History Of Southeast Asia Research Articles

Development of Teaching Materials on Southeast Asian History : How to Teach the Theory of the Relations among the Port-Cities

Development of Teaching Materials on Southeast Asian History : How to Teach the Theory of the Relations among the Port-Cities

Dissolving Hegemony or Changing Trade Pattern? Images of Srivijaya in the Chinese Sources of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

The history of Srivijaya has been one of the most controversial subjects in premodern Southeast Asian history. Among the crucial issues in relation to this subject are the timing and cause of its decline and, in particular, to what extent changes in trade patterns contributed to such a development. Recent scholarship, largely derived from new interpretations of the epigraphical and archaeological findings in Southeast Asia, has contributed much to advance our understanding of this ancient empire. Yet, information available in those sources is still far from adequate to make a conclusive historical judgment. It is thus imperative to re-examine Chinese accounts of Srivijaya in the light of this new scholarship.

Love, Violence, and Foreign Wealth: Kinship and History in Biak, Irian Jaya

This article addresses a central problem in the anthropology and history of Southeast Asia, in an unexpected place: Biak, an island off New Guinea's north coast which was long a distant frontier of Southeast Asia's colonial and pre-colonial polities. The article suggests how the islanders' ability to 'localize' foreign influences rests on the character of kinship on the island. Oriented by the 'love' of brothers for their out-married sisters, transactions between affines reproduce an inflationary dynamic that makes the 'Land of the Foreigners' into a source of violence and value. In their pursuit of recognition, Biaks recreate a boundary between their society and the outside world, recreating continuity in the face of historical change. At the turn of this century, in a settlement on the eastern edge of the Netherland Indies, the Johannes van Hasselt Society for Bible Study and Prayer lost a founding member. From the island group of Biak, in the north of what is now the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya, Petrus Kafiar's mother came to New Guinea's first mission post to take her son home. Like other Dutch-speaking Papuans who belonged to the Society, the young Kafiar clansman was a 'freebought' (vrijgekocht) slave, as the Dutch evangelists called the women and children whose freedom they purchased in an effort to expand their tiny native flock. Much to the consternation of Protestant leaders in Holland, former captives made up the vast majority of the small number of 'heathens' who converted to Christianity in northwestern New Guinea during the nineteenth century (see Bergsma et al. 1889; Kamma 1976). Dating from the founding of the post on the Bird's Head peninsula in 1855, the missionaries' practice of buying and manumitting enslaved women and children arguably added to the unrest in this long 'unpacified' region. Warfare was common among the coastal Papuans, who launched surprise raids in their enormous canoes, taking heads, booty and, increasingly, captives to sell in distant ports. Petrus Kafiar was a typical victim. Raiders from a neighbouring village abducted the young Biak when he was seven years old and delivered him to the mission post, where a Moluccan carpenter paid fifty florins for the boy. A Christian convert who was himself married to a 'free-bought' slave, the Moluccan 'foster father' raised young Petrus according to the strictures set by the Dutch pastor and his wife. Baptized, given a new name and educated in the mission school, Petrus and the other 'foster children' enjoyed an odd sort of freedom. Although in theory they were at liberty to leave the compound, in

The Penang Botanic Gardens, 1794–1905: the design and development of a tropical botanic garden

Botanic gardens in South-East Asia made a significant contribution during the discovery and dissemination of flowering and economic botany throughout the world from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s. While many of these gardens have received both international recogmtlOn and national expenditures commensurate with their significance, the Penang Botanic Gardens on Pulau Pinang, an island off the west coast of Malaysia, have often been overlooked. These gardens silently supported and assisted the endeavours of the Singapore Botanic Gardens' administration and botanical research. They were also an important venue for the cultivation and dissemination of seeds and specimens throughout Asia and into Britain. Prominent in Penang's development was the vision of its first Curator, Charles Curtis (1854–1928), who supervised the design and development from 1884 to 1903 and established Penang's credentials as a significant botanical research centre. This article reviews the history — notably the design development — of the Penang Botanic Gardens, from 1794 to 1905, and considers their contribution on the Pulau itself and to South-East Asian botanic garden history.

Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese. Edited by A. Reid. St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1996. Asian Studies Association of Australia, Southeast Asia Publications Series No. 28. Pp. xxx, 232.

Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese. Edited by A. Reid. St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 1996. Asian Studies Association of Australia, Southeast Asia Publications Series No. 28. Pp. xxx, 232. - Volume 29 Issue 1

The Transition to History in Southeast Asia: An Introduction

Studies of the transition from prehistory to history in Southeast Asia have traditionally relied primarily on documentary sources, which tend to emphasize foreign influences, rather than on the archaeological record, which suggests a series of indigenous developments. The papers in this journal issue and the next discuss strategies for using both documentary and archaeological evidence to study the transition to history and the emergence of early states in the region. These papers investigate how political units were structured and integrated in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South China, and illustrate how historical and archaeological data can cross-check each other to inform on Southeast Asian sociopolitical and economic developments during the early historic period.

A comparison of traditional and modified inland artisanal aquaculture systems

Traditional artisanal aquaculture systems are commonly assumed to be mainly for subsistence, to use predominantly on-farm inputs, and to have been developed by farmers themselves. Such systems with a long history in South East Asia exist mainly in northern Lao PDR, northern Vietnam and in West Java. In most other areas the traditional fish supply, wild fish, has declined only relatively recently, providing a stimulus for growth of aquaculture over the past few decades. An overview of artisanal aquaculture so defined in the South East Asian region is presented from a systems context considering social and economic aspects (micro- and macro-level perspectives), production technology (rice fields, ponds, cages), and environmental aspects (fitting into the local resource base without adverse environmental impact). Most artisanal aquaculture systems are integrated with crops and livestock but generally resource-poor farms constrain production. Rising expectations mean that productivity must be enhanced by off-farm inputs for aquaculture to contribute significantly to the farm household livelihood system. It is proposed that the term ‘small-scale’ be used rather than ‘artisanal’ because of increasing farmer interest in income rather than subsistence, because of increasing use of off-farm inputs, and because of the increasingly important role of science in the promotion of such systems.

Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese.

Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese.

Southeast Asia and the Costs of Modernity: Reflections on “The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia”

Southeast Asia and the Costs of Modernity: Reflections on “The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia”

Troubled pleasures: Dutch colonial literature from the East Indies, 1600-1950

This is the first comprehensive examination of Dutch colonial literature in English. From the journals and travelogues produced by the early mariners, to the fictional recollections of repatriated colonials after the Second World War, E. M. Beekman's unique and magisterial survey of this major colonial literature places literary figures within specific epochs, provides biographical portraits, and examines works in relation not only to their own genres but also to the literatures and cultures beyond their colonial borders. Written by the leading authority in the field, this fascinating and wide-ranging study is enhanced by a consideration of the general political history of European expansion and of the Dutch East Indies. The large body of Dutch colonial literature is rich in variety, produced as it is by one of the major European colonial powers for more than three centuries. This book is intended for scholars, post- and undergraduate students of comparative literature; colonial studies; literature; Dutch history; history of South-East Asia; the culture of The Netherlands.

Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese. Edited by Anthony Reid. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Asian Studies Association of Australia in association with Allen and Unwin, 1996. Distributed by Paul and Company, xxx, 232 pp. $24.95 (paper).

Only recently has the role of Chinese minorities at the forefront of Southeast Asia's rapid economic growth attracted world attention. Yet interactions between Chinese and Southeast Asians are longstanding and intense, reaching back a thousand years and making it difficult, if not specious, to attempt to disentangle what is Chinese and what is indigenous in much of Southeast Asian culture. Sojourners and Settlers, written by some of the most distinguished specialists in the field, demonstrates the depth of that relationship.

Tooth Ablation in Prehistoric Southeast Asia

A sample of skeletons excavated from an undisturbed prehistoric (4000–3500 years BP) burial site in Thailand included a high proportion of individuals with anterior teeth missing in distinctive, mostly symmetrical, patterns. The patterns, types and numbers of teeth missing have been compared between males and females, with age at death, with depth of burial and among spatially distinct groups within the cemetery. The patterns of missing teeth changed over time. In early burials, lateral maxillary incisors were most commonly missing. Two-thirds of the adults had missing teeth. There were no significant differences between the sexes or with age. In later burials, central maxillary incisors and mandibular incisors were most commonly missing. All adults and some children as young as 11 years had missing teeth. There were no significant changes with age but females had more missing teeth than males. Loss as a result of extreme wear inflicted through the use of teeth as tools, congenital absence and ritual ablation are discussed as explanations for the absence of the teeth. The evidence suggests that ritual ablation is the most likely explanation, although the loss of mandibular incisors in some early burials may be as a result of industrial use of the teeth. The ablation of maxillary lateral incisors, found in the early burials, has been recorded at another prehistoric site in the west of Thailand and at sites in southern China.

Tooth Ablation in Prehistoric Southeast Asia

A sample of skeletons excavated from an undisturbed prehistoric (4000–3500 years BP) burial site in Thailand included a high proportion of individuals with anterior teeth missing in distinctive, mostly symmetrical, patterns. The patterns, types and numbers of teeth missing have been compared between males and females, with age at death, with depth of burial and among spatially distinct groups within the cemetery. The patterns of missing teeth changed over time. In early burials, lateral maxillary incisors were most commonly missing. Two-thirds of the adults had missing teeth. There were no significant differences between the sexes or with age. In later burials, central maxillary incisors and mandibular incisors were most commonly missing. All adults and some children as young as 11 years had missing teeth. There were no significant changes with age but females had more missing teeth than males. Loss as a result of extreme wear inflicted through the use of teeth as tools, congenital absence and ritual ablation are discussed as explanations for the absence of the teeth. The evidence suggests that ritual ablation is the most likely explanation, although the loss of mandibular incisors in some early burials may be as a result of industrial use of the teeth. The ablation of maxillary lateral incisors, found in the early burials, has been recorded at another prehistoric site in the west of Thailand and at sites in southern China.

Anemia, genetic diseases, and malaria in prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia.

The analysis of a sample of skeletons from the 4,000-year-old site of Khok Phanom Di on the coast of central Thailand has identified a number of individuals with skeletal evidence suggestive of severe anemia. The differential diagnosis of the lesions is discussed and the presence of one of the thalassemia syndromes is proposed. The implications of this for southeast Asian prehistory are discussed. The presence of these conditions has been suggested in previous analyses of prehistoric southeast Asian populations, but this is the first population in which the evidence, including postcranial responses, is presented in detail.

A Modern History of Southeast Asia: Decolonization, Nationalism and Separatism

(1996). A Modern History of Southeast Asia: Decolonization, Nationalism and Separatism. History: Reviews of New Books: Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 38-39.

Thai Wartime Leadership Reconsidered: Phibun and Pridi

World War II may have ended fifty years ago, yet it is clear that numerous evaluations, interpretations, and assessments made by historians and scholars on this period in Southeast Asian history have not sufficiently reflected the intrinsic values of the wartime events, personalities, and developments involved. This is particularly true in the case of two wartime leaders in Thailand — Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram and Pridi Phanomyong. The article attempts to re-assess and update both their place in Thai history and their contributions to the socio-political development of the country.

Anthony Reid. ed. Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese. St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1996, xxx+232p.

Anthony Reid. ed.<i> Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese</i>. St. Leonards: Allen &amp; Unwin, 1996, xxx+232p.

Ikehata, S. (ed.): &lt;i&gt;Changing images of Southeast Asian History&lt;/i&gt;

Ikehata, S. (ed.): &lt;i&gt;Changing images of Southeast Asian History&lt;/i&gt;

The Dorothy and Horace Quaritch Wales Bequest — A Note

The Royal Asiatic Society has recently been a beneficiary from the estate of Mrs Dorothy Wales, widow of H. G. Quaritch Wales, the erudite scholar of early Southeast Asian history who died in 1981. The occasion of this bequest, the contents of which are discussed in the Librarian's report herein (pp. 169–70), prompts this note on the contribution of Quaritch Wales to Southeast Asian studies.Quaritch Wales was born in 1900 and educated at Charterhouse and Queens' College, Cambridge. He immediately embarked on a career in Southeast Asia, from which he was never to be deflected. At the age of 23 he entered the service of the Siamese Government where he served from 1924 to 1928 as an adviser to the courts of King Rama VI and King Rama VII. The first-hand knowledge gained from this experience formed the basis of his pioneering study Siamese State Ceremonies (1931), which remains a work of unrivalled insight into the Brahmanical rituals and Buddhist accretions of Thai kingship. He followed this with another work based on his experiences of Thai court and state functions, Ancient Siamese Government and Administration (1934).

Networks and Synchronisms in Southeast Asian History

It is truly not easy to write a “well integrated” history of Southeast Asia. If today, anybody feels such a necessity, the procedure is far from obvious, and thus the utility of using a special issue such as the present one to take stock of the situation is quite evident. The main difficulty is in fact to transcend the heaviness of regional, colonial and then nationalistic histories which have strongly partitioned off the historical space.