Taking ideas and frameworks from philosophy, psychology, political science, cultural studies and anthropology, this book tells the larger 'truth' about the Singapore state. This book argues that this strong hegemonic state achieves effective rule not just from repressive policies but also through a combination of efficient government, good standard of living, tough official measures and popular compliance.

Souchou Yao looks at the reasons behind the hegemonic ruling, examining key events such as the caning of American teenager Michael Fay, the judicial ruling on fellatio and...

Language of Rivers, Silence of Mountains is a brilliant attempt to examine the inner structure of Zen thinking for the Western reader. Written in a simple, accessible style, the book goes to the heart of the paradox of Zen teaching. Its ideas of existence, truth and knowledge lack the precision and depth of Western philosophy, and there are no notions of paradise or hell to console the faithful or forewarn the wicked, yet it has inspired a following all over the world - not only in the East. In the hands of the authors, a Zen practitioner and a cultural anthropologist, the subject is given an...

One of the first conflicts of the Cold War, the Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and communist insurgents in Malaya from 1948 to 1960. Souchou Yao tells its story in a series of penetrating and illuminating essays that range across a vast canvas. Throughout the book runs a passionate concern for the lives and struggles of ordinary men and women in colonial Malaya. Here, the effect of counterinsurgency measures are captured by the anthropologist's art of ethnography and cultural analysis. Among the vignettes are an ethnographic encounter with a...