Showing papers in "Sojourn in 2017"
TL;DR: Although Myanmar undertook its first census in thirty-one years in 2014, the governments of President Thein Sein and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi have withheld the ethnicity statistics polled in the enumeration as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Although Myanmar undertook its first census in thirty-one years in 2014, the governments of President Thein Sein and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi have withheld the ethnicity statistics polled in the enumeration. The Ministry of Immigration and Population and the United Nations Population Fund framed the census question on ethnicity — or " lumyo " — to fail to produce reliable data, given that it neither met international standards nor took into account the complex and politically charged landscape of ethnicity in Myanmar. As a result, the ethnic results of the 2014 Population and Housing Census came to be viewed as destabilizing to the political reform and peace processes.
32 citations
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29 citations
TL;DR: A brief survey of influential researchers and their topics since Indonesian independence traces changes in scholarly interest from citizenship and assimilation to regional diversity, culture and identity, economic activity, religion and literature as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Abstract:In the years since Indonesian independence, English-language works have dominated studies of Indonesian Chinese. A brief survey of influential researchers and their topics since Indonesian independence traces changes in scholarly interest from citizenship and assimilation to regional diversity, culture and identity, economic activity, religion and literature. Increasingly, researchers are themselves Indonesians and other Asians, and their home institutions range from Western countries to Southeast Asia.
22 citations
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TL;DR: Kimberly Kay Hoang as mentioned in this paper studied the sex industry in Ho Chi Minh City and found that women and hostess bars played a crucial role in the creation of trust and bonds among businessmen operating in a risky entrepreneurial environment.
Abstract: In her study of the sex industry in Ho Chi Minh City, Kimberly Kay Hoang not only casts gender studies in Vietnam in an entirely new light but also raises a host of challenging new questions. Her book posits that intimate relations between men and women in the sex trade allow them to pursue “hopes, dreams, and desires” (p. 14) along gendered and hierarchical lines, thus reimagining how they position themselves on a changing political, economic and global landscape. She asserts that the sex industry has brokered Asian and global capital entering Vietnam because women and hostess bars have played a crucial role in the creation of trust and bonds among businessmen operating in a risky entrepreneurial environment. New constructions of masculinities appeared in Ho Chi Minh City in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when Vietnamese and Asian elites adopted rhetorics asserting Asian ascendency and Western decline. These rhetorics were used in the performance of Vietnamese masculinities as male members of the economic and political elites brokered deals with Taiwanese, South Korean and other Asian investors. These elites must persuade the investors to invest in land, banking, and manufacturing deals in southern Vietnam that, while very profitable, were risky, had little oversight, and enjoyed no legal protection. This was the “Vietnamese way of doing business”. Hoang undertook fieldwork in Vietnam from 2006 to 2010, focusing on sex work in four bars serving different market niches: a high-end hostess bar where members of the economic and political elite entertained foreign investors, a bar catering to Việt Kiều, a bar
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the national verification process that has provided formalized guidelines to regulate the migration of Myanmar workers to Thailand permanently places migrants in a zone of temporary legality, a bureaucratic space in which legality surfaces as a flexible concept serving the interests of the Thai and Myanmar states while placing an economic burden on migrants.
Abstract: The national verification process that has provided formalized guidelines to regulate the migration of Myanmar workers to Thailand permanently places migrants in a zone of temporary legality. This zone is a bureaucratic space in which legality surfaces as a flexible concept serving the interests of the Thai and Myanmar states while placing an economic burden on migrants. Legality also emerges as a commodity that does not relate to migrants' compliance with the law, but rather to their ability to mobilize resources. Brokers not only guide migrants in navigating the transnational bureaucracies, but also mediate the emotional ties between migrants and those bureaucracies. The emotional undercurrents of the process ultimately serve as a reminder that any bureaucratic space is inherently affective.
17 citations
TL;DR: This paper surveys the existing literature on Thai political thought, outlines the history of the reproduction of the Western liberal canon in Thai translation, and takes stock of contemporary political debates, finding that while one might find liberals in Thai history, there is no liberalism.
Abstract: Abstract:The history of political thought in Southeast Asia has overwhelmingly focused on nationalism and on socialism and Marxism. Little has been written about the fate of liberalism in the region. This is in stark contrast with the literature that in recent years has emerged on liberal political thought in South and East Asian contexts. Seeking to make a Southeast Asian contribution to this literature, this article asks: Is there liberalism in Thailand? To answer the question, it surveys the existing literature on Thai political thought, outlines the history of the reproduction of the Western liberal canon in Thai translation, and takes stock of contemporary political debates. What does it find? First, that while one might find liberals in Thai history, there is no liberalism. Second, that serious intellectual engagement with liberal political thought occurred comparatively late and has remained modest in Thailand, but that the spectre of Rousseau has nevertheless stalked Thai politics for more than eight decades. Third, and finally, that some Thai intellectual historians and other writers have responded to the country's recent political troubles — in the form of increasing political polarization, intractable and often violent conflict, two military coups, and the ill health and subsequent death of King Bhumibol — by laying the intellectual groundwork for a liberal form of Thai nationalism.
17 citations
TL;DR: In the context of Malaysia's protracted programme of affirmative action, the evolution of the "Bumiputera Commercial and Industrial Community" demonstrates the ways that the state has responded both to the demands of different Malay pressure groups and to external shocks arising from neoliberal globalization.
Abstract: Since 1971, in the context of Malaysia's protracted programme of affirmative action, the evolution of the "Bumiputera Commercial and Industrial Community" demonstrates the ways that the state has responded both to the demands of different Malay pressure groups and to external shocks arising from neoliberal globalization. These external factors have compelled the state to deregulate and liberalize. It has thus adopted economic policies that run counter to the goal of promoting the development of a Bumiputera Commercial and Industrial Community. Affirmative action has made immense progress in restructuring Malay society, as seen not least in the emergence and consolidation of a Bumiputera Economic Community.
15 citations
TL;DR: Indonesia and Malaysia have been characterized by powerful, centralized state apparatuses and "soft authoritarianism" as discussed by the authors, however, over the last two decades, Indonesia has implemented farreaching political reforms and embarked on a process of decentralization, whereas Malaysia's political context has remained static, and it has in fact deepened processes of centralization.
Abstract: Indonesia and Malaysia have been characterized by powerful, centralized state apparatuses and "soft authoritarianism". However, over the last two decades, Indonesia has implemented far-reaching political reforms and embarked on a process of decentralization, whereas Malaysia's political context has remained static, and it has in fact deepened processes of centralization. Notwithstanding this difference, in both cases, the rescaling of state power has occurred at the expense of the meso level — provinces in Indonesia and states in Malaysia. Prevailing conceptualizations of decentralization miss this commonality, as they focus uniquely on the flow of resources and responsibilities away from central governments. Beyond indicating a need for us to sharpen the conceptual tools used in the study of decentralization, this pattern may also tell us something about the nature of state power in post-colonial countries.
15 citations
TL;DR: A comparative examination of spaces and forms of engagement in the region, building on the work of Garry Rodan and Kanishka Jayasuriya to develop a typology of regimes and modes of engagement, serves to address these questions as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Southeast Asia offers a bewildering panoply of forms and outcomes of social resistance contra the state. At the same time, regimes across the region are variously disposed towards challenges made through "official" channels. The result is a spectrum of contained and transgressive, broad-based and narrowly waged, permitted and suppressed, and successful and failed protest. What determines how activists and advocates pitch their claims, and how does venue shape content? A comparative examination of spaces and forms of engagement in the region, building on the work of Garry Rodan and Kanishka Jayasuriya to develop a typology of regimes and modes of engagement, serves to address these questions. That framework allows deeper consideration of the dynamics behind demands, identities and strategic choices than studies of contentious politics and state–society relations usually accommodate. It makes possible exploration of how prevailing parameters determine which issues and identity categories gain traction, what resources and alliances are most germane, and where the balance between electoral and less institutional modes of engagement falls. Examples from a selection of cases from more and less democratic regimes in Maritime Southeast Asia allow us to probe these dynamics in greater depth. This probing in turn permits consideration of dimensions of framing and brokerage, of co-optation and contestation, and of the logic behind activists' strategic decisions of how best to take on a less than liberal state.
10 citations
TL;DR: The Bugis Indonesians are virtually indistinguishable from their co-ethnic Bugis Malaysian counterparts as discussed by the authors, making it difficult to detect signs of "illegality", as they seek to sort non-citizens from citizens, and effectively police omnipresent and illusory presences.
Abstract: Ethnically Bugis Indonesians have long emigrated from their homeland in Sulawesi to neighbouring Malaysia, where they gained employment as labourers and rapidly assimilated as Malay-speaking Muslim members of the greater "Malay race". Shifting socio-political and economic forces have more recently given rise to narratives that characterize Bugis migrants as an intrusive, displacing and "illegal" presence. The rise of this view has culminated in widespread crackdowns on undocumented immigrants in the East Malaysian state of Sabah. Efforts to police such immigrants have, however, proven difficult because of a practical challenge: Bugis Indonesians are virtually indistinguishable from their co-ethnic Bugis Malaysian counterparts. In response, state agents and concerned citizens have relied on a particular sensory modality — hearing or listening — to detect signs of "illegality", as they seek to sort non-citizens from citizens, and effectively police omnipresent yet frustratingly illusory presences.
8 citations
TL;DR: In 2003, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations declared the establishment of an ASEAN Community and the teaching of regional history is seen as indispensable to the attainment of this goal as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In 2003 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations declared the establishment of an ASEAN Community. The teaching of regional history is seen as indispensable to the attainment of this goal. Eight country reports commissioned by UNESCO Bangkok in 2013 serve as the basis of an inquiry into history education and the teaching of Southeast Asian history in primary and secondary schools. State control of education has produced school systems that, despite their potential, hamper the imagining of a regional community. Under state directives, schools prioritize political socialization into the nation-state and sacrifice shared regional history in favour of national history. Yet promoting interest in national and Southeast Asian histories is possible.
TL;DR: The three narratives of secret adoption examined in this paper illuminate the complex dynamics that have naturalized the middle-class biological nuclear family as the ideal for a market economy and render invisible other relations of blood and desire.
Abstract: Abstract:Vietnam has a long history of diverse forms of adoption. Yet contemporary domestic adoption remains largely invisible, with families often keeping it secret. The three narratives of secret adoption examined here illuminate the complex dynamics that have naturalized the middle-class biological nuclear family as the ideal for a market economy. As women narratively perform kin-work to make such a family visible and real, they render invisible other relations of blood and desire. Enmeshed in classed, gendered and intimate dynamics of transparency and secrecy, adoptive kinship in Vietnam delineates new subjectivities, affects and forms of political economy.
TL;DR: The Isan Culture Maintenance and Revitalization Programme (ISM) as mentioned in this paper was a four-year, 500,000 euro programme devised and implemented by four municipalities in Khon Kaen Province together with the College of Local Administration of KhonKaen University in Northeast Thailand.
Abstract: The Isan Culture Maintenance and Revitalization Programme was a four-year, 500,000- euro programme devised and implemented by four municipalities in Khon Kaen Province together with the College of Local Administration of Khon Kaen University in Northeast Thailand. The programme pursued five different action lines, with Ban Phai Municipality being responsible for traditionally made "ethnic" uniforms, Chum Phae Municipality for designing and installing multilingual signage, Khon Kaen Municipality for implementing the teaching of the Isan language as a subject in municipal schools, and Mueang Phon Municipality responsible for a multimedia collection of cultural performances. In effect, the programme piloted each of these four action lines in a given municipality and then sought to introduce each into the other three municipalities. The College of Local Administration was responsible for project coordination, research and visibility. The latter mainly took the forms of academic papers, research articles and newspaper columns. The principal results and outcomes of the programme included the first municipal multilingual Thai–Isan–English road signage in Northeast Thailand, the first Thai–Isan–English dictionary using a heritage script, the first Isan subject curriculum, a unique archive of Isan cultural performances, and the production of "ethnic" municipal and school uniforms.
TL;DR: The authors examined Chinese-language writing in Indonesia and found that the themes and social practice of this oeuvre demonstrate not only a distinct negotiation of Chinese identity generally but also the role of Chinese language literary expression in reformasi-era Indonesia specifically.
Abstract: Abstract:Since it constitutes an autonomous and identifiable oeuvre with considerable internal coherence, the most respectful approach to the substantial body of Chinese-language writing in Indonesia is to examine it on its own terms. While both a Chinese-language and an Indonesian literature, it is not well-served if read as one subordinate to broader categories; nor does it map convincingly to current ideas about Sinophone literature. Rather, the themes and social practice of this oeuvre demonstrate not only a distinct negotiation of Chinese identity generally but also the role of Chinese-language literary expression in Reformasi-era Indonesia specifically.
TL;DR: The trajectory of arts education in Singapore through examination of key policies and government reports suggests that, although the arts and arts education have generally taken a back seat to other national priorities, the government has consistently utilized them for ideological and political purposes as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Study of the trajectory of arts education in Singapore through examination of key policies and government reports suggests that, although the arts and arts education have generally taken a back seat to other national priorities, the government has consistently utilized them for ideological and political purposes. Arts education is typically subjected to the bureaucratic imagination, which assigns to arts education a particular state-sanctioned role. Whether to ennoble students as citizens of a newly independent nation or to endow them with the innovativeness believed to be necessary to a knowledge-based economy, arts education in Singapore has often shouldered the sociocultural aspirations of the ruling elite. This has been true even if the subject has not always been the recipient of unwavering political support.
TL;DR: The Mindanao Garden of Peace as discussed by the authors is a memorial to the victims of a tragic event, the 1968 Jabidah Massacre, which is widely believed in the Philippines that this episode sparked the still unresolved violent conflict.
Abstract: The Mindanao Garden of Peace is a memorial to the victims of a tragic event, the 1968 Jabidah Massacre. It is widely believed in the Philippines that this episode sparked the still unresolved violent conflict in Mindanao. The recent establishment of the peace garden represents a major shift in the tenor of remembrance of the massacre, from being fiercely fractious to something rather tamed, domesticated and aestheticized. This shift reflected the optimistic collective views of the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, Muslim rebels and civil society organizations about the prospects for peace in Mindanao. Following the election of a new president, those prospects have become uncertain, and the direction of the ongoing process of remembering is in question. This development highlights the open-endedness of the heritage-making process.
TL;DR: In 2014, the Penang Chief Minister imposed a ban on foreigners working as the main cooks of hawker food, in the attempt to preserve local taste as mentioned in this paper, and explored the dilemma of sustaining the taste of Penang Hawker food and the profession of preparing it.
Abstract: In 2014, the Penang Chief Minister imposed a ban on foreigners working as the main cooks of hawker food, in the attempt to preserve "local taste". Exploration of the dilemma of sustaining the taste of Penang hawker food and the profession of preparing it argues for a broader definition of "Penang hawker food". This definition acknowledges the confluence of Penang's migrant histories while being inclusive and reflective of changes in sociocultural trends, population and migration flows.
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparison of four biographies of Confucius, published between 1897 and 1957, and a drama depicting his birth, performed in 2011, demonstrates the introduction of Confuccius and his construction as a prophet in the Dutch East Indies and, later, in Indonesia.
Abstract: Abstract:Comparison of four biographies of Confucius, published between 1897 and 1957, and a drama depicting his birth, performed in 2011, demonstrates the introduction of Confucius and his construction as a prophet in the Dutch East Indies and, later, in Indonesia. Supernatural and mystical elements serve as indispensable markers of religion and status as a prophet. The authors exercised agency in selecting and appropriating narratives of Confucius for their own purposes. The rationalist approach to the interpretation of Confucianism and the role of Confucius treats him as an historical figure, sage and teacher, while the spiritualist approach perceives him as a divine messenger, saviour and prophet. The two have long been in competition. The social and political struggles of Confucian communities since the Dutch colonial period have shaped literary and visual descriptions of Confucius.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight the importance of local politics in securing access to government resources, in indirect support of political parties and in deterring both authoritarianism and the emergence of a more competitive democracy.
Abstract: Abstract:Much has been written about the changing relationship between parties and voters in Thailand during a period in which party loyalty has grown stronger. Scholars have devoted much less attention to the new patterns of relationships that have emerged between parties and provincial politicians. These patterns, which are with some variations common to all parties, have seen both parties and provincial politicians benefit from shared voter loyalties and from the political patronage available at the local level. The findings presented here highlight the importance of local politics — in securing access to government resources, in indirect support of political parties and in deterring both authoritarianism and the emergence of a more competitive democracy.
TL;DR: Declassified documents from Russian archives and official Vietnamese and Albanian materials and memoirs permit consideration of the understudied topic of relations between the Soviet Union and the ruling Communist regimes in Albania and Vietnam and of Albanian-Vietnamese bilateral relations in the context of the two countries' relations with the USSR and with the People's Republic of China as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Declassified documents from Russian archives and official Vietnamese and Albanian materials and memoirs permit consideration of the under-studied topic of relations between the Soviet Union and the ruling Communist regimes in Albania and Vietnam and of Albanian–Vietnamese bilateral relations in the context of the two countries' relations with the USSR and with the People's Republic of China. The split in the international Communist movement from the late 1940s onward meant that, in the early 1960s, the Chinese Communist leadership set out to create a counterweight to Moscow composed of "the true Marxist-Leninist parties". Hanoi and Tirana had to define their places in this Sino–Soviet confrontation. Hanoi maintained normal relations with both Moscow and Tirana until the end of the 1980s, despite the severing of all bilateral ties between the Soviet Union and Albania in the early 1960s.
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TL;DR: Beyond Borders as discussed by the authors presents Yunnanese Chinese as mobile subjects that are integral to the economic dynamism of a Burma or Myanmar that has been isolated for decades, through oral history accounts and ethnographic snippets collected over the course of more than a decade from the 1990s to the late 2000s.
Abstract: Studies of borderlands have, in recent decades, de-centred our understanding of a world dominated by nation-states. They highlight the flows of people, capital, commodities, information and ideas in spaces that may be off the beaten path, but not necessarily peripheral to the political and economic life of countries. Through oral history accounts and ethnographic snippets collected over the course of more than a decade, from the 1990s to the late 2000s, Beyond Borders presents Yunnanese Chinese as mobile subjects that are integral to the economic dynamism of a Burma or Myanmar that has been isolated for decades. It offers a rare glimpse into the border regions of Yunnan, Burma and Thailand, where smuggling and political insurgency have been part of everyday life for decades, and it traces the lives of Yunnanese subjects that stretch from these border regions to Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Taiwan. The book is divided into two parts, dealing with migratory history and transnational trade respectively. By applying a personal narrative approach, the author seeks to outline the contours of these themes through the life stories of key informants. One of them is Zhang Dage (Chapter 1), who was born in the restive Shan State of Burma into the family of a Kuomintang (KMT) soldier who had retreated from Communist China. Zhang Dage completed his junior high school education in Northern Thailand, went to medical college and became a physician in Taiwan, where he settled down and had a family. This
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how a popular-culture niche of Sufis and self-help gurus has managed to recalibrate religious authority, Muslim subjectivity, and religious politics in post-authoritarian Indonesia.
Abstract: one, relatively minor aspect, of a highly diverse and fragmented Indonesian Islam. This book is suitable for both undergraduates and graduate students seeking an understanding of alternative sources of religious authority in Indonesia. The author clearly meets the objective that he sets for himself at the beginning of the book, to examine how “a popular-culture niche of Sufis and self-help gurus has managed to recalibrate religious authority, Muslim subjectivity, and religious politics in post-authoritarian Indonesia” (p. xix). For non-specialists, this book is a source of data on an important Islamic personality in the early post-Soeharto Indonesia. Its data will be valuable for scholars seeking to compare Aa Gym’s Manajemen Qalbu business network with similar religious business networks in Indonesia. However, one should not treat Rebranding Islam as an epilogue to Aa Gym’s career. Rather, observers may well anticipate his re-emergence in the religious scene when the opportunity arises.
TL;DR: In the mid-twentieth century, Chợ Lớn was a powerhouse of Chinese newspaper publishing in Southeast Asia as discussed by the authors, and a number of the major Chinese newspapers published there during that period are available in the Chinese Library of the National University of Singapore.
Abstract: Abstract:In the mid-twentieth century, Chợ Lớn was a powerhouse of Chinese newspaper publishing in Southeast Asia. A number of the major Chinese newspapers published there during that period are available in the Chinese Library of the National University of Singapore. The contents of these publications — editorials, commercial advertisements, personal advertisements, serialized novels — will be of interest to scholars of Sinophone studies and of modern Vietnamese history.
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TL;DR: Egreteau et al. as mentioned in this paper presented a short, accessible volume of just 134 pages plus notes, suitable for a general readership, seeking to explain Myanmar's post-2011 political transition.
Abstract: This slim, accessible volume of just 134 pages plus notes, suitable for a general readership, seeks to explain Myanmar’s post-2011 political transition. Its basic line is undoubtedly correct: the military superintended the transition and remains the country’s most powerful institution, thus limiting significant reform. Accordingly, euphoria or even optimism is unwarranted. Most of the book is a descriptive account of post-2011 politics (chaps. 2–3), along with thematic treatments of the military’s continued power (chap. 4), ethnic and religious cleavages (chap. 5) and enduring problems like political factionalism (chap. 6). While perhaps useful for the uninitiated, and not without insight, Egreteau’s treatment adds very little to the research base, despite the back-cover blurbs from distinguished Myanmar experts. The most original contribution is probably his study of the backgrounds of parliamentarians during 2011–15, the largest group being businessmen (p. 71). Intriguing; but nothing is made of this theoretically. His remarkably brief treatment of ethnic and religious divisions (pp. 99– 113), which are central to Myanmar’s political problems, does not engage meaningfully with recent research advances by scholars like Sadan (2013), Meehan (2011), Brenner (2015) or Woods (2011 and 2013). The volume also neglects the economy almost entirely: just one short paragraph mentions the influence of crony capitalists (p. 77), and there is one brief mention of the army’s economic interests (pp. 89–90). Even when Egreteau discusses clientelism, bizarrely, he does not link it to the economy (pp. 118ff.). The book’s real downfall, however, is its reliance on “transitology” to interpret Myanmar’s transition. The term denotes work by scholars like O’Donnell, Schmitter, Diamond and others trying to explain transitions from military rule to democracy, mostly in Latin America in the late 1980s. Sadly, “transitology” has been found badly wanting beyond this context, and it certainly does not help to explain events in Myanmar. Egreteau rightly says that
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