Southeast Asia: Historical Context

2017 ◽  
pp. 17-33
Author(s):  
Alice D. Ba ◽  
Mark Beeson ◽  
Robert Cribb
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Historical Context

South Asia and Southeast Asia

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Wink
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Early Modernity ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Monsoon Winds

For many centuries, South Asia and Southeast Asia did not constitute two distinct regions of the world but one. This one region encompassed the bulk of the landmasses, islands and maritime spaces which were affected by the seasonal monsoon winds. Throughout its fertile and often extensive river plains it adopted recognizably similar patterns of culture and settled organization. Early geographers mostly referred to it as ‘India’. This article describes the expansion of agriculture and settled society; kings and Brahmans; a graveyard of cites in the Mediterranean that were centers of power and civilization geography and the world-historical context; the Indo-Islamic world; pathways to early modernity; and the effects of European imperialism.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 216-224
Author(s):  
Diana S. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Administrative State ◽  
State Action ◽  
Normative Significance ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Official Records ◽  
Alternative Understanding

This concluding chapter reflects on the analytical and normative significance to this book's approach toward colonial bureaucracies and inner anxieties of the administrative state. Understanding this bureaucratic dynamic in the historical context of Southeast Asia provides a theoretical opportunity for scholars of colonialism and the modern state to rethink some basic assumptions about why and how rulers govern. The interrelated analytical and normative implications to this alternative understanding orients attention away from the loud hubris of power toward the quiet trepidations of those who govern. To begin by thinking along with welcome approaches to reconceptualizing the state in light of its complexity and “many hands, functions, and forms of power,” political scientists gain reason to assume less coherence behind motivations for bureaucratic projects that adjust and advance the state's fiscal reach. If there are context-specific regulatory histories and ambivalent administrative actors, then rationales for policies altering the scope of taxation and depth of social control must differ depending on how bureaucracies reflect on their own pasts and construct problems internally. It follows that retrospective assessments, ways of archiving official records, and interpretation by low-level administrators may define reasons that higher officials take for granted as imperatives for state action.

An Early Transpacific Account of the Spice Islands by Andrés de Urdaneta (1536)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Mojarro Romero
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Insight Into

Andrés de Urdaneta (1508?–1568) tells the story of the ill-fated expedition of Jofre García de Loaysa (1490–1526), which was meant to consolidate the Spanish claim to the Spice Islands in the aftermath of the Magellan expedition. Urdaneta, a participant in the expedition who later made important contributions to Pacific navigation, covers the ill-fated voyage of Loaysa’s fleet as well as the armed conflict that ensued when the Spanish arrived in the Moluccas only to find the Portuguese already ensconced on the island of Ternate. This brief narrative provides an insight into a complex political and military situation, in which the rivalry between the two Iberian empires overlaps with the local rivalries of sixteenth-century insular Southeast Asia. Jorge Mojarro provides the necessary historical context.

Monkish Politics in Southeast Asia: Religious disenfranchisement in comparative and theoretical perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
TOMAS LARSSON
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Democratic Principle ◽  
The Social ◽  
Electoral Laws ◽  
Political Legitimation

AbstractIn the Theravāda Buddhist polities on the mainland of Southeast Asia, abiding concerns about the proper structuring of the relationship between the ‘two wheels ofdhamma’ (i.e. the realm of religion and the realm of politics) have had a profound influence on processes of state formation and political legitimation. This article explores one such religious ‘effect’ on the constitutions and electoral laws of modern Burma/Myanmar, Siam/Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, namely the official disenfranchisement of Buddhist monks (and, in some instances, Buddhist ‘nuns’ as well as non-Buddhist clergy). The article traces the historical evolution of this Buddhist exception to the democratic principle of equal and universal suffrage, and assesses the extent to which dominant theoretical approaches in the social sciences help us to understand the politics of religious disenfranchisement in Southeast Asia. It finds that neither secularization theory nor the religious-economy approach can explain observed patterns. Instead, the article offers an account of the politics of religious disenfranchisement that emphasizes the role of ideas and historical context.

scholarly journals Interconection and Local Wisdom of Malay and Arabs Ulamas Works: Study on Malay and Arabic Manuscripts’ Papers

Al-Qalam ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Fakhriati Fakhriati
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Diplomatic Relation ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Relationship

<p align="justify">Malay and Arabs are two continents, located in different area, Southeast Asia and Middle East. Historically, writers as <em>ulama</em>s<em> </em>(religious prominent figures) tended to use watermarked papers for writing many things both related to religious, historical knowledge, and also their experience. Looking at the manuscripts existing nowadays, almost all Malay and Arabic manuscripts’ papers have unique and similar watermark images and countermark inside. It cannot be denied that historical background and context appeared behind the papers. Historically, the relationship among the countries since the coming of Islam to Malay -- that was in Aceh at the first -- gave the effect of produced and using the papers. Trade and diplomatic relation can be assumed as the biggest factor taken places in this aspect. Besides, Western countries also took important role in exporting their paper to other countries. In addition, they had colonized some Muslims countries both Southeast Asian and Middle East. As the most popular producers of watermark images, Western countries also exported their papers to other countries, including their colonized countries. This paper tries to elaborate ulamas’ paper in these two nations in its similarity and diversity to find local wisdom inside. Thereafter, to analyze the relationship among the countries is another focus of this paper. This paper tries to use Philological, codicological, and socio-historical approach in dealing with the content and physics of the manuscripts, and its historical context.</p>

scholarly journals Building a long-time series for weather and extreme weather in the Straits Settlements: a multi-disciplinary approach to the archives of societies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Early Research ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Arduous Task ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Long Time

Abstract. In comparison to the Northern Hemisphere, especially Europe and North America, there is a paucity of information regarding the historic weather and climate of Southeast Asia and the Southern Hemisphere in general. The reasons for this are both historic and political, yet that does not mean that such data do not exist. Much of the early instrumental weather records for Southeast Asia stem from the colonial period, and with some countries and regions changing hands between the European powers, surviving information tends to be scattered across the globe making its recovery a long and often arduous task. This paper focuses on two countries that were once joined under British governance: Singapore and Malaysia. It will explore the early stage of a project that aims to recover instrumental weather records available for both countries from the late 1780s to the 1950s, with early research completed for the Straits Settlements between 1786 and 1917. Taking an historical approach, the main focus here is to explore the types of records available and the circumstances of their production. In so doing, it will consider the potential for inaccuracy, highlight gaps in the record and use historical context to explain how and why these problems and omissions may have occurred. It will also explore the availability of narrative and data evidence to pinpoint extreme periods of weather such as drought or flood and consider the usefulness of historical narrative in identifying and analysing extreme events.

Education as an Instrument of Policy in Southeast Asia: The Singapore Example

1977 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Modern Education ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Public Instruction

The cultural and ethno-linguistic diversity, of Southeast Asia as a whole is reflected in the heterogeneous character of the populations of the individual states of the region, and everywhere problems associated with multi-lingualism and multiculturism challenge the authority of centralised governments. Modern education has increasingly come to be used as a means to confront and overcome these problems. Governments have sought to inculcate an acceptance of and a compliance with prevailing political systems, to detach disparate communities from their distinctive cultural affinities, and to promote a sense of national identity through formal public instruction. The purpose of this paper is to place modern education in Southeast Asia within its historical context, and to consider the ways in which several governments have used public instruction to achieve political ends.

scholarly journals History, Historiography, and Be(com)ing on the Move

Transfers ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. William Steele ◽  
Weiqiang Lin
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
East And Southeast Asia ◽  
The Way

If we now live in the “Asian Century,” what and how are we to think about the seeming incongruence of the traditional rickshaw and the high-speed shinkansen? What is the historical context behind the growing and sometimes alarming statistics of Asian motoring, both their production and use? How do we explain the explosion of mobilities, both local and global, in and about Asia? Amid this evident desire to be on the move, the articles in this Special Section begin to tackle some of these questions, by means of exploring three different iterations of organized transport in East and Southeast Asia in the last century. In the process, they seek to provide some answers (and pose further questions) to the conduits through which historical Asia moved, why it did so in the way it did, and whether there was anything qualitatively different in the way Asia embraced its potential to move.

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