution Economy in Indochina as a Means of Promoting Colonial Legitimacy

Abstract: Cut off from the metropole and coerced into trade with Japan, the French administration in Indochina under Governor General Jean Decoux had to find ingenious ways to produce locally what it had been accustomed to importing. Through the creation of a substitution economy, the nurturing of the artisanat , and appeals to Indochinese solidarity, Decoux designed policies to minimize the impact of Indochina’s isolation and exalt the benefits of French tutelage, as part of a final effort to convince the peoples of Indochina that French civilization could drive their societies forward — an approach founded on linearity that in itself reveals much about the colonial mind.

Phantom Scandal: On the National Uses of the "Thailand Controversy"

Abstract: The episode known as the “Thailand Controversy” centred on claims that, during the Vietnam War, American anthropologists in Thailand had been collaborating with U.S. and Thai military interests and in ways that harmed social life and efforts towards equality and justice in that country. Reflection and comparison suggest that the allegations of impropriety allowed for emotional identification and understanding in terms of outrage, and that this dynamic is common in the context of anxieties over the transgression of ethnic boundaries. The case is compared with an episode of fears of witchcraft involving the Mien of northern Laos, when an ethnic militia took charge of spiritually and militarily guarding the ethnic boundary. Examination of how the anthropological crisis involving Thailand played out suggests various national differences in the academic discipline, in the United States, Australia, Austria and Thailand. The facts of the case are strongly connected to emotional identification, to a divide in the United States between theoretical and applied anthropology, and to responses to decades of political suppression in the United States.

The Buddha's Precepts on Respecting Other Races and Religions?: Thinking about the Relationship of Ethnicity and Theravada Buddhism

Abstract: Theravada Buddhism is often practised in contexts of significant ethnic diversity in Southeast Asia, but much scholarship has not sufficiently accounted for the role of this diversity in shaping the imagination of Theravada Buddhism among its practitioners in the region. Examination of Theravada Buddhist communities in the three very different contexts of Singapore, Southwest China and Thailand serves as the basis for consideration of this role. Despite the differences among these settings, Theravada Buddhism in each is shaped by state discourses on race and religion. The ways in which Theravada Buddhism and ethnicity in both local and state forms mark each other merits more attention.

Seditious State-Making in the Mekong Borderlands: The Shan Rebellion of 1902–1904

Abstract: A study of the Shan rebellion which broke out in the northern Siamese town of Phrae in July 1902 and continued until May 1904 serves as the basis for an exploration of the interaction between sedition and state-making in the Mekong borderlands at the turn of the twentieth century. French archival material makes clear that the rebellion was not just a two-dimensional struggle between discontented Shan and the expanding Siamese state, as it has been commonly understood. Rather, the rebellion was a multifaceted encounter with competing processes of state-making in the borderlands of Siam, Burma and French Indochina. The French sources show how the Shan rebels attempted to mobilize precolonial political alliances that extended well beyond the boundaries of Siam. They also show how the rebellion intersected productively with the recently established border between Siam and French Indochina. Modern borders are often portrayed as constraining the lives of borderlanders, but this marker of modern state power provided the rebellious Shan with sites of strategic refuge and tactical manoeuvre. Sedition and state-making were closely intertwined.

Wiring the New Order: Indonesian Village Electrification and Patrimonial Technopolitics (1966–1998)

Abstract: While Indonesia’s New Order government frequently claimed that its motivation for rural electrification was the improvement of villagers’ welfare, the motivation was also political It sought to convince villagers to vote for GOLKAR in the general elections In addition, President Soeharto used electrification inauguration ceremonies to create a sense of Indonesia as a rapidly developing society with himself at the helm directing the country’s development As a result, his political support in the countryside increased, a factor that helped him stay in power for thirty-two years Although the State Electricity Company disliked the New Order’s patrimonial technopolitics, it continued to electrify the nation, as it was convinced of the socio-economic benefits of village electrification

W(h)ither State Interest in Intimacy?: Singapore through a Comparative Lens

Abstract: National governments have long taken widely varying positions on population policy. Singapore, for example, has made great efforts to manage individual reproductive decisions, first to lower fertility rates and then to increase them. Comparisons between Singapore’s population policies and those of two neighbouring countries, Thailand and Indonesia, reveal one case in which fertility fell dramatically despite a less intrusive policy environment, and another in which fertility also fell, but not as dramatically, despite a similarly aggressive approach to Singapore’s. Of the three, Singapore’s population policy continues to be the most tenacious; it continues to be framed in terms of “national development” and economic well-being.

Writing a Singular Past: Mon History and "Modern" Historiography in Burma

Abstract: The historiography of the Mons of Burma reflects the larger intellectual world in which Mon scholars have been schooled and trained. Under British colonialism, British scholars introduced a number of ideas and practices related to history. These included ways of viewing and evaluating sources and concepts of ethnicity. Local intellectuals, including Mon scholars, have made these colonial inheritances part of their own historiographical practices. A result is that Mon scholars often project anachronistic readings on to their own past.

Vietnamese-Chinese Relationships at the Borderlands: Trade, Tourism and Cultural Politics by Yuk Wah Chan (review)

Abstract: speaking, and the relationship between individual “consciousness” and collective action is, at best, very complex. The most interesting and valuable source material in the book is the author’s own interviews with workers, but the majority of the sources are written, either from workers’ letters and petitions or, more often, from journalistic or official reports, and in these cases interpretation is very difficult. The author generally uses key words to trigger an interpretation, but the fact that workers, let alone their spokesperson (most probably a “barrack room lawyer”), journalists or government officials, might use a particular phrase in articulating grievances and demands cannot really tell us anything about the “consciousness” or motivation of the workers in question. The phrasing of demands is more likely a tactical judgement than a spontaneous expression of “consciousness”. The book’s level of detail means that it provides fascinating source material for those seeking to develop comparative studies of worker protests in the face of globalization. The overwhelming impression from its accounts is that Vietnamese workers have mobilized, ever since the French occupation, on a class basis and that their mobilization has generally overcome divisions of skill, local origin, gender, ethnicity and religion. At the same time, as might be expected, their demands have rarely been phrased in the language of pure class struggle, but have appealed to the law, the state, religion and morality in support of the workers’ demands.

Disaster and Discrimination: The Ethnic Chinese Minority in Padang in the Aftermath of the September 2009 Earthquake

Abstract: Debates over the issue of discrimination against ethnic Chinese in Padang, West Sumatra, in the aftermath of the September 2009 earthquake centre on the reality of such discrimination. On the one hand, many ethnic Chinese in the city acknowledge that they felt discriminated against. This feeling arose from the very slow and limited response to their own and their family’s needs during the emergency situation and recovery process. On the other hand, the pribumi residents and the authorities insist that there was no discrimination. They argue that ethnic Chinese are guilty of exaggeration. In-depth interviews undertaken during June–September and a survey of the news media suggest a need to consider the social complexities surrounding disaster management and recovery.

Sex Ratio at Birth among Chinese Malaysians, 1963-2003

Abstract: The preference for a son over a daughter is a product of traditional agrarian society that persists today. The high sex ratio at birth in China and Taiwan shows the close connection between Chinese culture and the preference for a son. It raises the question of whether there is a high sex ratio at birth (SRB) among Chinese Malaysians. Data for SRBs among Chinese in West Malaysia from 1963 to 2003, as obtained from the Department of Statistics, Malaysia, are analysed. The results reveal a rising trend in SRB. SRB has been positively correlated with GDP per capita but negatively correlated with the number of babies born. The results indicate that the younger generation may also be influenced by the cultural preference for sons. Pre- and postnatal discrimination may worsen, as both growth in per capita GDP and falling birth rates are projected in the future.

Conversion to Ahmadiyya in Indonesia: Winning Hearts through Ethical and Spiritual Appeals

Abstract: What is the manner in which Qadiani Ahmadiyya have propagated their beliefs and teachings to Indonesian Muslims and the factors that have attracted people to this movement and led them to convert to Ahmadiyya? What are the social implications of conversion? There is a perception that people’s receptiveness to Ahmadiyya is due mainly to its modernist character. But for Indonesians Qadiani’s most attractive feature is not its modernist stance, but rather its followers’ belief in the coming of the Messiah, its close knit organization and its sober and passionate missionaries. In contrast to members of the Lahore branch of Ahmadiyya, known for its rational tendency, members of the Qadiani branch have in their efforts at propagation of the faith emphasized their distinctive beliefs, such as the natural death of Jesus and the caliphate system. Qadiani Ahmadiyya has also tended to be a mystical movement whose members have a strong belief in supernatural experiences and dreams. They use these experiences and dreams to show God’s preference for them and God’s interference in human relationships, as when God sides with them.

From "Crocodile City" to "Ville Lumière": Cinema Spaces on the Urban Landscape of Colonial Surabaya

Abstract: The development of exhibition spaces in Surabaya, from canvas and bamboo tents to luxurious cinema palaces, between 1897 and World War I demonstrates the burgeoning movie-going scene in this major colonial-era port city in Eastern Java. The evolution of these venues on the modernizing urban landscape came in the context of other processes of development and social change, which informed both the decisions of cinema entrepreneurs and the mobility of spectators. As a site in which technology, race and colonialism converged, the cinema represented a liminal space in Surabaya’s multiethnic and increasingly polarized colonial society.

Ancestors in Borneo Societies: Death, Transformation and Social Immortality ed. by Pascal Couderc and Kenneth Sillander (review)

Abstract: Ancestors in Borneo Societies is a collection of essays that attempts to develop and redefine the study of ancestors in Borneo studies. Among anthropologists, this region is associated with the pioneering work of Robert Hertz on secondary mortuary rituals (Hertz [1907] 1960) and the practice of headhunting (Hoskins 1996). Although reforming the established scholarship of The Dark Side of Humanity (Parkin 1996) was an ambitious goal, Courdec and Sillander have brought together a comprehensive collection of papers framed by an original analytical concept — ancestorship. The book is composed of an introduction and eight chapters. Except for Oesterheld’s thematic discussion of the role of ancestors in the Dayak-Madurese conflict, each essay focuses on a single people. Their foci ranging from East Kalimantan to the southern part of Malaysian Borneo, the contributors provide rich ethnographic accounts collected among the Bentian, Benuaq, Uut Danum, Gerai, Iban and Melanau groups. The book also contains noteworthy illustrations and a detailed map for those unfamiliar with the region. A welcome addition would have been a glossary of indigenous terms and their etymology. The originality of this volume lies in its introduction to the analytical concept of ancestorship. In their attempt to bring ancestors back au goût du jour, Courdec’s and Sillander’s introduction reviews the classic studies of Fortes and Radcliff-Brown, amongst others. They argue that the focus on the posthumous treatment of the remains and the spirits of lineal forebears greatly limits our understanding of the nature and roles of ancestors in society. Rejecting lineage or descent as the basis for their classification, Courdec and Sillander suggest that any person of the past having a positive influence on society through symbolic representation may be considered an ancestor. These include mythological figures, animal spirits, local divinities and worshipped or revered forebears. They propose that

Sayagyi and sage: Hla Myint, Myanmar’s “classical” economist

Abstract: Burmese economists have been unusually prominent contributors to the evolution of economic thought. Looming over all of them, however, is Hla Myint. An intellectual pioneer in the study of economic development, trade and the institutions that drive growth, he could have had a decisive influence on economic policymaking in Myanmar. Effectively forced into exile via a misguided reaction in Myanmar against the perceived economics of colonialism, he instead made contributions that assumed a global importance. The principal ideas of Hla Myint may be located then within the discourse of “classical economics”, but they were also informed by the circumstances of the country of his birth. In 2012, over seventy years after he first took up his pen in Myanmar’s service, Hla Myint’s wise counsel was once again heard, with immediate effect, and newfound hope.

The Story of Việt Nam: From Prehistory to the Present by Shelton Woods (review)

Abstract: Shelton Woods’ concise history textbook, The Story of Việt Nam, brings readers from the prehistory of Việt Nam to the present, ending in the 1990s. His volume offers snapshots of the major events in Vietnamese history. Its brevity and the author’s style of writing is appropriate for American high schoolers or non-specialist college students interested in the history of Việt Nam. However, it does not reflect the latest developments in scholarship on Vietnam, making it inappropriate for a college class on Vietnamese history. Woods’ short history of Việt Nam achieves much in some eighty pages: it highlights the major political developments of Việt Nam’s nearly 4,000 years of history, while introducing important facets of Vietnamese culture. The strength of its narrative lies in his treatment of post-1945 Vietnamese history. Woods has a nuanced understanding of the Việt Nam wars (1945–75), whereby he highlights the complexities of anti-colonial struggle and competing visions of Vietnameseness against the backdrop of Cold War politics. It is also significant that he continues beyond 1975, fostering understanding of Việt Nam as a country, not a war. This understanding is further fostered through Woods’s snippets on Vietnamese culture — on, for instance, the importance of Buddhism. His style of writing also attempts to engage with an American audience. In describing the size of Vietnam, he describes it as “slightly smaller than New Mexico” (p. 5). He also uses metaphors like “[a]s at the beginning of a sporting event, most people are supportive and enthusiastic at the outset of a war” (p. 46). While I do not personally find these comparisons and metaphors useful, they might be engaging for its intended audience. I would not recommend this text for use in a specialist class on Vietnamese history. Its brevity has its limitations. For example, Woods’ history of Việt Nam is ethnic-Vietnamese (kinh) centric. There is little room in his narrative for the Chams in the fourteenth

Forest of Struggle: Moralities of Remembrance in Upland Cambodia by Eve Monique Zucker (review)

Abstract: Eve Zucker’s book, Forest of Struggle is an important contribution to the literature on societies in the aftermath of extreme violence and specifically to the study of Cambodian society since the Khmer Rouge era. The book is ethnography, but not in the classical style of a snapshot in time of a single village; it tells the story of two villages, set on the margins of Khmer society, on the “edge of the forest.” It belongs in a category with such important books as Linda Green’s Fear as a Way of Life (about Guatemala) on the one hand, and Anna Tsing’s In the Realm of the Diamond Queen on the other—stories of violence, fear, and displacement, but told from a local grounding. Zucker describes other studies of “social memory” as arguing that violence continues to influence the present as people “reinterpret their memories in efforts to cope with the violence of their past” (p. 11); but she would expand this discussion to include issues of morality and the remaking of the moral and social order. The memories she focuses on are primarily collective and are shaped by local history, including the way that local stories are re-told, and how these stories are tied to features of the landscape. The area of Cambodia where Zucker conducted research, the two communes she calls Prei Phnom and Doung Srae, are up against the mountains, an area viewed by lowlanders, the French colonial authorities, and subsequent state governments, as a haven for bandits and rebels. The Khmer Issarak (including the “White Khmer”) and Vietnamese anti-French forces used the area as a base in the 1940s and 50s, and the community was divided between those who sought protection from these groups higher up the mountains, and those who went down to seek safety in the government controlled areas. This pattern would be repeated; in 1970 the Khmer Rouge arrived and many people fled with them to the forest. Many of the men from the area fought with the Khmer Rouge against the Lon Nol regime between 1970 and 1975. Others again descended to the plains and fought on the government side. During this period, people informed on one another; Lon Nol forces assumed everyone in the area were Khmer Rouge, but the Khmer Rouge accused people of being “White Khmer” under Prince Norodom Chantaraingsey. In Prei Phnom comKyoto University

Gambling with the Land: The Contemporary Evolution of Southeast Asian Agriculture by Rodolphe De Koninck and Jean-François Rousseau (review)

Abstract: Alberts is well informed on the role of Southeast Asians themselves in interpreting the faith and developing devotions. Something that I missed here is a discussion of priestly practices that would have seemed strange, or even repulsive, to many local people. The best example is flagellation and “discipline”, which Francis Xavier, to cite a prominent practitioner, undertook with much enthusiasm. The book closes with a chapter on the role of women in European Catholicism and its modification in Southeast Asia and one on slavery, quite acceptable in the region but posing particular challenges for missionaries. A strong conclusion reiterates the main themes of the book. This is an excellent example of a successful transition from a doctoral dissertation to a book that should have wide appeal amongst those working on conversions in general, not just in Asia, but also to scholars of the three areas treated. What would be an excellent complement would be a parallel study of Islamic missionary work in insular Southeast Asia, if only because the process of Islamization was much more successful than Christianization. So many of the themes that Alberts mentions can be found in the Muslim effort, such as the matter of accommodation and amusing denunciations from the heartland of Islam concerning the lax practice of Southeast Asians who claimed to be Muslims. Alberts cites various studies on conversion to Islam, but maybe someday we will get a focussed comparative study, one which — from the Christian side — would necessarily draw heavily on Dr Alberts’ excellent book.

Adat and Indigeneity in Indonesia: Culture and Entitlements between Heteronomy and Self-Ascription ed. by Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin (review)

Abstract: dismissing his previous High Court acquittal on fresh allegations of sodomy. This unexpected verdict rendered meaningless a by-election dubbed the “Kajang Move” and designed to install Anwar as chief minister of Selangor, purportedly as a launching pad to the prime ministership. Whatever the outcome of his judicial troubles, Anwar’s place in Malaysian history is assured. While Anwar’s practical contribution remains constricted, his post-Reformasi discourse and programmes offered to Malaysians a viable alternative to the condescending, hegemonic and racialist politics to which they have been subjected by the UMNO-led political establishment since independence. Putting aside technical weaknesses such as the frequent presence of too many quotations from authors of divergent viewpoints in single sentences, The Evolution of a Muslim Democrat manages to capture Anwar’s undying vision of a better deal for Malaysia, Malaysians and Malay-Muslims. Allers contextually locates the heritage of that vision in Malaysian Islam’s legacy of sufi-centric religious tolerance and Anwar’s own socio-religious upbringing at home and school, particularly at the English-orientated secondary institution, the Malay College of Kuala Kangsar. Whether Anwar’s lofty ideals see the light of day during his lifetime is left for Malaysians to decide in forthcoming polls.