The Indonesian term adat means 'custom' or 'tradition', and carries connotations of sedate order and harmony. Yet in recent years it has suddenly become associated with activism, protest and violence. This book investigates the revival of adat in Indonesian politics, identifying its origins, the historical factors that have conditioned it and the reasons behind its recent blossoming.
It considers whether the adat revival is a constructive contribution to Indonesia's new political pluralism or a divisive, dangerous and reactionary force, and examines the...
The Indonesian term adat means 'custom' or 'tradition', and carries connotations of sedate order and harmony. Yet in recent years it has s...
This book addresses the complexity of Islam in Thailand, by focusing on Islamic charities and institutions affiliated to the mosque. By extrapolating through Islam and the waqf (Islamic charity) in different regions of Thailand the diversity in races and institutions, it demonstrates the regional contrasts within Thai Islam. The book also underlines the importance of the internal histories of these separate spaces, and the processes by which institutions and ideologies become entrenched. It goes on to look at the socio economic transformation that is taking place within the...
This book addresses the complexity of Islam in Thailand, by focusing on Islamic charities and institutions affiliated to the mosque. By extrapolati...
Focusing on rural development and environmental management, this book brings together the detailed history of development in East Timor under two colonial regimes and under the contemporary conditions of national independence. It addresses two comparative areas of development: across the three political regimes and across four case studies of projects delivered by various national or international development agencies in independent East Timor.
Employing an original classificatory framework for kinds of approaches to development coercive orders, mandated orders, negotiated orders the...
Focusing on rural development and environmental management, this book brings together the detailed history of development in East Timor under two c...
In the four decades or so since its invention, the internet has become pivotal to how many societies function, influencing how individual citizens interact with and respond to their governments. Within Southeast Asia, while most governments subscribe to the belief that new media technological advancement improves their nation's socio-economic conditions, they also worry about its cultural and political effects. This book examines how this set of dynamics operates through its study of new media in contemporary Malaysian society. Using the social imaginary framework and adopting a...
In the four decades or so since its invention, the internet has become pivotal to how many societies function, influencing how individual citizens int...
Animism refers to ontologies or worldviews which assign agency and personhood to human and non-human beings alike. Recent years have seen a revival of this concept in anthropology, where it is now discussed as an alternative to modern-Western naturalistic notions of human-environment relations.
Based on original fieldwork, this book presents a number of case studies of animism from insular and peninsular Southeast Asia and offers a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon - its diversity and underlying commonalities and its resilience in the face of powerful forces of...
Animism refers to ontologies or worldviews which assign agency and personhood to human and non-human beings alike. Recent years have seen a revival...
Singapore, like many other advanced economies, has a relatively low, and declining, birth-rate. One consequence of this, and a consequence also of the successful economy, is that migrants are being drawn in, and are becoming an increasing proportion of the overall population. This book examines this crucial development, and assesses its likely impact on Singapore society, politics and the state. It shows that, although Singapore is a multi-ethnic society, migration and the changing ethnic mix are causing increasing strains, putting new demands on housing, education and social welfare, and...
Singapore, like many other advanced economies, has a relatively low, and declining, birth-rate. One consequence of this, and a consequence also of the...
Providing an ethnographic account of the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and its Youth Wing (Dewan Pemuda PAS), this book analyses the genesis and role of Islamic movements in terms of their engagement in mainstream politics. It explores the party's changing approach towards popular culture and critically investigates whether the narrative of a post-Islamist turn can be applied to the PAS Youth.
The book shows that in contrast to the assumption that Islamic marketization and post-Islamism are reinforcing each other, the PAS Youth has strategically appropriated and integrated...
Providing an ethnographic account of the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and its Youth Wing (Dewan Pemuda PAS), this book analyses the genesis and ...
How does an authoritarian state reform its police force following a transition to democracy? In 1998, Indonesia, the third largest country in the world, faced just such a challenge. Policing had long been managed under the jurisdiction of the military, as an instrument of the Suharto regime and with Suharto abruptly removed from office, this was about to change. Here we see how it changed, and how far these changes were for the better.
Based on direct observations by a scholar who was involved in the last days of the New Order and who saw how the police responded to regime change, this...
How does an authoritarian state reform its police force following a transition to democracy? In 1998, Indonesia, the third largest country in the w...
How do visitors immersing themselves in material places such as shopping malls or video sites online make sense of the experience, enabling criticizing - or consenting to content? How is this evident in behaviour? Reflecting on accounts by Chinese, Indian, Malay and Indigenous members of Malaysian society, this book addresses these questions from a practices perspective increasingly adopted by scholars in marketing and media studies.
The volume provides an account of practices theory from its origins in critical hermeneutics (such as Heidegger, Gadamer and Ricoeur), as reflecting on...
How do visitors immersing themselves in material places such as shopping malls or video sites online make sense of the experience, enabling critici...
Across many parts of the postcolonial world, it is everyday reality for people to cross regularly between state-based and customary governance, institutions and norms. This book examines this phenomenon in the context of the villages of Timor-Leste, and the state-building efforts that have been conducted by the Timorese government and international development agencies since the vote for independence in 1999.
Drawing on 5 years of ethnographic fieldwork in the remote, rural areas of Timor-Leste, the book provides a critical analysis of the challenges that communities face when...
Across many parts of the postcolonial world, it is everyday reality for people to cross regularly between state-based and customary governance, ins...
