scholarly journals Sufism and the Sacred Feminine in Lombok, Indonesia: Situating Spirit Queen Dewi Anjani and Female Saints in Nahdlatul Wathan

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 563
Author(s):  
Bianca J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Feminist Standpoint ◽  
Sacred Feminine ◽  
Anthropological Fieldwork ◽  
Sufi Order ◽  
Female Saints

This article is a feminist ethnographic exploration of how ‘indigenous’ notions of a ‘sacred feminine’ shape Sufi praxis on the island of Lombok in the eastern part of Indonesia in Southeast Asia. I demonstrate through long-term immersive anthropological fieldwork how in her indigenous form as Dewi Anjani ‘Spirit Queen of Jinn’ and as ‘Holy Saint of Allah’ who rules Lombok from Mount Rinjani, together with a living female saint and Murshida with whom she shares sacred kinship, these feminine beings shape the kind of Sufi praxis that has formed in the largest local Islamic organization in Lombok, Nahdlatul Wathan, and its Sufi order, Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan. Arguments are situated in a Sufi feminist standpoint, revealing how an active integration of indigeneity into understandings of mystical experience gives meaning to the sacred feminine in aspects of Sufi praxis in both complementary and hierarchical ways without challenging Islamic gender constructs that reproduce patriarchal expressions of Sufism and Islam.

Long-term trends and spatial patterns of satellite-retrieved PM2.5 concentrations in South and Southeast Asia from 1999 to 2014

2018 ◽  
Vol 615 ◽  
pp. 177-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusheng Shi ◽  
Tsuneo Matsunaga ◽  
Yasushi Yamaguchi ◽  
Zhengqiang Li ◽  
Xingfa Gu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
South And Southeast Asia ◽  
Long Term Trends

Denied Violence, Glorified Fighting: Spiritual Discipline and Controversy in Ananda Marga

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphaëël Voix
Keyword(s):  
West Bengal ◽  
Religious Movement ◽  
Spiritual Discipline ◽  
Internal Characteristic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anthropological Fieldwork

This article tackles the issue of violence inside Ananda Marga, a contemporary Indian religious movement based in West Bengal. It analyzes a controversy Ananda Marga has been through and questions its role within the movement by examining its link with an internal characteristic of the group: an initiatory process into asceticism. Based on long-term anthropological fieldwork in India, I describe the structure of Ananda Marga and then distinguish between the "history" of the movement, which is written and given collectively, and the "stories" of the movement, which are told orally and individually. By confronting these different versions of the same event, I argue that the controversy can be seen as a part of a larger initiatory process in which committed disciples gradually acknowledge the legitimacy of violence.

scholarly journals SPATIAL REGENERATION OF MUSLIM BURIAL PRACTICES IN THE METROPOLITAN AREAS OF KUALA LUMPUR AND JAKARTA

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Reza Mohamed Afla
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
Burial Practice ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Full Body

This article focuses on the subject of burial practices which are performed by the Muslim population and the management at public cemeteries within the metropolitan areas of Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. This research examines specifically, the conventional way of burial practice by the majority of the Muslim population. Unlike other major religions in Southeast Asia which are more open and flexible in the disposal of corpses, full body burial is mandatory in Islam. In response to the escalating issue of lack of space and land shortage for Muslim cemetery, local authorities of the two metropolitan areas have identified alternatives and solutions in handling these alarming situations. This research has recognised factors that lead to these problems, as well as discussing available methods to overcome these issues. The finding exhibits Muslim cemetery’s layout to be problematic due to abundance of burial practices accumulated by patrons which led to disorganisation of space and claustrophobia. This article concludes by providing proposals and design guidelines at the terrain level, together with recommendations that emphasise the long-term usage of the grave plots.

scholarly journals Ulbe Bosma, The Making of a Periphery. How Island Southeast Asia Became a Mass Exporter of Labor. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. ISBN 9780231188524 and ISBN 9780231547901

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Ulbe Bosma
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
Asian Studies ◽  
Island Southeast Asia ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
The Caribbean

Many books have been written about the incorporation of the Caribbean region, South Asia, Africa and Latin America into the global economy. Remarkably, few have dealt with Island Southeast Asia or Maritime Southeast Asia as a macro-region. For the Caribbean nations, it has been amply discussed how the legacies of the plantation economies consisted of meagre economic growth and massive unemployment. Conversely, scant attention has been given to the question how societies in Island Southeast Asia were turned into providers of cheap commodities and how this impacted their long-term development prospects. This silence is even more remarkable considering some striking parallels with Caribbean socio-economic trajectories. Today, emigration of millions is the fate of Island Southeast Asia, as it is for the Caribbean region. To break the silence and to invite further discussion I wrote The Making of a Periphery: How Island Southeast Asia Became a Mass Exporter. After reading the review by Dr Aguilar on this book in a previous issue of this journal, I felt that it could be worthwhile to highlight some of the main points of my argument about the peripheral integration of Island Southeast Asia in the global economy. I am grateful to the editors of the International Journal of Asian Studies for granting me the opportunity to do so.

The United States and Southeast Asia: A Case of Strategic Surrender

1983 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leszek Buszynski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
United States Policy ◽  
Global Context ◽  
The Soviet Union

Southeast Asia in United States policy fell from a region of high priority during the Vietnam war to become, after the fall of Indochina, an area of relatively minor interest. For the United States, Southeast Asia evoked memories of misperception, intensified over-commitment, and simplistic assumptions that characterized the American effort to defeat local Vietnamese national communism. Since the formulation of the Nixon doctrine of disengagement in 1969, United States policy towards Southeast Asia has been undergoing a process of long-term readjustment in recognition of the exaggerated significance that the region had assumed in American thinking. The fall of Saigon in April 1975 was a major stimulus to this readjustment as it gave the Americans compelling reasons to anticipate a reassertion of Soviet influence in the region. Successive American administrations attempted to place the region in a wider global context to avoid the dangers of extreme reaction to local national communism while developing the flexibility to coordinate a response to the Soviet Union at a global level. The main concern of American policy was to remove the basis for direct United States involvement in the region in a way that would satisfy post-Vietnam war public and congressional opinion and the demands of strategic planners for greater freedom of manoeuvre against the Soviet Union.

scholarly journals Modulatory effects of ayahuasca on personality structure in a traditional framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 237 (10) ◽  
pp. 3161-3171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nige Netzband ◽  
Simon Ruffell ◽  
S. Linton ◽  
W. F. Tsang ◽  
T. Wolff
Keyword(s):  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Psychological Healing ◽  
Neo Personality Inventory ◽  
Trait Level ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Abstract Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant brew containing dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). It originates from the Amazon basin, where it is used primarily for ceremonial purposes. Ayahuasca tourists are now entering certain communities seeking alternative physical or psychological healing, as well as spiritual growth. Rationale Recent evidence has shown that the similar acting psychedelic compound, psilocybin, facilitated long-term increases in trait openness following a single administration. Objectives This paper assesses the impact of ayahuasca on personality in a traditional framework catering for ayahuasca tourists. Method Within a mixed design, we examined the effect of ayahuasca on participants’ personality (measured by the NEO Personality Inventory 3 questionnaire) across time (pre- to post-ayahuasca administration, and 6-month follow-up), relative to a comparison group (who did not ingest ayahuasca). Results The results demonstrated significant increases in agreeableness pre- and post-ayahuasca administration and significant reductions in neuroticism in 24 participants, relative to the comparison group. Both of these changes were sustained at 6-month follow-up, and trait level increases were also observed in openness at this stage. Additionally, greater perceived mystical experience (measured using the Mystical Experience Questionnaire 30) was associated with increased reductions in neuroticism. Conclusions These findings, which indicate a positive mediating effect of ayahuasca on personality, support the growing literature suggesting potential therapeutic avenues for serotonergic psychedelics.

scholarly journals Changing Molecular Epidemiology of Vibrio cholerae Outbreaks in Shanghai, China

mSystems ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalong Hu ◽  
Zhiqiu Yin ◽  
Chao Yuan ◽  
Pan Yang ◽  
Chengqian Qian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Vibrio Cholerae ◽  
Watery Diarrhea ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Genome Sequences ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World ◽  
Pandemic Strains

ABSTRACT The 7th cholera pandemic began in 1961 in Sulawesi, Indonesia, and then spread around the world in at least three waves. However, the lack of genome sequences for Vibrio cholerae strains under long-term surveillance in East Asia, especially in China, has restricted our understanding of the dynamics of the intracountry and intercountry evolution and transmission of the 7th-pandemic clones. In this study, we obtained the genome sequences of 60 V. cholerae strains isolated in Shanghai, the largest port in the world and the largest city in China, from 1961 to 2011. Our whole-genome-based phylogeny of 7th-pandemic strains revealed that all but one fell into five “stages,” most of which are single clades and share independent ancestors. Each stage dominated in succession for a period, with little overlap between them. In addition, two near-identical Shanghai strains belonging to a pre-7th-pandemic precursor and 4 nontoxigenic O1/O139 strains attributed to independent recombination events at the O-antigen loci were present. The major lineages of the 7th pandemic in Shanghai appeared to be closely related to V. cholerae strains isolated from South or Southeast Asia. Stage succession was consistently related to changes in society and human activity, implying that human-caused niche change may play a vital role in the cholera dynamics in Shanghai. IMPORTANCE V. cholerae is the causative agent of cholera, a life-threatening disease characterized by severe, watery diarrhea. The 7th pandemic started in Indonesia in 1961 and spread globally, currently infecting 1.3 million to 4 million people annually. Here, we applied whole-genome sequencing to analyze a long-term collection of V. cholerae clinical strains to reveal the phylogenetic background and evolutionary dynamics of the 7th pandemic in Shanghai, which had undergone breathtakingly rapid development in the last half-century. All but one of the Shanghai 7th-pandemic strains fell into five “stages” that were dominant in Shanghai and appeared to be closely related to 7th-pandemic strains of South or Southeast Asia. Our findings extended the understanding of the dynamics of the evolution and transmission of the 7th-pandemic clones in East Asia and the relationship between social changes and cholera epidemiology.

Southeast Asia: Comparatist Errors and the Construction of a Region

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ananda Rajah
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Historical Period

AbstractThis paper questions the utility of traditional depictions of Southeast Asia as a region in terms of cultural criteria. These depictions, are essentialized characterizations and to the extent that they are directed at identifying Southeast Asia as a region, they reflect comparatist errors. It is argued that the central issue is not how Southeast Asia can or cannot be depicted as a region but, rather, conceptualizing regions and regionness as human constructs. Such an approach requires a focus on interactions instead of identity. From this perspective, regions may be seen as interpenetrated systems, both in a global sense and in sub-regional terms. Interpenetration is seen in terms of interactions of varying intensity and density centering on structures of interest which may be competitive or complementary and where the role of brokers and broker institutions are pivotal. Accordingly, from a long-term human historical perspective, endogenous experiences of region and regionness may well be regarded as variable phenomena depending on the structures of interest and the part played by brokers and broker institutions in any given historical period.

The Emergence of the Asian System of Powers

1989 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 561-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. Stargardt
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Pearl Harbor ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Local Organizations ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Administrative Experience ◽  
Post War ◽  
The One

The ‘downward sweep’ of Japan after Pearl Harbor has been widely noted for its long-term effects in Southeast Asia. The rule of the established colonial masters was shattered, and those failing to escape disappeared into the camps of the Kempeitai. In Burma and Java, in particular, Japanese rule promoted local organizations, local administratiors, the indigenous language and, in Burma, a ‘national’ government and a ‘national’ army, under Japanese supervision: the one thing Japan did not bring was freedom and independence. Yet the greatly-increased social mobility and political, military and administrative experience had long-term consequences: none of the post-war attempts at colonial restoration proved viable.

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