Suchergebnisse

Although Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's earlier government (1981-2003) limited the powers and privileges of Malaysia's nine hereditary rulers, the political influence that they could exercise was still evident in the "Perak Crisis" of 2009, which also generated public debate about royal rights. In recent years, public wariness in Malaysia about politicians has helped the rulers present themselves as alternative sources of authority. "Monarchical activism" has been especially evident in the state of Perak, dating from 1984 when Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, who was until then Malaysia's Lord President, was installed as the thirty-fourth ruler. In 2014, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah. Sultan Nazrin Shah has presented himself as a modern, educated and approachable ruler who consistently endorses the rule of law and is aware that public support for the monarch is highly dependent on meeting expectations in regard to ethical conduct and good governance. This paper argues that although Sultan Azlan Shah and Sultan Nazrin Shah have embraced the idea of a "new" Malaysian monarchy that actively responds to changing political and social contexts, two issues with especial relevance to the situation today can be tracked through the history of Perak's royal line since its inception in the sixteenth century. The first, arguably now of lesser importance, concerns royal succession. The second issue, still highly important, involves the ruler's relationships with non-royal officials and with elected representatives and the public at large.

Annotation "The Princess of the Flaming Womb," the Javanese legend that introduces this pioneering study, symbolizes the many ambiguities attached to femaleness in Southeast Asian societies. Yet despite these ambiguities, the relatively egalitarian nature of male-female relations in Southeast Asia is central to arguments claiming a coherent identity for the region. This challenging work by senior scholar Barbara Watson Andaya considers such contradictions while offering a thought-provoking view of Southeast Asian history that focuses on women's roles and perceptions. Andaya explores the broad themes of the early modern era (1500-1800)--the introduction of new religions, major economic shifts, changing patterns of state control, the impact of elite lifestyles and behaviors--drawing on an extraordinary range of sources and citing numerous examples from Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, Philippine, and Malay societies

This article discusses the changing spirit world of maritime communities in Southeast Asia by differentiating 'oceans' from 'seas' and by linking historical evidence to modern anthropological studies. Since the lives of seagoing peoples are fraught with unpredictability, propitiation of local sea spirits was a traditional means of ensuring good fortune and protection. As long-distance voyages expanded in the early modern period, the global reach of the world religions, extending beyond familiar seas into the more extensive ocean environment, held out particular appeal. Not only were the gods, deities and saints attached to larger religious systems themselves ocean travellers; in contrast to the unpredictability of indigenous spirits, they were always amenable to requests for help, even when the suppliant was far from home waters. At the same time, as world religions were incorporated into indigenous cosmologies, maritime peoples gained greater agency in negotiating relationships with the local spirits that still wield power in Southeast Asian seas. (J Southeast Asian Stud/GIGA)

Historians may have come late to the study of women and gender in Southeast Asia, but when these three books are placed along a historiographical spectrum one can only be impressed at how far the field has moved in approach and methodology. Exploiting previously untapped sources that emanate from very different sites - a Dutch East India Company courtroom, the women's quarters of a Malay palace, the privacy of a Javanese home - the authors open up new avenues by which to explore the complexity of Southeast Asia's gender history. Though the contexts are very different, the movement through time (Wives, slaves and concubines is set in the late eighteenth century, Victorious wives in the nineteenth, and Realizing the dream in the twentieth) provides an opportunity to gauge shifts in representations of 'femaleness', attitudes towards gender roles, and women's responses to change. (J Southeast Asian Stud/GIGA)

Historians may have come late to the study of women and gender in Southeast Asia, but when these three books are placed along a historiographical spectrum one can only be impressed at how far the field has moved in approach and methodology. Exploiting previously untapped sources that emanate from very different sites — a Dutch East India Company courtroom, the women's quarters of a Malay palace, the privacy of a Javanese home — the authors open up new avenues by which to explore the complexity of Southeast Asia's gender history. Though the contexts are very different, the movement through time (Wives,slaves and concubinesis set in the late eighteenth century,Victorious wivesin the nineteenth, andRealizing the dreamin the twentieth) provides an opportunity to gauge shifts in representations of 'femaleness', attitudes towards gender roles, and women's responses to change.

AbstractStudies of church connections to commercial interests in pre-nineteenth-century Southeast Asia have focused on the Catholic venture in the Spanish Philippines. This article uses a broader and more ecumenical framework to incorporate eastern Indonesia into this discussion by comparing the economic involvement of Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch missionaries and church personnel. It contextualizes differences in church resources, secular oversight, and motivation, but also argues that clerical involvement with European economic ambitions helped to mark out a path toward the domestication of local Christianity. The perception of foreign priests and ministers as conduits for exploitation encouraged many Southeast Asian Christians to differentiate between the teachings of the religion they had adopted and the ways these teachings had been distorted in support of European control.La recherche de l'Asie du Sud-Est pré-moderne touchant au rapprochement des relations de l'Église d'avec les intérêts commerciaux porte habituellement sur l'entreprise catholiques des Philippines espagnoles. Cette contribution par contre, a un cadre spatial plus vaste et au point de vue religion plus oecuménique. L'étude y inclut l'Indonésie orientale et elle compare la participation économique des missionaires et du clergé, tant espagnols, tant portuguais, tant hollandais. D'un part les différences des ressources ecclésiales, la supervision des laïques et la motivation cléricale sont étudiées d'après leur contexte, d'autre part la participation du clergé imbu d'ambitions économiques européennes est aussi explorée parce qu'elle a favorisé les modes locales du christianisme. C'est que l'image des prêtres et des pasteurs rapaces auprès les populations de l'Asie du Sud-Est stimulaient ces peuples à distinguer entre la religion adoptés par eux et la déformation de l'ínstruction religieuse du clergé qui visait à faciliter le contrôle européen.

Historians of Southeast Asia have begun to consider the history of women and gender relatively recently, even though the complementary relationship between men and women has long been cited as a regional characteristic. In the last twenty years or so the field has witnessed some important advances, most notably in the study of the twentieth century but also in the preceding periods as well. Generalizations advanced in the past are now being refined through a number of new case studies. The second half of this essay, surveying recent publications primarily in English, focuses on pre-twentieth century history, identifying the areas where research has been most productive and suggesting lines of inquiry that might be profitable in the future.

This essay suggests that one reason for the success of Theravāda Buddhism in early Southeast Asia was its appeal to women. The maternal metaphor, a prominent theme in Buddhist texts, was both familiar and relevant to the lives of all females, regardless of their social standing. Translated into a local environment, the interaction between motherhood and merit-making provided new opportunities for lay women to display their piety and strengthened their links with the monkhood.

The historical study of women and gender in Southeast Asia is relatively new, and has concentrated almost exclusively on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This article provides a deeper base to the discussion by examining changing attitudes toward sexual relationships between foreign men and local women during the early modern period. When Europeans arrived in the region in the early sixteenth century, they found that foreign traders commonly entered into a temporary marriage with local women who also helped them in trade. The rise of patriarchal states, penetration of elite values, increase in the number of foreign males, expansion of urban centers, and growth of prostitution acted together to change attitudes toward sexuality. Because foreigners increasingly preferred slaves or ex-slaves who could act as both servants and sexual partners, the status of the temporary wife was permanently eroded.