Buddhism and Everyday Ethics in Southeastern Myanmar
A deeply human portrait of a region defined by conflict and military dictatorship. Pursuing Morality is an in-depth and fascinating study of ordinary life in Myanmar's southeast through a unique ethnographic focus on Buddhist Plong (Pwo) Karen. Based on extensive in-depth fieldwork in the small city of Hpa-an, the capital of Karen State, Justine ......
Print Passages researches the history of the coming of the printed book in Indonesia and the consequences this new technology brought with it. Never before has the book culture in Indonesia been studied this thoroughly. Although printed material has become intertwined with everyday life in the 21st century, book culture has not always been as ......
Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism in the Modern Malay World
This stimulating new reading of constructions of ethnicity in Malaysia and Singapore is an important contribution to understanding the powerful linkages between ethnicity, identity and nationalism in multi-ethnic Southeast Asia. The narrative of Malay identity devised by Malay nationalists, writers and filmmakers in the late colonial period ......
Language and Politics in the Toraja Highlands of Indonesia
The expression "one or two words" is used by the Toraja highlanders of Indonesia to refer euphemistically to their highly elaborate form of political speechmaking. Moving from this understatement, which denotes the meaningfulness of transient acts of speech, One or Two Words offers an analysis of the shifting power relations between centers and ......
Islam is at home in many of the areas of the eastern Indonesia, with the early 15th century Masjid Tua Wapauwe in Northern Maluku arguably the oldest mosque in Indonesia. The studies collected in this volume present a rich introduction to the myriad ways of being Muslim across this diverse archipelago, from Sulawest to Maluku and Nusa Tenggara ......
Are political parties the weak link in Indonesia's young democracy? More pointedly, do they form a giant cartel to suck patronage resources from the state? Indonesian commentators almost invariably brand the country's parties as corrupt, self-absorbed, and elitist, while most scholars argue that they are poorly institutionalised. This book tests ......
The term 'national economy' lacks clarity in modern Chinese history. China's modernization is often treated as a feature of the central government's economic policy, but regional and local economic activity and the involvement of foreign powers were integral to the process. Takeshi Hamashita approaches this issue by examining the country's coastal ......
Malaysiakini was founded in 1999 by Steven Gan and Premesh Chandran, two young Malaysians who met as overseas students in Australia. One of the many online portals that sprung up in the wake of Reformasi, a movement sparked by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad's 1998 firing of his deputy Anwar Ibrahim, there was no reason to think that Malaysiakini ......
Faith, Love and the Politics of Belonging in Japanese-Filipino Families
How do faith, family, and migration intersect in the intimate lives of transnational couples? This ethnography examines Japanese-Filipino marriages in contemporary Japan to reveal how gendered Catholic practices, cultural negotiation, and the politics of belonging shape everyday life. Set in Northern Kyushu, this ethnography explores the often ......
