Charting The Shape Of Early Modern Southeast Asia

In this volume, Anthony Reid positions Southeast Asia on the stage of world history. He argues that the region not only had a historical character of its own, but that it played a crucial role in shaping the modern world. Southeast Asia’s interaction with the forces uniting and transforming the world is explored through chapters focusing on Islamization; Chinese, Siamese, Cham and Javanese trade; Makasar’s modernizing moment; and slavery. The last three chapters examine from different perspectives how this interaction of relative equality shifted to one of an impoverished, “third world” region exposed to European colonial power.

Using Southeast Asia as an example, this book tests theory about the relation between modernity, nationalism, and ethnic identity. The author develops his own typology to better fit the formation of political identities such as the Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Acehnese, Batak and Kadazan.

Written by two expert and highly esteemed authors, this is the much-anticipated textbook on the early modern history of Southeast Asia.

This book presents extensive new research findings on and new thinking about Southeast Asia in this interesting, richly diverse, but much understudied period. It examines the wide and well-developed trading networks, explores the different kinds of regimes and the nature of power and security, considers urban growth, international relations and the beginnings of European involvement with the region, and discusses religious factors, in particular the spread and impact of Christianity. One key theme of the book is the consideration of how well-developed Southeast Asia was before the onset of European involvement, and, how, during the peak of the commercial boom in the 1500s and 1600s, many polities in Southeast Asia were not far behind Europe in terms of socio-economic progress and attainments.

The political and religious identities of Southeast Asia were largely formed by the experiences of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries, when international commerce boomed before eventually falling under the domination of well-armed European powers intent on monopoly. This book is the first to document the full range of responses to the profound changes of this period: urbanization and the burgeoning of commerce; the proliferation of firearms; an increase in the number and strength of states; and the shift from experimental spirit worship to the universalist scriptural religions of Islam, Christianity, and Theravada Buddhism. Bringing together ten essays by an international group of historians, Southeast Asia in the Early Modern Era shows how various states adapted to new pressures and compares economic, religious, and political developments among the major cultures of the area.

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.

To celebrate Anthony Reid's numerous and seminal contributions to the field of Southeast Asian history, a group of his colleagues and students has contributed essays for this Festschrift. In addition to introductory essays which provide personal and intellectual histories of Anthony Reid the man, there is a range of original scholarly contributions addressing historical issues which Reid has researched during his career. Divided into sections which examine Southeast Asia in the world, early modern Southeast Asia, and modern Southeast Asia, these works engage with issues ranging from the Age of Commerce and comparative Eurasian history, to nationalism, ethnic hybridity, Islam, technological change, and the Chinese and Arabs in Southeast Asia. The authors include some of the foremost historians of Southeast Asia in our generation.

At the dawn of European colonialism, the Southeast Asian region encompassed some of the most diverse and influential cultures in early modern history. The circulation of people, commodities, ideas and beliefs along the key trading routes, from the eastern edge of the Mughal empire to the southern Chinese border, stimulated some of the great cultural and political achievements of the age. This volume highlights the multifarious dimensions of exchange in eight fascinating case studies written by leading experts from the fields of History, Anthropology, Musicology and Art History. Intercultural Exchange in Southeast Asia explores religious change at both ends of the social spectrum, examining the factors which led to or impeded the conversion of kings to new faiths, as well as those which affected the conversion of the marginal communities of mercenaries and renegades. The artistic and cultural refashioning of new religions such as Christianity to suit local needs and sensibilities is highlighted in the Philippines, Siam, Vietnam and the Malay world while detailed analyses of scientific exchanges in maritime southeast Asia highlight the role of local agents, especially women, in the transmission of knowledge and beliefs. The articulation and cultural expression of power relations is addressed in chapters on colonial urban design and the use of music in diplomatic exchanges. This book utilises rare and unpublished sources to shed new light on the processes, strategies, and consequences of exchanges between cultures, societies and individuals and will be essential reading for those interested in the cultural and political origins of modern Asia.

Ethnicity, Borders, and the Grassroots Interface with the State brings together exciting new work by anthropologists working on mainland Southeast Asia. The volume honors anthropologist Charles F. Keyes and the chapters here address concepts central to Keyes’ own work—ethnicity, religion, and modernity—as they can be applied to the countries of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The volume also reflects recent scholarly interest in “cross-border” issues, as reflected both in the complexity of identity, where ethnic groups extend across boundaries, and in increasing cross-border mobility. The volume is divided into three sections. The first, “The State and Public Ceremony,” includes chapters on a ceremony of national heritage as celebrated in Vietnam and the United States, Shan novice initiation near the border of Myanmar in Thailand, and the restoration of the monkhood in Cambodia. The second section, “The Grassroots Negotiation of Modernity,” contains chapters about the concept of “sufficiency” in Thai farm production, the ways modernity is conceived among the Lahu in Thailand, and the complexities of the Thai system of identity cards. The final section, “Crossing Borders of State and Nation” focuses on the stateless Lao population in northeastern Thailand, Vietnamese migrants to Laos, and Western (farang) men married to northeastern Thai women. Contributors to the book include scholars based in Thailand, Vietnam, the United States, Australia, and Mexico. The book is an invaluable reference for scholars of Southeast Asia, and will also appeal to the general reader. Highlights Brings together a range of new anthropological research on mainland Southeast Asia Compiled in honor of anthropologist Charles F. Keyes, and draws on key concepts he developed in his work Includes sections on “The State and Public Ceremony,” “The Grassroots Negotiation of Modernity,” and “Crossing Borders of State and Nation” Contributors include scholars based in Thailand, Vietnam, the United States, Australia, and Mexico.

Ambassadors from Versailles in wigs and lace mounted on elephants crossing rice fields... Siamese mandarins prostrate before the throne of Louis XIV... a Greek adventurer... a scheming French Jesuit­— these are just a few of the colourful characters that playa role in the early history of relations between Siam and the West. In a lively and engaging style, Professor Dirk Van der Cruysse traces the history of European-Siamese relations, from the arrival of the Portuguese around the beginning of the sixteenth century followed by the Dutch, the British, and the French. Explorers, merchants, missionaries, and ambassadors came and went across the oceans, sometimes producing vivid accounts of lengthy voyages, lavish courts, and strange customs. In these descriptions and anecdotes we observe the startling juxtaposition of fundamentally different worldviews arising from two distinct religious milieux. Van der Cruysse expertly weaves together material from journals,memoirs, and other archival documents, quoting from them extensively to construct a compelling historical account of a fascinating relationship. Originally published as Louis XIV et le Siam (Fayard, 1991), this English version has been ably translated by Michael Smithies, author of numerous books and articles on the French involvement in Siam during the seventeenth century.