Showing papers in "Sojourn in 2015"

Encounters and Mobilities: Conceptual Issues in Tourism Studies in Southeast Asia

Abstract: There have been recent attempts to advance research in tourism studies and to redefine the rationale and focus of this field of study. Erik Cohen and Scott A. Cohen have published important and stimulating papers in a recent exercise aimed at rethinking the sociological and anthropological analysis of tourism. They propose a “mobilities” paradigm as a conceptual way forward. However, with reference to Southeast Asian research material the established concept of “encounter”, incorporating the notion of a field of social, cultural, symbolic and virtual interaction, continues to provide an alternative way to think about and analyse on-the-ground activities at tourism sites.

The Rise and Fall (?) of Hội An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Vietnam

Abstract: The title of UNESCO “World Heritage Site” is a much desired marker of quality tourism. Yet social scientists rarely discuss the designation’s impact on specific locales, the programme’s effectiveness or its negative effects. Ethnographic fieldwork conducted at the World Heritage Site of Hội An in Vietnam since 1998 permits exploration of the practices, processes and outcomes of achieving World Heritage Site status, as well as of the impact of that status on the lives of local people. The World Heritage project fails in its approach to cultural heritage in less affluent destinations, hardly protects material heritage and possibly contributes to the destruction of the sites that it aims to protect.

You Can Come Home Again: Narratives of Home and Belonging among Second-Generation Việt Kiều in Vietnam

Abstract: Over the last decade, increasing numbers of second-generation overseas Vietnamese or Việt Kiều have returned to Vietnam to live and work. These are children of first-generation immigrant parents, who fled the country following the communist victory over South Vietnam in 1975. Since the 1990s, the government has implemented new laws and policies to encourage overseas Vietnamese to return to invest, work and live in Vietnam. However, recent state initiatives have also been hampered by substantial ambiguities and bureaucratic inefficiency. The narratives of second-generation Việt Kiều living in Hồ Chi Minh City reveal how — apart from state discourse and policies — personal motivations and pragmatic considerations also have an important bearing on their sense of “home” and “belonging” in Vietnam.

The Changing Face of Political Islam in Malaysia in the Era of Najib Razak, 2009–2013

Abstract: Najib Razak’s tenure as Malaysia’s sixth prime minister has witnessed vigorous drives towards multiple visions of political Islam, orchestrated by different sets of Islamists in both overtly political groups and non-state activist clusters. While Islam has always been a pivotal factor in Malaysian politics, interpretations of Islam, concerning both doctrine and practice, have arisen among successive generations of Malaysian Muslims. Since the beginning of Najib Razak’s premiership, however, the initiative in defining the Islamic framework of the nation has, with ghastly consequences, been effectively delegated to the official Islamic bureaucracy, whose horizons are coloured by visions of Islamist uniformity rather than a religiously acceptable Muslim plurality. At the same time, the emergence of a range of civil-society actors has complicated the Islamist terrain. Najib faces a predicament in continuing Malaysia’s practice of pluralist politics whilst at the same time accommodating inclusive notions of Islam in his management of the body politic.

Agency, Social Capital, and Mixed Embeddedness among Akha Ethnic Minority Street Vendors in Thailand's Tourist Areas

Abstract: Eye-catching self-employed female Akha souvenir vendors have become part of the informal sector in Thailand that is linked to the global tourism economy. Data from nine months' qualitative research are analysed in the framework of "mixed embeddedness" to explore the opportunities and risks with which ethnic minority street vendors in Bangkok are confronted. The role of social capital merits analysis, and Akha vendors' practices of economic action require examination. Comprehensive assessment of ethnic minority entrepreneurs with respect to their everyday economic activities and prospects must systematically integrate individual and collective action into socio-economic and politico-institutional contexts.

Third-Party Intervention in Terminating Oil Palm Plantation Conflicts in Indonesia: A Structural Analysis

Abstract: Academic literature emphasizes the importance of agents in conflict resolution analysis and neglects the influence of structure. A study of the resolution of conflict between the people of Pangean Village, Riau Province, and an oil palm plantation company shows that structure contributes to the resolution process and to the outcome of conflict. The conflict in question concerned a plot of land cultivated by PT Citra Riau Sarana (PT CRS) as part of its oil palm plantation and by smallholders linked to the company. The local district government tried but was unable to end the conflict. With the involvement of an NGO, the people of Pangean Village and PT CRS succeeded in reaching consensus, in implementing written agreements and in resolving their conflict.

Making a "Career" in People-Smuggling in Indonesia: Protracted Transit, Restricted Mobility and the Lack of Legal Work Rights

Abstract: ��� Two case studies of convicted Afghan people smugglers detail the specific tasks and responsibilities of people smugglers in Indonesia. Academic research has so far overlooked the fluctuant nature of smuggling networks, the distribution of roles and the varying involvement of their members and auxiliaries. Attention to these dimensions of people-smuggling contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the operation of these networks in the Indonesian setting. This understanding suggests that entering criminal business networks such as people-smuggling networks is the last option left for failed asylum seekers stuck in Indonesia. More significantly, it makes clear that Australian and Indonesian asylum policies and border politics have, unintentionally, contributed to the evolution of transnational people-smuggling networks.

Folklorizing Northern Khmer Identity in Thailand: Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Production of "Good Culture"

Abstract: Growing recognition of the contested nature of heritage has prompted critical reassessments of official heritage discourses and the demand for more inclusive heritage processes. Field research in Surin, Thailand, reveals the challenges of implementing participatory approaches in a context in which the concept of cultural heritage is employed to domesticate the nation’s ethnic Others. The history of state-sponsored, folklorized performances of the ethnic Khmer genre of kantruem demonstrates the ways in which the recent listing of kantruem on Thailand’s national registry of “intangible culture” elides histories of cross-border linkage with Cambodia and meanings of kantruem as a site of memory and affect.

Interregional Migration Flows in Indonesia

Abstract: Population Census and Intercensal Population Survey data permit description of the origin–destination patterns that characterize interregional migration flows in Indonesia. Application of the framework of population redistribution proposed by Long (1985) results in indications of over-urbanization, sub-urbanization and metropolitan-to-non-metropolitan migration. However, indications of sub-urbanization and metropolitan-to-non-metropolitan migration are weak, as migrants originate in diverse areas of the country but move mostly to particular areas of Java — mainly Jakarta and its surroundings.

Who Are the Military Delegates in Myanmar's 2010–2015 Union Legislature?

Abstract: Made available in 2012, short biographies of 166 officers permit examination of the sociological profiles of the Burmese military officers seconded to Myanmar’s Union parliament. Data cover the five socio-demographic variables of gender, age, ethnicity, religion and education, as well as the positions that these officers occupied at the time of their secondment to parliament. These data show that, as a group, the initial cohort of military legislators constitutionally appointed to the two houses of Myanmar’s inaugural “post-junta” Union parliament had a younger and relatively better-educated profile than their elected peers. The most senior officers also had had long careers in the bureaucracy of the armed forces and in its training and educational institutions. Yet as a group they proved far less ethnically and religiously diverse than the civilian representatives, as the substantial majority of them were ethnic Bamar and Buddhist.

Research on Contemporary Indonesia: Complexities and Intricacies to Explore

Abstract: Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has developed into the world’s third-largest democracy. Despite the encouraging picture of political transformation accompanied by remarkable economic growth that it presents, serious challenges and the potential for backsliding remain. Studies on Indonesia undertaken at centres outside the country have grown in number, but their authors’ engagement and dialogue with Indonesian scholars about the state of studies on Indonesia and the direction in which those studies are heading remain insufficient. To address this gap, and in collaboration with other Indonesian scholars, we outline contemporary developments in research on Indonesia. We address the ongoing and emerging studies, research gaps and future directions identified during a round table organized by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies on 10 May 2013 in Singapore. Areas of focus are sociological and demographic trends, domestic politics, decentralization and political economy.

Re) Writing the History of Political Islam in Indonesia

Abstract: The impact of Reformasi on Indonesia has extended beyond the realms of politics and economics, also leading to changing understandings of history. For example, the institutional and popular approaches to the Darul Islam movement (1947-65) and its leader Kartosuwiryo have shifted in Indonesian publications released between the 1940s and the 2010s. These approaches place varying degrees of emphasis on their rebellious or Islamic character. A trajectory from condemnation to glorification illustrates that, whilst formal political transitions are useful to gauge historiographical shifts, in the case at hand there is more continuity than change across regimes, and much nuanced variation within each politically defined era. Revisionism has also appeared in Indonesian military historiography.

Constructing the Neighbourly "Other": Trade Relations and Mutual Perceptions across the Vietnam–China Border

Abstract: The normalization of post-war relations in the late 1980s has transformed the Vietnam–China border from a line of demarcation between two hostile neighbours into a zone of profitable economic opportunities. At the Lao Cai central market, Vietnamese small-scale traders and Chinese citizens interact with one another on a daily basis. Their narratives reveal that processes of constructing self-identity and otherness at the Vietnam–China border are ambiguous and multivocal. They attest to historically rooted stereotypes linked to China’s claim of civilizational and economic superiority as much as they are conditioned by face-to-face commercial transactions that challenge essentialized assumptions about the cross-border Other.

Responding to Nargis: Political Storm or Humanitarian Rage?

Abstract: Taking approximately 140,000 lives, Cyclone Nargis hit the Ayeyawady Delta of Myanmar in May 2008, as the government was preparing to hold a referendum to confirm a new constitution for the country. The referendum was part of the military’s seven-step road map to a new constitutional order. Given the political significance of the referendum, the government’s post-cyclone relief efforts were ignored, and an international campaign was launched to provide a means of intruding into the political process under way. The government successfully fended off those efforts, thanks in part to assistance from ASEAN and other Asian states and much to the frustration of the United States and other Western governments. This comment was originally prepared in 2009 as a paper presented to a workshop on the response to Cyclone Nargis held at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

The Yangon Court Buildings: Between Thick and Thin Heritage

Abstract: Many colonial-era buildings in Yangon stand neglected or deserted. With global resonance, the Yangon Heritage Trust has spearheaded efforts to conserve the city’s unique legacy. But rather than focusing on particular histories of buildings and on local perspectives on them, the dominant view of “thin” heritage propagated today emphasizes age, aesthetics and generalized importance. Protests against the privatization of two Yangon courthouses show the difficulties encountered by a local lawyers’ association in arguing for its members’ interests in terms of a lived “thick” heritage. The multi-vocal heritage discourse in Yangon today is in danger of being monopolized by a marketable generic idiom.

The Limitations of Autonomous University Status in Thailand: Leadership, Resources and Ranking

Abstract: Drawing on the author’s 22 January 2015 lecture at the conference on “Research for Social Devotion” held to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Khon Kaen University, this comment discusses the challenges facing Thai universities making the transition to “autonomous” status While current policy discourse is focused on the legal and financial aspects of this transition, attention to questions of leadership, uneven resources and the obsession over international ranking is overdue The universities must be regarded as places for higher learning It is important to break away from the limitations of rankings and assessment to ensure the quality of a university and its mandate to develop academic freedom and excellence

The Politics of Accountability in Southeast Asia: The Dominance of Moral Ideologies by Garry Rodan and Caroline Hughes (review)

Abstract: Particularly since the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis, most Southeast Asian governments have enacted extensive institutional reforms in the name of good governance, transparency, public participation and accountability. However, the resultant institutions have rarely challenged entrenched elites, with changes in the fundamental trajectory of political regimes remaining limited. The Politics of Accountability seeks to explain this puzzling outcome by focusing on institutions meant to provide accountability, such as human rights commissions, decentralized administrations, social accountability mechanisms and anti-corruption agencies. Rodan and Hughes develop a universally applicable framework foregrounding the ideological nature of accountability politics and its political-economy context. “Accountability”, they argue, is subject to three dominant ideological framings, each of which advances different notions of authority: liberal, moral and democratic. Ideology is used to construct the political coalitions demanding and contesting accountability, and it thereby shapes the resultant institutions and their operation. Liberal ideology emphasizes institutional checks and balances to repel state intrusion into the private sphere; moral ideology holds rulers accountable against ethical codes; and democratic ideology subordinates elite power to popular sovereignty. Thus, “accountability” does not necessarily advance real democracy. It may instead pursue technocratic or moralistic interventions that actually leave fundamental underlying power relations untouched. Outcomes are determined, Rodan and Hughes argue, by dynamic socio-political conflicts rooted in historically determined political-

Oedipal Desire in Chua fa din salai and Rueang khong Chan Dara: The Politics of Deferral, the Deferral of Politics

Abstract: Amid the political turmoil that has embroiled Thailand for almost a decade, M.L. Bhandevanov Devakula adapted for the big screen two classic Thai novels that tell the stories of defiant Oedipal sons who refuse to defer their desires. By adding references to the 1932 Siamese revolution, the director links this refusal with the discourse of ching suk kon ham (premature action) and transforms the Oedipal tales into allegories for that political event. He is thus able to take a firm political stand by reinforcing some of the most important narratives that have been revitalized during the country’s long-running political crisis.

From Street to Store to Shopping Mall: Extralegal Zones of Commerce for Pirated Audio-Visual Goods in Baguio, the Philippines

Abstract: A focus on the trade in pirated DVDs and CDs dominated by Philippine Muslim street and store vendors in Baguio, the Philippines, permits analysis of “legal/illegal” practice. Both vendors and city officials use the elasticity of “extralegality” as an urban organizing logic to their mutual advantage — rental income for the city and a livelihood for vendors. Vendors differentially combine “everyday” and “advocacy” politics to secure their livelihood, while authorities variably tolerate and penalize their trade. By troubling legal/illegal practice Philippine Muslim traders assert their voice in work arenas from which they have been largely excluded.

Semi-Colonialism Distilled: The Société française des distilleries de l'Indochine and the Siamese Government in the Early Twentieth Century

Abstract: In the early twentieth century, the Societe francaise des distilleries de l’Indochine , principal supplier to the alcohol monopoly in French Indochina, sought to extend its operations into Siam. This led to a protracted dispute with the Siamese government over the rights that the company enjoyed under the unequal treaties that Siam had signed with the Western imperial powers in the mid-nineteenth century. After sustained pressure from the French government, the Siamese government was forced to resolve some legal ambiguities in favour of the SFDIC. This dispute thus captures the essence of Siam’s semi-colonial relationship with the West.

Shan Women Traders and Their Survival Strategies on the Myanmar–Thailand Borderland

Abstract: Between the 1970s and the mid-1990s, the Burma–Thailand borderland witnessed an expansion of long-distance trade conducted by Shan women. This expansion occurred despite an escalation of ethnic rebellions and insurgencies on the Burmese side of the frontier, and in particular the relocation of the drug warlord Khun Sa’s garrisons to this area. Traders’ narratives illustrate their success in developing survival strategies in this politically volatile environment. The narratives highlight the traders’ ability to continue small-scale trade by cooperating with fellow traders inside Shan State and with trading partners on the Thai border. The strategies that they employed reveal the interplay of state regulations and the practices of state authorities in this borderland.

Thinking Small: The United States and the Lure of Community Development by Daniel Immerwahr (review)

Abstract: to dominate the second-level streams in both the science and arts tracks, and their position is analysed in terms of the marginalized position of the Indian community, for whom statistics demonstrate low levels of tertiary education, professional occupations, political standing or national wealth relative to their share of Malaysia’s population. The majority of Malay students are found in the lower streams of the school. Yet their future, thanks to affirmative action, remains more privileged and secure than those of either their Indian or Chinese schoolmates. I found the book’s descriptions of various strategies of success a good but most depressing read. They suggest an exam-obsessed, prosaic “boot-camp” grind of punitive educational attitudes where the love of learning plays little part. Strategies of resistance include adopting the camouflage of traditional gender norms and associated piety. However, the latter chapters of the book, in which the followup of participants is reported, make clear that top performers achieve success — primarily by leaving Malaysia, like the author — but that strategies of resistance may be of little use in challenging the status quo. This is particularly true for less-privileged young Indian women. In summary, this book is a useful and insightful addition to a research canon concerned with analysing the shifting and curious convolution of ethnicity and state politics that characterize contemporary Malaysia. A recommended read.

The Foundation of the Siam Commercial Bank and the Siam Cement Company: Historical Context and Alternative Historiographies

Abstract: Both established prior to the First World War, the Siam Commercial Bank and the Siam Cement Company are two of the principal investments of the Thai Crown Property Bureau. Most accounts exaggerate the role of the Thai monarchy and elites, and underestimate the significance of the political and economic context and of the role of Europeans, especially Danes, in the formation of these companies. Emphasis on the part of Thai writers on the role of Thai elites in the history of these companies forms part of a narrative that sees the nation’s development as guided from above by a far-sighted and benign monarchy.

Contestations in the Production and Trade of Upland Alcoholic Spirits in Northern Vietnam

Abstract: In the uplands of Vietnam, home-distilled rice and maize spirits have long had a strong sociocultural and economic role for many ethnic minority groups. Recently, some of these products have been transformed into cultural commodities, as the Vietnamese state and other parties have — in activities often labelled development interventions — identified, invested in and branded villages specialized in their production. A case study of the trademarking of one upland village in northern Vietnam designated as specializing in alcohol production reveals emergent conflicts among groups of differently situated actors in the upland spirit commodity chain. These actors include ethnic minority producers and traders, lowland Vietnamese traders and wholesalers and the Vietnamese state. The case also illustrates the various actors’ strategies for attempting to maintain or acquire stakes in the alcohol market.