Questioning Modernity in Indonesia and Malaysia

Questioning Modernity in Indonesia and Malaysia PDF Author: Wendy Mee
Publisher: NUS Press
ISBN: 9789971695637
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Processes of transformation typically defined as "modernising" have been pervasive in Indonesia and Malaysia over an extended period of time and have played a central role in shaping the societies of both countries. Questioning Modernity in Indonesia and Malaysia engages critically with the concept of modernity considering the way it has been used in the analysis of cultural, social, economic and political processes in the two countries. The book argues that while Indonesia and Malaysia can both be considered fully modern, their modernities are not merely derivative of the Western understanding of the word. Written by scholars from both "inside" and "outside" the region, the case studies presented in this volume highlight the extent to which the intellectual tools, concepts, and theories commonly used in academic research reflect a European/Western modernist imaginary. Starting from the premise that modernity viewed from a local rather than a Western perspective takes on different qualities, the authors show how the process of conducting social research in Asia might be re-conceptualized on the basis of a revised understanding of this crucial idea. Their essays make a compelling case for the need to re-assess the application of a supposedly "Western" concept to the study of Asia.

Questioning Modernity in Indonesia and Malaysia

Questioning Modernity in Indonesia and Malaysia PDF Author: Wendy Mee
Publisher: NUS Press
ISBN: 9789971695637
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Processes of transformation typically defined as "modernising" have been pervasive in Indonesia and Malaysia over an extended period of time and have played a central role in shaping the societies of both countries. Questioning Modernity in Indonesia and Malaysia engages critically with the concept of modernity considering the way it has been used in the analysis of cultural, social, economic and political processes in the two countries. The book argues that while Indonesia and Malaysia can both be considered fully modern, their modernities are not merely derivative of the Western understanding of the word. Written by scholars from both "inside" and "outside" the region, the case studies presented in this volume highlight the extent to which the intellectual tools, concepts, and theories commonly used in academic research reflect a European/Western modernist imaginary. Starting from the premise that modernity viewed from a local rather than a Western perspective takes on different qualities, the authors show how the process of conducting social research in Asia might be re-conceptualized on the basis of a revised understanding of this crucial idea. Their essays make a compelling case for the need to re-assess the application of a supposedly "Western" concept to the study of Asia.

Asia, Modernity, and the Pursuit of the Sacred

Asia, Modernity, and the Pursuit of the Sacred PDF Author: Joel S. Kahn
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137567953
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Asia, Modernity, and the Pursuit of the Sacred examines a large number of Europeans who, disillusioned with western culture and religion after World War I, and anticipating the spiritual seekers of the counterculture, turned to the religious traditions of Asia for inspiration.

Discourses, Agency and Identity in Malaysia

Discourses, Agency and Identity in Malaysia PDF Author: Zawawi Ibrahim
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9813345683
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 568

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Book Description
This book seeks to break new ground, both empirically and conceptually, in examining discourses of identity formation and the agency of critical social practices in Malaysia. Taking an inclusive cultural studies perspective, it questions the ideological narrative of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ that dominates explanations of conflicts and cleavages in the Malaysian context. The contributions are organised in three broad themes. ‘Identities in Contestation: Borders, Complexities and Hybridities’ takes a range of empirical studies—literary translation, religion, gender, ethnicity, indigeneity and sexual orientation—to break down preconceived notions of fixed identities. This then opens up an examination of ‘Identities and Movements: Agency and Alternative Discourses’, in which contributors deal with counter-hegemonic social movements—of anti-racism, young people, environmentalism and independent publishing—that explicitly seek to open up greater critical, democratic space within the Malaysian polity. The third section, ‘Identities and Narratives: Culture and the Media’, then provides a close textual reading of some exemplars of new cultural and media practices found in oral testimonies, popular music, film, radio programming and storytelling who have consciously created bodies of work that question the dominant national narrative. This book is a valuable interdisciplinary work for advanced students and researchers interested in representations of identity and nationhood in Malaysia, and for those with wider interests in the fields of critical cultural studies and discourse analysis. “Here is a fresh, startling book to aid the task of unbinding the straitjackets of ‘Malay’, ‘Chinese’ and ‘Indian’, with which colonialism bound Malaysia’s plural inheritance, and on which the postcolonial state continues to rely. In it, a panoply of unlikely identities—Bajau liminality, Kelabit philosophy, Islamic feminism, refugee hybridity and more—finds expression and offers hope for liberation”. Rachel Leow, University of Cambridge “This book shakes the foundations of race thinking in Malaysian studies by expanding the range of cases, perspectives and outcomes of identity. It offers students of Malaysia an examination of identity and agency that is expansive, critical and engaging, and its interdisciplinary depth brings Malaysian studies into conversation with scholarship across the world”. Sumit Mandal, University of Nottingham Malaysia “This is a much-needed work that helps us to take apart the colonial inherited categories of race which informed the notion of the plural society, the idea of plurality without multiculturalism. It complicates the picture of identity by bringing in religion, gender, indigeneity and sexual orientation, and helps us to imagine what a truly multiculturalist Malaysia might look like”. Syed Farid Alatas, National University of Singapore

Changing Constellations of Southeast Asia

Changing Constellations of Southeast Asia PDF Author: Jan Nederveen Pieterse
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351672150
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Southeast Asia is among emerging economies that have become important drivers of the world economy. ASEAN has furthered the region’s economic integration. Yet, growth remains dependent on foreign investment. Inequality has grown or remained high. Democracy, instead of consolidating, has stalled or regressed. Changing Constellations of Southeast Asia seeks to: Shed light on the gap between Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia from a variety of viewpoints, across trade and industry, services and education and language policies; Examine institutions and elite capture to understand why middle-tier Southeast Asian countries have failed in following the ‘East Asian miracle’; Examine China’s growing influence and how this growing role affects Southeast Asia as a constellation. Contributing to critical political economy and comparative development studies in East Asia, this timely volume will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in Southeast Asia studies, International Political Economy, Development sociology and economics, Social Policy and Asian Politics.

Sonic Modernities in the Malay World

Sonic Modernities in the Malay World PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900426177X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
Sonic Modernities analyses the interplay between the production of popular music, shifting ideas of the modern and, in its aftermath, processes of social differentiation in twentieth-century Southeast Asia.

The Chinese Question

The Chinese Question PDF Author: Caroline S. Hau
Publisher: NUS Press
ISBN: 9971697920
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
The rising strength of mainland China has spurred a revival of "Chineseness" in the Philippines. Perceived during the Cold War era as economically dominant, political disloyal, and culturally different, the "Chinese" presented themselves as an integral part of the Filipino imagined community. Today, as Filipinos seek associations with China, many of them see the local Chinese community as key players in East Asian regional economic development. With the revaluing of Chineseness has come a repositioning of "Chinese" racial and cultural identity. Philippine mestizos (people of mixed ancestry) form an important sub-group of the Filipino elite, but their Chineseness was occluded as they disappeared into the emergent Filipino nation. In the twentieth century, mestizos defined themselves and based claims to privilege on "white" ancestry, but mestizos are now actively reclaiming their "Chinese" heritage. At the same time, so-called "pure Chinese" are parlaying their connections into cultural, social, symbolic, or economic capital, and leaders of mainland Chinese state companies have entered into politico-business alliances with the Filipino national elite. As the meanings of "Chinese" and "Filipino" evolve, intractable contradictions are appearing in the concepts of citizenship and national belonging. Through an examination of cinematic and literary works, The Chinese Question shows how race, class, ideology, nationality, territory, sovereignty, and mobility are shaping the discourses of national integration, regional identification, and global cosmopolitanism.

Routledge Handbook of Islam in Southeast Asia

Routledge Handbook of Islam in Southeast Asia PDF Author: Syed Muhammad Khairudin Aljunied
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000545040
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
This handbook explores the ways in which Islam, as one of the fastest growing religions, has become a global faith for both Muslims and non-Muslims in Southeast Asia with its universality, inclusivity, and shared features with other Islamic expressions and manifestations. It offers an up-to-date, wide-ranging, comprehensive, concise, and readable introduction to the field of Islam in Southeast Asia. With specific themes of pertinent contemporary relevance, the contributions by experts in the field provide fresh insights into the roles of states, societies, scholars, social movements, political parties, economic institutions, sacred sites, and other forces that structured the faith over many centuries. The handbook is structured in three parts: Muslim Global Circulations Marginal Narratives Refashioning Pieties This handbook stands out as a single and synergistic reference work that explores the ebb and flow of Islam seeking to decenter many existing assumptions about it in Southeast Asia. It will be an indispensable resource for scholars, students, and policymakers working on Islam, Muslims, and their interactions with other communities in a plural setting.

Catastrophe and Regeneration in Indonesia’s Peatlands

Catastrophe and Regeneration in Indonesia’s Peatlands PDF Author: Kosuke Mizuno
Publisher: NUS Press
ISBN: 981472209X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 510

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Book Description
The serious degradation of the vast peatlands of Indonesia since the 1990s is the proximate cause of the haze that endangers public health in Indonesian Sumatra and Borneo, and also in neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Moreover peatlands that have been drained and cleared for plantations are a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. This new book explains the degradation of peat soils and outlines a potential course of action to deal with the catastrophe looming over the region. Concerted action will be required to reduce peatland fires, and a successful policy needs to enhance social welfare and economic survival, support natural conservation and provide a return on investment if there is to be a sustainable society in the peatlands. This book argues that regeneration is possible through a new policy of people’s forestry that includes reforestation and rewetting peat soils. The data come from a major long-term research effort—the humanosphere project—that coordinates work done by researchers from the physical, natural and human or social sciences.

Methodology and Research Practice in Southeast Asian Studies

Methodology and Research Practice in Southeast Asian Studies PDF Author: M. Huotari
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137397543
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
This book addresses the question of how to ground research practice in area-specific, yet globally entangled contexts such as 'Global Southeast Asia'. It offers a fruitful debate between various approaches to Southeast Asia Studies, while taking into consideration the area-specific contexts of research practice cross-cutting methodological issues.

Identity and Pleasure

Identity and Pleasure PDF Author: Ariel Heryanto
Publisher: NUS Press
ISBN: 9971698218
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Identity and Pleasure: The Politics of Indonesian Screen Culture critically examines what media and screen culture reveal about the ways urban-based Indonesians attempted to redefine their identity in the first decade of this century. Through a richly nuanced analysis of expressions and representations found in screen culture (cinema, television and social media), it analyses the waves of energy and optimism, and the disillusionment, disorientation and despair, that arose in the power vacuum that followed the dramatic collapse of the militaristic New Order government. While in-depth analyses of identity and political contestation within the nation are the focus of the book, trans-national engagements and global dimensions are a significant part of the story in each chapter. The author focuses on contemporary cultural politics in Indonesia, but each chapter contextualizes current circumstances by setting them within a broader historical perspective.