Southeast Asia. Anarchic solidarity: Autonomy, equality, and fellowship in Southeast Asia. Edited by Thomas Gibson and Kenneth Sillander. New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asian Studies, 2011. Pp. x + 310. Index.

Abstract

Anarchic solidarity: Autonomy, equality, and fellowship in Southeast Asia Edited by THOMAS GIBSON and KENNETH SILLANDER New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asian Studies, 2011. Pp. x + 310. Index. This volume examines a selection of Southeast Asian societies that are all characterised by a mode of sociality that combines a maximised personal autonomy and political egalitarianism with an inclusive form of social solidarity. The various chapters describe how these societies have achieved and maintained a balance between an open-aggregated and egalitarian type of organisation on the one hand and a state of internal solidarity on the other. By focusing on how personal autonomy is maintained through an open or fluid form of aggregation, political egalitarianism upheld by occupying areas that are difficult for the state to administer, and social solidarity or fellowship achieved through voluntary social relations, the authors present contemporary empirical evidence for a social formation that they conceptualise as anarchic. An introductory chapter where the editors situate the volume in relation to other theories of anarchy and anarchism is followed by a theoretical introduction (Charles Macdonald) where the common features of these societies are drawn out: a loose form of social organisation, bilateral kinship, an egalitarian and non-violent ethos, and a high degree of individual autonomy. Macdonald argues further that the lack of societal institutions such as corporate groups, debt and reciprocity, authority and ranking that also characterise these communities entails that they cannot be termed 'societies' at all. Referring to the anthropological question much discussed during the 1960s and 1970s about the formation of social groups in such loosely organised societies, Macdonald also discusses the principal sources of solidarity involved in them and relates them to the concept of sharing, kinship and childcare, and to a set of values concerning ethics, ideology and ontology. With this theoretical framework established, the volume continues with two chapters analysing sources of social solidarity among hunter-gatherers on the Malay Peninsula. Signe Howell discusses how the relationship between autonomy and sociality in an egalitarian society such as the Chewong must be understood in relation to the modes of thought, metaphysics and ontology operative within it. Howell relates these social values to an animistic cosmology that extends the boundary of society to include humans as well as non-human objects and beings that are perceived as conscious beings on par with humanity. Interaction is here governed by a set of spirit-enforced rules encouraging sharing, and by following these rules a person confirms adherence to a common understanding of what types of things exist in the world and what the nature of that reality is. Such rule-guided action thus becomes a major source of solidarity among the Chewong. Changes are underway, however, and with permanent settlement and increasing monetisation the cosmologically based sources of solidarity seem to dwindle and only to a certain extent be substituted by a solidarity based on a shared sense of being disadvantaged. Similar to Howell's focus on rules, Kirk Endicott describes how Batek social solidarity can be traced to a set of ethical principles that inform social behaviour: the obligations to respect others, help others, and be self-reliant, non-violent, and non-competitive. To the extent that people behave according to them, these principles ensure a balance between people acting for the benefit of others and maintaining their personal autonomy, a combination which Endicott terms 'cooperative autonomy'. This collection of principles is, according to Endicott, a result both of the need for economic efficiency and of pressures from outsiders, and they combine in various ways to create social solidarity in different kinds of groups such as conjugal families, camp groups and work groups. …