IIAS Newsletter 40 by International Institute for Asian Studies

Madhu Bala in Mughul E-Azam, K.Asif dir., 1960. Sterling Investment Corp. Pvt. Ltd. / Sahai, Malthi. 2000. Bollywood Nostalgia. Lustre Press - Roli Books.

IIAS Newsletter 40

The art of seduction

The changing art of seduction: Bart Barendregt

Introduction

o the performing arts play a role in sexual selection? How does music influence mating practices in different cultures? Can the performing arts create social settings where sexual relationships germinate and grow – even where sex is a disruptive force, an arena for competition and conflict? And if so, where does this power of the performing arts come from?

Conferences and exhibitions, pp.36-39

Books received and books reviewed, pp.23-29

Miss IIAS Newsletter Spring 2006, pp.20-21

Above and below the law in post-Suharto Indonesia, pp.12-15

Guest editor

The seductive arts: biology, politics, religion and entertainment, pp.1, 4-11

ritual courtship, performing prostitutes, erotic entertainment

The performing arts everywhere play an important role in expressing erotic feelings. Playing an instrument is often used to attract the other sex, and the singing of amorous songs between young men and women is widespread in Asia. According to one colonial travelogue, skill and verbal ability in poetry were a passport to female favour among the highland Malays of Sumatra: ‘A kind of flirtation goes on independently of the open and public display of skill, and it is often accompanied with the interchange of flowers and other mute symbols which all have a mystical meaning’ (Malayan Miscellanies 1821). The highland Malays ascribed evocative powers to lovers’ verses: in the past, when young men went travelling, they might give their beloved a piece of bamboo with an inscription, which the girl was to read aloud daily to ensure the success of her lover’s venture and his faithful return to her. This supposed magnetism of music is not unique. Similar seductive scenes abound in early travelogues, ranging from the courtesans of the celestial city Kin-Sai, famed from Marco Polo’s descriptions, to later stories of Kyoto-Gion’s geishas who lured their customers with their three-stringed shamisen. Drawing upon notions of the seductive Asian woman, orien-

tal dancers such as Matahari and Little Egypt brought this art of seduction to the West. Many descriptions of such arts, as critics like Edward Said, Rana Khabbani and Ashis Nandy have shown, are based on misunderstandings, sometimes intentional and generally say more about the western audience’s longing for a sensual other expressed through a depiction of the East as a place of lust and sexual pleasures. As a result, the Orient has long been perceived through the seductive performances of its women, something that the journalist Sheridan Passo (2005) describes as the ‘Asian Mystique’. Given all this, it is surprising how little is actually known about these arts and the often intricate ways they lured and seduced their audiences.

Passions performed: is there an erotic component to the arts? Seduction stands for different things in different places, but little attention has to date been paid to local conceptualisations. Western dictionaries define seduction as an act of winning someone’s love or sexual favour, though seduction has also been interpreted more negatively as enticing someone to stray from the straight and narrow path. From the sirens of Greek mythology, Indian celestial nymphs (apsara) who seduced both gods and men, to the attractiveness of today’s pop idols, special evocative powers are often attributed to the lovers’ song. Indeed, many believe there is something inherent in music that affects people. What makes the human voice seductive and what defines a sexy voice? Is a sexy voice a biological given or a play upon cultural expectations? Wim van der Meer (this issue, p.6) sugcontinued on page 4

9 10 11

Introduction / Bart Barendregt The seductive voice / Wim van der Meer Love songs and temple festivals in northwest China / Frank Kouwenhoven Indian courtesans: from reality to the silver screen and back again / Jolanda Djaimala Boejharat Beauty of seduction in a Tokyo host club / Akiko Takeyama The art of no-seduction: Muslim boy-band music in Southeast Asia and fear of the female voice / Bart Barendregt Dance floor politics in easternmost Java / Ben Arps

Research 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

The Indonesian conundrum: entrenched corruption and failing reform / Peter King Corruption, collusion and nepotism after Suharto: Indonesia’s past or future? / Richard Robison The price of uncertainty: kampung land politics in post-Suharto Bandung / Gustaaf Reerink Land and authority: the state and the village in Pasir, East Kalimantan / Laurens Bakker Colonial rivalry and the partition of Timor / Hans Hägerdal Living on the Line of Control: changing family and kinship networks in Devipur Camp / Abha Chauhan Contemporary Taiwanese women’s arts: curating a movement into art / Ming-Hui Chen The way of the world / Simon Wickham-Smith

Miss IIAS Newsletter Spring 2006 Reviews 23 24 25

26 27 28 29

Books received Islamic banking in Southeast Asia / Muhammed Hassanali The Kyoto School, American empire and the post-white world / Kenn Nakata Steffensen In pursuit of inclusive democracy for a multi-ethnic state: Nepal at the crossroads / Alpo Ratia Khmer identity: a religious perspective / Carolina Ivanescu Dynamics of social inequality in Vietnam / Phuong An Nguyen Piracy in Southeast Asia / Stefan Eklöf

ith its growing worldwide network of Confucius Institutes, China is catching up in the propagation of its culture and language. The Confucius Institute Project, a non-profit organization administered by the Chinese Ministry of Education through the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, intends to establish 100 Confucius Institutes around the world by 2010. The project, named after the sage who encapsulates the ‘... longevity and profundity of Chinese language and culture’, is a move by the Chinese government to accelerate the integration of Chinese language and culture into the world of the 21st century. The worldwide franchise has its headquarters in Beijing, which supplies the overall strategy, the image, the promotional material, and the ‘Great Wall Chinese’ multimedia courseware. Most recently founded Confucius Institutes are co-operative projects between the main office and an existing centre of Chinese learning, such as those at San Francisco State University, the University of Melbourne, the University of Manchester, the Freie Universität Berlin and the Nanyang Technological Institute. The strategy of engaging existing centres of Chinese learning will most likely work to their mutual advantage, for funding, visibility and creating legitimacy. These institutes could emerge as focal points within overseas Chinese networks while offering Chinese students abroad the opportunity to work as teachers. In contrast to the open-minded pragmatism of the Chinese enterprise, the national European institutions abroad such as the British Council, the Goethe-Institut and the Alliance Française seem like relics of the colonial past. Will the fractious tribes of Europe collectively manage to inaugurate 100 Plato Institutes worldwide by the year 2010? < Wim Stokhof Director, IIAS

International Institute for Asian Studies 30

31 32 33 34-35 36-37 38-39

Pensioners on the move: social security and trans-border retirement migration in Asia and Europe / Mika Toyota, Anita Böcker, Elspeth Guild ICAS 5 in Kuala Lumpur IIAS fellows IIAS research Announcements International arts agenda / Carol Brash International conference agenda

wanted asian studies: hearts and minds IIAS Newsletter welcomes unsolicited contributions from readers around the world: • Letters, commentary, opinion • Research essays, photo essays, interviews • Book, journal, film, website reviews • Fiction, poetry, visual art • Announcements of projects, events, call for papers Please address your copy or queries to its editors, Takeo David Hymans and Natasja Kershof, at iiasnews@let.leidenuniv.nl. Our guideline for contributors, upcoming deadlines, information for advertisers, and current and previous issues can be accessed at www.iias.nl

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

The International Institute for Asian Studies is a postdoctoral research centre based in Leiden and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Our main objective is to encourage the interdisciplinary and comparative study of Asia and to promote national and international cooperation in the field. The institute focuses on the humanities and social sciences and their interaction with other sciences.

IIAS values dynamism and versatility in its research programmes. Post-doctoral research fellows are temporarily employed by or affiliated to IIAS, either within the framework of a collaborative research programme or on an individual basis. In its aim to disseminate broad, in-depth knowledge of Asia, the institute organizes seminars, workshops and conferences, and publishes the IIAS Newsletter with a circulation of 25,000. IIAS runs a database for Asian Studies with information on researchers and research-related institutes worldwide. As an international mediator and a clearing-house for knowledge and information, IIAS is active in creating international networks and launching international cooperative projects and research programmes. In this way, the institute functions as a window on Europe for non-European scholars and contributes to the cultural rapprochement between Asia and Europe. IIAS also administers the secretariat of the European Alliance for Asian Studies (Asia Alliance: www.asia-alliance.org) and the Secretariat General of the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS: www.icassecretariat.org). Updates on the activities of the Asia Alliance and ICAS are published in this newsletter.

www.iias.nl

www.paradigmi.it

1, 4-5 6 7 8

http://east_west_dialogue.tripod.com/

The art of seduction

Director’s note

Contents #40

Confucius Inc., Plato & Co.

> Letters [

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Leiden, the Netherlands, 27-30 June 2006

19th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies ECMSAS is held every two years and is one of the largest gatherings of South Asia researchers in Europe, covering all fields from the humanities and social sciences to technology, the natural sciences and medicine.

ECMSAS 2006 is organized by the International Institute for Asian Studies and the European Association of South Asian Studies (EASAS) To register for the conference, please visit our website www.easas.org or write us at ecmsas2006@let.leidenuniv.nl.

www.easas.org

The future of Asian archaeology The future of Asian archaeology at Leiden University was debated at the workshop ‘Current issues in the archaeology of Asia’ following the first IIAS masterclass on this topic. I would like to re-emphasize some of my own observations from this meeting. In my opinion, there are four main requirements for effective research on archaeology in Asia, in particular in my own area of Southeast Asia. The first is an archaeology department able to provide the training and practical methodology necessary for field research. The second is access to modern facilities and specialist knowledge required to analyze archaeological material. The third is broad expertise in the history and material cultures of Asia as a whole. As early as 1937, J.C. van Leur argued that Indonesian history could only be understood within a wider Asian context and this is also true for Indonesian archaeology, even for the earliest periods of prehistory. The last and rarest resource is a centre of learning for area languages and cultures. The decline Southeast Asian Studies was noted at an earlier seminar in Amsterdam. Terry King, summarising the present situation in the UK, noted that the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies in Kent was closed in 1991 and the Department in Hull in 2002, leaving only London as a collective centre of learning in this area. Despite the problems faced by university departments across Europe, it is notable that all four areas of expertise are present at Leiden University. With the gradual centralization of both Asian studies and non-western archaeology, it is now the only institution in the Netherlands where in-depth research is possible. For the study of Indonesian archaeology, the situation is even more serious, as much of the essential literature remains in Dutch and archival resources (such as the photographic archive of the Oudheidkundige Dienst) are available only in Leiden. The university is a centre of European importance for Southeast Asian archaeology, and a unique centre of learning on Indonesia. Moreover, the strength of both the Sinological and Indological departments makes the future potential for Asian archaeology even greater. Teaching remains integral to long-term research strategy. The four key speakers at the meeting – John Miksic, Pierre-Yves Manguin, Bion Griffin and Ian Glover – all supported PhD students as part of their archaeological programmes. This teaching and supervision is vital, and I do not believe longterm archaeological programmes can be maintained in Leiden without the continuity of teaching staff and faculty. Finally, I have constantly been impressed by the high quality of research in Asian archaeology currently being undertaken by graduate and doctoral students in Leiden, and the long academic tradition established here. To allow this tradition to be broken, notwithstanding the financial pressures now involved, would be, in my opinion, not only a loss, but a tragedy. < William A. Southworth Research fellow, IIAS

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Unrepresentative, pusillanimous & politically correct Dear Editors, Your recent special issue on ‘the Asia-Pacific War 60 years on’ was seriously unrepresentative and defective in its neglect of both Burma and Thailand. Of course, even these days, different though they are, both are still treated all too often as non-countries. But Thailand (formerly mis-represented as ‘Siam’) has a good claim to be considered the real Southeast Asia, as the one historic local polity never colonized, and therefore best able to develop according to its own needs. And Burma, no ‘imperial construct’ like many others in Asia, was perhaps the land least happy to be subordinated to western rule, as indicated by its unique refusal on regaining its independence in 1948, to join the British Commonwealth. As I pointed out in a review article in the Cambridge Historical Journal as long ago as 1987, Thailand unfortunately but understandably indulged from 1944 in a ‘fudge’ of its earlier policies in order to limit the postwar punitive Allied reaction to a minimum. And Burma can be considered to have done much the same in order to gain its independence. One thinks of General Slim’s comment to Aung San when at last, in May 1945, he marched his troops through the Japanese lines to join the British forces: ‘You only come to us because you see we are winning’. For that matter, there is extensive evidence from right across Southeast and South Asia – Chandra Bose for instance – of local support for the Japanese war against western colonial hegemony, up at least to the point when the return of the western powers began to seem likely, and the locals could recognize the need to make their peace with them. By the same token, as defeat began increasingly to stare them in the face, some Japanese began to treat local Southeast Asians in a much more repressive manner. This is something particularly well illustrated by Dr Ba Maw’s Breakthrough in Burma, written though it was, years later, primarily as a vindication of the Japanese, something still quite misrepresented by such as John Dower. Fundamentally however, the native (as opposed to Overseas Chinese) view of the Far Eastern War differed markedly from the Sino-Korean, and should have been given at least equal recognition in your essentially very ‘politically correct’ not to say pusillanimous coverage. Events at the time of the late Showa tenno’s funeral would seem to indicate that pathological Japan-bashing still reigns particularly widely in the Netherlands. <

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Fellowships at the International Institute for Asian Studies

Rubicon Grants of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) IIAS invites young and promising postdoctoral researchers to apply for Rubicon Grants at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for twelve months fellowships in the Netherlands. Who can apply? Postgraduates who are currently engaged in doctoral research or who have been awarded a doctorate in the twelve months preceding the relevant deadline. Applicants who are still engaged in doctoral research may only apply if their supervisor provides a written declaration approving their thesis. The 2006 Rubicon application deadlines are 15 April, 15 September and 15 December. IIAS offers Rubicon grantees affiliated fellowships in Leiden or Amsterdam. We also offer to mediate in finding a suitable Dutch host university or research institution for Rubicon applicants conducting research in Asian Studies. IIAS Rubicon fellows are offered office facilities, while the institute will assist in gaining access to libraries, archives and other institutions in the Netherlands. Fellows are expected to be productive in writing, possibly give a lecture or organise a workshop, remain in contact with European researchers, and make due reference to IIAS and NWO in (future) publications, (partly) made possible through research done during your stay. • For more information on IIAS fellowships and the Rubicon Grant see the IIAS website at: www.iias.nl • For specific information on IIAS fellowships, please contact Amis Boersma or Wouter Feldberg at: iiasfellowships@let.leidenuniv.nl • For specific information on the Rubicon Grants, please refer to rubicon@nwo.nl

N.J. Brailey Senior Research Fellow, University of Bristol

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> The art of seduction >

continued from page 1 Geisha playing the zither Michael Maslan Historic Photographs / Corbis

The art of seduction traditionally plays upon all the senses simultaneously and its study might not only gain from biological or musicological perspectives, but from recent work on the anthropology of the senses. Veit Erlman’s (2004:3) Hearing Cultures observes that ours is essentially a visual age. Popular music is a good illustration of this, as image is often favoured over sound. This can be seen in singing competitions like American Idol and its spinoffs. At the same time, the performing arts perpetuate sensual cultures and ‘languages’ that convey things that in ordinary circumstances would be censored or create unease.

in the art of seduction, truly turning ritual courtship into a performance.

Risqué songs, fertility and the social function of seduction

It is important to point out that sexuality was often sublimated and erotic play and flirting did not necessarily led to real sexual play. Those who misunderstood this often lumped together all sorts of courtesans, depicting them uniformly as performing prostitutes. Not all performers were paid for sex, and if they did engage in sex, it was often by choice, their music and dance aiding their selection of a partner. In India, as Jolanda Boejharat describes (p.8), professional seductresses ranged from vulgar harlots and cheap dancer-prostitutes to the formerly highly-respected mujarewali. The last were professional performers, trained in music, dance and etiquette, who cleverly made and still make use of their audience’s expectations, performing seduction as seen through male eyes. Middle Eastern, Indian, and Chinese treatises on love recognize dance as one of the amorous arts that a woman should cultivate to please her lover (Hanna 1988: 56). Men, however, wrote most of these treatises. In the case of mujarewali, choreographers and dance teachers were also mainly men, who dictated the way women should behave and move to depict seductiveness. This ‘male gaze’, as Boejharat writes, later reappears in many Bollywood movies devoted to courtesans: ‘Nevertheless, if in the movies the male gaze determines much of the action, in real life the courtesan knows how to play this male gaze to get what she wants.’

Youth throughout upland Southeast Asia and among the many minorities of southern China have traditionally exchanged repartee songs in which male and female singing alternate. Primarily associated with agricultural rites, these songs were often sung while collecting in the forest or working the fields. Such courtship songs were part of village feasts or temple festivals in Buddhist Southeast Asia: youths of neighbouring villages were invited for a communal meal, dancing, and question-and-answer games during which candidate-lovers were questioned. In the course of the night, screened from view, such songs easily became a battle of the sexes, and in some cases turned into sexual play.

is a sexy voice a biological given or a play upon cultural expectations? gests that whereas visual factors in the mate-selection process are well-known, often studied and exploited in the arts, the seductive aural stimuli of the human voice should receive equal attention. Van der Meer describes how Indian singers such as Kishori Amonkar and Lata Mageshkar might be seen as evolutionary ‘mutants’ mastering their voice in skilful and subtle ways that deeply affect the listener. Biological assets aside, much of the idea of what is seductive seems to be culturally determined. Judith Lynne Hanna clearly summarises this idea in her 1988 book Dance, Sex and Gender: ‘Nonhuman animals’ drive to reproduce stimulates the

web-cam courtesans and new mobile media are fertile ground for today’s arts of seduction dramatic and colourful ritualized movement displays that are referred to as “mating dances”. Similarly, the impulse for dance among humans may be reproductive, but it is mediated by culture.’ Our response to sexual stimuli depends on our attitudes, beliefs, and experiences. Is it the use of the dancer’s eyes as she secretly flirts with her audience, her erotic movements, or the aphrodisiac scents she uses? Or perhaps her soft, almost incidental touch when passing by, or the pleasing foods and drinks she serves? Hanna comments on this, stating that it is the overall bodily experience that explains why the arts are so popularly seductive and why their performance becomes a vehicle for Eros: both the arts and sexuality use the same instrument – the human body.

Tokyo’s Kabukichm, the world’s largest red light district Courtesy of Matt Abar

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

Risqué songs with an overt double entendre, erotic puns and sexually implicit behaviour normally constrained by society can, in one carnivalesque moment, become the norm. In his contribution Frank Kouwenhoven (p.7) describes such performances in northwest China: ‘flirting’ is directed ‘towards the gods, and there is a begging for life, for rain, for protection of the crop, and for fertility of the women’. The lam klawn of northwest Thailand, the phia pha songs of the Hmong and the hua’er songs described by Kouwenhoven all seem to point to the importance of singing seductive songs in the selection of marriage partners. In Southeast Asia such ritualised courtship songs were part of a wider set of entertainments, including cockfighting, couple dances, and riddling games meant to express wit and sexuality. Such song festivals were often fruitful arenas for contact – traditional dating agencies as it were – supervised by elderly persons experienced in such affairs, and with performers ultimately proposing marriage to one another. In the mountains of northwest China, love affairs during these festivals might even result in extramarital children, a welcome gift to women whose marriages had not been consummated. Fertility was the message of such festivals and an explicit theme in the songs. Ritual courtship through the performing arts therefore contributed in important ways to the general welfare of society. The temporarily release and the free reign of normally suppressed ideas, however, are not restricted to the agrarian societies described here. Especially in Asia’s feudal past, when the open expression of sexuality was quite constrained, the arts seem to have been a welcome solution to the expression of otherwise disallowed passions. Here one can speak of a professional class of performers specialized

Professional seduction: courtesans and performing prostitutes In many Asian societies courtesans were important promoters of the higher arts, teaching noble young men to appreciate poetry and music and initiating them in etiquette and cultural aesthetics. Their salons and teahouses were places where men were entertained and could discuss topics that other women in society were hardly aware of.

Male versus female gaze and the third sex as seducer It is, however, not only female entertainers who seduce, as Akiko Takeyama shows in her contribution (p.9) on today’s male host clubs in Tokyo. To perform as seductive men, hosts stylise all aspects of their appearance and bodily movements to live up to the fantasies of their female clients. According to one female informant: ‘I also perform as if I eagerly adored my host so as to heighten the romantic mood and feeling of intimacy. In that way, he treats me even more specially.’ Performed seduction or performance as seduction – the boundaries tend to blur, but what they have in common is that once sensual fantasies take over, people are easily persuaded into other things, in this case ordering another bottle of expensive liquor, which will gallantly be brought to the table by the male host. In many Asian societies the third sex was thought to have qualities that enabled them to seduce in ways that ordinary males or females could never manage. In Indonesian theatre, transvestites often personify fantasies of the other sex, using sexual parody and erotic gestures that ordinary people would not get away with. Another example of performing transvestites is the Indian community of self-confessed eunuchs known as hijra. Most hijra specialize in song and dance and act in sexually provocative ways, dancing in public, using coarse and abusive speech and gestures, and lifting their skirts to expose mutilated genitals when their authenticity is challenged

> The art of seduction

Tiffany's cabaret show in Pattaya, Thailand

Kathoey cabaret in Bangkok : the third sex performing seduction

Gandrung Temu, Kemiren village, east Java, 2001

Wong Ying Wuen

Wikipedia

Ben Arps

to changing norms or a new moral climate, but also to new ways of mediating it.

(Hanna 1988:108). Like other hermaphrodite performers, the hijra reflect an ancient Asian ideal of a combination of male and female into a single whole.

The art of seduction (re-)mediated In Thailand, male to female transgender is generally accepted by society; kathoey gay or effeminate men are sometimes hard to tell apart from women. To pay for an often-desired surgery, kathoey work in cabarets or bars where they draw international tourist audiences. While associated with prostitution, such performances also work to affirm one’s gender, as seducing a male audience emphasizes the kathoey’s role of beauty queen – a good example of how a further ‘professionalisation’ of the art of seduction is taking place in some of Asia’s entertainment centres. One can here think of Thai go-go girl bars in Bangkok, the performative aspects of the Bakla gay beauty pageants in the Philippines, or the many karaoke bars with singing prostitutes found in Asia’s cosmopolitan centres.

Exotic dance has become yet another trendy pastime for western housewives desiring to seduce their husbands. Over the web one can acquire CDs such as Erotic Dance Rhythm, Aphrodisia or Kama Sutra Special, the latter promising an exploration of the soulfulness of India by 25 musicians through an elegant interpretation of the ancient text: ‘Lovers will enjoy dozens of rare, authentic native instruments which blend Indian and raga traditions and bring the Indian flavor of the Kama Sutra alive!’ The art of seduction is back, re-mediated in new and often unexpected forms. Such new appearances are not unproblematic. In his contribution on the gandrung of Banyuwangi, east Java, Bernard Arps (p.11) shows how today’s erotic singer-dancer is mediated by video CD recordings and radio broadcasts, but is also found in Banyuwangi’s public spaces. Arps takes the analysis of seduction in the arts further by pointing to its political utility for local power holders. The result is a decontextualized and sanitized gandrung, but importantly, she remains a seducer.

Ancient taboos and new moral reveille: the fear of seduction As the contributions that follow make clear, many of these arts of seduction have been influenced by the forces of modernity. In much of Southeast Asia courtship songs have disappeared, mainly due to the modernization of agriculture and the substitution of hired workers and machines for communal labour. As communal work dwindled, the context for repartee songs disappeared; they are now seldom exchanged, even at harvest festivities. Some genres survive as paid performances and have been recorded; courtship songs out of context have often become overtly associated with prostitution. Another threat to the musical art of seduction is the rise of a new sensorial ideology that privileges the visual, with the art of seduction experiencing the same fate as many other traditional arts: the lack of an interested audience able to understand them. Often the arts of seduction are discredited as being associated with the lower senses, especially with unfettered female sensuality. The arts of seduction have been cleaned up, deeroticised and reinvented to bring them in line with the national narratives of Asia’s post-colonial societies, or have otherwise been brought into conformity with a new moral climate fuelled by competition over the interpretation of religion.

exotic dance has become yet another trendy pastime for western housewives desiring to seduce their husbands

the third sex was thought to have qualities enabling them to seduce in ways ordinary males or females could never manage My own description of nasyid – Islamic boy-band music in Southeast Asia (p.10) – seems to be the antithesis to many of the arts discussed thus far, as it is seemingly the art of noseduction. Especially in religious contexts, seduction has more often than not been negatively valued and equated with sin and immorality. With their moral behaviour, clean-cut appearance and lyrics that stress there is no love other than God’s, nasyid bands seem to have little in common with their western counterparts. At the same time, the moral messages conveyed seem to be yet another form of the persuasion that music is so well-known for. The success of this Islamic pop music has thus far led to only a few female pop groups: Islamic hardliners fear the perils of the female voice, in which the fear of seduction is a key argument. The transformation of the art of seduction, however, is due not only

The introduction of new grassroots media and inexpensive information technologies have led to mass seduction on an unimagined scale, as illustrated by two recent media hypes. In Indonesia the influx of cheap Video CD (VCD) technology has done much to change the existing media landscape. One of the unforeseen effects has been a resurgence of pornographic imagery – ranging from student-made amateur movies to a VCD containing a sexually explicit recording of a live dance performance in a Balinese village called joged bumbung (often translated as ‘porno dance’). The popular dangdut singer Inul, however, is a better example of what the modern day art of seduction can bring us. Inul Daratista, from Pasuruan, east Java, then 24 years old, taught gymnastics before becoming a pop singer. She had been popular for some time among lower social strata when the illegal distribution of an amateur VCD showing her erotic up and downward movements suddenly rocketed her to nation-wide fame in 2001. Her dance-style was soon compared to that of a drill, giving her the title of Ratu Ngebor, Queen of Drill Dance. Ever since, Indonesians have been divided into pro or contra Inul camps. In a similar way, Furong Jiejie, or Hibiscus Sister, recently shot to fame when seductively-posed photographs were posted on the bulletin boards of two of China’s most prestigious university campuses. Hibiscus Sister (or Lotus Flower as she prefers), in an interview with the South China Morning Post on the media ban of her weblog, laughed at the idea of being a threat to officialdom – ‘I just wanted to dance, and sing and write heartfelt, meaningful prose.’ This example makes clear how otherwise familiar strategies for seduction have found new space on the internet. Websites for dating agencies, web-cam courtesans and new mobile media have proven fertile ground for today’s arts of seduction. All the same, there are considerable continuities

as witnessed in ritual courting poetry published in SMS manuals for mobile phone users in the Philippines, China and Indonesia. In many Indonesian cultures it was common to have lovers’ verses written on bark cloth or bamboo to be recited at special occasions. Similar ready-made constructions, to improvise on and forward to others, are in use today – poems for different moods and occasions and sexually-implicit jokes and erotic puns not so different from the ones traditionally used in courtship songs. The elderly nostalgically remember the Malay repartee songs, as they recount how they first approached their beloved through song, and how she responded by adding to it. Nowadays mass-mediated versions of such poetry exist, disseminated via cassettes, radio broadcasts, and at modern versions of village feasts. Courtesans are now a popular topic for many Asian movies, from Ai Nu (Confessions Of A Chinese Courtesan, 1972), the much-acclaimed Rouge (1987) and Haishanghua (Flowers of Shanghai, 1998) to the Bollywood courtesan movies described here by Boejharat. These films provide modern audiences with glimpses of the sensorial regime that the art of seduction once was, thus positing a counter-modernist historical consciousness. How much it will contribute to our understanding of the ways seduction works through art remains a question. Early in 2006, the sensual Orient and its female performers once again stand in the limelight in the Broadway-style rendering of Arthur Golden’s 1997 novel Memoirs of a Geisha (2006). L’Oreal beauty queen Gong Li and other seductive faces are teaming up with cosmetics giant Max Factor and its advertising campaign to lure new audiences to the theatres. Seduction is truly of all ages, and the arts have in many cases been its main advocate. < References - Erlman, Veit. 2004. Hearing Cultures: Essays on Sound, Listening and Modernity, edited by Veit Erlman. Oxford: Berg. - Hanna, Judith Lynne. 1988. Dance, Sex and Gender: Signs of Identity, Dominance, Defiance, and Desire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. - Malayan Miscellanies vol II. 1822. Bencoolen: Sumatran Mission Press. - Passo, Sheridan. 2005. The Asian Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls & Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient. New York: Public Affairs.

Bart Barendregt lectures in the Anthropology Department of Leiden University, and is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the same university. Barendregt was the former chair of the Bake Society for Ethnomusicology. Barendregt@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Many of the essays collected in this issue’s theme build upon contributions to the ‘Music and the Art of Seduction’ conference, which brought an international group of musicologists, social scientists, scholars of literature and biologists to Amsterdam in May 2005. The conference was organised by the Bake Society for Ethnomusicology and the Department of Music Studies of the University of Amsterdam. For more information please see the website of the Bake Society: www.abake.nl. Frank Kouwenhoven and Wim van der Meer are presently editing a book on Music and the Art of Seduction in various cultures worldwide, which will contain some of the contributions to the Amsterdam Conference.

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> The art of seduction

The seductive voice Charles Darwin had no doubts about the origins of music – it was a kind of mating call, a primitive language of the emotions from an early stage of evolution. While his ideas about music and evolution have often been alluded to, Darwin never really paid much attention to music. His contemporary Herbert Spencer, who was much more conversant with music, saw it differently – music had evolved from language, in particular speech laden with emotion.

tic and the texts always had something to do with love. But their greatest asset was their voice. The best singers were (and are) capable of captivating their audience with magical magnetism.

Wim van der Meer

iscussion on the origins of music and its evolutionary significance has regained momentum over the past decade and a half. Nils Wallin, Ian Cross, Steven Mithen and Björn Merker are among those who have given impetus to this field of research referred to as biomusicology. Others oppose the idea of music as important to evolution. Steven Pinker, for instance, considers music a useless, though pleasant, sideproduct of language that could just as well be eliminated from human existence.

In my personal contact with some of the great women singers of India, I have been struck by how powerful the voice can be. It is enough for them to barely utter a few sounds and one cannot escape the attraction. It is some indefinable quality of the voice, openness of the sound, and an earthy sensuality. Of course this is not limited to Indian courtesans. I also have great memories of Maria Callas (whom I have never heard live – how much more powerful that might have been) in Norma, but everyone may have his or her own experience of deep emotion with song. And men can do it as well as women.

A different kind of criticism comes from cultural scientists, who generally don’t have any affinity with evolutionism. Classical musicologists, for instance, point out that evolutionary theories are of little or no use in explaining the development of European art music from the Middle Ages to the present era. Cultural products take on such diverse forms that it is difficult to explain their existence through evolutionary processes. It is often unclear what the ‘gain’ of a cultural product could be, and why it would enhance chances for survival.

For many musicologists this is almost taboo. Western musicology in the 19th century went so far as to suggest that vocal music with its powerful emotions was an inferior expression, and that ‘pure’ or ‘absolute’ music should be instrumental. The voice in western classical music has as a consequence been reduced to an instrument. It is also taboo because we are not supposed to break the magic spell. Musicologists study the broad structure of music, but rarely the ‘superficial’ details of presentation. As a result, little research is done on this phenomenon and we hardly have a notion about the qualities in a voice that make it so powerful.

Mating calls? Examples of the apparently inexplicable forms that musical expression can take come from tribes that have hardly been in contact with modern society like the Suyá and the Kamayurá of the Amazon, the Venda of Southern Africa and the Kaluli of Papua. The Indians of the Amazon devote much time to music, about four hours per day – approximately as much as they devote to subsistence activities. The Amazon Indians speak little, certainly compared to their music making activities. There are many types and layers of music with pivotal functions in social life; they do not use the binary opposition between music and speech, but instead have many more categories of speech-music. One of the most interesting forms is akia, in which all the men of the village sing at the same time in the village square. The singing, however, is completely individual, without coherence between the individual singers – every man tries to present his own song as best he can. The evolutionist would immediately interpret this as a mating call. But the remarkable thing is that the akia style of singing is not meant to seduce lasses of the village but to please their sisters. What appeared to be a classical example of sexual selection turned out to have a completely different meaning. The reality of contemporary peoples living in tribal societies obviously cannot serve as evidence for evolutionary processes that took place in the past. They can, however, provide insights into the role that music plays in diverse cultures. And although the akia genre is not a mating call, we cannot deny the importance of music among the Amazon tribes.

The psychology of sexuality Crossing half the globe to India, we are again struck by the extraordinary importance of music, in particular, singing. Music pervades all layers of society and is present in innumerable settings – work, religion, entertainment, social events. We know only the names of great singers; instrumentalists accompany anonymously. In art music, instrumentalists have conquered their own space and we all know the names of Ravi Shankar and Zakir Hussain. Even so, instrumental music in India is considered a copy of singing. This is hardly surprising as singing is the most prominent form of music in numerous cultures around the world, including western culture – and certainly in popular music, where instrumentalists play a lesser role. The icons of popular music earn more than just a living. Their genes are in demand. Of course this is not the only reason why hordes of virgins wanted to be fertilized by Elvis or the Beatles. Similarly, Madonna, Shakira, Britney and JLo may be the most desirable sex symbols of our times. But is this really due to the seductive quality of their voice? For those uninterested in pop music (including many classical musicologists) the answer is self-evident – pop music is trivial and the sensuali6

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

Rare mutations: Lata Mangeshkar and Kishori Amonkar Gauhar Jan (1873-1930), the most

ty of its video-clips a cheap marketing strategy. Still, switch off the sound and see what happens.

famous courtesansinger of India Sarbari Roy Choudhuri

The first scientific study of the psychology of sexuality by Henry Havelock Ellis, published between 1897 and 1910, considered the visual stimuli of sexual attraction more important than the auditory. Ellis gave some importance to the voice as a secondary sexual characteristic, especially the changing male voice around the time of reaching sexual maturity. Researchers have probably underestimated the importance of the voice, in particular the singing voice. From literature and mythology we are familiar with the idea that voices can seduce, sometimes with disastrous consequences, like the sirens of ancient Greece. Recent research has shown that voices tell us a lot about the speaker. Susan Hughes, for instance, demonstrated that the waist to hip ratio (WHR – a marker of femininity) and the shoulder to hip ratio (SHR – a masculinity indicator) can be deduced from the voice. In a group of young people, the one who picks up a guitar and sings a couple of songs can exert considerable attraction on the opposite sex. This has been construed to be a demonstration of self-confidence, as insecurity resonates in the voice. Perhaps so, but a singer with a voice trembling with nervousness can also have success. It would seem that the very idea of showing one’s emotions through the voice is what matters. Otherwise we cannot explain why singing is so important.

Indian courtesan singing In India there used to be a professional class of women, often called courtesans, who elevated seduction to an art. Throughout India’s history we come across texts that describe the art of the temptress in great detail, in which mastery of the arts and the psychology of bewitching male admirers were crucial. Courtesans were not prostitutes or call girls; they were intellectual and artistic partners. Such partnerships could last for years and were sometimes exclusive, in that a courtesan would not take on several lovers at the same time. A process of attraction and seduction preceded the amorous relation. The courtesan maintained a salon where she received influential and affluent men. During such soirées courtesans would receive lavish gifts – golden coins, jewels and other valuables. Dance played an important role in the art of the temptress – enticing body postures, sultry glances and transparent dress were her instruments. The most famous courtesans, however, were the singers. Their repertoire was roman-

In the Indian context we can say something about this. First, the voice has to be open – a nasal sound won’t do. Second, the voice must be tuneful. Very few singers can handle these two difficult tasks. But the most important is the most difficult: conveying emotion directly with the voice. This requires an extremely subtle interplay of timing, intonation, timbre and volume control by which some singers reach out directly to the heart and soul of the listener. In India there is no doubt that ‘music without emotion is no music at all’ – singers who are able to transmit emotion in the most powerful way are considered the top. In societies such as India there is stiff competition, differing markedly from the situation among the Suyá with its 400 members. The competition is stiffer yet in popular music. As such, the phenomena of Lata Mangeshkar and Kishori Amonkar are extremely interesting in the light of evolution and music. In over half a century Lata has recorded tens of thousands of songs. She has a very high-pitched and ethereal voice that western commentators have mistakenly described as de-sexualized; her songs convey erotic meanings that the films cannot show. The expression of emotion is not just an intuitive or subconscious process; in conversation Kishori explains how every detail and subtlety is important and how full control of every movement of the voice is essential. What this is about is a stupendous musical consciousness. What is true for Kishori can also be said of Lata – that she is able to transmit emotion with extraordinary precision and stir the soul of the public. What is the evolutionary meaning of such rare ‘mutations’? That courtesans can exercise attraction on powerful men does not in itself represent an evolutionary gain as the offspring did not inherit the father’s wealth. Nor is it clear whether pop musicians’ special status and fame would improve the gene pool of humanity. Still, an enormous communal interest is served by the phenomenon of stardom: on the one hand, it reflects and confirms the social order in which excellence and elitism are central; on the other hand, these musicians re-orient us in the world of emotional experiences that we are all a part of. < Wim van der Meer is a scholar and performer of Hindustani music. His publications include Hindustani Music in the Twentieth Century (1980). Presently he teaches at the Department of Musicology, University of Amsterdam. meer@uva.nl

> The art of seduction

Love songs and temple festivals in northwest China In the mountains of northwest China, crowds of people gather at remote temples every summer. The normally grim and deserted landscape becomes a backdrop for elaborate feasting, chanting and sacrificing. While the mood is festive, the meetings take place in a region which has seen centuries of violent conflict between Muslims and Buddhists, Han-Chinese and Tibetans. Inter-ethnic relationships remain uneasy, but during the temple festivals people from different backgrounds accept the challenge of competing with one another on a very different kind of battlefield: that of love. Fr a n k K o u w e n h o v e n

he rough and high-pitched seductive chants of northwest China, known as hua’er (flower songs) or shaonian (youth songs) are famous all over China. One needs to hear them only once to remember them: the piercing falsetto sounds and whirling ornaments immediately strike the ear. Many Chinese know the name of a mountain of near-mythical fame, Lianhuashan, where some 40,000 pilgrims meet to sing, pray and flirt every summer. The outdoor gatherings in southern Gansu and eastern Qinghai are usually carnivalesque, with people indulging freely in outdoor life, drinking, singing, and flirting. In China, extramarital courtship and youthful love affairs are normally viewed as licentious, but the rural temple festivals take place under the approving eye of the gods. Lianhuashan and other outdoor areas (at a safe distance from the civilized world of the villages) are temporarily turned into sacred arenas: for a few days, people are allowed to fall in love with strangers and to give vent to their feelings in public. In the nearby temples, elderly people sacrifice food, money and other gifts to divine ancestors. A straw effigy of a spirit is drowned in one of the local rivers to fend off evil spirits. These acts are aimed at preventing retribution from gods and ghosts. Religion in China, no less than in Christian culture, blooms and flourishes in the face of sin. But there is an intriguing practical side to the musical courting: furtive love affairs during festivals sometimes result in the birth of extramarital children, a welcome gift to women whose marriages have not been consummated.

people. Moreover, no matter how spirited the songs may sound, the backdrop to this tradition is dark, connected to more than teasing, flirting or having children. The areas of rural Gansu and Qinghai where hua’er thrive are mostly barren and dry. People have lived here for hundreds of years to a disheartening rhythm of floods and droughts, famines and warfare, with death an over-familiar visitor. In this context hua’er not only function as major distractions or platforms for furtive sexual encounters, but as powerful tools in the struggle for godly favours. Hua’er tunes are sometimes sung in temples to pray for offspring, to beg for the curing of illnesses or pending death. In such cases, the applied formulae and metaphors may still derive from love songs, but the poems change direction when sung in temples: passionate imploring or ‘flirting’ is now directed towards the gods, begging for life, for rain, for protection of the crop, for fertility of the women. Temples have been erected in honour of Hua’er niangniang, the goddess of Hua’er and fertility; some are adorned with visions of young children sprawling on mountain flanks. While the musical flirting does not result in sexual contact for most singers, it can still be viewed as a form of sexual education. Umbrellas are carried around to provide shelter against the afternoon heat, but also, if necessary, to hide one’s embarrassment if song lyrics become too bold.

Wild atmosphere Numerous taboos rest on the singing of hua’er, but during festivals most restric-

tions are temporarily lifted under the protective care of the gods. Married men often do not want their wives to participate in the temple festivals and may attempt to stop them from going. But for many Chinese women, festivals are the only outlets they have, rare occasions to meet kindred spirits and let off steam after long periods of domestic seclusion. As a festival proceeds, the atmosphere can become quite wild. Within the temple walls, women are sometimes seen to dance, to fall into trance or to behave in theatrical fashion, as we witnessed in some festivals. The singing of hua’er outside the temples is a natural continuation of this process of self-release and the lifting of normal social restraints. Han Chinese in cities like Lanzhou or Xining are mostly unaware of the existence of these festivals and react in disbelief or even indignation when con-

fronted with the rural practices. Official government attitudes towards ethnicity and rural religion show similar uneasiness. Most Chinese academic research on hua’er underplays or ignores the roles of sex and religion. Temple festivals are often referred to as ‘hua’er festivals’ and the singing is described as entertainment. Ethnic diversity among the singers is acknowledged, but is interpreted mainly as a sign of China’s growing unification: don’t these minorities mix happily with Han, isn’t their singing of hua’er in Chinese evidence of their acceptance of Han Chinese superiority? With such a bland approach to hua’er,

Surely, the teasing songs of northwest China are great entertainment, but they have other functions as well. From our fieldwork begun in 1997, we infer that intimate relationships which arise from hua’er are mostly extra-marital – are indeed expected to take place between people who already have marital partners. Women who get pregnant at a temple fair can incorporate the baby into their existing marriage without questions about the father’s identity. Obviously no such ‘cover-up’ is available in the case of unmarried women, who are formally expected to refrain from singing at (or going to) festivals.

Singing under a parasol, in a typical hua’er posture, with one’s hand raised near one’s ear. CHIME archive

Ethnic groups at Lianhuashan With its steep rock cliffs (some reaching up to 3,800 m) and forested flanks which host numerous temples, Lianhuashan, or ‘Lotus Mountain’, attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year. Throngs climb to the (multiple) tops of

for a few days, people are allowed to fall in love with strangers

Fertility

In reality, hua’er are sung by people of all ages, and the stakes are high for everyone who joins. Aged people may not sing for sex – although their flashy repartee often hints at sublimated passion – but their performances still take place under the eye of large crowds of

many aspects of the tradition are misinterpreted or overlooked. What does it actually mean for people to sing love songs together if they belong to ethnically different (and still hostile) groups? Where do hua’er originally come from? How do hua’er work in the context of Islam, with its suppression of women? How does the process of musical courting in hua’er actually unfold? Is there an ‘erotic’ component in the music? Can one ‘hear’ and ‘see’ courtship in action? These are the questions we address in our fieldwork.

Lianhuashan every summer to burn incense at sacred sites. Many are tourists. The more traditional visitors to the festival include singers, beggars, monks, soothsayers, mendicant Daoist priests, jugglers, blind musicians, peddlers, dancing madmen, instant comedians, gamblers and the occasional transvestite. The mountain and the surrounding region were originally Tibetan (pastoralists’ and farmers’) territory. The influx of Han-Chinese from the 14th century onwards reached new heights in the 16th century, and the Tibetans were gradually pushed out of the area. At this time the impact of Han-Chinese Buddhism altered the face of Lianhuashan. In addition to a small number of Daoist temples which Chinese worshippers had already built in pre-Ming times, hundreds of new temples appeared on the mountain. Not far from Lianhuashan, a wall was built to separate Tibetan from Han-Chinese communities. Eventually Chinese restrictions on the mobility of Tibetans were lifted, and the wall fell to ruins. Tibetans have maintained a strong presence at Lianhuashan. The entire area is a baffling hodge-podge of different cultures, not only Tibetans. Many groups are ‘sinified’, meaning that they can speak Chinese, or have even adopted it as their first language. The Dongxiang, a Muslim people of Mongolian descent, live in one of the driest and poorest mountain landscapes of Gansu, just south of Lanzhou. Hui, Bao’an, Salar, and various Mongguor groups occupy other territories, which they usually share with local Han. All these groups

meet in the hua’er arena. Their tunes and lyrics are partly similar, suggesting inter-cultural contact over a long period of time. But hua’er are not a monolithic genre; many different (differently rooted) local festival and courtship traditions must have merged in the course of history. Remnants of local traditions remain in many places, and need to be studied on their own terms.

Courtship in action One fine summer day in 2003, we descend a spacious valley as impressive as the Grand Canyon. From time to time, there are mine explosions on opposite mountain flanks: they are seen first, in the shape of silent puffs of white clouds, and then heard, since sounds are delayed for several seconds. A long and colourful procession of tiny figures walks down the trail leading to the temple. Many people have travelled for days to get here. Old women walk with difficulty, on bound feet, or ride on donkeys. Young girls are dressed colourfully, in pink, red or light blue jackets. Near the temple, the human stream splits: the elderly enter the temple, the rest move to an open space where the hua’er singing takes place. Girls take the lead and sing the first songs. The men at first seem reluctant to join in. They prefer to shout pop songs in defiance of the hua’er game, and bum around at the foot of the mountain with their hands in their pockets. Yet after a while they shyly begin to sing some replies. One young male singer – with cheeks as red as a lobster – shields his face from female glances with a big parasol. But singers rarely look at each other. All communication takes place via sound. After a while, the hills and cliffs resound with song, in a splendid chaos of voices. The lyrics are rife with erotic hints and strange metaphors: I put the horsewhip / on the bookcase in the temple I pull my sweetheart towards me And feed her mouth with my tongue The power of hua’er as a protective shield against natural disasters and death, and their usage as a public vehicle for illicit passions and wild outings secures the public’s fascination with this culture. Ultimately, the songs are musical laughter in the face of adversity – a bold laughter that celebrates love, defies death, and challenges the gods to respond. < Frank Kouwenhoven and his partner Antoinet Schimmelpenninck have been collecting folk songs in China since 1986. In 1990 they initiated CHIME, the European Foundation for Chinese Music Research (http://home.wxs.nl/~chime). Kouwenhoven is the editor of a forthcoming book on music and seduction in different cultures. chime@wxs.nl

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> The art of seduction

Indian courtesans: from reality to the silver screen and back again Nighttime. The shimmering air is filled with the scent of sweet perfume as the dim figures of visitors are seen in the shadows. Inside, the room is hung with draperies and chandeliers. Velvet cushions litter the floor while customers lie back, perhaps smoking a water pipe, listening to the sweet voices of the mujarewali. Women sing, mostly seated, subtly moving their bodies as the graceful gestures of their hands and suggestive looks from beneath their veils cast a spell on the male audience. Sometimes eyes meet and wordless messages are sent. Their outcome is easy to guess.... Jolanda Djaimala Boejharat

sk any Indian about courtesans and the answer is something like the picture drawn above. Dancing girls have long been a part of India; courtesans were already mentioned in Vedic times (1000 B.C.). Over the centuries there have been all sorts of prostitutes, from simple whores who provided sexual services (vesya) to temple dancers who to a certain extent prostituted themselves (devadasi) to highly-respected courtesans (mujarewali, mujara-performer) educated in the arts of amusement. Traditionally, a mujara was a performance by a courtesan (mujarewali) before an audience, where she expressed herself through music, dance and poetry as well as painting and conversation. Although this tradition had its heyday about 200 years earlier, it continued to be popular until the early 20th century. People today speak nostalgically about the golden age of courtesans, when their company was much appreciated and an accepted part of aristocratic life. Nevertheless, the current practice of this

seductive art as found in today’s brothels (kotha) is despised, while its practitioners are considered outcasts operating on the margins of society. Of course there is great variety in India’s red-light districts: from child prostitutes to call girls in modern city bars and women who still use the mujarewali tradition of dancing and singing as part of their seductive technique. Their daily lives and their nighttime practices place them

Safedabad 2005 In Safedabad, on the outskirts of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, is a group of women still referred to as mujarewali. Safedabad is a very small village located on the busy road connecting Lucknow and Barabanki. At the main crossing is a small compound locally called Bagica (lit. garden) housing about 30 dancing girls, together with some family members and musicians.

worlds meet over the body of a prostitute in a twilight zone, serving a male clientele without regard to caste or religion. Some artists and researchers say that traditional mujarewali no longer exist, as the artistic expressions of today’s courtesans are in no way comparable to those of bygone days. Still, although their techniques have changed, these women perform the arts of seduction, and their customers visit them not only for their public services, but to return to an earlier time, to leave behind the cares of today and of the future.

Situated near the busy highway, their customers vary from truck drivers, passengers, and villagers to high-ranking VIPs including government ministers and their entourage whose identities are protected by the dark and remoteness of the place. The clients come to the Bagica to enjoy a mujara, but outside the compound the girls perform at bachelor parties, fairs and festivals, using microphones and sometimes mime-singing to Bollywood tunes. Their dancing is a poor imitation of Bollywood dancing style, with hip and shoulder movements being the most important dancing techniques: some perform striptease as part of their act.

Courtesan movies and brothel scenes The Bollywood film industry, with 900 releases annually, is among the largest in the world. Many film producers’ works feature both historical courtesans and their present-day representatives. The first Indian feature film, a silent religious movie entitled Raja Harischandra, was produced in 1913 by Khundiraj Phalke. The introduction of sound in the 1930s gave birth to a tradition of films featuring embedded music and dance sequences. Of these, the courtesan genre includes such well-known examples as DevDas (1955) Pakeeza (1971) and Umrao Jan (1981).

Courtesan of Lucknow. ca.1880 Patnaik, Naveen. 1985. A Second Paradise: Indian Courtley Life 1590-1947. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc.

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

Early courtesan films idealized the beauty and artistic skills of the historical mujarewali and portrayed prostitutes restored to social respectability through marriage. The narratives were interspersed with song and dance sequences similar to what we assume to have been traditional mujara practice. This style of performance began as a blend of the kathak dance genre and the thumri singing style, both part of classical North Indian dance and music traditions. Initially the performer was seated while singing, and used seductive hand movements and facial expressions to illustrate the poetry. Used coincidentally at first, these expressive techniques gained importance over time; the dancer later came to perform standing up. Actresses in these early films often came from

the brothel culture – they were already trained in singing and dancing, and because they were public women, matters such as family honour or in-laws were unimportant. Although these movies are about the seductive arts and lives of courtesans, the heroes are the men who save them. These films, then, are largely the product of the male fantasies of Indian film producers. Even the choreographers and dance teachers (as was the custom in the whole of India) were mostly men, who dictated how women should behave and move to depict seductiveness. This was ‘the male gaze’, a term introduced by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey in her 1975 article ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. According to Mulvey, in a patriarchal society the pleasure of looking is split between the active/male and the passive/female. Nevertheless, if in the movies the male gaze determines much of the action, in real life the courtesan knows how to play this male gaze to get what she wants. Another trend involves movies about call girls and forced prostitutes, such as Mandi (1983) and Chameli (2003). These films portray the harsh realities of women working in the flesh trade, showing how they ended up in brothels, the agonies they endure, and the inescapability of their fate. Most Bollywood movies include a bar scene. In a scene in Bunty aur Babli (2005), we find ourselves in a very chic club, with famous film mujaras as background music. Then, without any relation to the story, the newly-released song Kajara re is staged and the audience is treated to the sudden appearance of Bollywood beauty queen Aishwarya Rai dancing in the mujara style. This combination allows choreographers to showcase their ability to combine modern Bollywood dancing and old mujara techniques. It also gives scriptwriters the opportunity to introduce another world into which decent people are not supposed to enter and where women are no part of the audience. In this way the anonymity of the cinema hall allows a kind of erotic voyeurism: as the adage has it, contrasting worlds meet over the body of a prostitute.

Safedabad: changing art of seduction Times have changed for the mujarewali of Safedabad and their arts of seduction. The traditional way of singing a thumri is nearly forgotten. The older ones, who by now usually act as procurers, still remember some of the original repertoire, but even they are starting to forget the words or confuse the tune (raga). Their technical ability to cope with the difficult rhythms is also almost gone. Dance techniques have changed as well – only the sound of the ankle bells and the pirouettes remind us of the former kathak-based style. When asked why the

Cassette with disco mujara songs TIPS Cassettes Records Co.

old techniques have not been preserved, they answer: ‘Why should we? Times have changed. Before, our clients were learned people who knew how to appreciate the classical arts. But now our clients are very common men who no longer know how to enjoy those things. So what is the use?’ Many of the songs performed today originate from courtesan movies; the repertoire includes ghazals, mujara hits, and general film songs. The young girls dream of being discovered and becoming Bollywood stars; they take their inspiration from Bollywood movies and enjoy imitating Bollywood hip and shoulder movements. The incorporation of these movements into their repertoire creates a circle where representation becomes source for the original. So what are these seductive techniques? When the women dance they move only certain parts of their bodies, as if a camera is zooming in on the belly or the bosom, disregarding the movements of the rest of the body. The conveyance of mood – as relayed through the actress’ performance or the dancer’s complete involvement – is absent. The mujarewali submits to the customers’ gaze, as if she herself is no longer part of the interaction. Her eyes are empty and no romantic or sensual looks are exchanged – a defense mechanism, perhaps, by which the women are able to mentally detach themselves from the actual scene. What is left is the typical way of performing a mujara seated, in a one-to-one setting, physically very close to the customer. The mujarewali still give one the feeling that they are singing and moving their body just for you. No matter what she looks like or whatever the sound of her voice, at that moment you feel transported to centuries past. And that is the true art of seduction. < Jolanda Boejharat is an Indologist and independent dance scholar. She and her students perform in both bharata natyam as well as kathak style. At present she is working on a dissertation on the mujerawali of Safedabad. jolandaboejharat@xs4all.nl

> The art of seduction

Beauty of seduction in a Tokyo host club ‘I just want to be thought of as special’, says a mildly intoxicated woman in her late 20s as she is taped for an NTV special on Tokyo’s host clubs. Her face fuzzed out for privacy, she leans toward her male host and looks at him, perhaps with shy, yet impish, eyes. The host returns her gaze with an ambiguous smile. Maybe he likes her.... A k i ko Ta k e y a m a

t is hard to tell. As they interact, the camera slowly pulls back, bringing imported liquor bottles into view and then, gradually, the glittering interior of the host club – gold-colored chandeliers, red carpet, green leather sofas, and countless other multicolored objects in the cluttered, mirrored space. The video cuts to a group of hosts hoisting glasses of Dom Perignon and quickly downing them. As they cheer, the camera closes in on a wad of Japanese yen that a female client has pulled out of her brown Louis Vuitton purse to pay for her evening’s entertainment. The narration begins, undramatically: ‘Alcohol, money, and the game of romance are intermingled in host clubs...’ For NTV, it’s yet another prime-time show in the can about host clubs. But for Japanese viewers, the seemingly endless fascination with handsome hosts and their free-spending clients knows no bottom. Not long ago, host clubs were virtually unheard of in Japan, and far less known about than geisha culture. Concentrated media exposure in the last decade, however, has cleared the air of the mystery that surrounded the business since the first host club opened in Tokyo in 1966. Host clubs are now flourishing despite Japan’s overall weak economy. To find out how and why women spend tens of thousands – in some cases millions – of yen a night, I recently spent a year researching host clubs in Tokyo.

Fantasy and everyday life The host club Fantasy, where I conducted most of my fieldwork, is located in Tokyo’s Kabuki-cho, the biggest sex district in Asia. Female clients – students, housewives, office workers and business owners – visit the club in the relatively early hours, while hostesses and sex workers stop by late at night after work. Most of them go to the club to escape from daily stress and have fun. They also enjoy a form of intimacy fostered through the game of romance, which I term ‘commodified’ romance. Once they fall in love with hosts for fun or for real, they come back to the club repeatedly and spend money on their hosts. Yuki, a 46-year-old housewife of a company owner and mother of three who visited the club for a year, says, ‘I guess women visit host clubs to enjoy the kind of romantic excitement (tokimeki) that rarely happens in everyday life. In the club, they can meet the self who is in love with young attractive hosts who are beautifully radiant.’ On the other hand, their male host counterparts, who typically have minimal education and working-class job experience, make every effort to satisfy these women in order to receive tangible return – money. According to hosts, the host club affords an opportunity to become an overnight millionaire, to enjoy an ‘upper-class’ lifestyle and the ‘respectful’ attention of society. For example, Yoshi, a 24-year-old host and high school dropout, says, ‘I wanted money for a ‘better life’ – living in a nicer place, eating gourmet food, and wearing expensive watches. I quit my construction work to become a host, who, I imagined, would receive cash and expensive gifts from women while merely drinking alcohol and flirting with them!’ As Yoshi and Yuki exemplify, that which is missing in day-today life turns into a seductive object whether it is tangible or imagined. In short, fantasy embeds in, and derives from, everyday social life, and is therefore gendered and class-distinctive. Money and the opportunity for romantic excitement attracts working-class men and romance-seeking women. The host club thus becomes their meeting place. A 32-year-old veteran host, Ryu, says: ‘Hosts can only seduce women who are willingly seduced, for whatever reason. Women who are not interested in [romance] are not seduced no matter what we do.’ Yuki correspondingly says, ‘[In host clubs], I also perform as if I eagerly adored my host so as to heighten the romantic mood and feeling of intimacy. In that way, he [my host] treats me even more specially and in turn, I feel better.’

every two weeks and on occasion goes to a nail salon. He does so because, he says, ‘Hands are one of the few body parts exposed and women like clean and beautiful (kireina) ones.’ Hosts’ smooth hands aestheticize their body movements and by extension the whole scene. When a female client reaches for a cigarette, for instance, a host smoothly flips open his lighter and provides a light before she has time to put it in her mouth. When she is about to stand up, he swiftly scoops his hand up to give symbolic support. These unrealistic performances not only draw women’s attention to his hands, but also render the entire scene phantasmic. The hosts’ seductive performance is effectively played out in subtle yet highly calculated ways. Let me now invite the reader to a host club scene. Amid the alcohol-fueled revelry, the dim and lively atmosphere in the host club shortens the distance between a 25-year-old host, Koji, and his client, a 31-year-old mother and part-time worker, Megumi. Koji and Megumi, who have known each other for three months, are trying to have a conversation and alternately whisper in each other’s ear to cut through the noise of the club. Every whisper causes a burst of laughter between them. Their intimate interaction excludes all other people, including ‘helper’ hosts at the table, and creates their own intimate world. The moment, however, is ephemeral, and Koji leaves the table once the brief conversation is over. Megumi waits for Koji to return, and in the long and awful wait, Koji’s seductiveness is greatly amplified.

Megumi unconsciously looks around, even though other hosts try to entertain her. Seeing Koji, she abruptly asks, ‘Why doesn’t he come back?’ A helper host replies, ‘Well, the woman over there opened a new bottle.’ Megumi says, ‘Why don’t I order champagne?’ She knows that ordering a more expensive bottle will bring Koji back. Indeed, Koji hurries back and gives her almost excessive attention. He cheerfully says, ‘So, you feel like drinking tonight, don’t you? Let’s enjoy ourselves!’ Megumi maintains a glum silence and gives a sulky look. Koji looks at her and says innocently, ‘Oh no! The sulky look ruins your beautiful face!’ He gently grabs her cheeks and pulls them outward ‘See, this is my favorite smiling face of Megumi,’ he says to everyone at the table. ‘Isn’t she pretty?’ ‘You didn’t have to come back!’ Megumi says. Koji teasingly responds with, ‘Oh, are you jealous?’ and then seriously adds, ‘You are so much younger and prettier! Look at these juicy thighs!’ Megumi finally makes a bashful smile when Koji says, ‘To drink with Megumi is after all the best (ichiban)!’ Megumi’s seemingly self-contradictory attitude – attempting to draw Koji’s attention but not quite accepting it – has the effect of intensifying Koji’s attention. The performed ambivalence that implies her mixed feelings of jealousy, sulk, and gladness maximizes what she wants. Her tactic, however, is not completely autonomous. In my interview with Koji, he explained that he carefully calculates how to move from one table to another in order to give the impression he is very popular. Popularity, according to Koji, compels women to compete with one another for his attention. In this way, ‘I can kill two birds with one stone: satisfying both my own and my clients’ desires,’ he says. Indeed, on that night, Megumi paid over 110,000 yen (roughly 1,000 US dollars) and left the club satisfied.

Presenting the seductive self Koji contends that Megumi is manipulated to spend more money on him because of his skill at seduction. To an extent this is true, but his view of himself as an aggrandizer – the masculine narrative of the active seducer and capable individual – is only part of the story. Koji diminishes the fact that he also has been seduced by Megumi’s economic capital, which in her case is performative, enough to invest himself in her. Even so, several women I have interviewed have emphasized that it is their personalities rather than their economic power that enables a ‘noncommercial’ relationship with their hosts. Sachiko, a 46-year-old widow, for example, visited the club once a week for two years to see her host and described her relationship with him. ‘Our relationship is not based on money, but trust. He trusts me and opens his mind to me.’ Like Koji and Sachiko, hosts and their clients attempt to present themselves as capable and/or attractive selves worthy of receiving money and noncommercial attention respectively. For its part, seduction is a dialectical process, in which one’s desire evolves. Desire to attain money and attention, as Koji and Sachiko exemplify, metonymically orients itself to the creation of the ‘capable’ and/or ‘attractive’ self in a very gendered way. The dialectical process enables two individuals who have different social backgrounds and desires to collaborate and fulfill each other as long as mutual satisfaction – even if it is asymmetric – is maintained.

A host club billboard on the street in Kabukichm

Thus, seduction in the host club is not just about seducing the other but also about the presentation of the seductive and therefore valuable self. Such ambivalence is rooted in the mirror image that seduction reflects: one simultaneously seduces, and is also seduced by the other. This reflex allows both host and client to use seduction to feel good about the self and at the same time enjoy the intoxication of being seduced. The ambivalence is, I argue, the beauty of seduction that poetically evokes sensuous, affective, and visceral pleasure, while leaving room for multiple interpretations, all with a pleasant aftertaste. <

photo by William Steele

Note: All names, including that of the host club, are pseudonyms.

Akiko Takeyama is a PhD candidate in cultural anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her ethnographic research was funded by the Japan Foundation doctoral fellowship. She is currently writing her doctoral dissertation and has recently contributed a chapter to the book Genders, Sexualities and Transgenders in Japan (Routledge, 2005).

Subtle yet calculated To perform as seductive men, hosts stylize their appearance and bodily movements. They wear expensive brand suits and watches coordinated to enhance their slim bodies, salontanned skin, and perfectly set medium-long hair. Attention to detail extends to their fingertips. Ryu applies a nail topcoat IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> The art of seduction

The art of no-seduction:

The audience for boy band concerts is predominantly female. Rising nasyid stars Fatih perform here in early 2006. Bart Barendregt

Muslim boy-band music in Southeast Asia and the fear of the female voice Religion, more often than not, equates the arts of seduction – whether in traditional performances or popular music – with immoral behaviour. The status of music and dance in the Islamic world, especially the fear of its sensuous powers, has been heatedly discussed in religious treatises; with its clean-cut performers and moral messages, nasyid, the Islamic boy-band music of Southeast Asia, seems to epitomise the art of no-seduction. Reality, however, is more complex, as Muslim pop music struggles to combine two competing powers – the eroticism of pop music and the persuasive power of religion. And especially when the female voice comes into play.... Bart Barendregt

ne of the most significant developments in present day Southeast Asia is the rise of an Indonesian-Malay Muslim middle class. With its own social aspirations, this group fuels what might be termed Islamic chic – a cosmopolitan lifestyle characterised by new media and consumerism, Muslim fashion labels, popular ‘tele-evangelists’ such as AA Gym, and a range of lifestyle magazines that affirm that it is hip and modern to be a Muslim.

Nasyid is the musical component of this emergent civil Islam (see also Barendregt 2006). The term nasyid comes from the Arabic word annasyid, which means ‘(singer of a) religious song’. In Southeast Asia today it stands for an a-cappella song genre that mainly uses vocal harmonies and is predominantly performed by male vocalists. Not surprisingly, performers of nasyid trace the genre to the Middle East, especially to the verse thola’al badru ‘alaina (finally the moon has arisen amidst us), which many Muslims think was sung when the Prophet Muhammad first arrived in Medina. Malaysian students studying in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan were probably the first to bring home nasyid cassettes, and by the late 1980s the genre had become popular in Malaysia. From there it spread to neighbouring countries with Muslim populations: Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, and especially Indonesia. Practitioners of nasyid are found in religious schools (pesantren) and mosques, secondary schools and universities, where it is used to propagate ‘Campus Islam’, an often radical mix of student activism, youth culture and religion. Many trace nasyid’s popularity to its accessibility: sung in Malay rather than Arabic, nasyid touches on not just religious issues, but social ones as well.

Between the persuasive power of religion and the eroticism of pop Inspired by the international boy-band craze of the late 1990s, nasyid is a perfect showcase for the issues that confront today’s younger Muslim generation. Groups like Indonesia’s S’nada or Malaysia’s Raihan and Rabbani have gained superstar status, performing regularly on radio, television and MTV. Today nasyid is one of the best-selling genres of the local recording industry and one of the few that could potentially go international – some groups already having performed for Muslim audiences in the West and the Middle East. Nasyid’s very success, however, might prove to be one of its main challenges, due to tension between innovation and nasyid’s status as a vehicle for moral teaching. Some nasyid artists have recently begun to experiment with crossovers such as hip-hop, R&B and break beat, and to collaborate with renowned rock artists. Others like Izzatul Islam refuse to experiment with newer forms of nasyid and insist that the religious message must be primary; they therefore do not use musical instruments other than the hand-held framedrum or Malay kompang. As Muslim musicians and music lovers grapple with two competing powers – the eroticism of pop music and the persuasive power of religion – the crucial question remains: At what point does religion end and the eroticism of pop take over?

is neither discouraged nor encouraged (makroh); and ‘sensuous music that is performed in association with condemned activities, or that is thought to incite such prohibited practices as consumption of drugs and alcohol, lust, prostitution etc.’ (Al-Faruqi 1985: 1-13 as quoted by Van Nieuwkerk). This discourse includes many, varied positions and has been more or less stringent in different times and places; discussion on what ‘pure’ or authentic Islamic music should sound like continues unabated. Meanwhile, a new style of Islamic popular culture is developing which in many respects follows western manifestations of popular culture. Many regard nasyid’s success as inspired by western boy-bands like Boys II Men and the Back Street Boys – their style, singing techniques, and even lyrics. One of the most controversial aspects of this new style of Islamic popular culture is the greater focus on visuals, nowhere better captured than in the recent critique of the Festival Nasyid Indonesia, a song contest modelled on the programme American Idol, which first took place in 2004. The festival, shown on national television during Ramadan, led to fierce debate among nasyid enthusiasts, many of whom condemned the show’s blatant commercialism. Like their western equivalents, young nasyid singers are often worshiped by largely female audiences.

Fear of the female voice? What about Muslim equivalents to female pop singers in the West? Siti Nurhaliza seems to many Malaysians to embody the perfect blend of western fashion and distinctive Malaysian flavour. Siti is often seen as an icon of the New Malay, one who can uphold cultural and religious traditions and still be progressive. But while Siti is Muslim, she is not a Muslim artist. She is able to cleverly switch between the two personas, which allows her to get away with it. A similar strategy is used by one of Malaysia’s latest nasyid sensations, the 25-year-old Waheeda, whose mini-album Wassini sold 20,000 copies in 2003; a full album followed in 2005. Some attribute Waheeda’s success to her odd mix of pseudo-Arab songs, her wearing a veil and her cute but sexy on-stage persona. Waheeda herself (like Siti) denies singing nasyid songs, defining what she does as world music (muzik dunia) with Asian and Middle Eastern influences. Malaysia is home to some well-known female nasyid groups such as HAWA (Eve), Huda and Solehah, who also perform earlier variants of Islamic pop like qasidah moderen. Female groups, however, are the exception. Similarly, Indonesia has only a few female nasyid groups (munsyid akhwat), the Jakar-

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

Why? Because controlling women’s behaviour – especially the fear of westernised women – has long been a central tenet of Islamic society. The sociologist Göle (2002) explains that tensions arise from the need of public Islam ‘to redefine and recreate the borders of the interior, intimate, and illicit gendered space (mahrem).’ Public visibility is an issue that has long remained unaddressed in Muslim thinking; new ideas here easily break with tradition. To outsiders, moreover, such dialogues result in ironic contradictions, like those of recent discussions on the fashionability of headscarves or ‘jilbab sexy’ in Indonesia. Many aspects of nasyid music present us with a similar mix of contemporary gender reinterpretations, highlighting both changing ideas about gender relations in Southeast Asia and the tensions this brings to an otherwise modern musical genre. Thus, when the female nasyid group Bestari’s first album was released in 1996, it met with considerable resistance. Islamic magazines refused to advertise it and even women were reported to boycott their cassettes. Since then, the situation appears to have become more relaxed, but munsyid akhwat remain hotly debated. Conservatives continue to emphasise the taboo on women singing in public, claiming that the female voice is part of the aurat, the parts of the body that must be concealed. Why are the powers of the female voice so feared? A summary of the discourse can be found in Van Nieuwkerk’s work (1998), which explains why female performances are so controversial. Women are often seen as the weaker sex in need of protection from male desire; this power balance could be reversed were women to seduce men. As Hirschkind (2004) has recently argued, Muslim scholars have been relatively uninterested in elaborating a theory of vocal persuasion and agency; any positive or negative effect is largely attributed to the listener. As the 9th century mystic al-Darani said: ‘Music does not provoke in the heart that which is not there.’ That is, the female voice itself does not have the persuasive power to incite a person to commit evil deeds; this can only happen if the evil already reigns in the listener’s heart. Besides, if the origin of female nasyid, as its proponents claim, truly is the shalawat badr sung by those who hailed Muhammed’s arrival in Medina, and if claims that it was women who did the singing are true, a woman’s singing voice might one day resound more as a blessing than as a bane. For now, the debate continues. References - Barendregt, B. 2006. ‘Cyber-Nasyid: Transnational Soundscapes in Muslim Southeast Asia’. Holden, T. and T. Scrase, eds. Medi@asia: Communication, Culture, Context. London: Routledge. - Göle, N. 2002. ‘Islam in Public: New Visibilities and New Imaginaries’. Public Culture 14-1. - Hirschkind, C. 2004. ‘Hearing Modernity: Egypt, Islam and the

Female nasyid group

Pious Ear’. Erlman, V., ed. Hearing Cultures: Essays on Sound, Lis-

Solelah as featured

tening, and Modernity. Oxford: Berg.

on their recent Inti

Artists and fans recognise the religious restrictions on the uses of the performing arts by Muslims, and among them there is lively discussion about the form that nasyid should ideally take. Indeed, there is a long-standing discourse in Islamic law about the permissibility of music and singing, which has recently been summarised by Van Nieuwkerk (1998). Islamic law classifies music into three categories: the commendable recitation of the Koran; the singing of work or wedding songs, which

ta ensemble Bestari and Bandung-based Dawai Hati being the most prominent. During nasyid competitions there are separate contests for male and female performers and, with the exception of children’s nasyid choirs, mixed ensembles are clearly taboo.

- Nieuwkerk, K. Van. 1998. ‘An Hour for God and an Hour for the

album (2005). When

Heart. Islam, Gender and Female Entertainment in Egypt’. Music

the Malaysian band

and Anthropology 3.

performed in Indonesia it was for an allfemale audience. Jason C.S. Teo & B.Y. Teoh / Music Valley SDN.BHD

> The art of seduction

Dance-floor politics in easternmost Java Gandrung is a beloved entertainment for ritual celebrations in rural Banyuwangi in easternmost Java. In this genre – a variety of one known throughout western Indonesia – a professional female singer-dancer, the gandrung (who gives the genre its name) dances with male guests, accompanied by a small ensemble of drums, violins, gongs, and a triangle. It is not always easy for a gandrung to entice guests onto the dance floor, since their dancing, like hers, requires artistry and poise while their movements will be watched critically by spectators, who may include their own wives and children. Bernard Arps

n the other hand, there are those who find dancing with a gandrung, with her smile and her fantastic attire that contrasts so strikingly with their own, nothing less than addictive. Her charm also lies behind the adoption of ‘the gandrung dancer’ as the official mascot of the Regency of Banyuwangi in late 2002. ‘The dancer says welcome to Banyuwangi, as it were’, the head of the Department of Tourism explained. Statues and other images of gandrung dancers adorn public places throughout the region. Gandrung, as just sketched, may seem a frivolous but basically innocuous entertainment designed to give the guys a good time, while providing the audience with an elegant and occasionally irksome though otherwise inconsequential spectacle. Gandrung, however, is permeated with and enmeshed in politics – politics with a much broader reach than the immediate setting and duration of a performance. Apart from being objectionable to many Muslims (something not addressed here), the sensuous allure of gandrung is a powerful factor in the management of gender relations, and even in regional patriotism.

The diegesis of gandrung performance A gandrung performance is participatory: it is not only intended to please spectators, but to lure some of them to

dance. The participants move, speak, and interact in ways rarely seen in other contexts; the gandrung or gandrungs (usually there are two), their successive male and occasionally female dance partners, and the musicians project personas that differ from the personas they project elsewhere. Though the performance is not narrative or dramatic, the participants jointly construct what I would characterize as a diegesis. (This notion, which hails from film theory where it refers to the world depicted in a film, is rarely applied to genres like gandrung though it helps to understand what is happening. See Arps 1996:66.) A performance consists of two types of alternating segments roughly equal in length (20-30 minutes) but very different in diegesis. One is called maju, literally ‘coming forward’, which involves four men entering the arena and dancing in turn with a gandrung, while the other gandrung sits at the side and sings. The other segment is called repènan, ‘singing’, during which the gandrungs sit and converse among guests, and sing songs by request. In the maju segments the diegesis is sensual and may verge on the erotic. It is highly corporeal, involving choreographed movements and postures. The male dancer projects bravado and the gandrung dances responsively, sometimes defensively, but may also tease and even ridicule him if he does not dance well. While the danced interaction

stands central, maju also involves singing, which contributes to the diegesis; the dance pieces are usually classical compositions whose lyrics express a woman’s infatuation with a man. They are suggestive rather than explicit: My mum doesn’t like you nor does my dad but I won’t give you up You’ve gone home, leaving me behind if I knew the way, I’d come after you The singing segments are also interactive and the physical presence of the gandrung at the table is important, but here the diegesis is primarily a matter of language. Two kinds of song are prominent. In one, the gandrung sings lyrics given to her by a guest on a piece of paper, commenting critically and humorously on fellow villagers; the other is drawn from local popular music whose lyrics are about male-female relations or the region of Banyuwangi. In the diegesis of gandrung performance, the type ‘gandrung’ merges with the type ‘woman’. There may be other women on the dance floor and at the tables, but they belong to the type ‘man’. Their dance style is not like the gandrung’s but like that of her male dance partners. (These women are usually wives or girlfriends of male guests, and sometimes prostitutes.)

Patriotism The subject matter of the songs is quite broad. When the lyrics invoke themes that are not otherwise perceptible in the performance and its immediate surroundings, those themes are thereby absorbed into the diegesis. This is one reason why the diegesis of gandrung performance may bear relevance to affairs outside the performance itself. The other reason is that elements of the diegesis may have parallels in the world at large. An example is the analogy of the relation gandrung-guest dancer with that of woman-man. As the performance draws people into it physically, or at least psychologically, it impresses its diegesis upon its participants and spectators. It thus comes as no surprise that gandrung has been embraced by various institutions for the promotion of political ends. This is especially evident in the context of patriotism. Most songs in the repènan segments are taken from local pop music, much of which focuses on the beauty of Banyuwangi’s nature, the heroism of its people and history – songs written under the tutelage of the regional government.

Gandrung outside performance

Gandrung Dwi Yuliatin and a dance partner, Kemiren village, 10-11 March 2001

Ben Arps

Gandrung is also used for promotional causes outside performance. The music can be heard on audio cassettes, video CDs, and radio. Stage dances based on gandrung but performed by school girls are a fixed component of official events

A golden gandrung on one of Banyuwangi’s busiest streets, 2003

in Banyuwangi, especially for the welcoming of visiting dignitaries. Statues and other images of gandrung dancers are usually associated with the government as well. This is not just a matter of gandrung functioning as an emblem of regional identity; the statues often flank notices of government programmes. Only certain parts of gandrung diegesis are recreated in these mediated forms. The statues and other images always portray the gandrung in a dance pose, never as a singer, let alone with the microphone she wields in actual performances. The precarious, sensuously charged danced interaction with men is usually lacking as well. The gandrung that accompanies promotional activities is not just a decontextualized but a sanitized gandrung.

The politics of attraction A critical question concerning language in the world is how it is combined with other forms of representation to win people over. The importance of this issue is not matched by the extent of its study. The discipline of rhetoric is important, but focuses on specific kinds of (mostly western) speech and writing – on convincing – and not other kinds of winning over. If we want to understand this use of language and its frequent failing, other approaches are needed and other forms of discourse must be studied within their contexts.

Ben Arps

rienced that diegesis and may bring their experience to bear on those other diegeses. This possibility of influencing the outside world is why gandrung is employed for political causes. Yet some aspects of the diegesis of performance are barred from the promotional use of gandrung. The Banyuwangi government uses gandrung as an emblem or mascot based on the realization that it has allure. The gandrung that the government has in mind, however, is the sanitized kind. Gandrung as entertainment at a ritual celebration may superficially look and sound the same but it is much more complex, and in some respects radically different. It invites people jointly to create a diegesis, but the diegesis is not harmonious. Rather, it is characterized by tension, especially between men and woman. This is also clear in the lyrics, which do not present a single vantage point on love; many lyrics address gender injustice, and some explicitly thematize conflict while the media market helps to produce and spread such signs of antagonism and dissent. In Banyuwangi, then, the sensuous charm of a singerdancer lies at the heart of an extensive and complex field of political forces. < Reference - Arps, Bernard. 1996. ‘The Song Guarding at Night: Grounds for Cogency in a Javanese Incantation.’ Headley, Stephen C., ed. Towards an Anthropology of Prayer: Javanese

Among them should be genres like gandrung. The seductive potential of its music and dance is a source of enjoyment, irritation and indignation: the genre is alluring. As it attracts spectators to the performance space it creates a choreographic and discursive arena for thematizing cultural concerns that affect life beyond the performance. What is being pulled into the diegesis is ‘experiencing persons’. What is subsequently ejected into the world and into other diegeses is persons who have now expe-

Ethnolinguistic Studies. Aix-en-Provence: Publications de l’Université de Provence.

Bernard Arps is Professor of Javanese Linguistics and Literature and Chair of the Department of Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania at Leiden University. He is completing several studies based on his fieldwork in Banyuwangi since 1983, including a book on popular music, dance and promotion. http://website.leiden univ.nl/~arpsb/ b.arps@let.leidenuniv.nl

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> Research

The Indonesian conundrum: entrenched corruption and failing reform Experts and most Indonesians agree that since the fall of Suharto in 1998, Reformasi and Demokratisasi have failed to check corruption, commonly referred to as KKN: Korupsi, Kolusi dan Nepotisme. The new government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made the fight against KKN its chief priority, but the results so far have been disappointing. A principal reason for this is the impunity of the military and militarydominated sectors of the government in their violent dealing with civil society opponents who seek to expose and undermine the military business empire, which includes illegal logging and log export,6 and fuel smuggling and theft on a vast scale in collusion with corrupt officials at the state oil and gas company, Pertamina (Pertambangan Minjak dan Gas Bumi Nasional).7 TNI and the police also routinely extend protection to big business associates who themselves employ violence and intimidation in defence of corrupt empires.

Peter King

hy is the struggle against corruption in Indonesia so difficult? What are the main mechanisms for its intensifying proliferation? Who are the principal beneficiaries and cost bearers? What role can Indonesian civil society play in overcoming the growing threat of KKN? Can Indonesia escape the KKN trap, which threatens to create a future of poverty and turmoil?

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

Assassination’, Jakarta Post.

Blamed for Unfinished Probe into Munir

9. Siboro, Tiarma. 15 December 2005. ‘Govt

Peter King is a research associate in Government and International Relations at Sydney University, where he was founding president and later director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. His most recent book is 2004’s West Papua and Indonesia Since Suharto: Independence, Autonomy or Chaos? UNSW Press, Sydney. He was an IIAS fellow in 2005.

Tommy Suharto’s Legal Saga’. Paras Indone-

8. Tupai, Roy. 19 August 2005. ‘Chronology of

tamina Officials over Fuel Smuggling’.

2005. ‘Indonesia’s President Summons Per-

7. See Agence France Press. 9 September

in West Papua? (Chapter 1). West Papua Pro-

Thus money politics in parliaments was complemented by money justice, kleptocratic state administration and TNI (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, or armed forces) capitalism, corruption and extortion. New government-established institutions to combat corruption have proliferated since 1998 – most notably an Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK, Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi) and Court – while anti-corruption NGOs from Transparency International to TNI Watch are active and articulate. But despite backing from mass print media, notably the Tempo group, Indonesian civil society remains embattled, struggling for real empowerment in the anticorruption campaign.

ject, University of Sydney.

5. See King, Peter. 2004. West Papua and

dict Against Reform’. Asia Times Online.

the Rich’. Asia Times Online; LaMoshi, Gary.

14 February 2004. ‘Tanjung Acquittal: Ver-

3 August 2002. ‘Robbing the Poor to Help

money had been returned. See Guerin, Bill.

charge of the State Secretariat and that the

dent Habibie’s orders while he was in

grounds that he had acted on then-Presi-

The Suharto-era cronies were joined in resuming the plunder of the Indonesian interior (to borrow a phrase from Marx) by a widening circle of senior bureaucrats, state industry sector exec-

overturned his conviction in 2004 on the

distribution program for the poor. He was

($4.8 million) of Bulog funding for a food-

victed in 2002 of embezzling Rp40 billion

Rakyat, House of Representatives), was con-

Speaker of the DPR (Dewan Perwakilan

4. Akbar Tanjung, chair of the Golkar party and

over Bank Bali Scam’.

‘Indonesian Group Slams IMF, World Bank

3. Agence France Press. 31 August 1999.

sian Foreign Debt, Jakarta.

updated for the INFID Seminar on Indone-

Seven years on from the IMF ‘rescue’ Indonesia is essentially still prostrate and now doubly crucified by the gnomes of Washington and Wall Street. In the Suharto years the World Bank’s toleration of a steady haemorrhage of 30% or so of its own development loan funding to KKN2 left a $10 billion public debt overhang at the moment of crash in 1997. The fresh multibillion dollar fias-

Debt in the Indonesian Context’. Paper

2. Winters, Jeffrey. 3-5 July 2000. ‘Criminal

RoutledgeCurzon, New York.

of Oligarchy in an Age of Markets.

Reorganising Power in Indonesia: The Politics

1. Robison, Richard and Hadiz, Vedi. 2004.

Notes

Or we might ask: How did it all go so right for the cronies and their threatened business empires? As Robison and Hadiz have shown, the refinancing of the bankrupt banks following the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 was long on carrot but short on stick. Almost all of the International Monetary Fund’s $14 billion, distributed through the Bank Indonesia liquidity support fund (BLBI) to rescue and reflate Indonesia’s private banks, was

resign his posts, and the Supreme Court

How did things go so wrong so quickly?

To protect and swindle

submerged in the rush to money politics under Suharto’s successor and political crony, President Jusuf Habibie. Habibie pioneered his way on the back of the Golkar Party’s attempted looting of Bank Bali3 and by bilking the poverty alleviation fund of Bulog (Badan Urusan Logistik, the national logistics agency)4 to assure funding for the 1999 election.

sentenced to three years in jail but did not

instant debt mountain that was supposed to rescue the economy, watched astonished (though why should it have been?) and censorious – but ultimately powerless – from the sidelines.

In Indonesia corruption thrives under the influence of a large and still growing business, political, administrative and military elite who are prepared to unscrupulously wield state authority and state violence – as well as private violence under state or military protection – to defend their interests. Tackling KKN effectively depends on far-ranging reforms that must go well beyond the window-dressing of Reformasi. Bitter political struggles over corruption undoubtedly lie ahead. <

sia.

there should be international criminal accountability for the former debt mountain

6. Wing, John and King, Peter. 2005. Genocide

The court actions intended to recover this money were another sorry illustration of the failings of the Indonesian legal system in the reform process. Case after case collapsed under the influence of flawed judicial reasoning and action. The IMF, the bountiful source of this new

Jeffrey Winters has suggested that there should be international criminal accountability for the former debt mountain; it seems there should be moral-political accountability at least for the latter one, since the IMF saw fit to lend once again into a rotten structure. There is also the issue of domestic Indonesian accountability, which was

TNI remains a prime guarantor of Suharto family wealth, which became clear when Tommy Suharto spent a year on the run in Jakarta under military protection after procuring the murder of the judge who sentenced him to prison on corruption charges in 2001.8 Meanwhile, retired military generals at BIN (Badan Intelijen Negara, the State Intelligence Agency) were plainly involved in the poisoning-murder of the founder of Kontras (Komisi Untuk Orang Hilang dan Korban Tindak Kekerasan, Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence) and leading the scourge of the TNI, Munir, in 2004. Only the BIN field operative Garuda pilot, Pollycarpus, has been brought to trial for the killing.9

utives, judges, prosecutors, court officials, police and military generals (many retired) and politicians and party officials. Then, as decentralisation reforms took hold from 2001, officials in the provinces and regencies, both bureaucratic and elected, joined the KKN club, colluding with local businessmen and operating even without the centralised restraints of Suharto’s dictatorship. This has gravely sabotaged the potential of special and regional (ordinary) autonomy to deliver longdelayed economic justice or a sense of effective local participation in the aggrieved provinces of Aceh and Papua and elsewhere.5

and Papua’). UNSW Press, Sydney.

The crony conglomerates, both Chinese and pribumi (indigenous Indonesian), and their ‘in-house’ banks have survived the crash of the currency, the crash of the banks, the crash of export-led growth and the rise of poverty. Persisting, pervasive corruption has permitted most of them to weather default, bankruptcy, bank restructuring and asset sell-offs. They have preserved their business empires in the face of complete financial and economic disaster for the state and the people. And they have resorted once again to the tried and trusted mechanisms and networks of KKN to spectacular effect.

co of the IMF rescue package has now saddled the long-suffering Indonesian public with an additional debt of several billion dollars.

Autonomy or Chaos? (Chapter 5, ‘The TNI

promptly embezzled by the corporate cronies who controlled them. 1 The banks lent the money ‘in-house’ whence it disappeared, mainly into offshore investments and debt repayment.

Indonesia since Suharto: Independence,

Corruption is central to understanding the failure of Indonesia’s new rulers to deliver meaningful reform, well-founded prosperity or a measure of social justice. In the late Suharto period the country was widely thought of as a kleptocracy, with one extended family figuring as kleptocrats-in-chief. Since Suharto’s ‘fall’ (which has been much exaggerated) and the advent of a ‘Reformasi’ (which has fully qualified for its inverted commas), we have a democratised – or at least oligopolised – and decentralized version of Suharto-era KKN.

> Research

Corruption, collusion and nepotism after Suharto: Indonesia’s past or future? When the Asian economic crisis struck Indonesia in 1997 it was generally thought to signal the end of a system of power defined by the corrupt and collusive relationships of KKN (Korupsi, Kolusi dan Nepotisme). Surely the days of the crony were over, and their corporate empires would be taken over by large international investors.

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

cy, ANU.

Conference on the New Order and its Lega-

of the New Order’. Paper presented at the

the Local Elections of 2005 and the Legacy

November 2005. ‘New Systems, Old Elites:

Asia Institute; Meizner, Marcus. 18-19

Richard Robison is Professor of Political Economy at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.

Kingsbury, eds. 1999. Reformasi, Crisis and

10. See, for example, the studies in Resosudar-

tives’. Development and Change 35-4.

racy: A Critique on Neo-Institutional Perspec-

9. Hadiz, V. 2004. ‘Decentralisation and Democ-

eration Press.

Dick. 2002. Corruption in Asia: Rethinking

the Governance Paradigm. Sydney, The Fed-

Hadiz, op cit; Lindsay, Tim and Howard

Strategies in Indonesia’. Bulletin of Indone-

sian Economic Studies 37-1; Robison and

It was widely expected that the fall of Suharto would release a progressive and reformist civil society from its long hibernation and transform reformist sentiments into political action through new democratic and decentralised institutions. However, ‘civil society’ proved

Change in Indonesia, Melbourne, Monash

A shift in power relations

Indonesia provides a laboratory where we can observe the collision of markets with highly illiberal, populist and predatory systems of power. It poses the question of whether the reform process set the country on an inevitable course towards a grand liberal triumph of markets, democracy and ‘good governance’, or whether the market dynamic is a more sinister one that preserves or even generates new systems of highly illiberal, regulatory state authority. <

11. Budiman, Arief, Barbara Hatley and Damien

Yet, while predatory and rent-seeking coalitions can no longer organise their power in the old ways, they have been able to survive within the new institutional frameworks. Money politics has subsumed the new democratic political systems.9 New legal and judicial arrangements, banking regulations and environmental regulations are often ignored.10 The questions for policy-makers is not essentially about capacity or program design but about politics: Why are these institutional changes not undermining entrenched interests or strengthening reformist coalitions? How are the former still able to attract investment and finance from global markets and under what conditions? And what accommodations and alliances must entrenched interests now forge and how may these open the door to unintended changes?

Must we therefore conclude that the seismic political and institutional reforms and upheavals have provided no new effective avenues through which reformist forces might impose their interests? This apparently depressing reality has driven the search for reform and reformers into three different areas. For neo-liberals, the path to reform is in the relentless impact of global markets, institutional reforms and the glacial grinding away of reformist politicians and technocrats from above. On the other hand, many reformers outside the neo-liberal camp look outside the parliamentary arena to seek signs of real reform among NGOs and grass roots social movements. Others argue that the grip of predatory alliances upon electoral and party politics may be exaggerated and that these new systems do offer opportunities to throw out or prosecute corrupt or unpopular politicians and for aspiring politicians unconnected to the main parties or the military to gain entry into the world of politics in a way not possible before.11

gapore, ISEAS.

Many policy makers argue that the behaviour of individuals can be altered by constructing institutions that provide different incentives and constraints on choice. A key feature of IMF conditions for financial bailout included the recapitalisation of banks and new banking regulations, the introduction of new bankruptcy and commercial courts, extended external auditing of government departments, the establishment of anti-corruption agencies, new administrative procedures and regulations to control procurement and tendering. State agencies that formerly allocated monopolies and contracts, such as Pertamina and Bulog, were broken up or their powers drastically altered.8 The laws of 1999 opened the door for a system of representative and decentralised parliamentary government where society would triumph over the state.

mo, Budy P., ed. 2005. The Politics and Eco-

The reforming power of institutions?

to be a highly complex and internallydivided entity where illiberal and predatory elements were also released and proved highly successful in shaping the post-Suharto state. At the same time, reformers found that entering politics meant being drawn into the world of money politics, where the scramble for rents was the main currency for survival and alliances with military and extralegal organisations were critical for access to the resources of the black market economy.

nomics of Indonesia’s Natural Resources, Sin-

ketplace quite different from those neoliberal principles assumed to be universal and immutable.

8. Hart, Hamilton, N. 2001. ‘Anti-Corruption

7. Robison R. and V. Hadiz, op cit.

Choice’. International Herald Tribune.

‘Quit the Whining, Globalisation Isn’t a

Post; Friedman, Thomas. 30 September 1997.

Will Survive with Realistic Policies’. Jakarta

6. Camdessus, Michel. 8-9 December 1997. ‘Asia

Age of Markets. London: Routledge.

in Indonesia: The Politics of Oligarchy in an

We must also rethink the nature of those global markets that determine the flow of investment and finance into Indonesia and to extent to which they are now dominated by pools of finance located overseas by the very conglomerates that fled the rupiah in 1997, often with funds they had plundered from their own expiring banks, and for whom KKN is a normal and, indeed, necessary condition for commercial success. We must also assess whether the rise of China as a new market and source of investment for Indonesia implies rules of the mar-

and Vedi Hadiz. 2004. Reorganising Power

ic Management Unit.

Accelerating Recovery in Uncertain Times,

East Asian Poverty Reduction and Econom-

4. World Bank. 13 October 2000. Indonesia:

So-called ‘Democratic Transitions’. Pacific

Review 16-4.

For many neo-liberal observers, including those within the IMF, the Asian crisis demonstrated the consequences of trying to resist the inexorable logic and discipline of global capital markets. The

But is reform in Indonesia really being enforced by the discipline of global markets? Huge inflows of foreign direct investment and other forms of financial capital into Southeast Asia before the crisis, made with the full knowledge that corruption and rent-seeking were central to the whole process of investment, suggest that global markets and at least certain forms of KKN can co-exist where investors calculate (incorrectly in the 1990s as it turned out) that levels of profits and promised political guarantees will offset the risks. The slow recovery of foreign investment in Indonesia after the crisis may be the consequence of perceived instability and uncertainty in the organisation of KKN rather than the fact of its continued existence. While global investors have been frightened by the difficulties of dealing with defaulters and by the way commercial courts and well-connected conglomerates have colluded to avoid debt and bankruptcy, the evidence suggests that they are prepared to engage with former defaulters where new opportunities seem to outweigh risks, especially in well-subscribed floats on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.7

the Case of Indonesia’ in Robison, Richard

The logic of the machine

lesson was that Thomas Friedman’s anonymous and leaderless herds of fund managers and global investors would panic when they perceived the transgression of the rules of the marketplace.6 According to this view, enjoying the benefits of global markets requires governments to accept the fundamentals of good macro-economic policy and promote ‘good governance’, and that corporate defaulters repay their debts and repair their reputations if they are to be accepted again into the global marketplace.

5. See chapter one ‘Theories of Change and

Since the crisis and the fall of Suharto optimism has waned. Even the World Bank has admitted the loneliness of reformist technocrats operating in an indifferent and hostile environment.4 The failures of two presidents to drive reform suggest that defeat and humiliation (in the case of Wahid) or co-option and complicity (in the case of Megawati) are the only possible outcomes when dealing with powerful entrenched interests. But this view is balanced by arguments that reform is a long road, that the growing pressure of global markets will ultimately open the way for a triumph of technocratic rule and that liberated civil society will generate growing popular authority over state institutions.5

Power in Indonesia: A Reconsideration of

and Markets in the Wake of the Asian Eco-

cle to Needing One. London, Routledge;

Robison, Richard et al, eds. 2000. Politics

1998. East Asia in Crisis: From Being a Mira-

also: McLeod, R. and R. Garnaut, eds.

Cambridge Journal of Economics 22. See

Notes

1. See: 1998. World Development 26-8; 1998.

Yet, despite formal institutional reforms and efforts at building ‘good governance’, it was soon clear that there would be no unambiguous convergence to liberal markets and politics. The power relations that had previously defined Indonesia proved remarkably resilient, reconstituted within new administrative and political frameworks. Many of the same figures who had occupied centre stage under the Suharto regime remained pivotal players within the new power structures. Most of the old conglomerates survived, hanging onto assets, receiving government bailouts and rebuilding political relationships with the new political parties. Not only were attempts to prosecute the corruptors of the Suharto era ineffective, the whole mechanism of corruption and rent-seeking survived in a form that was, according to many neoliberal observers, more corrosive and destructive because it was now more arbitrary and less structured.2 No new reformist parties emerged. Instead, reformers were absorbed into the old parties, which became machines to capture and distribute resources, colonised by an army of opportunists, fixers and stand-over men. They were democratic to the extent that old arenas of patronage were now open to a wider assembly of individuals.3

3. Hadiz, Vedi. 2003. ‘Reorganising Political

Dashed hopes

Will the new economic and political entrepreneurs of Indonesia now be forced to address the costs of crony capitalism by creating the institutions to resolve their growing collective action dilemmas – including the provision of effective courts and an honest judiciary? Will new democratic institutions open the door to reformist forces? Or are we seeing the natural evolution of a capitalist society as administrative oligarchy collides with neo-liberal globalisation in the early 21st century? Other similar neo-patrimonial market hybrids have shown amazing resilience. The Philippines, for example, has been mired in oligarchic money politics for more than five decades despite deep immersion in global markets.

Better Class of Corruption’. Agenda 7-2.

ndeed, the future looked bleak for Indonesia’s large conglomerates, consumed by unsustainable debts and last-ditch struggles to keep their assets from creditors. Nor was Indonesia in any position to resist the stringent IMF conditions for rescue. 1 Suharto’s demise in May 1998 unravelled the regime that had provided the framework for the highly organised system of KKN and triggered a series of political and administrative reforms that would not only transform Indonesia into a formal democracy but shift administrative authority to the provinces and sub-provinces. Given the wave of popular opposition to corruption, a central feature of anti-Suharto politics, here, surely, was the opportunity for mass-based parties to form around the issue of clean and accountable government.

2. McLeod, R. 2000. ‘Suharto’s Indonesia: A

Are we witnessing in Indonesia a period of ‘savage capitalism’ as private interests are released to do battle in an unconstrained marketplace? After all, stock exchanges, corporations, parliaments and financial systems in the early years of market capitalism in Britain and the US were characterised by corruption and collusion of the grossest kind before being progressively, but not wholly (as the resurgence of cronyism in Bush’s America illustrates), subordinated to a systematic rule of law.

nomic Crisis. London, Routledge.

Richard Robison

> Research

The price of uncertainty: kampung land politics in post-Suharto Bandung Most Indonesian urban poor live in ramshackle settlements called kampungs and occupy land according to tenure arrangements unrecognised by the formal land law regime. Reform since the 1998 fall of Suharto has led to some recognition of these ‘semiformal’ arrangements. This complicates the ambitious development agenda of a city like Bandung, pitting two sides with seemingly conflicting interests against each other: the urban poor and the municipal government. Both are dissatisfied with Bandung’s land reforms. ditional and use notions of the formal system of land law and other formal legislation that do not even recognise them. However, the local (urban sub-district and district) administration does recognise and accept these arrangements (see also: Fitzpatrick 1997, 1999), not on any legal basis, but on the basis of daily practice, including the daily practice of corruption. Thus ‘semi-formal’ tenure arrangements may provide tenure security for the urban poor, but this is not to say their land tenure is legally certain. Their security is based on their own perceptions of the municipality’s attitude toward these arrangements, itself determined by the level of support the urban poor receive from the local administration and local politicians. This attitude may easily change. Legal certainty requires legal recognition.

Gustaaf Reerink

n less than a century, Bandung developed from a drowsy town of some 10,000 inhabitants into a metropolitan city of over 2.5 million. Located in the mountainous West-Javanese Preanger region, it first served as a pleasant retreat for wellto-do Europeans. After independence, between 1945 and 1965, it was Indonesia’s fastest-growing city, as refugees fled WestJavanese countryside that had become a battleground between the Republican Army and the Darul Islam movement for the establishment of an Islamic state. Most people moved to relatively safe cities and hundreds of thousands found refuge in Bandung. In later years more migrants came to take advantage of the increased demand for labour. To this day the city attracts newcomers from all over Indonesia.

Fiscal decentralisation has resulted in what some Indonesians call ‘local revenue obsession’ (obsesi PAD). Bandung’s municipal government goes out of its way to attract new investors. It wants the city to become a centre of the services industry, which in practice means shopping malls and factory outlets. To achieve this, the municipality must redevelop land, especially if well-positioned, to meet economic or strategic goals. Kampung land is attractive for this purpose: it can be acquired at low cost and redeveloping it eliminates urban eyesores while upgrading Bandung to a modern metropolitan city.

Kampung power Post New Order hopes

These vast migration flows, paired with government inaction, spawned many urban kampungs. In the colonial period, the city literally engulfed nearby rural villages. The colonial municipality kept these villages autonomous as legal enclaves that applied their own adat law instead of the system of land rights created by the Dutch Civil Code. After independence many rural migrants moved into these villages, which soon lost their rural character and developed into urban kampungs. Other migrants formed new kampungs by squatting land, mostly along riversides, railway tracks and on graveyards. Because Indonesia did not formalise a housing policy until the 1970s, and because that policy has largely failed to meet the needs of the urban poor, migrants still have no choice but to settle in these kampungs.

Treating the poor like the poor To this day, urban kampung dwellers do not expect much from the government. During the first decades after independence, they remained more or less autonomous. From the 1970s, when the New Order’s economic policy began to yield a profit, the government started programs to improve kampung living conditions, but land tenure and land use were not addressed. So despite physical, social and economic improvements, most kampungs are not in accordance with the formal land law regime. The 1960 Basic Agrarian Law (BAL) was an attempt to abolish the colonial dualist system of land rights. Unregistered (former) adat land was to be integrated into the system of statutory land rights created by the BAL. In order to accelerate this process, the Indonesian government initiated land registration projects beginning in the 1980s, providing land titles to the poor at low cost, but the projects themselves were costly and had limited reach. Most important, the government pursued an ambiguous policy toward providing the poor with documentation reflecting legal entitlement to their land. With the New Order developmentalist approach gaining prominence, the government wanted free reign to develop any land however it wished. By not acknowledging land tenure arrangements existing outside systems of statutory land rights and traditional adat law, it could do so.

‘their land’ but an increase in the amount of compensation they receive.

A riverside kampung in sub-district Taman Sari, north Bandung courtesy of author

The fall of Suharto and his New Order government and the ensuing socio-political and legal reforms were generally expected to greatly influence the formation of the rule of law and thus the extent of tenure security and legal certainty of kampung dwellers. In particular, the 2001 Laws on Regional Autonomy led to a complete overhaul of the country’s constitution: in principle, these laws not only transferred tasks and authorities but also decision-making power and, to a lesser extent, financial means from Jakarta to districts and municipalities. So, according to the laws, the National Land Agency (NLA), one of the country’s most corrupt state institutions, would have to transfer its powers to these local governments (on the NLA’s reputation, see: Bachriadi, Bachrioktora and Safitri 2005). Spatial planning would no longer be executed according to a top-down approach. Free elections on the district and municipal level would allow people to push for the reform of regional and local regulations necessary to clear the way for innovative approaches to land administration and management. And because the laws also allowed districts and municipalities to generate their own local revenues (PAD Pajak Asli Daerah), they would actually have the means to implement innovations.

It is questionable whether the general public supports Bandung’s ambitious urban development agenda. Municipal officials and council members have repeatedly demonstrated that they not only represent the people but also business interests. Local NGOs and academia criticised the latest spatial plan for the lack of transparency in the decision-making process and for its content (see for instance: Zulkaidi and Kumala Sari 2004). In that respect, regional autonomy has not met expectations. But kampung dwellers no longer accept land acquisition at any price. Negotiations over compensation last long and are cantankerous. A recent example was the acquisition of land for the Pasupati flyover, in north-central Bandung, which lasted over six years and led to vigourous protests by settlement dwellers affected by the project. In the end most dwellers welcomed the outcome. Their daring to reject the municipal government’s initial offer and organise protests won them relocation to a new settlement in the city’s outskirts, or compensation for their buildings and land, even in the case of some squatters. These are not just power games. Local officials and politicians now acknowledge that kampung dwellers have a right to compensation. Still, the outcome of any acquisition of kampung land is uncertain, not only for the urban poor, but as a result of the new socio-political balance, for any government institution or investor wishing to acquire urban land. Recent experiences have led the Indonesian government to pass a new regulation that should facilitate efficient land acquisition. However, it applies only to land registered according to the BAL, and otherwise leaves matters of eviction and compensation to the discretion of the municipal government. As long as there is uncertainty about the legal position of kampung dwellers, the once useful flexibility in the system of land law will harm any form of urban development. In terms of time and money, and given its development ambitions, the Bandung municipality is paying a high price for this uncertainty. < Works cited - Bachriadi, D., Y. Bachrioktora, and H. Safitri. 2004. ‘Ketika Penye-

The municipality has seldom been strict in enforcing regulations on land tenure and land use, not even after the Indonesian parliament passed a spatial planning law in 1992. This was not only the result of a lack of administrative capacity; the political and socio-economic costs may also have been too high for strict enforcement. But if the government or an investor needed the land, they could indeed arbitrarily evict kampung dwellers without proper compensation, especially during the New Order (1966-1998). In Bandung, evicted settlers sometimes received some form of compensation, even if they possessed no evidence of rights to the land. The lack of land registration contributed to the emergence of legal pluralism in Indonesia’s land sector. Many forms of land tenure found in kampungs still cannot be classified under the legally acknowledged system of statutory land rights, but neither under traditional adat law. Generally, kampung dwellers apply ‘semi-formal’ tenure arrangements, which are non-tra14

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

lenggaraan Pemerintahan Menyimpang: Mal Administrasi Di Bidang Pertanahan’. Bandung: Komisi Ombudsman Nasional & Konsortium Pembaruan Agraria. - Fitzpatrick, D. 1999. ‘Beyond Dualism: Land Acquisition and Law in Indonesia’. Lindsey, T., ed. Indonesia, Law and Society. Sydney: the Federation Press, 74-96.

Soon, however, a number of presidential decisions diluted the effect of the new laws on regional autonomy. Land issues over which districts and cities have authority are now limited to seven, such as spatial planning and the resolution of conflicts over the unauthorized occupation of land. But districts and cities already had authority over most of these issues, and others, such as the authority to define adat rights, are hardly relevant for a city like Bandung. So from a legal point of view, not much changed in the urban land sector. Nevertheless, the laws do have an impact on the legal position of Bandung kampung dwellers, though in a different manner than expected: there is an increased risk of eviction for kampung dwellers from

- —. ‘Disputes and Pluralism in Modern Indonesian Land Law’. 1997. The Yale Journal of International Law, 171-212. - Zulkaidi, D., and N. Kumala Sari. 2004. ‘Penilainan Tingkat Transparansi Dalam Proses Penyusunan Rtrw Kota, Studi Kasus: Proses Penyusunan Naskah RTRW Kota Bandung’. Jurnal Perencanaan Wilayah dan Kota 15-1, 48-68.

Gustaaf Reerink Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Development Faculty of Law Leiden University g.o.reerink@law.leidenuniv.nl

> Research

Land and authority: the state and the village in Pasir, East Kalimantan Nearly five years after the implementation of administrative decentralisation in Indonesia, popular influence on governance has increased, especially at the kabupaten (district) level, where ‘local ways’ have become a hot topic in political discourse. But what are local ways and to whom do they belong? Can they be reconciled with national law? Consider land tenure, where district regulations and grassroots practice often differ: in Pasir, government and society are looking to tradition, national law and Pasir identity to redefine authority over land.

asir is the southernmost district of the province of East Kalimantan, comprised of a flat coastal plain and a mountainous, forested hinterland called Gunung Lumut. Most inhabitants are ethnic Orang Pasir who have recently shifted their cultural focus from nearby Central Kalimantan’s Dayak communities to the ethnically diverse coastal area, Islam and Malayu identity. Without its natural resources, Pasir would have been an inconspicuous peripheral district within Indonesia. Oil palm plantations and mining dominate the coastal area and provide work to migrants from throughout Indonesia. In the mountains, where communities of subsistence farmers live in villages comprised of a small number of extended families, legal (and illegal) logging and ladang slash-and-burn farming are the main economic activities. Local customs and border agreements between communities, rather than national law or government policies, regulate access to land. Pasir’s district government, based in the city of Tanah Grogot, is far away from the mountains. Because communication and administrative control are lacking, government policies and regulations frequently hold no sway in mountain villages. Moreover, mountain communities saw the New Order’s unilateral management of logging and mining projects in Gunung Lumut as dictatorial and unjust, leaving them suspicious of all government initiatives and national law. As a result, official regulations are implemented along the coast, but lessen in influence and even disappear in the mountains. Government law and local practise usually coexist peacefully because would-be enforcers or practitioners ignore, or remain oblivious to, the other’s strictures.

When it comes to land, I am the state Gunung Lumut communities govern land and forest according to local ways usually referred to by the umbrella term adat, translated as ‘custom’ or ‘tradition’. Depending on the context, adat is both adored and rejected in national politics. In representing local identity and tradition, adat has for years been a useful instrument in tying local cultural variety to matters of national economic interest, such as tourism. In matters of land or forest management, however, local adat and national policy-making are frequently at odds. According to Indonesia’s Basic Agrarian Law (BAL) of 1960, national land law is adat law, but the BAL does not define adat; it merely provides five broad qualifications under which the validity of adat land claims may be overruled (see also Haver-

field 1999). During the New Order, these qualifications were often applied to nullify adat claims regardless of their validity. Moreover, the BAL mentions only individual rights to land, whereas traditional rights are often communal. The illegality of communal claims does not stop the population from making them. In recent years national media exposure and the establishment of a network of adat community NGOs have helped increase the number of cases in which communal lands are (re)claimed by adat communities. The Minister of Agraria/Head of the National Land Agency tried to address this in a 1999 regulation specifying conditions for the recognition of such claims and guidelines for their settlement (see also Slaats 2000; Sakai 2002). The regulation directs all district governments to investigate whether communal land claims exist within their district. The Pasir government enlisted a team of researchers from Universitas Hasanuddin in Makassar to conduct four days of field research in 2002, mainly on the coastal plain where large numbers of migrants live. Although part of the team worked along Gunung Lumut’s periphery, no research was done in the mountainous region itself. Results showed clear differences among the areas studied, but final conclusions were presented in terms of a percentage of the whole rather than a breakdown by area, making existing claims appear insignificant. Thus, in 2003, the district government drafted a regulation stating that communal land rights effectively no longer existed in Pasir.

You’re not the state, we are This, to many, did not reflect ‘local ways’. Three local NGOs, claiming to represent Pasir’s adat communities, immediately challenged the district government. The first was LAP (Lembaga Adat Paser, or Foundation for Adat in Pasir), whose mission is to improve religious, medical and education facilities for all of Pasir’s population. The second, PEMA (Persatuan Masyarakat Adat Paser, or Association of Adat Communities in Pasir), is a small Gunung Lumut organisation that puts its considerable knowledge of local circumstances to work on just about anything it finds relevant. The third, PBA-PDB (Persatuan Benuaq Adat – Paser Dayak Serumpun, or United Adat People – Dayak Pasir Division), attempts to strengthen the position of the Orang Pasir by joining forces with Dayak organisations from other areas of Kalimantan. Through a special partnership, LAP, though not well-known outside its base in Tanah Grogot, is the district government’s official liaison with all other NGOs – all, that is, except PBA-PDB.

Reconcilable differences?

Brunei Sarawak (Malaysia)

Kuching

Iba nM oun tain s

Laurens Bakker

Pontianak Samarinda Balikpapan Palangkaraya Banjarmasin

Tanah Grogot

Pasir Martapura

Also based in Tanah Grogot, PBA-PDB instead tries to attract the attention of the government, newspapers, and Pasir society through demonstrations. Although both claim to represent adat groups, they have in fact little contact with them and rely on third party information to pursue their goal of influencing the government in Tanah Grogot – which, since both have supporters in and around the local government, they often achieve. The two organisations will, like true politicians, co-operate to keep smaller NGOs small but are otherwise fanatical rivals. Given the choice between representing their clients and gaining political influence, both opt for the latter and take possible inconsistencies with ‘local ways’ for granted. Only PEMA has actual links with the adat communities all three NGOs claim to represent. Based in the mountainous Gunung Lumut, this proximity to the grassroots results in the organisation’s isolation from the political nerve centre of Tanah Grogot, meaning that PEMA is dependent on LAP for access to the district government. All three NGOs voiced their concern at a meeting organised by the district government to discuss the 2003 draft regulation. The government’s decision to address the NGOs’ protests is not mere opportunism. Most government officials are of migrant origin and identify little with Pasir society beyond Tanah Grogot. They co-operate with organisations that appear to best represent it – a pragmatic approach that endows government officials with popular support, but leaves them wary of opportunism and power plays from other popular elements including the very NGOs they co-operate with.

Kalimantan (Indonesia)

of such lands. However, as in government-NGO relations, Gunung Lumut communities treat messages from ‘the other party’ pragmatically. When decentralisation began, village governments swiftly adopted the view that national law recognised their authority over land and forest in their adat territories. Although authority over forests has since been mostly recentralised to the districts’ Department of Forestry offices, some communities continue to issue their own logging permits. Similarly, the borders of a national forest reserve designated by the Ministry of Forestry overlap adat lands; some communities recognize its protected status while others hold their customary rights higher, depending on their ideas about preservation or exploitation. A second example of this pragmatism is the size of territories claimed. Pasir’s National Land Agency, in accordance with national law, limited the amount of land that can be registered per family head to 20 hectares. But Gunung Lumut communities claim much larger communal adat territories; with the smallest claim at around 150 ha per family, no community has yet agreed to registration. However, many have mapped their territories and borders and some are attempting, with varying success, to persuade government officials to sign these maps as an expression of alternative registration. Most communities express a keen interest in formal registration, but on a communal basis and for all of the territory.

Negotiation and selective ignorance are common ways of dealing with land issues in Pasir’s mountains. Mountain communities consider the district government as only one of many sources of authority, while the government’s administrative decisions show disregard for the existence of local traditional systems of land management. The two meet only through a chain of NGOs with varied local expertise and influence, but with a solid position in local politics. Although the local has clearly gained a place in district politics, its relation to ‘local ways’ is not necessarily clear or direct. The physical and procedural distance between mountain communities and the district government allows for the communities’ locality to be politicized by outsiders, such as the LAP and rival PBA-PDB. On the upside, district politics are certainly more influenced by local circumstances than they were before decentralisation. ‘Local ways’ are a platform for local politics and are regarded as such by local governments. However, in spite of what some politicians and NGOs claim, ‘local ways’ are at risk of becoming subservient to local politics. The political experimenting currently taking place in districts throughout Indonesia has not yet led to stable results. Local people may gain influence in district politics, or a local political and economic elite may seize control after the New Order’s example. Pasir’s politics appear to be evolving toward the former, but it is too early to conclude that a new style of district government has been established. References - Haverfield, Rachel. 1999. ‘Hak Ulayat and the State: Land Reform in Indonesia’. Lindsey, T., ed. Indonesia, Law and Society. Sydney: The Federation Press. - Sakai, Minako. 2002. ‘Land Dispute Resolution in the Political Reform at the Time of

Decentralization

Indonesia’.

Antropologi Indonesia Special Volume. - Slaats, Herman. 2000. ‘Land Law in Indonesia: Changing Approaches’. IIAS Newsletter 22.

Laurens Bakker Institute of Folk Law Radboud University Nijmegen L.Bakker@jur.ru.nl

Indira (Indonesian-Netherlands studies of Decentralisation of the Indonesian ‘Rechtsstaat’ and its impact on ‘Agraria’) is a Dutch-Indonesian socio-legal research project focusing on the impact of the new, decentralised administrative structure on the rule of law at regional and local levels in Indonesia. The project studies how ‘guardian institutions’ such as courts and ombudsmen oversee the legality of the acts of newly empowered legislatures and executives, and how the new system influences ‘realistic legal certainty’ of common people; an in-

State? What state?

depth analysis is made in the sector of land law. Indira is part of the Royal Dutch Academy of

For the Orang Pasir of the Gunung Lumut mountains, the debate on communal adat lands was as irrelevant as every government official who ever passed through to confirm the existence

Sciences’ programme ‘Indonesia in Transition’. Participating universities include Universitas Andalas, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Universitas Airlangga, Universitas Parahyangan, Leiden University and Radboud University Nijmegen. A more detailed account can be found at: www.indira.leidenuniv.nl.

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> Research

Colonial rivalry and the partition of Timor What the islands deliver is in the first place sandalwood, and also some gold and beeswax.... The inhabitants...who often wage war on each other, sometimes draw the Company into the game..., the reason why we sometimes achieve some slaves.... But since the relation with Portugal is at peace again...we have and keep only a small activity on Timor as well as Solor, pending the small trade that is done here, and also because the Portuguese have drawn everything to themselves, being by far the strongest and mostly having the inhabitants by their side through their priests and divines, and by those means taking much advantage over us. 1

Meo, a prominent West Timorese warrior, portrayed in the 1820s. Temminck, C.J. ed. 183944. Verhandelingen Over de Natuurlijke Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Overzeesche Bezittingen, 3 vol. Leiden.

processes that led to the rough 50-50 partition of Timor known to modern history. The annual records of the VOC post in Kupang in West Timor constitute a comprehensive body of material from the 1650s to the 1790s. The Portuguese material is less well-preserved but includes a substantial number of partlypublished clerical and secular sources of the 16th century and later. Timorese oral traditions, recorded since the 19th century, can be used from a posthumous perspective to clarify how events or processes were perceived by indigenous groups.

Colonial seeds of division

Hans Hägerdal

ieter van Dam’s words, taken from his voluminous study of the Dutch East Indies Company (around 1700),2 may surprise a modern reader. At the time of writing, the Company, or VOC, was at the height of its administrative and commercial efficiency and had explored all commercial opportunities in the region during the preceding century. Still, the judgment of van Dam rings with diffidence toward the Portuguese, who had been expelled from the Malay Peninsula in 1641 and relegated from Makassar in 1660, but here stand out as a powerful entity in the Timor region. The stubborn resilience of the Portuguese in what was perhaps their most inaccessible overseas domain raises a number of questions. How were they able to dominate large parts of Timor and (until 1859) the surrounding islands in the face of the much better-equipped and organised Dutch? What did Timor mean to the Portuguese network in Asia? What were the decisive stages in the division of Timor, whose consequences are apparent to this day? The resilience of the Portuguese authority in East Timor has been characterised as a miracle, but it might be more fitting to call it a ‘paradox’. The Portuguese presence, for all its problems and perceived exploitative features, was in the end able to implement symbols and perceptions that in more recent history thwarted the Indonesian integrationist project. Portuguese representatives on Timor were 16

frequently on the brink of expulsion, obliteration or resignation, but nonetheless hung on until 1975.

How did they get there in the first place? The origins of the Dutch-Portuguese bipartition of Timor have recently been addressed by Arend de Roever (2002).3 In his thesis, de Roever contextualises Timor by tracing the importance of the sandalwood trade that opened the island to the evolving commercial networks of the 16th and 17th centuries. In this way Timor, for all its marginality, became a part of the developing and increasingly interlinked world system (described by, for example, Immanuel Wallerstein).4 At the same time he points out the limits of contact dictated by Timor’s geography. Winds and currents make its coasts inaccessible for much of the year, while its mountainous and dry interior limits manpower resources and food production. De Roever argues that the Dutch could very well have eliminated Portuguese influence in Timor after 1613 but failed to do so owing to other priorities in central Indonesia. Thus the VOC provided the Portuguese with several decades of breathing room. When the VOC resumed its interest in Timor in the mid-17th century, they found that the Portuguese could not be dislodged. All this deserves to be the subject of an in-depth study of how indigenous societies responded to the impact of early modern colonialism (16th to 18th centuries), and how they participated in the

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

From these materials a few points can be made, which may be elaborated by future research. First, the localisation of the Portuguese group clearly explains much of their resilience. This is by no means unique to the Timorese situation; Malyn Newitt (2005) has recently stressed the role of mestiço populations in the preservation of various Portuguese domains in Africa and Asia.5 It has also been pointed out that such communities were in themselves important prerequisites to engaging with local populations in trade and diplomacy. The Topasses, or Black Portuguese, a mestiço community, established a martial and self-confident culture in Larantuka (East Flores) and Timor in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. They were so firmly attached to Dominican fathers that they resisted attempts to introduce Jesuit fathers into the region. In letters, Topass leaders consistently appear as good Catholic subjects of the King of Portugal, though it is clear that they at the same time pursued their own political ways and adopted (or rather inherited) many local customs. By the late 17th century the Topasses dominated most of Timor, save for an enclave around Kupang where the Dutch led a precarious existence. Topass leaders were able to profit from the trade of sandalwood and other commodities, such as beeswax and slaves, capitalising on the 1661 Dutch-Portuguese peace treaty. Portuguese Macau was the main economic channel to the outside world. The Topass elite consolidated the many minor Timorese principalities by way of matrimonial alliances, the establishment of minor ‘colonies’, and outright threats. The Dutch adversaries were often stunned by the power that Portuguese and Catholic symbols of authority possessed over the local Timorese aristocrats, given the rather superficial dissemination of Catholicism. Sources hint that the locals incorporated such symbols in their own universe of connotations. The concept of hegemony might be applicable to the situation of Portuguese Timor to a certain extent –

a system where opposition and difference are not overtly repressed but rather co-opted in a social order. Until a century ago colonial ‘rule’ on Timor was a matter of indirect governance. The number of whites in the Portuguese trading port of Lifau, in West Timor, was no more than 50 in 1689, and the number of Dutch burgers in Kupang was likewise limited. For the Portuguese and Dutch alike, it was essential to bind local aristocracies to their interests through institutionalised exchange of gifts or goods. Over the three centuries of colonial intrusion, the resources and organisational structure of Timorese principalities, far from remaining in a pristine, changeless state, were transformed by the dissemination of firearms and the changing fortunes of the sandalwood trade.

East and west and why This localised order constructed during the 17th century was disrupted by the persistent attempts of the Portuguese Estado da India (Indian administration) to integrate Timor in its own hierarchy beginning in 1702. For long periods in the 18th century a bitter struggle raged between Topass leaders and centrallyappointed administrators, in which local principalities became entangled. Finally, in 1769, the official governor had to leave Lifau, the traditional Portuguese stronghold in West Timor, and establish a new residence in Dili in the east. Only in the 1780s did a reconciliation between the Topasses and the governor take place. By then, however, trade with Macau had begun to decline due to insecure conditions on the island. A consequence of the shift from Lifau to Dili was a rough division of colonial spheres of interest reflected on today’s map. The colonialists established closer contact with the eastern principalities that had hitherto been rather vaguely dependent. Meanwhile, the remaining Topass-dominated area transformed into the Oecusse Ambeno enclave, which, although situated in western Timor, today belongs to Timor Leste.

close affiliation to Britain after the 1703 Methuen Treaty apparently reinforced the VOC’s commitment to relieving diplomatic strain. Nevertheless, this period ended with a major Topass invasion of VOC lands in 1749; in the wellknown battle of Penfui, the Topasses and their clients were slaughtered in the thousands by a small ‘Dutch’ force (that included very few whites). After Penfui one can discern a brief period of Dutch expansionism. Numerous principalities on the western half of the island changed allegiance almost overnight. Though some of them soon strayed from the Dutch cause, this was an important stage in the shaping of the political map of modern Timor. VOC ambitions were at their height in 1761, when the resident Hans Albrecht von Plüskow wished to use internal Portuguese dissension to once and for all establish Dutch authority throughout the unruly island. The attempt was not quite endorsed by Batavia and misfired badly; Von Plüskow was murdered by the Topasses and the whole enterprise immediately imploded. Subsequent residents had little power or energy to deal with the various rebellions, or the machinations of the Portuguese, as it was a time of general financial and administrative decline for the VOC. Thus by the time of the dissolution of the VOC in 1799, the situation was as follows. In East Timor, an economically weak but moderately stabilised colonial apparatus managed to co-opt a weakened Topass community. In West Timor a fragile outpost of a crumbling colonial empire desperately tried to keep selfwilled local principalities within their alliance system. In spite of British intervention during the Napoleonic era, this rough division of power lasted henceforth, and was cemented through Dutch-Portuguese diplomatic agreements in 1851, 1859 and 1916. < Notes 1. Dam, Pieter van. 1931. Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie. Vol. II:1. ‘s-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff. p. 258.

A second factor in the story of Timor’s division is Dutch cautiousness. The trading post of Kupang, founded in 1653, was an almost constantly troubled post, and seems to have been maintained in order to keep an eye on the Portuguese. Surrounded by three (and later five) small but loyal allied principalities, the Dutch staged three ambitious military campaigns against Portuguese clients in the 1650s, which ended dismally. After that, they remained on the defensive for almost a century. Dutch residents were instructed not to interfere in internal Portuguese disputes but rather to ‘let them both jump in the bay’. Portugal’s

2. Ibid. 3. Roever, Arend de. 2002. De Jacht op Sandelhout. De VOC en de Tweedeling van Timor in de Zeventiende Eeuw. Zutphen: Walburg Pers. 4. Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1974-1989. The Modern World System. Vol. 1-3. New York: Academic Press. 5. Newitt, Malyn. 2005. A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion, 1400-1668. London: Routledge.

Hans Hägerdal is Senior Lecturer in History, University of Växjö, Sweden and a fellow at IIAS. hans.hagerdal@vxu.se

> Research

Living on the Line of Control: changing family and kinship networks in Devipur Camp On 26 October 1947 the state of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to the Indian Union, infuriating Pakistan and spawning one of the world’s longest unresolved conflicts: Kashmir. India and Pakistan’s half-century of perpetual conflict has been punctuated by four full-scale wars waged over the Line of Control, forcing villagers to hinterland refugee camps that have fundamentally changed the structure of the families living in them.

Afghanistan

Territory ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963; claimed by India

he Kargil War of 1999 forced 25,000 families from their homes in Jammu district alone. Of those, 8,500 migrated to camps in the Akhnoor sector and ongoing fighting has transformed their status from temporary ‘migrants’ to ‘settled’ residents. Families have lost breadwinners, houses, fields and crops, and farming cycles have been disrupted. With little hope of return and little to return to, families have persisted in the camps by forming new strategies and kinship networks, securing food, shelter, livelihood, health, education – a future – as best they can.

From village to camp Devipur, 24 kilometres from the Line of Control, is Akhnoor sector’s largest camp: 1,000-1,200 tents shelter 1,390 families. The Jammu and Kashmir state government and NGOs provide basic amenities such as hand pumps for drinking water, schools and a dispensary. Otherwise, camp life hardly resembles village life with its spatial and social boundaries. Devipur’s population hails from ten different villages while camp life forces families of different religions and castes to reside in close proximity under similar conditions. Most Devipur Camp residents are Hindu – Rajputs, the majority Scheduled Castes (ex-untouchables), and about 20-25 Brahman households; there are four or five Sikh families, one Christian family and no Muslim families. But migration from village to camp changed the very definition of ‘family’. In the village, patrilineal joint families resided together. Typically, after the marriage of the second or third son, the extended family became too large to manage, yet the family and its property remained undivided until the eldest male, usually the father, decided to partition it, or died. In Indian villages, every family or household living together under one roof has the right to a government ration card, good for acquiring wheat flour, rice, sugar and cooking oil from nearby depots at cheaper rates. When families migrated from their villages to the Devipur Camp, they were allotted tents on the basis of these ration cards: one tent per card. But the tents were too small to accommodate all those listed on a single card. To obtain more tents, families succeeded in acquiring new ration cards listing only husband, wife and their unmarried children, fragmenting the extended village household among multiple tents. Examples in Devipur Camp include a father and mother living in separate tents with different children; a husband and wife living in entirely different locations or without their children; and widowed grandmothers living with their grandchildren.

China

Northern Areas Aksai Chin Kargil Srinagar Islamabad

Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu

Pakistan India

Over the years new families formed within the camp as men and women of different families met, married and had children. Such families moved out of their previous tent(s) and were allotted new tents of their own. Thus, within the camp, each new marriage created a new household. This differed from new household creation in the village, which took considerably longer.

Changing family and gender relations The system of tent distribution, and the nature of the tent itself, has led to changes in household structure and relationships. Privacy and security are limited because tents cannot be closed properly or locked; life remains exposed, open and vulnerable to external intrusions. People worry that traditional restrictions and taboos, especially regarding the young, cannot be maintained as they were in the village. People fear youths might choose their spouses irrespective of caste and kinship rules or indulge in sex unbound by village tradition. This fear is exacerbated because marital alliances are already difficult to achieve. Now that village customs are eroding and sexual mores loosening, people are afraid of character assassination, such as when a daughter is perceived as shaming a family when accused of having engaged in pre-marital sex. This has made camp life tough and finding spouses even tougher. Take Ram Singh, a retired army man with two sons. He and his wife live in one tent and his younger son and his family live in another one nearby. While his son is at work outside of camp, Ram Singh stays with his son’s family to watch over them. Meanwhile, Ram Singh’s wife stays with their elder son and his family in a settled colony 20 km

International boundary Line of Control Boundary claimed by the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir

away, where the son serves at an army post and his children require their grandmother’s presence. According to Ram Singh, back in the village he did not have to worry about his family members’ security and his wife did not have to leave her home to be with the elder son’s family because they all lived under the same roof. His case shows that while his household has fragmented, his family ties are as strong as before. Thus the camp has changed the role of the father or family patriarch and the family’s division of labour. In the village, each family member had a certain status and performed tasks based on gender and age. The joint-family also understood that certain areas of the house were for the couple alone or for women only. Because the authority of the patriarch or male elders is not exercised directly within the tent, gender relations within the family have loosened and, as a result, women and adult children have more say in family matters. Young women in particular reign over matters related to education and the marriage of children. Increased freedom has also made women more vulnerable, because it has eroded gender boundaries and overall security traditionally provided by the structure inherent to the joint-family household. This may be one reason behind female solidarity in the camps. New women’s social activities have transcended traditional boundaries, as the 2002 formation of Mahila Mandals (Women’s Groups) demonstrated. Three such groups exist in Devipur; women share views and problems, discuss family health, hygiene and children’s education issues, and organize recreational activities that unite women irrespective of caste or village origin and foster ties based largely on gender.

Based on 1988 Central Intelligence Agency map. Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin

Abha Chauhan

In the villages, family was an identity expressed through sharing, cooperation and common lineage, which wider ties of kinship extended. The camp, however, inaugurated inter-village ties that grew into a single camp consciousness and identity that took precedence over village and family identity. For example, migrants formed the New Migrant Association comprised of camp representatives who lobby the government for additional settlement facilities. A camp culture akin to a large extended family has developed in Devipur: relationships are bound as much by the ties of marriage and blood as by the primacy given to the overall well-being and problems of camp dwellers.

Changing marriage and kinship rules The diverse backgrounds of the Devipur population have influenced gender relations between families. Traditionally, rules of kinship and marriage govern social life; village exogamy is not the rule and marriages are arranged between individuals both within and beyond the village. Religion and caste endogamy and gotra (clan) exogamy are maintained. Brahmins, Rajputs, Mahajans (business community), Jats (peasants) and the Scheduled Castes all traditionally follow caste endogamy. The difference of status between wife-giver and wife-taker families – the family taking the wife is customarily considered to be of higher status than the family giving her – is not very significant in the camp. Exchange marriage – the marriage of a man to his sister’s husband’s sister – was once common in the village; if a brother or sister was not present, then the marriage was arranged through cousins. While exchange marriages have not disappeared, they have declined drastically. Some women, given the greater context of crisis and conflict and the uncertainty that goes with increased freedom, still feel more secure pursuing marriage through kinship relations. But more often today people prefer to reach beyond kinship circles. War has increased the number of widows, yet the number of widows who remarry has decreased. Marriage of a young widow is welcomed, but not of an elderly woman who has adult children. The pressure on the wife of the deceased to remain an unmarried widow has increased owing to a widow’s entitlement to a pension, employment and the glorification of her spouse’s death as a martyr. In the village widows lived in their in-laws’ household, but in the camp most widows remain single and live alone or with one or two relatives with whom they feel most comfortable. A girl’s father might be willing to give his daughter to a prospective groom living in the camp if the latter has a good government job, as he might one day be able to leave the camp and settle in a bet-

ter place. But the reality for most in the camps is grim. Agricultural activity has declined and 80% of young men are unemployed; some suffer from alcoholism and succumb to gambling. Girls, though engaged in household chores, also have ample time on their hands. The recent government decision to shift schooling back to the border villages further increased the already high drop-out rate of 50%. This has reinforced the belief that the camp is home only to the poor, the elderly and the widowed – those who cannot find better alternatives. Whereas the village is sanctified by its traditional methods, rules and social controls, the camp’s perception as a place where unmarried boys and girls are doomed to stay makes outsiders reluctant to arrange a marriage with anyone living there. The average marriage age has risen because satisfying traditional caste and kinship rules and overcoming disadvantages of camp life have combined to make matchmaking exceedingly difficult. Escaping the camp through marriage has therefore become an elusive ideal: to arrange marriage with someone outside the camp and to settle in his village. If the latter is not possible, then another area is chosen. This has revived the maile, a gathering where members worship the clan deity, eat together and discuss intra-clan problems, issues and marriage alliances. Every clan has its maile; the frequency of such gatherings and the number of people who attend them have increased. The feasts provide opportunities to gain new information, necessary to find a suitable bride or bridegroom.

Microcosm of social change? The traditional extended family has morphed into a new kind of ‘household’ in Devipur Camp: it can be a married couple with their unmarried children; a single person (a widow); a dyad (widowed mother and her daughter) or a triad (grandfather, daughter-in-law and the grand-daughter); a mother staying with her daughters and her daughters’ children. Many family members and kin no longer live together and have formed new neighbourhoods of people related through little more than war and happenstance. Family activities now involve a much wider network, increasing openness and diminishing traditional hierarchy. Women exercise more decisionmaking power within the family and enjoy more freedom outside it, though some sense uncertainty and anxiety as well; increased female mobility and their newfound collective identity have proven female identity can be bolstered by more than blood alone. And so, too, the notions of family and kinship. < Abha Chauhan is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Jammu, India. She was an IIAS fellow in 2005.

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> Arts

Contemporary Taiwanese women’s arts: curating a movement into art The post-1987 liberalisation of society and blossoming of feminist movements in Taiwan opened space for female artists, who spearheaded the reinterpretation of gender, class and ethnicity in a patriarchal society. Amid the ambivalence and heterogeneity induced in Taiwanese culture by its colonial history, women began to express their cultural ‘in-betweenness’ and modernity in curated exhibitions. Ming-Hui Chen

n 1949 defeated Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek fled with his army and over one million civilians to Taiwan. There, on 19 May 1949, Chiang officially declared martial law. Its lifting four decades later spawned a re-examination of the Nationalist regime’s dogmatism, and its social and cultural values. The lifting of martial law began a chaotic time for the Taiwanese people, as society deconstructed and criticised the old values and struggled to find its national and ethnic identity. This movement presented new challenges for Taiwanese women.

Ming-Hui Chen. Mass of Consciousness. Ink on paper. 2000.

trated by two women’s exhibitions: ‘The 228 Art Exhibition’ and ‘On the Rim, Comfort and Relief’. ‘The 228 Art Exhibition’, presented at the Fine Arts Museum of Taipei (FAMT) and subtitled ‘The Forgotten Women’, emphasised the healing of wounds suffered under the Chinese Nationalist government as seen from female points of view. The 228 Massacre used to be commemorated solely by men, while women’s suffering during that same atrocity was ignored. In this exhibition, the curator attempted to recapture what had been lost and provided the audience with a broader view by showing women’s perspectives.

The two countries that most recently controlled Taiwan, China and Japan, were both strongly influenced by Confucianism. Confucianism’s gender-based hierarchy limits women’s freedom and educates them to accept this ideology. Thus Taiwanese women are facing challenges presented not only by the colonial past, but by male-centred ideology. Their struggles, however, have become a catalyst for women’s art and culture.

Third world women Taiwan is not evenly developed. A divide exists between cities and rural areas. Travelling from a major city into the countryside means leaving behind modern technology, information and buildings, and entering places where conservatism and religious control are entrenched in people’s values and poverty and gender inequality are the norm. The differences between the two realms seem to mirror those between the first and third worlds, but here they exist on the same small island. According to Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s description, the ‘Third World Woman’ leads ‘an essentially truncated life based on her feminine gender [read: sexually constrained] and being ‘third world’ [read: ignorant, poor, uneducated, traditionbound, religious, domesticated, family-oriented, victimized]’ (Mohanty 2003: 53).

Speaking subalterns In 1988, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak coined the term ‘subaltern’ to refer to the general attribute of subordination in South Asian society, whether expressed in terms of class, caste, age, gender or in any other way (Guha 1988: 35). His ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’ asserted that ‘in the context of colonial production, the subaltern had no history and cannot speak, the subaltern as female is even more deeply in shadow’ (Ashcroft 1995: 28). When discussing artistic development, I intend ‘speak’ to mean ‘having an opportunity to show one’s work in public and being noticed’. Taiwanese women artists, as doubly subordinated subalterns, are in a better position to ‘speak’ today than those who were working before the late 1980s. Although they have had the chance to ‘talk’ (to show their works even though they may not be noticed by the public or press) since the early 1990s, only recently, in the exhibitions mentioned above, have they learned ‘how to speak’ and ‘what to speak’. In 1998, for example, the exhibitions ‘Women 60’ (shown at three different galleries in northern, central and southern Taiwan) and ‘Mind and Spirit’ (shown at the FAMT) established a genealogy of Taiwanese women’s art history. It was the first time that women artists from different generations showed their works together, creating a narrative art history. Since then, Taiwanese women artists have been able to ‘speak’ loudly.

A new century Since 2000, Taiwanese women’s exhibitions have addressed pluralism and globalisation. The exhibition ‘Journey of the Spirit’, shown at the Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum (KFAM) in 2000, showcased aboriginal women artists; their traditional handiworks were considered on the same plane as so-called ‘fine arts’. ‘Sweet and Sour Yeast’ (shown in Taipei’s Hua-Shan Arts District and Kaohsiung’s Kia-A-Thau Art Village) emphasised women artists’ involvement in alternative art spaces. The 2003 shows ‘BuBaoFu’ (at Stock 20 in Taichun) and ‘Big Quilt Project’ (at the KFAM) displayed appreciation for the beauty of women’s fabric arts, marking the first time in Taiwanese art history that the line between high art and low art was deconstructed by curators’ strategies and artists’ efforts. Also in 2003, the First International Women’s Art Festival at the KFAM vividly demonstrated how technology has affected our lives and how women have responded to it artistically.

The number of women’s movements and grassroots organisations mushroomed after martial law was suspended in 1987. Since the first group was set up in 1983, more than 46 gender study institutions and research centres have been established. They have played an important role in assisting women and have encouraged them to express themselves through art.

The focus of Taiwanese women artists has shifted from fighting for equality to confidently celebrating their talent: now the art itself, instead of the artist’s freedom to show it, commands attention. Finding their place in the art world and breaking away from the gender-based constrictions of previous colonisers have become their primary aims, and with more women emerging as administrators in the arts, women are offered more chances to show and curate their work. They are no longer silent. <

A third space Globalisation, especially its American strain, has also affected Taiwanese society. The proximity of people raised according to traditional values to those raised in modern society has created tension. A mixture of Taiwanese, Mandarin and even some Japanese rings out across a landscape dotted with traditional Taoist temples and modern western buildings. Taiwanese cultural identity emerges from this ambivalence and heterogeneity and presents the possibility of a ‘third space’ for women’s artistic creation. In other words, the environment and its colonial history challenge female artists to hybridise their voice in order to be heard and understood.

References - Ashcroft, Bill et al, eds. 1995. The Post-Colonial Studies: Reader. London: Routledge. - Guha, Ranajit and Spivak, Gayatri C., eds. 1988. Selected Subaltern

Curatorial strategies reflect this change. Before 1996, women artists could show their works only as a group in some commercial and private galleries, without vivid themes or curatorial concepts. As a result, they were regarded more as amateurs than professionals. But the 1996 ‘Taipei Biennial: The Quest for Identity – Sexuality and Power’ drew public attention to women’s art. Curator Hsieh Tung-Shan brought the debate about ‘body’ and ‘gender’ into a public art space and was the first to show the many connections between gender and the body in current cultural discussion, including heterosexuality, homoeroticism, homosexual politics and the body’s political aesthetics. Artist Lin Pey-Chwen’s work, for example, challenged men’s stereotyping of what female beauty should be. In 1997, feminists and women artists switched their focus from sexual dualism to politics, society and nationality, as illus18

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

Studies. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. - Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. 2003. ‘Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses’. Lewis, Reina and Mills, Sara, eds. Feminist Postcolonial Theory: A Reader. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd.

‘On the Rim, Comfort and Relief ’ was held at the HsinChung Cultural Centre, located in the outskirts of Taipei, a metropolis well known for a textile industry dependent on women labourers. The curator invited artists from Taiwan, Japan, Korea and America to create works about the lives and labour of local women. The show blurred the boundary between the centre (urban elites) and the margin (rural labourers) and expressed appreciation for women who worked in the textile industry most of their lives and helped spur Taiwan’s ‘economic miracle’ beginning in the 1960s.

Ming-Hui Chen is a PhD candidate in the School of Art and Design at Loughborough University in the UK. Her research interests centre on the rapidly developing contemporary women’s arts scene in Taiwan, post-colonialism and feminism. She also remains a committed fine artist and has regularly shown her works internationally. Silent.dust@btinternet.com

> Poetry

The way of the world You’ve no right to be sober – The world doesn’t agree with that. You’ve no right to be decent – The world is consumed with pride. – Danzanravjaa, 1856

Simon Wickham-Smith

t the age of just 53, in 1856, the 5th Noyon Khutughtu, Danzanravjaa, lay dying at the monastery of Boyiniyin Süme in southern Mongolia. His poetry, which had made him so popular among the ordinary people and so disliked by some of the clergy whom he blatantly mocked, now turned to a savage critique of the world. One of his most celebrated poems, from which this verse is taken, is called ‘The Way of the World’ (Yertönts avgain jam khemeekh orshiv): over the poem’s 14 sections, Danzanravjaa presents a commentary on the hypocritical, deceitful, alluring, engaging, bizarre and rotten nature of the society in which he lived. But Danzanravjaa was far from being a bitter monastic. His life and his work were, in some ways, the making of modern Mongolia. He was born in the winter of 1803, in the Gobi Mergen district in what is today the Khuvsgul province of Dorno Gobi. His mother died very early in his life and he was raised by his father, Dulduyitu, a wandering singer, with whom he would go begging and singing. After their only horse was attacked and eaten one night by a wolf, his father presented him to the monastery of Onggiyin Ghool, where he was placed under the tutelage of the lama Ishdoniilundev. He was a precocious and brilliant scholar and poet, writing verse from an early age and excelling at his studies. In 1811, the local Nyingma Buddhists proclaimed him the reincarnation of Jamyangoyidubjaamsu, the 4th Noyon Khutughtu; this lama had been murdered by the Manchu overlords and it was only the intervention of the 10th Dalai Lama which now saved Danzanravjaa from the same fate. Following the completion of his studies and, in 1821, the death of his beloved father, Danzanravjaa dedicated himself to meditation and to the poetic and educational projects for which he is best remembered. He determined to establish a temple for himself and spent some time wandering the eastern Gobi to discover the right site. He finally came upon a poor herdsman, named Balshinchoijoo, asleep in a field and took this as a sign that this was where the monastery should be built. Balshinchoijoo ended up building the monastery, named Khamar, acting as attendant and companion to Danzanravjaa; even today, it is his descendents who preserve the lama’s legacy. Having established Khamar, Danzanravjaa set about creating a place where not only religious and spiritual education would be encouraged, but also more mundane, popular types of education. He set up a school where talented young children could, regardless of background or gender, receive a free general education, established Mongolia’s first museum, and set about administering the entire district of the eastern Gobi, on many occasions receiving representatives of foreign powers. In short, Danzanravjaa’s suzerainty was fixed by the effort and understanding with which he treated the monks within the monastery and the laypeople without. All of the 80 or so buildings at Khamar were destroyed by Choibalsan’s purges during the 1930s. Over the last 15 years or so, a monk named Baatar has sought to re-establish two of the original structures. In a valley just north of the temple complex, Danzanravjaa built Mongolia’s first theater and set up its first theater company. He designed all the sets and costumes, wrote all the scripts and music and supervised and taught the actors how to perform. To give an idea of the complexity of these plays, his best-known drama, The Moon Cuckoo (Saran Kökügeyin Namtar), took 120 performers several weeks to stage.

TREES MOVED BY THE WIND The branches of trees Sway in the wind. My mind moves Clearer than moonlight.

The quantity and quality of his works is such that it would be impossible here to give an accurate overview. What can be said, though, is that his work emphasizes love for the natural world and for the vast expanses of the Gobi. His love of horses far surpasses that of the average Mongolian: he uses the horse, and the vast distances of the Gobi, as a way of illustrating the spiritual path of a Buddhist practitioner. His own spiritual practice extended to long retreats in a speciallydesigned doorless ger. Moreover, his frequent references to his lovers, to intimacy and to ecstasy, evoke similarities with western spiritual writers such as Jalaluddin Rumi or St John of the Cross.

Although I’ve left for the northern Khangai,

Danzanravjaa is also often compared with the 6th Dalai Lama, Tshangs dbyangs rgya mtsho, who also wrote poetry1 and who also lived what, on the surface, could be called a strangely dissolute life for a Buddhist lama. That Danzanravjaa was a lama of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism meant that his vows ruled out neither marriage nor alcohol: there are many stories concerning his love of alcohol and women – he took two wives and often refers to himself as ‘the boozer’ (sokhtakhu) – and these themes appear frequently in his poems.

In the shade of a colorful bloom

My mind remains behind. Soaked will I be in mockery For years to come.

Kindness and ancient true prayers Have brought me benevolence. Without delusion, all the days of my lives, May I enjoy them both.

May I live In the air of peaceful joy.

May my loving mind be pacified.

P-OEM Padmasambhava of Orgyen, I Pray to you without respite.

Of course, there is a tradition of maverick lama-poets throughout the Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhist world – Milarepa, for instance, Drukpa Kunley, the 6th Dalai Lama, Gendün Chophel and Chögyam Trungpa. Danzanravjaa’s significance lies in his ability to connect on many levels with those around him. He enjoyed a certain respect within the establishment – even though he made enemies by criticising their hypocrisy and pretence and lack of spiritual effort – while, at the same time, he was loved by the laypeople who appreciated his realism and compassion as much as his love of wild parties.

People in this world suffer from Protracted ignorance. Paltry results of existence Proceed apace, if we ignore them. Protracted thought Provides the breadth of one's mind with failure. Pissing it up, you think of gulping down, all Passion for the world is lost. Pleasure it is, for sure, to meet the wife who, imPulsive, screams out. Propriety, when you experience a thing,

The circumstances of his death are uncertain. There is a strong possibility that he poisoned himself, so profoundly was he at odds with the establishment and with the world at large. Nor can murder be discounted. His awkward relationship with the Manchus, primarily due to his opposition to their desire to rule Mongolia, might well have been one reason for his murder. Other suspects included the widow of a local ruler, whom Danzanravjaa is supposed to have insulted. But whether he committed suicide, was murdered or whether he simply succumbed to illness, we will never know. That he was only 53 when he died, however, shows the great loss which Mongolian culture suffered and how much more he could have achieved. His attendant Balshinchoijoo lived on and took care of Khamar monastery. Before he died, he established a family tradition, called takhilj, by which his descendents would preserve the history and achievements of Danzanravjaa and this tradition has survived, through the Communist decades, to the present day.

Prejudices its quality overmuch. People with a breadth of understanding, more and more Perceive what they see to be magic. Petty nuisance, you might call me – Plenty of years my mother has loved me. Buddha I’ll be straightaway, by the Power of meaningful Dharma.

This P-oem is the exhortation of Ravjaa, the rabid young kid shaking the mendicant’s staff.

NOT BY INCONCEIVABLE STUPIDITY Not by inconceivable stupidity, Not by the way of worldly people, Not by playing around with theories –

Despite his love of alcohol, Danzanravjaa continued to make a distinction between mindless and mindful behavior. We should give him the final word: Strung out on booze and tobacco, The world is drunk, it takes no notice. I’ll go my own way – Will you join with me?

This wretched mind, wonderful as it is, Quite unprepared, scorns the many Instructions of Lama Vajradhara. We shall abandon our careless manner, Cavorting through nearby lands, And, carefully, we shall follow his advice. May we be the protector of beings. A thief imposes his lifestyle, Grasping here and there; but, unlike him,

Note

May we not go astray in the world.

1. Whereas we know for sure that Danzanravjaa was the author of the

Despite his educational achievements, Danzanravjaa’s legacy – indeed, maybe the reason for his continuing popularity among ordinary Mongolians – lies primarily in his poetic works. He wrote poetry throughout his life, on an enormous range of subjects, all executed with such linguistic subtlety and dexterity that one scholar, Walther Heissig, has compared his work with that of Goethe.

works ascribed to him, we cannot in any way be certain which, if any, of those ascribed to the 6th Dalai Lama, are indeed his.

For further information please visit: http://danzanravjaa.org. Nyamgavaa’s biographical film Dogshin Khutaghtin Sakhius (Ferocious Saint Lord of the Gobi) was released in 1998 while a

Simon Wickham-Smith wickhamsmith@gmx.net

biography of Danzanravjaa by Michael Kohn is forthcoming. The translation of the first half of the collected poetical works of Danzanravjaa can be accessed online at: http://www.qamutiik.net/YNT.pdf.

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> The art of seduction courtesy of Fries Museum, Leeuwarden

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> The art of seduction

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

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> Review

Islamic banking in Southeast Asia - Venardos, Angelo. 2005. Islamic Banking & Finance in South-East Asia: Its Development & Future. Singapore: World Scientific. 268 pp. ISBN 981-256-152-8 (paperback) Muhammed Hassanali

ne needs to have a firm grasp of both the current banking environment and the interpretation of Islamic commercial law to fully appreciate the challenges faced and the opportunities offered by Islamic banks today. Both aspects are riddled with intricacies and neither is uniform across national or cultural boundaries. Islamic Banking & Finance in South-East Asia attempts to provide an overview of the banking environment and interpretation of Islamic commercial law in Southeast Asia. To understand contemporary Islamic banking, one must know its past. Venardos presents an overview of Islamic history, the spread of Islam in Southeast Asia and lingering colonial legacies. He provides a synopsis of Islamic law as it relates to commercial activity, explores the most common financial instruments traded by Islamic banks and outlines salient challenges confronting Islamic banks from both doctrinal and regulatory perspectives. He then describes the environment and operation of Islamic banks in various Southeast Asian countries. The Koran and Sunna (ways of the Prophet) form the basis of Islamic law. Both contain guiding ethical principles

from which legal doctrine must be extrapolated and developed; this process is a kind of ‘discovering’ of law that typically takes into account prevailing laws and customs. For example, Islamic law prohibits riba (usury). Most Muslim jurists take a literalist stand against usury, proclaiming that any interest charged is not permitted, but they allow the making of reasonable profits on goods and services. Hence, as Venardos correctly points out, contemporary Islamic banks must trade in real assets rather than charge interest. This limits the bank’s ability to trade in other financial instruments (such as futures) and restricts its revenue streams. Islamic law also prohibits gharar (gambling or excessive risk); thus Islamic banks avoid futures and options as they are seen as excessively risky. In this vein, Venardos narrowly portrays hedging as an instrument ‘to monopolize some commodities’ and calls its use ‘the illegitimate objective for monopoly profiting’ (p.160). He does not consider hedging from a micro-economic perspective that allows small and medium-sized businesses to effectively compete in the global marketplace while mitigating exchange rate risk. The prohibition of charging interest forces Islamic Banks to either ‘sell’ tan-

gible goods or take equity positions in the businesses they finance. Hence they assume more risk than do conventional banks. Venardos emphasizes, to a fault, how Islamic banks provide conventional banking services, yet he does not delve into some of the services they provide that are similar to those provided by conventional mutual funds. A substantial part of Islamic banking involves partnerships formed in the course of financing that are more reminiscent of developing a portfolio of equity positions like those of mutual funds. Since the 1970s, Islam has been experiencing a revival of sorts; Muslims are asserting their religious identity and are trying to lead lives as worthy Muslims. This has partially fueled the demand for Islamic banking, as Venardos alludes to in his discussion of Islamic banking in Indonesia. However, the rise of increasingly extreme interpretations of Islam threatens advances made by Islamic banking in two main ways: the first is a growing suspicion of anything Islamic in non-Muslim countries, especially in post9/11 Western Europe and North America; another is the rise of literalist interpretations of Islamic law, which stifle the creativity necessary to interpret commercial law that could be used to conceive novel financial instruments. Venardos should have mentioned these threats. [

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

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Islamic banks face several more challenges, including assessing and regulating appropriate risk levels, establishing appropriate accounting practices and providing mechanisms that create liquidity for assets held by Islamic banks. Venardos describes regulatory hurdles in Southeast Asia and what banks have done to overcome them. He also addresses the difficulties of providing useful banking services while staying within Islamic commercial law subject to a plurality of interpretations. But he focuses neither on agency risk and its impact on regulation nor on consumer perceptions of Islamic banks. An overview of Islamic banking should explore how an ideal Islamic bank provides its customers the services they need while dealing with today’s commercial banking challenges. Venardos adequately describes the underlying basis for Islamic banks, but he does not draw on the rich historical legacy of Muslim commercial activity. For example, during medieval times, the Muslim empire circulated bimetallic coinage. One gold dinar was generally worth ten silver dirhams, but the exchange rate varied widely. What did traders do to mitigate risk? How did they achieve liquidity? More importantly, what can today’s Islamic banks learn from this history?

The book’s other shortcomings include footnotes that refer to sources (such as Usmani, Braddell, Harvey and Partadireja) curiously unlisted in the bibliography. Conversely, the bibliography lists works that are not referenced in the text and have little (if any) bearing on Islamic banking (such as The Khoja Case or Sufism’s Many Paths). Moreover, the bibliography is difficult to search as some references are out of alphabetical order. The text is not without typographical errors and cases of poor sentence structure. In chapters eight and nine, entire paragraphs are repeated verbatim. Venardos hints that Islamic banking has the potential to offer more, both in terms of interpreting Islamic law and providing financial services and instruments. But his book leaves the impression that Islamic banks are just like conventional banks except in the different words either uses for ‘interest’. They provide similar financial instruments and operate in the same way – or so the reader is left to believe. < Muhammed Hassanali is a student of Islamic studies in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Hassanali@juno.com

> Review

The Kyoto School, American empire and the post-white world - Williams, David. 2004. Defending Japan’s Pacific War: The Kyoto School Philosophers and Post-White Power. London and New York: Routledge Curzon. 238 pp. ISBN 0-415-32315-0 Kenn Nakata Steffensen

wo previous monographs established David Williams as the enfant terrible of Japanese political studies. With his trademark iconoclasm and elegant prose, he provokes critical reflection on the ethnocentrism and political biases of dominant western views on intellectual and political history.

Kyoto School as political philosophy The book is organised into five parts in 12 chapters and an appendix with the author’s translation of two texts by Tanabe Hajime, whom he considers the dominant figure of the Kyoto School’s middle phase from 1928 to 1946. 1 The term ‘Kyoto School’ was coined by Tosaka Jun to designate the group around Nishida Kitarm at Kyoto Imperial University. It dominated Japanese philosophy from the 1920s, with all major thinkers belonging to or defining themselves against it. The first phase of the school is conventionally considered apolitical and metaphysical in orientation. 2 Challenged by Kawakami Hajime’s Marxism, ‘the focal concern of the middle phase of the Kyoto School was political philosophy’ (p.176). Williams focuses on four works by Tanabe and four colleagues: ‘The Standpoint of World History and Japan by Kmyama, Suzuki, Kmsaka and Nishitani’ and Tanabe’s ‘response to Heidegger’s controversial rectoral address of May 1933 that appeared in three parts in the Asahi newspaper in the autumn of 1933; his secret lecture of 1942 on the philosophy of co-prosperity spheres, which was part of Tanabe’s intellectual alliance with the Imperial Navy to resist Tojo’s policies, and Tanabe’s magnum opus, The Logic of the Species, that appeared in 13 parts between 1934 and 1946’ (p.18). The book, however, goes far beyond mere exegesis and commentary on these four texts. The emphasis is on Tanabe and, to a lesser extent, Nishitani. Little is said about Kmyama, Suzuki and Kmsaka. In chapters 8-11 Williams reads the attacks on the Kyoto School for its alleged complicity with ultra-nationalism in the context of the debate on Heidegger’s relationship with the Nazi regime, and exonerates both Heidegger and Tanabe. Rather than acting for the military government, Tanabe and associates were aligned with parts of the navy in a ‘struggle against Tojo’ (Chapter 5). The concluding ‘manifesto on the future of Japan studies’ argues that ‘Japanology must begin all over again’ by returning to Max Weber and reading the Kyoto School liberated from the ‘Allied gaze’. Their writings should be read ‘not as some absent-minded lapse from Zen Buddhism but as political thought in the classic sense’ because ‘these Japanese

philosophers fashioned a vessel for Japanology to renew itself, to begin all over again’ (p.176).

Pacific War revisionism versus the Allied gaze Williams confronts the ‘Allied orthodox’ intellectual history of 1930s and 1940s Japan. This view has tended to see the Kyoto School ‘as thinkers complicit with wartime nationalism’. 3 There has also been a parallel current in comparative philosophy and religious studies, which ‘for decades presented Nishida, Tanabe and Nishitani as essentially apolitical religious thinkers’ (p.34), resulting in a lack of ‘recognition that the Kyoto School also produced a profound meditation on the nature of politics, history and society in a world dominated by the West’ (p.79). If the Kyoto School has been ‘attacked from both the right and the left’5 since the 1930s, Williams’ defence defies easy categorisation. Where Graham Parkes held that ‘To criticize the critics, however, is not to condone the political writings of the Kyoto School thinkers’, 6 Williams goes a step further by both criticising ‘the black legend of the Kyoto School’ (Chapter 7) and defending it as ‘liberal nationalist’ in character (p.152). In doing so, he departs more radically from even the relatively sympathetic assessments of Tanabe in other recent studies, e.g. Goto-Jones’ inaugural volume in the Leiden Series in Modern East Asian Politics and History.7 The main targets for his sometimes scathing criticism are the ‘so-called progressive intellectual historians who serve under the neo-Marxist banner’ (p.47) and ‘some of the most influential Western students of modern Japanese religious thought’ (p.34). He finds both groups guilty of misrepresenting the Kyoto School’s positions before and during the Pacific War, but James Heisig and other religious studies scholars are seen in a more favourable light than historians Peter Dale and Harry Harootunian: Unlike their neo-Marxist colleagues, these Western scholars did not abandon proper standards of research or their hard-won understanding of Kyoto thought. But there was an implicit endorsement of the reasoning behind the victor’s justice meted out by the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. The implied moral simplicities – Allied virtue versus Japanese evil – are so morally satisfying precisely because they exploit the least fair and most self-flattering comparison possible: our high ideals against their base conduct (p.34). The weakness of ‘the religious paradigm’, according to Williams, is that ‘for such critics, “politics” means neither research on political institutions nor the study of political philosophy

but something much narrower and less scientific: the ethical criticism of wartime Japan from an Allied perspective’ (p.154).

Global power imbalance The context in which Williams reads Tanabe and associates is today’s ‘global imbalance of power’ (p.9), which he finds unacceptable because ‘uncontained power is unacceptable, no matter how wisely or generously the holders of that power may exercise it’ (p.7). He considers the book a contribution to ‘liberal opposition to the neo-con agenda’ (p.9) and to how ‘the rest of the world might be able to compel America, peacefully, to ease the fetters of its global domination’ (p.8). Like Chalmers Johnson and the Kyoto philosophers, he sees himself as a ‘loyal critic’ of his country’s foreign policy. Williams links his concerns over contemporary developments in the US with the wartime Kyoto School because he believes it holds resources necessary for the ‘post-White world’ that he is confident is dawning: Among all non-White thinkers who have dwelled on the nature and consequences of the planetary hegemony of the White West, Japanese philosophers have a unique place. They even proposed a cure for Western hegemony. Their insights are as unforgiving as they are indispensable at this decisive hour in the destiny of the American Republic (p.4). He elaborates ‘a post-nationalist vision of America’s post-White destiny with the aid of Kyoto philosophy (p.xvii). For Williams, the relevance of the Kyoto School and the purpose of his analysis of its political philosophy is to help ‘the achievement by non-Americans of mature subjectivity’ (p.11). A conspicuous silence is the relation-

ship of Kyoto philosophy to other bodies of thought, especially those broadly labelled ‘postcolonial theory’. Yet many of its preoccupations overlap both with those of Williams and the Kyoto School. Postcolonial critique aims to theoretically and politically empower ‘subaltern’ subjects in a similar way to Williams’ preoccupation with ‘post-White subjectivity’ and his purpose of ‘nurturing, ex nihilo, of agency itself’ (p.110), but he does not explore the possible linkages.

beyond Japan studies. Williams’ ‘Pacific War revisionism, in the Western liberal mode’ (p.15) is uncompromising. He has ‘offered no quarter and taken no prisoners’ (p. xvii). His impassioned argument for his case and his equally passionate attack on those he disagrees with may upset some, but even then it stimulates thought and critical self-reflection. < Notes 1. The two Tanabe texts are ‘The Philosophy of Crisis or a Crisis in Philosophy: Reflec-

Scholarship and propaganda

tions on Heidegger’s Rectoral Address’

While he ‘aims to stamp firmly on the propagandist who pretends to be a scholar’ (p.15), the parts of his monograph that predict a ‘post-White’ future for the United States and the wider world can also be considered propagandistic. Chapter 4 points out some serious flaws in Harootunian’s Overcome by Modernity, but it is not clear how Williams distinguishes between scholarship and propaganda. The closest he comes to a definition is the statement that ‘The academic defence of this wartime discourse, a defence which is rife with bias and prejudice, persuasive definitions and value claims, does not qualify as scholarship’ (p.4). If Harootunian’s obsession with ‘fascism is the conceptual fallacy that sinks this great galleon of a monograph’ (p.60), one might argue that Williams’ claims about the coming ‘post-White world’ is his Achilles heel. If Harootunian is guilty of propaganda for the ‘Allied orthodox’ interpretation of the past, is Williams himself not propagandising for his imagined utopian future?

(1933) and the secret lecture ‘On the Logic of Co-prosperity Spheres: Towards a Philosophy of Regional Blocs’ (1942). 2. Christopher S. Goto-Jones goes against this convention when he argues that Nishida’s early works contained elements of a political philosophy. See Jones, Christopher S. January 2003. ‘Ethics and Politics in the Early Nishida: Reconsidering Zen no Kenkyt’. Philosophy East & West 53-1. 3. Arisaka, Yoko. 1996. ‘The Nishida Enigma: ‘The Principle of the New World Order’ (1943)’. Monumenta Nipponica 51-1. 4. Townsend, Susan. ‘Japan’s New Order in Asia, 1938-45: Rethinking Globalism’, p.2. http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/iaps/SueArt icle.pdf 5. Arisaka 1996, op.cit. 6. Parkes, Graham. July 1997. ‘The Putative Fascism of the Kyoto School and the Political Correctness of the Modern Academy’. Philosophy East & West 47-3. 7. Goto-Jones, Christopher S. 2005. Political Philosophy in Japan: Nishida, the Kyoto School and Co-Prosperity. Routledge: London and New York.

Kenn Nakata Steffensen Doctoral student Department of Political and International Studies, SOAS, University of London. kenn@lopez-steffensen.co.uk

Defending Japan’s Pacific War is a major achievement for which the author must be congratulated. A necessarily selective review cannot do full justice to it. It deserves a wide readership

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IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> Review

In pursuit of inclusive democracy for a multi-ethnic state: Nepal at the crossroads - Lawoti, Mahendra, 2005. Towards a Democratic Nepal: Inclusive Political Institutions for a Multicultural Society. New Delhi: Sage Publications, pp. 345. ISBN 0-7619-3318-2 (hard cover) Aiming to advance democracy, Lawoti subsequently studied three topics: the composition of Nepali society and its congruence with the state structure; people’s satisfaction with the state and its policies; and conflict management, democratisation and inclusive political institutions. For this he spent 19 months in the field collecting data and interviewing ethnic and political activists. The resulting publication, Towards a Democratic Nepal reviewed here, is essentially a bipartite monograph. The first part (pp.19-153) sketches the post-1990 political developments and socio-cultural and legal factors leading to today’s impasse, while the second part (pp.154-321) is more prescriptive. It assesses different methods to further dialogue and democratisation, and suggests what kind of constitution and political institutions might best serve the needs of Nepal’s multiethnic population.

Alpo Ratia

epal’s Maoist insurgency has already claimed 13,000 lives; the country is in danger of becoming a failed state but the fluid political situation could also open the way to democracy. Towards a Democratic Nepal sketches the socio-cultural factors and political dynamics which have led to today’s crisis. Author Mahendra Lawoti thereafter assesses the alternatives, and makes recommendations for reforming Nepal’s institutions and political culture. Embedded in the Himalayas between India and China (Tibet), Nepal’s difficult topography has helped create a remarkable ethnic and cultural mosaic. Nepal’s population of over 22m officially includes 59 ethnic groups, tribes and castes; their members speak some 100 different Indo-Aryan and TibetoBurman languages, and practise a dozen different religions. Since the Gurkha conquest and unification of Nepal in 1769, upper caste, Khas-Nepali speaking Hindu males have secured dominance in most spheres of society. Despite attempts at parliamentary democracy since 1951, Nepal continues to suffer from political and economic underdevelopment. The lack of democratic consolidation has serious consequences for Nepal’s people.

Exclusion and majoritarian institutions Drawing upon Arend Lijphart’s worldwide comparisons (1999) of democracies and conflict management, Lawoti notes ‘Exclusion is not desirable in a multicultural polity because it perpetuates inequality and injustice and threatens to unleash large-scale ethnic violence’ (p.21). The restoration of democracy in Nepal in 1990 allowed dispossessed ethnic groups and castes to voice their grievances and aspirations. They were, however, excluded from participation in governance. The new constitution’s establishment of majoritarian institutions (a non-proportional electoral system and unitary state structure under a strong executive) and its discriminatory articles (vis-à-vis language, religion, culture and gender) together ensured continued dominance by the ‘CHHEM’ (Caste Hill Hindu Elite Male) minority, ie, the ‘Hill Brahmins

Political exclusion of the majority, the resulting instability, and possible solutions have been frequent objects of study for Nepal’s journalists and social scientists since the 1990s. Some of the most promising writing has come from Krishna Bhattachan and Mahendra Lawoti. The latter’s 1999 doctoral dissertation Democratic Domination was a critical study of Nepal’s constitution of 1990 and its impact on the country’s population.

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and Kshatriyas’ (Parbate Bahuns and Chhetris) from western Nepal. Lawoti’s ‘Integrated National Index of Governance, 1999’ (pp.104-105) reveals the incidence of socio-cultural groups in Nepal’s population and in positions of influence (judiciary, parliament, civil services and security forces elite, party central committees, etc). The CHHE constituted 32% of the population, but CHHE males held 67% of influential posts. In contrast the Dalits (‘untouchable’ Hindus, 9% of the population) held 0%, the Madhesis (southern Tarai Hindus and Muslims, 31%) held 11%, while the Newars (from the Kathmandu Valley, 6%) held 15%, and the other Tibeto-Burman speakers (Adibasi Janajati, 22%) held only 7% of influential posts. The exclusion of the majority from governance, discrimination in resource allocation and services, and mounting dissatisfaction led to the radicalization of part of Nepal’s communist movement and the rise in 1996 of a Maoist insurgency. The number of deaths directly attributed to the low-intensity civil war may be modest, but Lawoti’s ‘Preliminary Cost and Benefit Analysis of the Maoist Insurgency’ (p.61) shows that the human cost, infrastructure destruction, and political and economic strain for this developing country have indeed been high. Violence by other disaffected ethnic/caste/regional groupings has so far been limited, but Lawoti’s analysis suggests worse to come. The time frame studied by the author ends with the dissolution of parliament and resumption of direct rule by the palace in May 2002. Now we see that the government’s effective jurisdiction has shrunk to urban centres and the field of operations of its army, while much of the countryside is under the sway of the Maoists. A new development is the hes-

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IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

itant dialogue between government, political parties, ethnic groupings, and the Maoists.

Democratic deliberation, inclusive governance In view of Nepal’s flawed state structure, civil war and fluid political situation, Lawoti declares ‘It has become imperative that major political institutional reforms be carried out in Nepal to bring the Maoists into mainstream politics, if not for other reasons’ (p.194). The Maoists have repeatedly demanded a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. Lawoti favours this also, provided the transition process is democratic in line with Robert Dahl’s (1989) five crucial requirements: inclusion of socio-cultural groups, their effective participation, equality in voting, etc. Lawoti adds to this a conflated version of Krishna Bhattachan’s four-step process (2003), now in three enabling steps: preliminary round table conferences, a constituent assembly, and popular initiatives. If the Kathmandu-centric elite does not become sensitized to the grievances of marginalized groups, then its opposition to major reforms risks being overwhelmed by ethnic mobilization – or by losses on the battlefield. Part IV (pp.227-300) promises to be a significant stimulus to political discourse in Nepal. Here Lawoti compares the functioning of federal institutions and practices worldwide in multicultural societies (Switzerland, India, etc), and then advocates ethnic federalism for Nepal. This would entail a multilevel, asymmetrical federalism with mechanisms such as a bicameral parliament including a powerful House of Nationalities, plus territorial and non-territorial units, sub-autonomy within autonomy, and self-determination for regions. Autonomy would be granted primarily on the basis of ethnicity/caste, secondarily on that of language. Whether groups are concentrated or not within a region would determine whether they can form a territorial unit. Territorial units are recommended tentatively for 16 socio-cultural groups (Limbu, Magar, Maithili, etc), non-territorial units for ten groups (Dalits, women, etc.), and subautonomy with special privileges for eight groups (Raute, Walung, etc.). Further measures to protect small minorities would include proportional electoral methods plus affirmative action and reservation policies, and anchoring minority rights protection in the constitution and reforming the Constitutional Court to better reflect Nepal’s multiethnic society. The book ends with a plea that during these exceptional times, the opportunities for accommodation and power sharing must be seized.

In conclusion Towards a Democratic Nepal is an important book which should be of interest to three different readerships: first, scholars in Himalayan, South Asian and

development studies; second, development agencies and friends of Nepal, but most of all Nepal’s own civil society, progressive politicians, policy makers, and journalists. The monograph is well-written and carefully reasoned. Printing errors are few. Researchers will appreciate the extensive up-to-date bibliography (pp.322-336), even though the index is useful only for authors and political institutions. The author’s expertise is apparent in his informative analysis of the rise of Nepal’s Maoist movement (pp.38-64), of Nepal’s socio-cultural cleavages (pp.87-102), and in his trenchant critique (pp.113-138 ff.) of the country’s constitution. Lawoti’s book presents a wealth of constitutional and institutional reform proposals to stimulate research, thinking, and action. The author draws upon many political scientists’ theories of democracy and institutional models, some of which he seeks to creatively adapt. Moreover, he makes use of crosscultural empirical studies, because ‘The aim in Nepal should be to learn from the experience of other societies and refine the public policies to suit the local situation’ (p.284). Recognising that situation’s fluidity, the author takes a measured and flexible approach. He makes clear which reforms he prefers and why, but other alternatives are acknowledged, and their sequence, relative advantages and viability are discussed against the backdrop of Nepal’s realpolitik. Certain omissions should stimulate further exploration. Because Nepal is one of the world’s poorest countries, the problem of capital accumulation probably needs to be solved before the creation and operation of a complex network of federal institutions becomes feasible. The promotion of tolerance, development of a democratic culture, training of qualified administrators, and standardisation of regional languages all take time. These may also be prerequisites to the efficient functioning of federalism in a diverse multiethnic state. Hopefully Lawoti will address these issues in his future writings. The stakes are high, and the degree of inclusive democracy achieved will depend upon the level of understanding of Nepal’s leaders and the evolving balance of political forces. < Alpo Ratia is affiliated with the University of Helsinki. His articles in Himalayan, IndoTibetan and Buddhist studies have appeared in periodicals in Asia and Europe, including the Tibet Journal and Acta Orientalia. He served as editor of Ensimmäiset kansat (First Peoples) quarterly, and is currently helping plan the 6th Asia – Europe Peoples’ Forum to be held in Helsinki in September 2006.

> Review

Khmer identity: a religious perspective - Marston, John and Guthrie, Elisabeth, eds. 2004. History, Buddhism and New Religious Movements in Cambodia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 260 pp., ISBN 0-8248-2868-2 (paperback) in information on symbolic aspects of religious life, the text offers a well-documented account of current tendencies and local trends, and introduces some of the personal cults of power.

Ca r o l i n a I v a n e s c u

lthough Cambodia is conventionally described as a Theravada Buddhist country, scholars trying to define the boundaries of its religious life more accurately see it as a syncretism of animism, Brahmanism and Buddhism. History, Buddhism and New Religious Movements in Cambodia offers an overview of the country’s religious life, using a wide range of perspectives to address the question: ‘What is particularly Cambodian about Cambodian religion?’

The chapter ‘Making a religion of the nation and its language: the French protectorate (1863-1954) and the Dhammakay’ by Penny Edwards evaluates French colonial influence over Cambodian institutions and religion’s role in the gradual creation of a nation from the 1900s to the 1930s. The object of pure belief became the Khmer nation and its symbol, the Khmer language. The process of shaping Khmer identity around a distinct language, ethos, culture, nation and a ‘distinctive way of being a Buddhist’ (p.41) was, Edwards concludes, a product of 19th century cultural politics.

Chapters explore national identity, the present religiousness of the Cambodian diaspora, 19th century architecture and individual contemporary religious identities. The thematic variety and the authors’ knowledge makes this book an important asset to Khmer studies, religious studies and the study of contemporary Buddhism; it is a valuable contribution to the anthropological study of religious phenomena within the larger context of human interaction and the division of social prestige.

While Khmer language became the nation’s symbol in the discourse of cultural and political spheres of influence, the statue of the Leper King became, symbolically, the nation’s body (see Ashley Thompson). Just like the Buddha’s body corresponds to the samsaric world, the king’s body stands metonymically for the physical territory of his kingdom. National and social identity, in material form, can be worshipped, taken care of, forgotten and then remembered, displaced, mutilated. Symbols work most effectively – fulfil their meaning – in rituals, and rituals bond individual members of the community, giving shape and common experience to their group identity.

Most of the studies compiled in this volume address the multiple ways in which Cambodian religious ideas and practices relate to concepts and institutions that have given and give shape to Cambodia as a social and political body. The editors assume that Buddhism is not only a part of the changing society but the matrix of change itself, a dynamic identity-forming force that triggers social interaction and alteration. While the book is about various aspects of religious practice, it also presents Cambodian society in its cultural and social complexity, focusing on historical aspects of religion, iconography and current political and social traits reflecting or influenced by religious imprints. Rich

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diaspora, which they achieve by practicing, through their religion and public cultural events, the traditional rituals that serve as culturally unifying symbolic systems. Satisfying the individual’s need to know and actualise his own roots satisfies the nation’s need for a stable foundation on which its own identity can be constructed. Personal identity, social belonging and national pride all mingle with religious symbols and rituals to convey stable layers of meaning. In order to build new structures the old ones must first be transformed, whether in their outer material expression or in their inner layers of meaning. A stable balance between the old tradition and the need for change can serve as a base on which to build national or personal identity. Continuity, being in touch with one’s own cultural roots and a sense of belonging to a community are human needs met through cultural and social interaction and in the layered symbolism of rituals. Religion, such as Buddhism in Cambodia, plays an important role in preserving the fragile continuity between the past and the present’s need for change. < Carolina Ivanescu studied cultural anthropology at ELTE University in Budapest. Her interests include religion, the relationship between myth and symbol, the anthropology of tourism and pilgrimages and cultural utopias. She is currently preparing a PhD thesis on transcultural religious identities. yamahacarol@hotmail.com

Once national identity is formed, its expression can be found in the religious rituals of the spirit cult of Khleang Moeung, described by Teri Yamada from her encounter in Long Beach, California. The reconstruction of traditional culture is vital to

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IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> Review

Dynamics of social inequality in Vietnam - Philip Taylor, ed. 2004. Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 392 pp., ISBN 981-230-275-1 (soft cover) 981-230-254-9 (hard cover) ents considered thought on the future of the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) given its position as the sole political party. It is not a new discovery that political dynamics affect social inequality and, conversely, that social inequality can challenge and even topple political systems. But Koh demonstrates how an awareness of this dynamic has been driving the VCP leadership to improve the efficiency and accountability of the party and its top-ranking personnel in order to satisfy popular demands for good governance and consolidate the regime’s legitimacy. At the same time, as governance is increasingly meritocratised, political capital will gradually lose its value, especially in enabling people to attain elite jobs, tap into limited resources and accumulate power and wealth. However, as Jee Young Kim indicates later in her chapter, under the current conditions of the market economy in Vietnam, it is not yet clear whether social, political or human capital will be the most important in enabling people to gain opportunities. In a chapter focusing on a small ethnic Muong village, Tran Thi Thu Trang asserts that those who possess social and political power continue to excel economically, widening the economic gap among villagers.

Phuong An Nguyen

fter nearly two decades of reform, Vietnam today enjoys relatively fast and steady economic growth. Increasingly liberal social, cultural, and economic environments are conducive to integration into the world economy, encourage foreign direct investment, and allow citizens to move both within and beyond national borders. All induce further economic growth and improvement in the Vietnamese standard of living. However, an apparent, less-desired effect of the market economy in Vietnam has been social inequality, which is visibly on the rise but has been partially overlooked by social scientists and insufficiently addressed by the socialist state and aid agencies. Philip Taylor’s edited volume Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform thus provides insightful reading, particularly as it offers viewpoints from both local Vietnamese and overseas scholars. Authors of the 11 chapters cover most aspects of social inequality, from the urban-rural divide and inter-ethnic and gender inequalities to inequality among social classes. Many of these issues have been discussed before, but only incompletely and from the perspectives of governmental institutions and international agencies whose work focuses on ‘development’.

Other chapters collectively proffer a multifaceted depiction of issues and realities of social differentiation and disparities among social groups and across regions and locales. Steffanie Scott and Truong Thi Kim Chuyen demonstrate that despite recent poverty reduction programmes, the disparities between rural and urban, lowland and upland areas, between ethnic groups, and between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors have all increased. Nonetheless, while socio-economic differentiation can potentially cause conflict between regions and

Following Philip Taylor’s introductory chapter, which provides an excellent overview of social inequalities, the first two chapters address the political and economic aspects of Vietnam’s reform process. Vo Tri Thanh and Pham Hoang Ha’s chapter serves as background reading for what follows, while David Koh’s analysis of Vietnam’s recent political developments pres-

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Inquiries

between ethnic groups, it opens up opportunities for increased inter-regional interactions (for example, through migration) and development initiatives. Vu Quoc Ngu and Philip Taylor draw attention to institutional interventions and local people’s actions to redress specific aspects of inequality. Be it the improvement of living conditions, educational attainment, or access to land and infrastructure, state policies and development agencies do not always bring the intended results. Often, local people’s actions and initiatives are more effective. Underlying this is the problem of assumption: state and development agencies assume a loose definition of ‘poverty’ and impose poverty reduction policies that do not always suit local circumstances. A lack of connection to a locality in formulating and implementing policies, exacerbated by poor performance and corruption on the part of local officials, might result in a lack of support, discontent and even violent protests from local residents, as Nguyen Van Suu demonstrates in his chapter. Even in contemporary literature, the gap between agents of development and their ideals on the one hand and realities of peasant life on the other are clearly evident. Montira Rato argues that the reason for this gap is that writers are often urban-based, middle-class and detached from the peasant way of life. Another form of social inequality in present-day market-oriented Vietnam is unequal access to consumption and recreation, which express aspirations for higher social status and confirm its attainment. The two chapters by Nghiem Lien Huong and Catherine Earl, respectively, demonstrate that whether it is rural young women drawn to Hanoi to work in garment factories or educated migrant women in Ho Chi Minh City, they all have in common a liking for fashionable clothes, cosmetics, and a desire for leisurely urban lifestyles. Created by the popular media, the image of the urban woman who can afford recreation and travel is both attractive and impressive; hence many women and/or their families are prepared to put their resources into attaining and showing it off.

Asia-Europe Foundation People-to-People Exchange

The Asia-Europe Foundation, in cooperation with Leiden University and the International Institute for Asian Studies, is organising the thirteenth edition of the ASEF University, a two-week intensive academic enrichment programme for promising university students. ASEF University aims to broaden horizons and deepen insights into contemporary international issues and their significance for Asia and Europe in a multi-cultural setting.

Valerie Remoquillo 31 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Singapore 119595 T: +65.6875.9715 F: +65.6872.1206 valerie@asef.org

Call for Applications | Leiden, the Netherlands | 2-14 July 2006

The 13th ASEF University Cross-cultural Perspectives on the International Legal Order in the 21st Century This year’s programme, composed of lectures and workshop sessions, will discuss the theoretical background of international law as well as major developments in the international legal order. Students will also reflect on the role, possibilities and challenges for the ASEM states. HE Judge Owada (Member of the Court, International Court of Justice) will deliver the keynote speech. Students aged 28 and below preferably in their final undergraduate year or first graduate year are invited to apply for the 13th ASEF University. The programme would generally benefit students of international law, international relations, international economics and business, political science, social science, Asian studies and European studies. To ensure the quality and interaction, the class will be limited to 40 students.

Practical information The ASEF University, including accommodations, materials and provisions, is offered free of charge to successful applicants. Students are expected to shoulder all travel-related expenses (including airfare, travel insurance, airport taxes and visa). However, a nominal travel supplement will also be provided.

Application guidelines may be downloaded from www.asef.org. All applications must reach ASEF by 19 April 2006. Results will be announced on 28 April 2006. For more information, visit:

www.asef.org or www.iias.nl/au13

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

Although the uneven and inconsistent use of section headings throughout this volume gives it the appearance of a rather rushed compilation of presentations straight from the 2003 Vietnam Update conference, this collection of papers makes for a useful and stimulating read for researchers and anyone interested in present-day Vietnam. Significantly, it also calls attention to the need for further, more coherent and comprehensive research on the dynamics of social inequality and consequent social phenomena, such as class formation, in a globalising Vietnam. < Phuong An Nguyen is affiliated with the University of Leeds and has published on the impact of globalisation and marketisation on urban youth in post-reform Vietnam. p.a.nguyen@leeds.ac.uk anphuong@mac.com [

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> Review

Piracy in Southeast Asia - Johnson, Derek and Mark Valencia, eds. 2005. Piracy in Southeast Asia: Status, Issues, and Responses. Singapore: International Institute of Asian Studies (Leiden) and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. 174 + xx pp. ISBN: 981-230-326-X (hardcover), 981-230-276-X (paperback) Stefan EklĂśf

ver the past decade piracy has re-emerged as a security concern for international shipping, particularly in Southeast Asia. With around 45% of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reported attacks, the region is frequently referred to as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;pirate-infestedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, and last year the Joint War Committee of Lloydâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of London declared the Malacca Straits a high-risk area, a term usually reserved for war zones. In recent years the scourge of piracy in Southeast Asia has attracted considerable attention, not only from government and security officials, but from scholars around the world.

Piracy in Southeast Asia: Status, Issues, and Responses is the first publication in the IIAS/ISEAS Series on Maritime Issues and Piracy in Asia. Bringing together eight rather eclectic papers on piracy in contemporary Southeast Asia, and written by prominent scholars in the field â&#x20AC;&#x201C; several of whom readers of IIAS Newsletter will recognise from the theme on maritime piracy in no. 36 last year â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the book aims to identify the main pillars of a future agenda for research on modern piracy in Asian waters. Adam Young first addresses the longer historical and cultural background to the recent surge in Southeast Asian piracy, as well as the problem of applying an essentially European concept such as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;piracyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to Southeast Asia. This is followed by Captain P. Mukundan of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s discussion of the IMBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role in the fight against piracy, especially in relation to, on the one hand, the commercial interests his bureau represents and, on the other, the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s governments â&#x20AC;&#x201C; many of which are less than happy about the international attention piracy has gained due to information published by the IMBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

The geopolitics of piracy? Gerard Graham Ong and Mark Valencia then discuss the possible nexus between piracy and terrorism, albeit from different perspectives, with Valencia questioning Ongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conflation of the two issues. A second chapter by Valencia describes regional and international efforts taken to combat piracy, and obstacles to their efficient implementation. In chapter six, Greg Chaikin tries to understand the past decadesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; surge in piracy against the background of developments in maritime security and international maritime law, including the effects of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the extension of maritime sovereignty and jurisdiction by littoral states. Chaikin also discusses Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role in fostering regional co-operation to combat piratical activity. Chapter seven by Indonesiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former ambassador-at-large for maritime affairs, Hasjim Djalal, describes regional and international efforts to combat piracy, and is valuable as it relates piracy to the many other challenges facing Indonesiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s under-equipped naval forces, including illegal fishing, the

threat of maritime terrorism and illicit traffic in drugs, arms and migrants. In the conclusion the editors bring the issues together and lay out a path for future research, pointing to the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;geopolitics of piracyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and its criminology, as well as the possible link between piracy and maritime terrorism. Most of the chapters were originally written for the first workshop on piracy in Asia organised by the International Institute for Asian Studies and the Centre for Maritime Research of the University of Amsterdam, held in Amsterdam in 2003. They thus reflect an early, to some extent even preparatory stage in the process of developing more substantial research on the issue. Today, research on contemporary Asian piracy has made significant headway, and we are already beginning to anticipate the answers to several of the questions posed by the editors in the conclusion of Piracy in Southeast Asia. For

Lloydâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of London has declared the Malacca Straits a high-risk area, a term usually reserved for war zones example, thanks to the work of Eric FrĂŠcon and Caroline Liss, we now know a good deal about the criminology of piracy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the who, where, how and why of the perpetrators. It is, by and large, a sadly familiar and not very romantic story of socially and economically disadvantaged young men making the most of criminal opportunities in fast-changing and socially unstable regions, such as Indonesiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Riau Archipelago or the Southern Philippines, characterised by great disparities and weak law enforcement. The possible nexus between piracy and terrorism has been widely studied and discussed in recent years by both academics and security officials, and is the subject of the second volume in the IIAS/ISEAS Series on Maritime Issues and Piracy, edited by Gerard Ong, due out in early 2006. The general consensus, however, seems to be that although the threat of a maritime terrorist attack â&#x20AC;&#x201C; whether against cargo or passenger vessels or land-based targets using ships as floating bombs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; should not be disregarded, it is not imminent and may have been exaggerated in the wake of 11 September 2001 and the October 2002 suicide attack on the French supertanker Limburg off Yemen.

Conflicting priorities What, then, about research on the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;geopolitics of piracyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;? Perhaps this is the area of most relevance today, not only for Southeast Asia but for the international maritime community as a whole. However, several questions identified by Johnson and Valencia regarding short-term responses, long-term strategies, and the role of different countries in combating piracy are rather narrowly policy-oriented, and lacking in the-

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oretical sophistication, seem less satisfying from an academic perspective. Focusing on the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;geo-politics of piracyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; also risks taking attention from other, more pressing concerns in maritime security and international relations. Largely thanks to the work of the IMB, and especially since the Piracy Reporting Centre was launched in 1992, piracy and the armed robbery of commercial vessels has been in the limelight â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at international forums, among academics, and in the media. However, from the point of view of the two largest littoral states in Southeast Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines, piracy remains a minor maritime security issue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; if a security issue at all â&#x20AC;&#x201C; compared to problems such as unsettled maritime borders, illegal migration, smuggling, illegal fishing and environmental degradation. Although neighbouring countries and interested parties such as the international shipping industry may recognise the legitimacy of Indonesian and Philippine concerns, their priorities reflect fundamentally different views of the high seas and of the rights and obligations of governments and maritime law enforcement authorities. Essentially, the conflict boils down to the 400-year-old discussion of Mare Liberum vs. Mare Clausum â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the principle of freedom for all on the high seas vs. the right of governments to exercise jurisdiction over outlying oceans and exploit its natural resources. Political, social and economic developments since 1945 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; including decolonization, the expansion of maritime sovereignty by coastal states, increasing competition over maritime resources, the growth of maritime traffic and the rise of non-traditional security threats including trafficking in goods and people and international terrorism â&#x20AC;&#x201C; have made the controversy more pressing than ever since the turn of the 18th century. Against this background, a comprehensive research agenda for the future should comprise not only the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;geopolitics of piracyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; but the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;geopolitics of maritime securityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as a whole. What are the main challenges to maritime security from the perspective of different actors and why are they seen as important? How do larger â&#x20AC;&#x201C; national, regional as well as global â&#x20AC;&#x201C; processes of economic, social and political change affect maritime security? Who are the main actors that strive to close or limit the freedom of the oceans and what are their motives? What are the advantages and risks of maintaining the principle of freedom of navigation on the seas? What effect will the different moves to close the seas have on global security, trade and the environment? To develop such a research agenda, involving both perspectives from Southeast Asia and the rest of the world, is the real challenge for the future. < Stefan EklĂśf holds a PhD in history from Lund University, Sweden, and currently teaches Asian Studies at the Centre for Asian Studies at GĂśteborg University. He is author of Pirates in Paradise: A Modern History of Southeast Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Maritime Marauders (Copenhagen: NIAS Press 2006). Stefan.Eklof@ceas.gu.se

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IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> ASEF/Alliance

Pensioners on the move: social security and trans-border retirement migration in Asia and Europe Established migration theories have long asserted international migration to be a venture of the young and healthy. The workshop ‘Pensioners on the Move’, however, focused on another group exhibiting quite different migratory behaviour: they do not move from low-income to high-income countries but vice-versa; they don’t move to work, but to not work. This mobility is neither tourism nor migration, but shares elements of both.

courtesy of National Geographic

ASEF-Alliance Workshop 5-7 January 2006 Singapore M i k a To y o t a , A n i t a B ö c k e r and Elspeth Guild

dd as it may seem, the movement of pensioners across international borders is on the rise in both Asia and Europe. While there is a growing literature on this topic in Europe, particularly on intra-EU movement, the trend in Asia has only just begun to receive academic attention. The workshop brought together scholars from East and Southeast Asia and Europe, to review experiences in Europe, explore developments in Asia, and deepen our general understanding of the new migration trend through comparison. Seventeen papers were presented, covering pensioners who migrated as a result of reunification policies (Russian Jews to Germany); retired labour migrants who moved back to their home countries (Turkish and Moroccan elderly from Europe); and most significantly, pensioners from wealthy countries seeking a better retirement life (Japanese to Southeast Asia, Singaporeans to Australia, Europeans to southern Europe).

It’s not just about ageing The workshop opened with presentations by demographers who identified the root cause of pensioners’ mobility. In countries like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, the pace of ageing is even faster than it has been in most European countries. In Japan, for example, the proportion of the population aged 65 and over is projected to rise from 19% in 2005 to 28% in 2025. While more people are getting older, fewer elderly live with their children. This trend began in Europe, but wealthier Asian countries are quickly catching up: in Japan, the percentage of persons aged 65 and over living with children fell from 77% to 52% between 1970 and 1997; in South Korea, from over 80% in 1980 to 49% in 2000. There are many reasons for this: pensioners today have fewer children, fewer daughters-in-law see it as an obligation to look after the elderly, and national pension schemes – though far from generous – make it possible for the elderly to live independently, all of which created more potentially mobile pensioners. With the baby boomer generation approaching retirement age, the number of migrant pensioners is likely to increase in the coming years. Researchers from other disciplines provided more nuanced analysis. One of the workshop’s insights was that pensioners’ mobility in both Asia and Europe must be understood in relation to state policies and the commodification of elderly care. Legal experts from Europe reviewed how the mobility of pensioners and EU social security regulations have interacted over recent decades: increasingly unified EU laws facilitated mobility, which resulted in new cases demanding further changes in regulations. This process is not over: though pensioners can move freely between member states, considerable legal and policy gaps still remain. By comparison, national borders in Asia are much less permeable, though both sending and receiving countries have been active in promoting the movement of pensioners. In 1986, the Japanese government proposed the Silver Columbia Plan to build towns and villages for Japanese pensioners in Australia (though the programme 30

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

never materialised because of opposition in Australia), while the Japanese Long Stay Foundation was set up in 1992 to facilitate ‘long-stay’ tourism abroad. On the receiving side, many Asian countries see the coming of foreign pensioners as an opportunity to restore local economies after the Asian economic crisis, and have launched programmes to promote it. In Malaysia, under the ‘Malaysia My Second Home’ programme, foreign retirees receive five-year multiple entry visas once they deposit a minimum of RM 100,000 (about €22,000) in a Malaysian bank account, or if their monthly income exceeds RM 7,000 (€1,550). The Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia have also launched similar schemes by creating special visa categories for retirees. The commodification of care is likewise crucial in facilitating pensioners’ migration in both Asia and Europe. In Europe, private insurance companies have been encouraging pensioners to move, while viewing pensioners as customers of care services has become a principle underlying the unification of EU social security policies. In Asia, the lack of a common legal framework and the larger disparity in income levels between countries makes commodification of care an even more potent driving force behind mobility. The ‘Malaysia My Second Home’ programme was driven largely by the over-capacity of private hospitals resulting from the privatisation of medical care and the middle class’s sudden loss of buying power after the financial crisis. The Thai government, aiming to position Thailand as Southeast Asia’s health tourism capital, has reached out to work with the private health care sector. The differences and similarities between Asia and Europe in the institutional contexts of pensioner movement clearly show social security to be a key issue, a major policy concern worldwide.

Manipulators or victims? It is clear that pensioners migrate because of differences in income levels and purchasing power between their own and other countries. But how exactly do the elderly make the decision to migrate (sometimes to a place where they have never lived)? What does it mean to them to migrate to a new country where they cannot, at such a late stage of life, communicate in their own language? The picture becomes complex when we look at individual stories; seeing migrant pensioners as either manipulators of state policies or victims of insufficient social security in the home country can be simplistic. For some, migration is an escape from hardship, for others the fulfillment of a lifelong dream; some suffer from isolation in the new country, others paradoxically improve their family relations as a result of moving away; some prefer short stays, others are ready to die in the new place. The movement of pensioners is also a gendered phenomenon, though the gender bias seems to be more salient in Asia than in Europe. For example, a high percentage of single males is found among Thailand’s Japanese elderly. A number of papers also pointed to the importance of class divisions. In both Europe and Asia, pensioners’ migration was initially an option for high income groups, though this has changed recently. Different groups appear to have different incentives and behaviour. Among the Japanese retirees, for example, the affluent chose the best place to live after traveling to various countries, while low-income earners moved directly to Southeast Asia out of economic need. In Europe, affluent British or German pensioners move to places such as Tuscany, while the less well-off go to Spain and, increasingly, to countries outside the EU. Different income groups also relate differently to the destination community. Affluent migrants seem to be better integrated, both because they are more likely to speak foreign languages and because they tend

to live in individual houses dispersed across communities, rather than living in congregated residences (for example, gated compounds) that are more popular with middle-income groups. One thing countries and continents appear to have in common is the pendulum pattern of pensioner mobility. To enjoy the best weather, to stretch their pensions or to keep in touch with their families, many pensioners move back and forth between their native and adopted countries. This was just one way the workshop showcased the elderly to be anything but passive. The elderly are active agents: navigating existing institutions, pushing for policy changes, generating new life styles and creating new transnational communities.

Social implications What does the increasing mobility of pensioners mean to the receiving communities? The coming of pensioners certainly brings in new income, which may improve national health services and in turn spread services to the larger population. Unlike tourists, migrant pensioners remain in a community and fuel the local economy instead of spending on foreign-owned hotels and tour operators. But there is also evidence that the migration of pensioners siphons off medical resources in the receiving community and has negative impacts on health equity, particularly for lower classes and rural populations. The loss of skilled health professionals from the public medical sector can be significant. In Europe, too, as pensioners tend to migrate to certain regions, they may strain already limited resources. Other social implications include the globalisation of the health care work force and the emergence of a transnational care industry. At the local level, some migrant pensioners work as volunteers in the host society, which not only keeps them healthy but helps integrate their ethnic communities (including non-pensioners) into mainstream society. Some workshop participants were critical of the congregated residential pattern common to migrant pensioners in Europe and Asia, believing it reflects and reinforces unequal international relations. The three-day workshop concluded with a field trip to Penang, Malaysia, where participants observed retirement communities first-hand. Throughout the workshop, lively comparative discussions revealed that the subject has still greater theoretical potential. Though we all enjoyed the meeting, we departed quite humbled by the holes in our knowledge. Our pendulum was swinging: we were migrating back home to more work. < Mika Toyota Asia Research Institute National University of Singapore Anita Böcker and Elspeth Guild Centre for Migration Law Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen The Netherlands

> ICAS5 Asia Alliance The European Alliance for Asian Studies is a cooperative framework of European institutes specializing in Asian Studies. Its partners are:

NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Director: Dr Jørgen Delman Leifsgade 33 DK 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark T +45-35-32 9500 F +45-35-32 9549 sec@nias.ku.dk www.nias.ku.dk

IFA Institut für Asienkunde Director: Dr Günter Schucher Rothenbaumchaussee 32, D-20148 Hamburg, Germany T +49-40-428 8740 F +49-40-410 7945 ifahh@uni-hamburg.de www.duei.de/ifa

EIAS European Institute for Asian Studies Director: Dr Willem van der Geest 35 Rue des Deux Eglises, 1000 Brussels, Belgium T +32-2-230 8122 F +32-2-230 5402 eias@eias.org www.eias.org

CERI - Sciences Po Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques Director: Prof. Christophe Jaffrelot 56 rue Jacob, 75006 Paris, France T +33-1-58717000 F +33-1-58717090 info@ceri-sciences-po.org www.ceri-sciencespo.com

CEAO Centro de Estudios de Asia Oriental Director: Prof. Taciana Fisac Centro de Estudios de Asia Oriental Universidad Autonoma de Madrid Campus de Cantoblanco 28049 Madrid, Spain T +34-91-397 4695 F +34-91-397 5278 ceao@uam.es www.uam.es/otroscentros/ asiaoriental/especifica/

International Convention of Asia Scholars 5 Call for Panels and Papers Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2-5 August 2007 The International Convention of Asia Scholars has established itself as one of the largest biennial gatherings for Asia scholars to meet and discuss new developments in their fields. Previous conventions were held in Leiden (1998), Berlin (2001), Singapore (2003) and Shanghai (2005), drawing an average of 1,200 participants from over 50 countries. ICAS 5 will be hosted by the Institute of Occidental Studies (IKON) and the Institute of Malay World and Civilization (ATMA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and will be held in the Kuala Lumpur Conference Centre opposite the landmark Petronas Towers. We expect over 1,500 Asian Studies specialists to converge on Kuala Lumpur for ICAS 5: Sharing a Future in Asia. The organizing committee is pleased to invite proposals for panels and topics. ICAS 5 will also serve as the occasion to award the ICAS Book Prizes.

Submission of abstracts for panels and papers Institutions, researchers and PhD students are invited to submit abstracts for: • Institutional panels • Organized panels • Individual papers Please note that all abstracts and presentations should be in English. Submission of abstracts for panels and papers can be made through ICAS 5 registration forms available at

Deadlines

Financial support

Deadline individual submissions: 1 October 2006

Financial support for travel and lodging will be made available to PhD students and young academics. For details see the website.

Notice of acceptance: 15 December 2006

ICAS 5 Host c/o IKON-ATMA Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 43600 UKM BANGI MALAYSIA info@icas5kl.com www.icas5kl.com

Exhibition space Deadline organized and institutional panels: 15 December 2006

There will be an exhibition of Asian Studies books. Interested publishers should contact Marie Lenstrup at marie.lenstrup@asianstudiesbooks.com

Notice of acceptance: 15 January 2007

www.icas5kl.com

General Information on ICAS

ICAS Book Prizes

ICAS Book Series

ICAS Book Prizes, established in 2004, were awarded last year to Elizabeth C. Economy (social sciences), Christopher Reed (humanities) and Samuel Kwok-Fu Wong (best PhD). We now invite all Asian Studies books published in 2005 and 2006 to compete for the 2007 prizes. Three prizes will be awarded: 1. best study in the humanities; 2. best study in the social sciences; 3. best PhD in Asian Studies. Prize money consists of euro 2,500 for categories 1 and 2. The best PhD thesis will be published. Publishers and PhD students are welcome to enter their books by sending six copies to the ICAS Secretariat in Leiden, the Netherlands, before 31 December 2006.

The ICAS Book Series is a new feature of ICAS. The first volumes will be published in 2006. The series welcomes edited volumes and monographs which are the outcome of panels at ICAS. For more information please contact the ICAS Secretariat. www.icassecretariat.org

SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies Director: Prof. Colin Bundy University of London Thornhaugh Street / Russel Square, London, WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom T +44-20-7637 2388 F +44-20-7436 3844 study@soas.ac.uk www.soas.ac.uk

Information and registration ICAS 5

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ICAS Secretariat c/o IIAS P.O. Box 9515 2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands icas@let.leidenuniv.nl www.icasecretariat.org ICAS depends on voluntary contributions. Find out more about supporting ICAS at www.icassecretariat.org.

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SSAAPS The Swedish School of Advanced Asia Pacific Studies Director: Prof. Thommy Svensson The STINT Foundation, Skeppargatan 8, 114 52 Stockholm, Sweden T +46-70-6355160 F +46-8-6619210 thommy.svensson@telia.com www.ssaaps.stint.se

IIAS (secretariat Asia Alliance) More information: www.asia-alliance.org

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

Dr Prasanna Kumar Patra (India) Research fellow, within the ASSR/IIAS/NWO programme ‘Socio-Genetic Marginalization in Asia’ (SMAP) Cross-cultural comparative study of genetic research in India and Japan 15 December 2005 - 15 November 2008

Melody Lu, MA (Taiwan) Affiliated fellow Intermediated cross-border marriages in East and Southeast Asia 1 February - 31 July 2006

Dr Viktoria Lysenko (Russia) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by Gonda foundation Indian thinkers on direct and indirect perception 1 September - 30 November 2006 and 10 January - 10 March 2007

Dr Katia Chirkova (Russia) Project coordinator within the programme ‘Trans-Himalayan database development: China and the Subcontinent’, sponsored by CASS and KNAW 1 September 2005 - 1 September 2006

Dr Fazlul Alam (UK) Affiliated fellow Social stratification within the Asian communities in the Netherlands 1 April - 30 June 2006

General

All fellows currently engaged at IIAS are listed below selected by region of specialty and in alphabetical order.

Categories of fellows: 1. Affiliated fellows 2. Research fellows 3. Senior fellows 4. IIAS Professors 5. Artists in Residence

Dr Yurii Il’Ich Sheikin (Russia) Affiliated fellow The musical folklore of Yukagir 1-30 April 2006

Dr Cecilia Odé (the Netherlands) Affiliated fellow Voices from the tundra and taiga 1 July 2002 - 1 November 2006

Dr Irina Morozova (Russia) Stationed at Leiden and the Branch Office Amsterdam Affiliated fellow Conflict, security and development in the postSoviet era: toward regional economic cooperation in the Central Asian region 24 April 2003 - 31 March 2006

Dr Alex McKay (New Zealand) Affiliated fellow The history of Tibet and the Indian Himalayas 1 October 2000 - 1 May 2008

Dr Togzhan Kassenova (Kazakhstan) Affiliated fellow Kazakhstan’s denuclearization; Decision-making process 1 April - 30 June 2006

Dr Tat’iana Innokentievna Ignatieva (Russia) Affiliated fellow The musical folklore of Yukagir 1-30 April 2006

Dr Mehdi Parvizi Amineh (the Netherlands) Stationed at Leiden and the Branch Office Amsterdam Project coordinator, within the IIAS/Clingendael Energy Programme Asia (EPA) 1 July 2002 - 15 April 2007

Central Asia

Dr WANG Chunguang (China) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by CASS Social networks and the integration of Chinese migration into Dutch society. 1 March - 1 June 2006

Prof. Henk Schulte Nordholt (the Netherlands) IIAS Professor Special Chair at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, ‘Asian History’ 1 October 1999 - 1 October 2007

Dr Bert Remijsen (Belgium) Affiliated fellow Hybrid word prosodic systems 1 July 2002 - 31 July 2006

Dr Ellen Raven (the Netherlands) Project coordinator, within the network South and Southeast Asia Art and Archaeology Index (ABIA), sponsored Gonda Foundation 1 June 2003 - 1 June 2008

Prof. Om Prakash (India) Senior fellow, sponsored by Van den Berch van Heemstede Foundation The trading world of the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800 1 July - 30 August 2006

Dr Kim Plofker (USA) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by NWO Mathematics in India, 500 BCE - 1800 CE, with special emphasis on its relationship with Islamic mathematics (750 - 1800 CE) 9 September 2004 - 9 September 2006

Dr Shoma Munshi (India) Affiliated fellow & IIAS representative India The new world of Indian satellite television: Transnational networks and society 1 November 2004 - 1 November 2006

Dr Debendranath Mishra (India) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by Gonda Foundation The Mâdhava Cikitsâ tradition in Orissa 20 July - 19 December 2006

Dr Peter Khoroche (UK) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by Gonda Foundation HAla: SattasaG; An annotated translation into English 15 August - 30 September 2006

Dr HARIMOTO Kengo (Japan) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by Gonda Foundation A critical edition of the first chapter of the PAtanjalayogaPAstravivarana 1 November 2005 - 31 March 2006

Dr Jyotsna Agnihotri Gupta (the Netherlands) Research fellow, within the ASSR/IIAS/NWO programme ‘Socio-Genetic Marginalization in Asia’ Reproductive genetics and counselling in India: Decision-making regarding genetic screening and prenatal diagnosis 1 September 2004 - 31 August 2007

Dr Maarten Bode (the Netherlands) Stationed at the Branch Office Amsterdam Affiliated fellow The politics of value and the construction of cultural commodities: Marketing, buying and criticizing Indian indigenous medical products, 1980-2000 1 February - 30 April 2006

Dr Bhaswati Bhattacharya (the Netherlands) Affiliated fellow The Armenian diaspora in India, 1500-1950 1 May 2005 - 31 December 2006

Dr Irfan Ahmad (India) Affiliated fellow Contesting Islamism: Immanent critique of Jamaat e-Islami of India, from 1941 to the present 1 March - 1 June 2006

South Asia

Dr Hans Hägerdal (Sweden) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by the Swedish Vetenskapsrådet Early modern Timor; The meeting between indigenous groups and colonial interests 20 July 2005 - 20 July 2006

Prof. Gregory Forth (UK) Senior fellow Images of ‘wildman’ in Southeast Asia 1 September 2005 - 1 May 2006

Dr Dwi Noverini Djenar (Indonesia) Affiliated fellow Preposition in spoken and written Indonesian 1 September - 1 December 2006

Dr Deirdre de la Cruz (Philippines) Affiliated fellow All His instruments: Miracles, Mary, and media in the Catholic Philippines 1 July - 31 August 2006

Dr Greg Bankoff (UK) Affiliated fellow Cultures of coping: Community and natural hazard in the Philippines 1 September 2004 - 31 August 2007

Dr I Wayan Arka (Indonesia) Affiliated fellow Rongga and the Austronesian languages of eastern Indonesia: Documentation, description, typology and linguistic theory 10 April - 10 June 2006

Supaporn Ariyasajsiskul, MA (Thailand) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by CNWS Late Ayutthaya’s foreign trade policy: A study in its regional and international context with an emphasis on the reign of king Boromakot (17331758) 1 September 2003 - 1 September 2007

Southeast Asia

Prof. Alexander Stolyarov (Russia) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by Gonda foundation Digital list of early Mediaeval North Indian copper plate grants 6 March - 6 June 2006

Alexandre Sotov, MA (Russia) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by Gonda Foundation Ideology of Rgvedic tradition: A study in Rgvediv semantics 25 January - 25 June 2006

Dr Karuna Sharma (India) Affiliated fellow From reverence to devaluation: Women and labour in Medieval India c. 1200- c. 1800 2 January 2006 - 2 January 2007

Dr Saraju Rath (India) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by Gonda Foundation Catalogue collection Sanskrit texts 5 January 2004 - 5 January 2009

IIAS fellows

15 March - 15 June 2006 IIAS hosts several categories of post doctoral researchers (fellows) in Asian Studies. Sponsorship of these fellows contributes to the institute’s aim of enhancing expertise and encouraging the exploration of underdeveloped fields of study. Fellows are invited to present lectures, participate in seminars, and cooperate in research programmes. Fellowship applications can be submitted at any time (no application deadline). More information and IIAS fellowship application forms are available at www.iias.nl/iias/fellowships.html or via iiasfellowships@let.leidenuniv.nl

> IIAS fellows

Prof. Sheldon Pollock (USA) Senior fellow Comparative intellectual histories of early modern Asia 20 May - 20 August 2006

Dr KATO Masae (Japan) Fellow within the ASSR/IIAS/NWO programme ‘Socio-Genetic Marginalization in Asia’ A comparative study on socio-genetic marginalisation: Japan in “Asia” in relation to the “West” as a reference group 1 April 2005 - 1 April 2008

Prof. GUANG Yang (China) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by CASS and KNAW, within the IIAS/Clingendael ‘Energy Programme Asia’ (EPA) China’s energy security 1 - 31 March 2006

East Asia

Rizal Yusof, MA (Malaysia) Affiliated Fellow Database development of Malay World Studies : A comparison between efforts in Malaysia and Netherlands 16 January - 15 April 2006

Prof. Barend Jan Terwiel (the Netherlands) Affiliated fellow The floodplains of Mainland Southeast Asia and environmental history 1 January 2005 - 1 January 2007

Prof. Hein Steinhauer (the Netherlands) IIAS Professor Special Chair ‘Ethnolinguistics of East Indonesia’ at the Radboud University Nijmegen 1 September 1998 - 1 September 2006

Dr Julia Martinez (Australia) Affiliated fellow Labour migration from the Netherlands East Indies to northern Australia 15 May - 17 June 2006

Dr Thomas Lindblad (the Netherlands) Research fellow, sponsored by NIOD Indonesianisasi and nationalism. The emancipation and reorientation of the economy and the world of industry and commerce 1 October 2002 - 1 October 2006

Dr Vina Lanzona (Philippines) Stationed at the Branch office Amsterdam Affiliated fellow HUK Amazons: Gender, sex and revolution in the Philippines 1 - 30 April 2006

Dr Sergey Kullanda (Russia) Affiliated fellow The evolution of Austronesian social terminology and early state formation in Nusantara 9 January - 9 April 2006

Dr Webby Kalikiti (Malaysia) Affiliated fellow Plantation labour: Rubber planters and the colonial state in French Indochina 1890-1939 1 May - 31 July 2006

IIAS partners and fellow sponsors: ASSR Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, the Netherlands BICER Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, Ministry of Education, Taiwan CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences CNWS School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies, the Netherlands IDPAD Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternatives in Development KNAW Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences KRF Korea Research Foundation, Korea NIOD Netherlands Institute for War Documentation NSC National Science Council, Taiwan NWO Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research SSAAPS Swedish School of Advanced AsiaPacific Studies SASS Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences WOTRO Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research

Dr WU Cuncun (China) Affiliated fellow ‘A survey of homoerotic documents and references in the Van Gulik Collection’, a contribution to the large project homoeroticism in Imperial China: Key documents 1 April - 31 May 2006

WONG Leo, MA (China) Research fellow within the joint NWO/Leiden University/IIAS Programme ‘The Syntax of the Languages of Southern China’ Cantonese syntax 13 September 2004 - 13 September 2006

Rhoda Schuling, MA (the Netherlands) Research fellow within the joint NWO/Leiden University/IIAS Programme ‘The Syntax of the Languages of Southern China’ Zhuang syntax 15 September 2005 - 15 September 2006

Dr PAIK Wook Inn (Korea) Affiliated fellow, sponsored by KRF Socio-cultural effects of digital media in Korea 25 January 2006 - 25 January 2007

Dr Jan-Eerik Leppänen (Finland) PhD student within the ASSR/IIAS/NWO programme ‘Socio-Genetic Marginalization in Asia’ Socio-genetic marginalisation and vulnerable ethnic groups in Southwest China 1 February 2005 - 1 February 2009

> IIAS fellows

> IIAS research [

IIAS research programmes, networks & initiatives Programmes

Trans-Himalayan database development: China and the subcontinent (Phase I)

Care of the aged: gender, institutional provisions and social security in India, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka

The project’s main goal is to combine the database of cognate words in Tibeto-Burman languages, maintained by the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) with language data of the George van Driem Himalayan Languages Project (Leiden University) to create a joint, online database of Tibeto-Burman languages with a mirror-site in Leiden. The project’s second objective is to continue documentation of endangered Tibeto-Burman languages in China in cooperation with the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology.

This IDPAD/IIAS comparative research project addresses the implications of population aging for the social security and health care of elderly people. As the experience of ageing is gendered and can vary according to class, caste, and religion, the project addresses different social and economic groups, with an emphasis on women. Coordinator: Carla Risseeuw

Energy programme Asia This programme on the geopolitics of energy focuses on Chinese, Indian, Japanese and South Korean strategies to secure oil and natural gas from the Caspian region (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Russia) and the Persian Gulf. The programme is institutionally supported by IIAS and the Clingendael International Energy Programme (CIEP), Den Haag. Coordinator: Mehdi Parvizi Amineh

Indonesianisasi and nationalization From the 1930s to the early 1960s, the Indonesian economy transformed from a ‘colonial’ economy, dominated by the Dutch, to a ‘national’ economy in which indigenous business assumed control. This NIOD project explores this transformation, studying the late-colonial era as well as the Japanese occupation, the Revolution and the Sukarno period. Two issues are given special attention: Indonesianisasi and nationalization, in particular the expropriation of Dutch corporate assets in Indonesia in 1957-58. Coordinator: J. Thomas Lindblad

Illegal but licit: transnational flows and permissive polities in Asia This research programme analyses forms of globalisationfrom-below, transnational practices considered acceptable (licit) by participants but which are often illegal in a formal sense. It explores limitations of ‘seeing like a state’, and instead privileges the perspectives of participants in these illegal but licit transnational flows. Coordinator: Willem van Schendel

Islam in Indonesia: the dissemination of religious authority in the 20th and early 21st centuries Forms and transformations of religious authority among the Indonesian Muslim community are the focus of this research programme. The term authority relates to persons and books as well as various other forms of written and non-written references. Special attention is paid to the production, reproduction and dissemination of religious authority in the fields of four sub-programmes: ulama (religious scholars) and fatwas; tarekat (mystical orders); dakwah (propagation of the faith); and education. Coordinator: Nico Kaptein

Socio-genetic marginalization in Asia The development and application of new biomedical and genetic technologies have important socio-political implications. This NWO/ASSR/IIAS research programme aims to gain insight into the ways in which the use of and monopoly over genetic information shape and influence population policies, environmental ethics and biomedical and agricultural practices in various Asian religious and secular cultures and across national boundaries. Coordinator: Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner

Syntax of the languages of southern China This project aims to achieve a detailed description and in-depth analysis of a limited number of syntactic phenomena in six languages, both Sinitic and non-Sinitic, spoken in the area south of the Yangtze River. The project will systematically compare these descriptions and analyses to contribute to the development of the theory of language and human language capacity. Coordinator: Rint Sybesma

For more information on IIAS research: www.iias.nl

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A n n o u n c e m e n t

Coordinator: Katia Chirkova

Networks ABIA South and Southeast Asian art and archaeology index The Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology is an annotated bibliographic database for publications covering South and Southeast Asian art and archaeology. The project was launched by IIAS in 1997 and is currently coordinated by the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology of the University of Kelaniya, Colombo, Sri Lanka. The database is freely accessible at www.abia.net. Extracts from the database are also available as bibliographies, published in a series by Brill. The project receives scientific support from UNESCO. Coordinator: Ellen Raven www.abia.net

Changing labour relations in Asia CLARA aims towards a comparative and historical understanding of labour relations in different parts of Asia, including changes within national economies, links to international markets and the nature of state intervention. It focuses on five overlapping themes: the labour process, labour mobility, labour consciousness, gendered labour and labour laws and labour movements. Coordinator: Ratna Saptari

Comparative Intellectual Histories of Early Modern Asia

Transnational society, media, and citizenship This multidisciplinary network studies the complex nature of contemporary cultural identities and the impact of the globalization of information and communication technologies on the (re)construction of these identities. The programme is based in the Netherlands while the projects are carried out at numerous fieldwork sites.

IIAS Masterclass 30 May - 2 June 2006 Leiden, the Netherlands

Coordinator: Peter van der Veer

Led by:

Initiatives Development of space technology in Asia The space age has dramatically impacted all nations. In Asia, the ‘space-faring nations’ of India, China and Japan have successfully developed space technologies and applications. Other Asian nations have readily adopted these applications, including satellites for telecommunications, for gathering data on the weather, and environmental and earth resources. IIAS has initiated a series of workshops on the topic. Coordinator: David Soo

Intermediated cross-border marriages in East and Southeast Asia The past decade has seen a rapid increase in the intra-Asia flow of brides, particularly between Southeast and East Asia. While in Europe intermediated marriages continue to be seen as a form of the commodification of women, recent scholarship in intra-Asia cross-border marriages challenges this dominant view. Coordinator: Melody Lu

Piracy and robbery on the Asian seas Acts of piracy loom large in Asian waters, with the bulk of all officially reported incidents of maritime piracy occurring in Southeast Asia during the 1990s. This is of serious concern to international shipping, as the sea-lanes between East Asia, the Middle East, and Europe pass through Southeast Asia. IIAS and the Centre for Maritime Research at the University of Amsterdam are currently identifying issues and concerns, and are delineating core elements of an interdisciplinary research programme on piracy and robbery at sea in Asia.

Sheldon Pollock (William B. Ransford Professor of Sanskrit and South Asian Studies, Columbia University, New York, USA) How to understand the logic of an intellectual order founded upon ideologies of continuity and preservation, rather than ideologies of improvement and obsolescence? A comparative intellectual history of the early modern world (15001800) can address this question more effectively and develop a more heuristically powerful theory than can any one scholarly tradition investigated in isolation. This masterclass will bring together experts in the field of Sinology, Indology and Middle Eastern studies to consider shared issues not only in the historiography of early modern knowledge, but also in the theoretical challenges we must confront in writing the intellectual history of the non-West, where even the terms of the theme ‘intellectual’ and ‘history’ do not go without saying. The focus will be put on three forms of knowledge: aesthetics, political thought, and moral philosophy. Also presenting:

Michael Cook (Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, USA) Benjamin Elman (Professor of East Asian History, Princeton University, USA) Quentin Skinner (Professor of History, Cambridge University, UK) Deadline for registration:

15 April 2006 Registration and information:

International Institute for Asian Studies Manon Osseweijer PO Box 9515 2300 RA Leiden T +31 (0)71 527 2227 F +31 (0)71 527 4162 m.osseweijer@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl

Coordinators: Wim Stokhof and John Kleinen

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

> Announcements tional Flows and Permissive Polities in Asia’, headed by Willem van Schendel and Li Minghuan, consists of four projects analysing current migration in its legal and social contexts. For more information on this project please see http://www.nwo.nl/nwohome.nsf/pages/ NWOP_6FCJXB_Eng. The 19th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies (27-30 June 2006, Leiden) will include a round table on borders, border crossing, and associated legal and social regimes. Van Schendel is also the guest editor of a forthcoming special issue of the IIAS Newsletter on this topic.

Asian Studies in Amsterdam (ASiA) AsiA, a joint endeavour of the University of Amsterdam and the International Institute for Asian Studies, promotes the study of Asia through research and outreach in the Amsterdam region. We aim to increase Amsterdam’s contact with researchers in and from Asia, as well as introduce contemporary Asian expressions, developments and experiences to the wider public. All individuals and institutions, academic and non-academic, interested in co-operating with ASiA are cordially invited to contact project manager Sikko Visscher at s.visscher@fmg.uva.nl

ASiA is proud to co-host the annual Wertheim lecture by David Ludden (University of Pennsylvania) on 12 May 2006 in Amsterdam. For upcoming activities, starting with our agenda for March and April 2006, surf to www.iias.nl/asia

The musical folklore of the peoples of northern Asia

ASiA facilitates research within the theme ‘Making a Living in a Transnational World: Asian Perspectives on Globalisation’, based on two research projects at the University of Amsterdam. ‘Asia and Europe Compared’, headed by Mario Rutten, comparatively assesses social inequality, views and behaviour of the middle classes, labour relations and informalization in Europe and Asia, and aims to provide a fairer assessment of Asia’s role in the world today. ‘Illegal but Licit: Transna-

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This workshop by Yuri Sheikin and Tatjana Ignatieva, Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts in Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha, will be held at the IIAS Amsterdam branch office (location to be announced on www.iias.nl) for students, teachers and

After an introduction on the musical folklore of these peoples, a demonstration of musical examples from shamanism, epic literature, sung improvisations, sound imitations, music of Bear Festivals and round dances will be presented live on traditional musical instruments and on CD (available for participants), with an explanation of the making of these instruments. Participants will have the opportunity to play instruments and to learn the specific art of singing. Information: Cecilia Odé, IIAS c.ode@let.leidenuniv.nl

Culture and commerce in the Indian Ocean

IIAS workshop 20 April 2006 Amsterdam

researchers of ethnomusicology, folklore, anthropology, linguistics and phonetics. Sheikin will present the culture of the endangered northern peoples Chukchee, Udege, Evenki, Forest Nenets and the Khanty, while Ignateeva will present on the musical culture of the endangered Yukagir people.

25 - 27 September 2006 Leiden The burgeoning economies of East and South Asia challenge Indian Ocean scholarship to face new political, cultural and commercial developments, as well as new

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Asia Research Institute

POSITIONS AT THE ASIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE Applications are invited for a 3 month (Senior) Visiting Research Fellowships at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore to commence on 2 January 2007, 2 April 2007, 2 July 2007. The positions are intended for outstanding active researchers on Asian topics, with a balance anticipated between senior and junior, the Asian region and the world. At least one published outcome is expected, and applicants who do not normally publish in English will be encouraged and assisted to do so. Interdisciplinary interests are encouraged. “Asia” as a research field is defined loosely in terms of the region in which Singapore is positioned. Interested applicants are invited to consult our website at www.ari.nus.edu.sg for application details. Closing date: 31 May 2006 Address for applications and references: Human Resources, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, AS7, Level 4, 5 Arts Link, Singapore 117570, Fax: (65) 6779 1428, Email: joinari@nus.edu.sg

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IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

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versity Library is responsible for the Special Subject Collection ‘South Asia’ funded by the German Research Council (DFG). The collection, previously in Tübingen, is now housed in the Library of the South Asia Institute in Heidelberg. In addition, the new virtual South Asia library Savifa will serve as a gateway to print and electronic media from and about South Asia.

identities mapped onto complex cultural exchanges between the global, the diasporic and the local. The conference will analyse the historical roots of commerce as well as the new markets of the new post-colonial yet globalised era – from spices to Bollywood. The conference will be framed by a cultural studies paradigm, which welcomes historical, social, and cultural analysis and interdisciplinary methods. The conference would like to close with a better idea of why we should value the cultures of the Indian Ocean, old and new, and how the exchange of commodities interacts with cultural value.

The collection covers India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Tibet (up to 1950) – academic literature from and about these countries with a focus on literature, language, history, politics, anthropology, art history, religion and philosophy. The library holds more than 265,000 volumes and 500 current periodicals with an annual increase of approximately 5,000 volumes.

Panels will feature 3 papers of 20 minutes each with 10 minutes for discussion after each paper. Parallel sessions may be run. Plenary speeches will be an hour including time for questions.

Work on Savifa began in January 2005. The aim is to create a gateway for scholars and students to information – in both printed and electronic form – from and about South Asia. The newly published SavifaGuide is a database for South-Asia-related Internet resources, catalogued according to the bibliographic standards of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. Other components will be a metasearch engine, allowing users to simultaneously search online catalogues of South Asia Studies libraries as well as bibliographic databases and the current contents of 206 topical periodicals.

Organisers: Henk Niemeijer, Michael Pearson, Peter Reeves, Stephen Muecke, Devleena Ghosh, Chris Nierstrasz, Lola Sharon Davidson Email: Indian.Ocean@uts.edu.au www.IndianOceanProject.net

Savifa / South Asia library in Heidelberg From 1 January 2005, Heidelberg Uni-

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> Announcements Among the services currently offered: • Access to HEIDI the online catalogue of the Heidelberg University Library to search the holdings of the Library of the South Asia Institute http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ Englisch/helios/kataloge/heidi.html • Monthly acquisition lists with alerting services, which can be subscribed to by sending an email to effinger@ub.uniheidelberg.de http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ helios/nel_ssg/Suedasien.html • Electronic Document Delivery Service which ensures articles from journals and collective works will be digitized within 24-48 hours and delivered as PDF files http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ helios/ssgs/Welcome.html • Online Contents SSG Südasien offering access to table of contents of 206 journals on culture, politics and languages of South Asia http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ Englisch/helios/fachinfo/www/ suedasien/olc.htm • Full text server of the University Library as a publication platform for research on South Asia http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ helios/heidok-ssg.html

Eleonore Schmitt Eleonore.Schmitt@urz.uni-heidelberg.de Sonja Stark-Wild Sonja.Stark-Wild@urz.uni-heidelberg.de Nicole Merkel merkel@sai.uni-heidelberg.de

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30 November - 2 December 2006 Macau

15-17 November 2006 Havana City, Cuba

This symposium aims to bring together leading Sinologists and Japanologists researching the history of Christianity in Japan and China. It takes as its point of departure the 400th anniversary of the death of Alessandro Valignano, S.J. (1539-1606), one of the first Europeans to articulate a clear policy of religious and cultural engagement with China and Japan.

Summaries should be sent in digital format through e-mail or as .TXT or .DOC files and should not exceed one sheet. The deadline is 31 October 2006. For further information please contact: Ana Delia Soltura / Head of Public Relations Center for Studies on Asia and Oceania (CEAO) 20 Street and 7ma. avenue. Miramar, Playa Havana City. Cuba P. C. 11 300 Phone 206 6131 / 202 8392-94 ext 102 Fax (537) 202 60 38

Christianity and cultures: Japan and China in comparison (1543-1644)

International symposium on Asia-Pacific studies

The Center for Studies on Asia and Oceania (CEAO) invites you to the International Symposium on Asia Pacific Studies to be held at our center. Our first convocation will address contemporary economic developments and political and security trends in the Asia-Pacific region.

For further information please visit our interim website at http://www.ub.uniheidelberg.de/helios/fachinfo/www/ suedasien/Welcome.html or contact one of the three academic librarians:

e-mail: anadelia@ceao.co.cu isael@ceao.co.cu

The symposium aims to foster comparison and interdisciplinary inquiry. Its format of short formal presentations and interactive panel discussions will allow scholars to present their own research and explore jointly with other specialists similarities and differences between new expressions of Christian culture in the two countries. Themes include early Christian texts in translation, works of art, the development of new forms of Christian ritual and local community organization in late Ming China and Warring States / early Tokugawa Japan.

Our Institute has the opportunity to fill the following positions in the context of the Project Group Legal Pluralism x x x

researchers (TVöD – formerly BAT-O) PhD Grants Postdoctoral Grants

The Project Group focuses on law, authority and social behaviour in plural legal settings under conditions of increasing globalisation. Particular attention is given to the transnationalisation and diversification of law, and to the role of religious authorities and traditional and state institutions of conflict management. The Project Group starts two new projects: 1. “State Courts and their Religious Alternatives”, headed by Franz von Benda-Beckmann and Keebet von Benda-Beckmann The project will look at the role of religious leaders and institutions - of different religious backgrounds - in dispute management and conflict prevention, e.g. in business relations, land issues and ethnic conflicts. A focus will be on Indonesia, but applications for other regions are welcome, too. 2. “Law against the state”, headed by Julia Eckert The project deals with local adoptions of international right discourses. It will study the global circulation of legal knowledge and norms of governance by looking how law is used by individuals and groups in conflicts with states. The focus is on states with majority Muslim populations, e.g. Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, but also others depending on the applicant’s preferences. The TVöD Positions are for three years (with the possibility of a two-year extension). This position is open to scientists who have completed their doctorate within the last ten years. The PhD Grants are generally awarded for 2 years, with the possibility of two six-month extensions. We expect our PhD students to complete a year-long period of fieldwork as part of their studies. The Postdoctoral Grants are for two years (a one-year extension is possible for foreigners). Postdoctoral Grants can only be awarded to scientists who have received their doctorate within the last ten years. The grants are not taxed and are free from social security stipulations. The Max Planck Society is committed to raising the proportion of women in under-represented fields; we thus explicitly encourage applications by women. Individuals with disabilities will be given priority, assuming equal qualifications. Applications should include the standard documentation and a project resume. I)

II) III)

For detailed information and updates, please visit: http://www.usfca.edu/ricci and http://www.riccimac.org

Sex, power and slavery in the Indian Ocean world Call for papers The international conference Sex, Power and Slavery: The Dynamics of Carnal Relations under Enslavement in the Indian Ocean World (Africa from the Cape to Cairo divide eastwards, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Australasia and the Far East) will be held at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 19-21 April 2007.

Papers (original unpublished material) will be pre-circulated and the conference organised in thematic sessions led by discussants. Authors will NOT present papers. Registration fee by 1 March 2007: US$150 ($60 for students).

Abstracts by: 1 August 2006 Acceptance notice by: 1 October 2006 Paper submission by: 1 February 2007

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Max-Planck-Institut für ethnologische Forschung Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

Themes: • Sexual relations between the enslaved • Sexual relations between the enslaved and non-slaves • Sexual relations within maroon communities • Sex slave traffic • Structures of sexual enslavement • Harems • Concubines • Eunuchs • Homosexuality and enslavement • Enslaved children and sex • Rape • Affective relationships within the enslaved community and between the enslaved and non-slaves • Sex and the enslaved household • Enslavement, sex and the slave-owning household • Enslavement, sex and disease • Enslavement, sex and taboos • Sex and enslavement as reflected in traditions, myths and literature • Sex as slave agency.

Scholars will also explore the unique role played by Macau, the port-city that was at the diplomatic, economic, and religious crossroads between East Asia and Europe and that facilitated these encounters between faith and culture. The event is cosponsored by the Macau Ricci Institute, China, and the Ricci Institute at the University of San Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim, U.S.A. The official languages of the symposium will be English, (Mandarin) Chinese, and Japanese. Simultaneous translation will be provided.

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Contact: Gwyn Campbell: gwyn.campbell@mcgill.ca

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Asia Research Institute

(Senior) RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP AT THE ASIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ARI), NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (NUS) – World Vision The Asia Research Institute (ARI) has entered into a partnership with World Vision Asia Tsunami Response Team to provide academic and experiential expertise in assessing the effects of disasters in Asia, particularly the 26 December 2004 tsunami, in specifically defined research areas, as specified in the project description. In connection with this, ARI invites applicants for the fixed-term two-year position of (Senior) Research Fellow to lead field-based research and co-lead, with a World Vision counterpart, a process to produce quality documentation for learning on key topics of interest. The successful applicant will be required to take up the post by July 2006 or earlier. Closing date for applications: March 31, 2006. Please log onto our website at http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/appoint/ResearchFellowship-WorldVision.htm for application details and information on the said project.

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Standard documentation includes: - a cover letter - a CV including a list of publications - a project resume (two to five pages; two alternative ideas may also be considered) - photocopies of university degrees - names of 2-3 referees, whom we may contact There is no application form to be filled out. Applications may be submitted by email.

Final selection will be made following interviews in June 2006. The projects will start in September/October 2006. Please send applications to the following address by 20th May 2006: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Personnel Administration, P. O. Box 11 03 51 D – 06017 Halle/Saale or email to: wagenbrett@eth.mpg.de. Further background information concerning these projects and the Project Group can be found on our homepage: http://www.eth.mpg.de.

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

Palais de Tokyo site de creation contemporaine 13 Avenue du President Wilson 75116 Paris T+ 1 4723 5401 www.palaisdetokyo.com

Until 7 May 2006 Notre Histoire... This exhibition gathers the energies which make art in France today. The artists offer instruments to understand the current world and to make art social, economic, and politi-

Until 18 March 2006 Xu Tan: Loose Xu Tan’s first solo exhibition in China will present five video installations in a very loose manner, reflecting the invisible conflicts of contemporary Chinese society and culture.

France

China

Vitamin Creative Space 301, 29, Hengyijie Chigangxilu Haizhuqu 510300 Guangzhou T +86 20 84296760 www.vitamincreativespace.com

31 March - 15 April 2006 Asian Traffic This large-scale international touring exhibition includes video, sculpture, photography, and installation works by 18 contemporary Australian artists from 11 different ethnic backgrounds. Hong Kong artists will contribute to the exhibition’s central theme of contact, conflict, and exchange.

Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre 7A, Kennedy Road, Central Hong Kong T+ 25213008

Until 19 July 2006 Auspicious Emblems: Chinese Cultural Treasures - 45th Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society The exhibition features Chinese paintings and calligraphy, jade, ceramics, glass, lacquer, and enamel as well as carvings in bamboo, wood, ivory and horn. The objects are displayed in groups presenting themes that reflect and interpret the auspicious beliefs inherent in Chinese culture, such as the desire for longevity, good fortune, fertility, wealth, and status.

Until 23 April 2006 Unryuan: Contemporary lacquer master Kitamura Tatsuo, art name Unryuan, specialises in the techniques, forms, and styles of traditional Japanese lacquer work. His fascination with the lacquer of the Edo period (1615-1868) inspires him to emulate the extreme technical sophistication and bold approach to design which characterized the period. His works include writing cases, incense boxes, tea wares, inro containers, and netsuke toggles.

Until 26 March 2006 Yukinori Yanagi In this exhibition, Yukinori Yanagi explores questions of nationalism and cultural identity through two of Japan’s best-known national symbols: the chrysanthemum crest, emblem of the imperial family, and the hinomaru, the rising sun of the Japanese flag.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales Art Gallery Road The Domain Sydney NSW 2000 T +02 9225 1700 www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/

4 April - 3 June 2006 duplication/ disCONNEXION Xing Danwen, a contemporary photographer from Beijing, explores the impact of change in an increasingly modern and global China in this two series exhibit. In duplication Xing has photographed toy parts as they are assembled in factories. In the duplicated dolls, she sees pressure to conform to aesthetic and social standards. disCONNEXION shows piles of once useful or desirable objects of consumer culture that are now rendered waste.

Until 25 June 2006 Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition 2005 The Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition is in its 15th year. The 2005 event received more than 1,500 entries of which 109 were chosen for the exhibition. Six prizes of excellence were awarded. The award-winning works are Huangpu by Cedric Maridet, No. 6 Wai Ha Village, Tung Tsz Rd, Tai Po, NT, HK by Ching Chin-wai, Handscroll of Hai Ou Fu in running script by Fung Yat-fung, Wandering by Kan Chihung, Old Building by Yau Wan-kei and Family HistoryTextbook by Zheng Bo.

Hong Kong Museum of Art 10 Salisbury Road Tsim Sha Tsui Kowloon T +852 2721 0116 www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Arts/

Papadopoulos Museum for Indian Art

1825-1830, MIK I 5233, Photography by Iris

Portrait of Suchet Singh (Detail), Guler-Sikh style,

28 April 2006 - 28 January 2007 Pleasure Gardens and Garden Tombs - Courtly Arts under the Mughals Under the reign of the Great Mughals garden culture in India reached a remarkable degree

Museum of Indian Art Lansstraße 8 14195 Berlin T +4930 8301 361 www.smb.spk-berlin.de

Until 17 April 2006 Zhao Shao’ang (1905-1998) to 100 Zhao Shao’ang is an important representative of the Lingnan school, embodying both its ideals and its typical style elements from the second half of the 20th century. The exhibition shows 11 works, primarily of animals. Also included are an album leaf of Ju Lian (18241904), a forerunner of the Lingnan school, as well as three pictures by the painters Guan Shanyue (1912-2000) and Wang Xuetao (19031982).

Museum of East Asian Art Lansstraße 8 Berlin-Dahlem T +030 8301 382 www.smb.spk-berlin.de/oak/e/s.html

Germany

26 April - 24 July 2006 Very Rich Hours of the Court of China (1662 1796): Imperial Painting of the Qing Nine exceptional painted handscrolls from the Guimet will be available for public viewing for the first time. They record imperial orders intended to celebrate outstanding events of the reign of three Qing sovereigns: Kangxi (1662-1723), Yongzheng (1723-1736), and Qianlong (1736-1796).

National Museum of Asian Art - Guimet 6 Place d’Iéna 75016 Paris T +01-56 52 53 0 www.museeguimet.fr

Until 30 April 2006 The Fascination of Ceramics: Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Pottery from the Gisela Freudenberg Collection In the 20th century, no country has so decisively influenced ceramics worldwide as Japan. This exhibition goes beyond the familiar stereotypes formulated by countless treatises on tea ceramics. Some of the avantgarde artists represented in the Freudenberg collection, such as Araki Takako, Fukami Sueharu, Koie Ryôji, Nishimura Yôhai and Yoshikawa Masamichi, stand for daring innovation and departure from tradition. Most of the other artists presented here adhere to traditional forms and shapes to explore artistic self-expression.

Museum of East Asian Art Universitätsstraße 100 D-50674 Cologne T +49 221 940518-0 www.museenkoeln.de/english/museumfuer-ostasiatische-kunst/

Until 17 April 2006 Fang Lijun: Woodcuts and Drawings The Museum of Prints and Drawings is dedicating this exhibition to the work of Fang Lijun. Next to drawings and sculptures, the exhibition concentrates on expressive woodcuts made as jigsaw puzzle prints. Fang uses single colour shades or the combination of two shades to add a modern and monumental variant on Clair obscure printing, used in Europe and China during the 16th century for the reproduction of colored drawings.

Museum of Prints and Drawings Kulturforum Potsdamer Platz Matthaikirchplatz 4 D - 10785 Berlin www.kupferstichkabinett.de

23 March - 14 May 2006 Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China The first comprehensive look at the innovative photo and video produced since the mid 1990s in China. The exhibition features 130 works by 60 artists and reflects the enthusiastic adoption of media-based art by younger Chinese artists. Their works, often ambitious in scale and experimental in nature, reflect highly individual responses to the unprecedented changes now taking place in China’s economy, society and culture.

House of World Cultures John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10 10557 Berlin T +030 397870 www.hkw.de

of sophistication. The exhibition centers on the Islamic garden as a worldly reflection of paradise and its development in the arts. It features more than 150 artefacts, many from courtly workshops covering almost the whole period of Mughal rule in India from the late 16th to the early 19th century.

Arts agenda

Maroondah Art Gallery 32 Greenwood Ave Ringwood Victoria T+ 03 9298 4545 tania.mckenzie@maroondah.vic.gov.au

Australia

Ca r o l B r a s h

> Arts agenda

cal. Includes works by Michael Minghong Lin and Du Wang.

Until 28 March 2006 The Arts of People IV: Lollywood! Pakistani Film Posters The Arts of People introduces a variety of art forms that are the part of people’s daily lives in Asia. ‘Lollywood’ is the film industry in Lahore, long active as the centre of the Pakistani film industry. Some 100 Pakistani film posters are featured, reflecting not only the world of film, but social conditions, atmos-

Until 28 March 2006 Contemporary Indian Culture Sculptures combining sacred and secular elements made by contemporary artists based in and out of India are exhibited with accompanying drawings and photographs.

Fukuoka Asian Art Museum 7 & 8th Floor, Riverain Center Bld. 3-1 Shimokawabata-machi Hakata-ku, Fukuoka-shi T +092 7718600 http://faam.city.fukuoka.jp

Japan

Until 19 March 2006 Turin Triennial The Turin-based triennial exhibition of contemporary art has two sections: one showing original experimental works by 75 artists from around the world, and two solo exhibitions to celebrate the work of young, midcareer artists. The first edition, T1, is entitled The Pantagruel Syndrome. Paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, videos, performances, sound projects and collective and anonymous projects explore the excess of our Pantagruelian universe. Included are works by Tamy Ben-Tor, Xiaoyun Chen, Hochul Choi, Anmy Le, Nalini Malani, Takashi Murakami, Sejin Park, Li Pi, Wit Pimkanchanapong, Ana Prvacki, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Porntaweesak Rimsakul and Ahlam Shibli.

Multiple venues in Turin including: Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Casa del Conte Verde, Chiesa di Santa Croce, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, GAM Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Fondazione Merz, and ‘PalaFuksas’ www.torinotriennale.it

Italy

Until 20 April 2006 Natural Flowing - An Exhibition of Paintings, Hand-Painted Ceramics & Glass I Made Wianta is a multi-media artist. His mastery of colour and form on canvas is matched by his mastery of words in poetry, body movement in dance and sense of rhythm in music. He often combines all three into installations or ‘happening’ art.

Jenggala Art Gallery Jalan Uluwatu II Jimbaran, Bali T +62 361 703311 www.jenggala-bali.com/exhcafe/coming/

Indonesia

Until June 2006 Abrbandi: Ikats of Central Asia Silk ikats, known in Persian as ‘abrbandi’, are among the most vibrant textiles of Central Asia. Eighty exceptional examples from the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia will be on view for the first time. The collection is displayed in a manner that matches the boldness of the weavings.

Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia Jalan Lembah Perdana Kuala Lumpur T +03-2270 5149 / 5116 / 5142 www.iamm.org.my/iamm_main.htm

Malaysia

Until 14 May 2006 Art Spectrum 2006 This year marks the third Art Spectrum, a biannual exhibition of emerging contemporary Korean artists organized by the Samsung Museum of Art. Selected artists for 2006 include: Song Sang-hee and Kim Sung-whan, whose works were shown at the 2004 Busan Biennale; Jeong Jeong-ju, an artist trained in Germany with a penchant for making eerie miniature buildings with spy cameras; Park Yoon-young, whose past installations have delved into iconography and murder mysteries; collaborators Choi Seung-hoon and Park Sunmin; and installation artist Lee Hyung-koo.

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art #747-18, Hannam-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul T +82 2 2014 6900 www.leeum.org/

Korea

Until 2 April 2006 Hina Matsuri and Japanese Dolls With the coming of spring, the Kyoto National Museum celebrates Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival - also popularly known as Girls’ Day - with its annual exhibit of dolls and hina doll sets.

Kyoto National Museum 527 Chayamachi Higashiyama-ku Kyoto T +075-541-1151 www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/

Until 7 May 2006 Tokyo - Berlin / Berlin - Tokyo This exhibition explores the cultural contacts between Tokyo and Berlin and the development of these two cities as avant-garde centers of art and literature from the end of the 19th century until the present.

Mori Art Museum 53F Roppongi Hills Mori Tower 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku Tokyo 106-6150 T +81 3 5777 8600 www.mori.art.museum

phere, fashions of the period and different facets of Pakistani culture.

> International arts agenda

Until 26 March 2006 Cao Fei: PRD Anti-Heroes Cao Fei’s (Guangzhou, 1978) videos, photographs, performances and installations explore the new urban culture in China. Her theatrical and humorous portrait of life in today’s China reveals how young people in particular are living in a fantasy world influenced by the entertainment industry and global trends such as hip-hop and manga. At the same time, Cao Fei shows in a more documentary style the changes brought about by the continuing spread of capitalism, even though it does not yet seem possible for people to break away from traditional Chinese culture.

Museum Het Domein Kapittelstraat 6 Postbus 230 NL-6130 AE Sittard T +31 4513460 www.hetdomein.nl/

Until 29 October 2006 Ceramics from Ming to Memphis: East meets West In this exhibition, antique cabinet porcelain, tea and coffee services and other tableware from East Asia is compared and contrasted with post-modern ceramics from the end of the 20th century, by designers such as Andrea Branzi, Alessandro Mendini and Ettore Sottsass Jr from the Italian design studio Memphis. The exhibition appears to cover two entirely different worlds, but demonstrates just how closely related these worlds are. An unorthodox presentation of post-modern and traditional oriental ceramics ensures unexpected combinations that will not only challenge and stimulate visitors but also surprise them.

Groninger Museum Museumeiland 1 9700 ME Groningen T +31-50 3666555 www.groninger-museum.nl/

Until 9 April 2006 Cubism in Asia: Unbounded Dialogues Cubism has had a profound influence on subsequent artistic developments throughout the world. Through repeated collision and fusion with pre-existing styles, traditions and customs, Cubism has provided a stimulus to the question of ‘modern art’ in Asian countries.

Until 17 April 2006 Indonesia: The discovery of the past The exhibition presents the history of the collection and distribution of Indonesian heritage. Over 160 masterpieces from the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta and 170 from the National Museum of Ethnology (Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde) in Leiden include six large sculptures from the Singasari period (13th century), important gold finds and palace treasures from Sulawesi, Lombok and Bali, as well as the Wonoboyo gold treasure. The exhibit features ethnographica from west and east Indonesia, including New Guinea.

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

At Haus zum Kiel Until 5 June 2006 Endangered Love

Museum Rietberg Zürich Gablerstrasse 15 Zurich, Switzerland T + 41 (0)44 206 31 31 www.rietberg.ch/

Until 30 April 2006 The Dalai Lamas The exhibition features at least one thangka and one statue of each of the 14 Dalai Lamas. Also on display will be written documents (including large silk scrolls with impressive seals), scrolls depicting the protective deities of the Dalai Lama, representations of Potala Palace (the Dalai Lamas’ winter residence), gifts given and received by the Dalai Lamas, rare letters, and old photographs.

Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich Pelikanstrasse 40 CH-8001 Zürich T +41 (0)44 634 90 11 www.musethno.unizh.ch/

Switzerland

Until 9 April 2006 Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and Priests from the Chris Hall collection Power relations within China and beyond are highlighted through the splendour of 125 silken treasures from the Warring States period to early 20th century that bring you to the inner courts of the Forbidden City. Works include dragon robes, priests’ robes and many hangings.

Asian Civilisations Museum 1 Empress Place Singapore 179555 T +(65) 6332 7798 www.nhb.gov.sg/ACM/about_overview.shtml

18 May - 9 July 2006 Fiction@Love: Ultra New Vision of Contemporary Art in the Age of Animamics (Animation+Comics) is an exhibit on human experience in the 21st century. Combining reality and virtual reality, the exhibit uses the imagination’s colors to enrich role-playing in people’s lives.

Singapore Art Museum 71 Bras Basah Road Singapore 189555 T +65 3323215 www.museum.org.sg/SAM/

Singapore

The Nieuwe Kerk Museum Dam Square Amsterdam, Holland T +31. (0) 20-638 69 09 (24/24) www.nieuwekerk.nl/en/index.htm

Netherlands

Until 1 April 2006 Zhang Enli - Work Men In this series of paintings called Work Men Zhang Enli reveals the most overlooked majority of Chinese society – the underclass, from thieves to addicts, bandits to mafia - and captures them in tender moments amid China’s economic and social turmoil. From

H Gallery 201 Sathorn Soi 12 Bangkok 10500 T +66 1 3104428 www.hgallerybkk.com

Thailand

Until 21 May 2006 Vision and Beyond Vision and Beyond presents the works of the six recipients of the first ‘Techno Art Creation Project’ supported by The National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF). Their works are: Tien-chang Wu’s Contemporary Occult, Digital Magic, which probes into the East’s mythological traditions and uses two-dimensional digital images to create ‘contemporary magic’ close to Taiwan’s folk culture; Shu-min Lin’s Hypnosis Project and Inner Force uses light, a brain wave recorder, images and interactive technologies and takes the human subconscious and unites it with interactive art concepts; Jun-jieh Wang’s Microbiology Association - State of Affairs Plan II applies digital film, interactive installation and a spirit healing room to create a fictitious technological system. Anchi Tsai’s Taiwan Sound Plan unites field recordings, electronic sounds, and sound art; Hsin-chien Huang’s Memory Specimen - Story Nest blends digital sculpture, digital printing and interactive installation; and Kai-tzu Lu’s interactive art: Digital Puppets on Virtual Stage employs puppets and invented interactive techniques in an attempt to open new creative directions.

Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts 20 Meishukuan Road Kaohsiung T +07 5550331 www.ncafroc.org.tw/techno/

Taiwan

At Park-Villa Rieter 14 May - 11 June 2006 Goddesses: Four Centuries of Indian Paintings In India holy texts, hymns, myths and prayers were usually illustrated by well-educated professional painters. Their paintings of the Goddess were used for meditation as well as for the empowerment of the imagination. About 60 paintings from the museum’s collection give an inside view of the various manifestations of the Devi, the ‘Great Goddess’.

Illustrated love poems from India are accompanied by an installation by the contemporary artist Yves Netzhammer. In the 18th century, an East Indian painter illustrated an anthology of 100 love poems. With a steel stylus he engraved the texts and erotic images on narrow palm leaves. The poet Amaru composed the poems in Sanskrit during the 7th century.

The National Museum & Gallery Cathays Park Cardiff, CF10 3NP T +44 29 20397951 www.nmgw.ac.uk www.artesmundi.org

The Museum of East Asian Art

Macedonia after leaving Singapore in 1907

Eleanor Cadbury playing deck sports on board SS

Until 23 April 2006 Hidden Threads Detailing the fascinating voyage of British sisters Isabel and Eleanor Cadbury to China and Japan in 1907, this exhibition uncovers the souvenir items they collected while traveling around East Asia. Other memorabilia in the exhibition include fashionable Chinese accessories of the period and some Japanese items, accompanied by black and white photographs and letters of the trip as well as hand tinted photographic souvenirs.

Until 23 April 2006 An Eastern Impression: Paintings in Various Media by Wendy Yeo Chiefly known as a semi-abstract painter, Yeo’s work is inspired by landscapes, cityscapes, and organic forms in nature. She is particularly attracted to cityscapes which encompass water. Combining movement and space through mixed media, Yeo’s vibrant work accomplishes an ideal fusion of East and West.

The Museum of East Asian Art 12 Bennett Street Bath BA1 2QJ T +44-1225 464 640 www.bath.co.uk/museumeastasianart

United Kingdom

Qing Dynasty painter Jin Long to classical Chinese woodcuts and drinking poems by Li Bo, the influences exerting themselves on Zhang’s cartoonishly rendered portraits are historically inclusive. His technically refined brushstrokes redeem his subjects from the endless anonymous everyman struggle.

Until 16 April 2006 Palace & Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum The exhibition highlights a number of recurrent themes within the long development of Islamic art from the 8th to 19th centuries: the key role of Arabic script and calligraphy in its emergences and flowering; the poetic background to much secular iconography; variations in the use of images across different regions and periods; the development of mathematics and science in the service of religion and the creation of elaborate geometric designs; the central role of the Islamic faith, and reflections of other religions; dynastic patronage in courtly art; artistic interaction with other cultures; and the pres-

Millennium Galleries Arundel Gate Sheffield S1 2PP T +0114 278 2600 www.sheffieldgalleries.org.uk/coresite/html/ millennium.asp

21 April - 2 July 2006 Golden (Years) susan pui san lok is an artist and writer whose practice includes installation, sound, video and text-based works. For Golden (Years) she has been commissioned to develop new work as part of an ongoing series exploring notions of place, nostalgia and aspiration in migration and diaspora.

Chinese Arts Centre Market Buildings Thomas Street Manchester, M4 1EU T +44 (0)161 832 7271 www.chinese-arts-centre.org

Manchester: Until 2 Apr 2006 Nottingham: 22 Apr 2006 - 25 June 2006 British Art Show 6 British Art Show 6 showcases recent work by 50 artists and groups living and working in Britain today. The exhibition features a wide range of art forms illustrating the breadth and excellence of current British art-making. It includes works by Zarina Bhimji, Gordon Cheung, Zineb Sedira and Alia Syed.

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art Various venues www.hayward.org.uk/britishartshow6/

Until 7 May 2006 The Artes Mundi Prize The Artes Mundi Prize, first awarded in March 2004, was established to celebrate visual culture from across the globe. This year it features eight contemporary artists whose work interprets the broad theme of the prize: the human form, the human condition, adding to our understanding of humanity. Asian artists selected for the prize are Subodh Gupta and Chitsung Wu. Other partcipating artists: EijaLiisa Ahtila (Finland), Thomas Demand (Germany), Mauricio Dias & Walter Riedweg (Brazil & Switzerland), Leandro Erlich (Argentina) and Sue Williams (England)

Until 13 August 2006 Carved by Nature: Untamed Traditions in Chinese Decorative Art Objects made from naturally twisted and contorted wood have been appreciated in China for millennia. These organic forms appealed to Buddhists and Daoists seeking to convey an attitude of humility and an affinity with nature. In later centuries, scholar-aesthetes found the rustic features of the gnarled wood reminiscent of ancient trees that symbolized the wisdom of aging sages.

Until 23 July 2006 Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal and its surrounding complex of gardens, gates, and courtyards remains one of the world’s greatest architectural monuments. Paintings, drawings, photographs, and models from the museum’s collection explore the architecture and appeal of this remarkable site.

Peabody Essex Museum East India Square Salem, MA 01970-3783 T +978 745 9500, 866 745 1876 www.pem.org/

Until 9 July 2006 Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century This exhibition offers a snapshot of everything that is innovative, creative and iconoclastic in the world of contemporary Japanese ceramics. The selection is mostly drawn from the collection of Halsey and Alice North and reflects their informed taste in its bias toward works made in Kyoto under the influence of the avant-garde Sodeisha group, which challenged the traditional supremacy of utilitarian forms, yet never lost its respect for technical excellence in the handling of clay.

Museum of Fine Arts Avenue of the Arts 465 Huntington Avenue Boston, Massachusetts T +1-617 267 9300 khygysician@mfa.org www.mfa.org

United States

Until 17 April 2006 China: The Three Emperors, 1662-1795 Spanning the reigns of three emperors, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, this exhibition focuses on the most powerful rulers of China’s last dynasty: the Qing. Drawn mainly from the collections of the Palace Museum, Beijing, it includes over 370 works, the majority of which have never been seen in Europe.

Royal Academy of Arts Burlington House Piccadilly London W1J 0BD T +020 7300 8000 www.royalacademy.org.uk/

tige of Islamic art in mediaeval and early modern Europe.

> International arts agenda

Agenda

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

Leiden, Netherlands

27-31 March 2006

From Concept to Action Third international conference on early warning Organized by EWC III Contact: David Stevens david.stevens@univienna.org

Bonn, Germany

27-29 March 2006

Collecting Cultural Heritage in Indonesia: Ethics, Science and Politics Workshop Convenor(s): Pieter ter Keurs (RMV) Organized by RMV/CNWS/LEF/ASiA/de Nieuwe Kerk/IIAS Contact: Josine Stremmelaar iias@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl

Amsterdam, Netherlands

23-25 March 2006

10-11 April 2006

Singapore Sexuality and Migration in Asia Workshop Organized by National University of

2-5 April 2006

Xiamen, China

Migrations between East and West: Normalizing the Periphery Workshop

San Francisco, United States

6-9 April 2006 AAS Annual Meeting www.asianst.org

Vietnam Studies: States of the Field Workshop Organized by Center for Southeast Asia Studies Contact: Sarah Maxim cseas@berkeley.edu ias.berkeley.edu/cseas

Berkeley, United States

6 April 2006

Village Self-Govenance in China: Past, Present and Future Organized by EU-China Training Programme on Village Governance Contact: Alan Sher alansher@vgchina.org.cn www.chinarural.org/euchinaprog/English

Beijing, China

5-7 April 2006

Chinese Taal en Cultuur in het Middelbaar Onderwijs Seminar Organized by ICLON www.iclon.leidenuniv.nl/chinadagVO

Leiden, Netherlands

5 April 2006

Cyberjihad: On the Uses of the Internet for Fundamentalist-Religious Purposes Lecture Series Emerging Digital Cultures in Asia Organized by Waag Society, Leiden University, ASiA and IIAS Contact: Jeroen de Kloet iias@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl

Amsterdam, Netherlands

5 April 2006

Convenor(s): Jan Rath, Jeroen Doomernik and Zhuang Guotu Organized by University of Amsterdam and Xiamen University sponsored by IIAS Contact: Leo Douw l.m.douw@uva.nl

Asian Horror Movie (Shutter) and debate Organized by Cinemasia/IIAS/ASiA Contact: Jeroen de Kloet iias@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl

Amsterdam, Netherlands

2 April 2006

April 2006

Towards an Understanding of Changing Hill Societies of Northeastern India Workshop Convenor(s): Erik de Maaker Organized by CNWS Contact: Erik de Maaker emaaker@gmail.com

Leiden, Netherlands

31 March-1 April 2006

Tangent_Leap Discussion on Chinese mediaculture Convenor(s): Martijn de Waal (Leiden University) Organized by V2/IIAS Contact: Jeroen de Kloet iias@let.leidenuniv.nl

Paris, France

Representing Power in Asia: Legitimising, Consecrating, Contesting Conference Convenor(s): Roberte Hamayon Organized by Institut Europeen en Sciences des Religions Contact: Roberte Hamayon roberte.hamayon@ephe.sorbonne.fr www.iresco.fr/labos/gsrl/

Rotterdam, Netherlands

23-25 March 2006

30 March 2006

Blogging and Politics: On the Emergence of a New Digital Public Sphere and its Political Implications Lecture in the Series Emerging Digital Cultures in Asia Organized by Waag Society, Leiden University, ASiA and IIAS Contact: Jeroen de Kloet iias@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Indonesia between Democratization and Islamization: Illusions and Realities of Cyberempowerment in Indonesia Lecture Convenor(s): Zem Zem including Nico Schulte-Nordholt (UU) and Merlyna Lim (Annenberg Center for Communication) Organized by Zem Zem/IIAS Contact: Amis Boersma iias@let.leidenuniv.nl

Amsterdam, Netherlands

29 March 2006

First EACL Springschool in Chinese Linguistics Masterclass Convenor(s): Rint Sybesma Organized by European Association for Chinese Linguistics and IIAS Contact: Rint Sybesma r.p.e.sybesma@let.leidenuniv.nl http://dbs.rub.de/EACLdat/default_en.htm

23 March 2006

The Unraveling of Civil Society Conference Organized by Asia Research Institute Contact: Manjit Kaur arimk@nus.edu.sg www.ari.nus.edu.sg/conf2006/ucs.htm

Singapore

22-24 March 2006

March 2006

> International conference agenda

Asian Games: On the Rapid Emergence of Gaming Cultures

Amsterdam, Netherlands

10 May 2006

May 2006

Sense and Substance in Traditonal Asian Medicine Sixth international congress Organized by International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine www.iastam.org/coferences.htm

Austin, United States

27-30 April 2006

The Decolonisation of the Indonesian City (1930-1960) in Comparative (Asian and African) Perspective Workshop Organized by NIOD and KITLV Contact: Freek Colombijn f.colombijn@fsw.vu.nl

Leiden, Netherlands

27-28 April 2006

Use of Space Technology for Disaster Management in Western Asia and Northern Africa Workshop Organized by United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs Contact: David Stevens david.stevens@unvienna.org

Damascus, Syrain Arab Republic

22-26 April 2006

The Musical Folklore of the Peoples of Northern Asia Workshop Convenor(s): Dr Sheiken and Dr Ignatieva Organized by ASiA/IIAS Contact: Dr Cecilia Ode c.ode@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl/iias/show/id=41332

Amsterdam, Netherlands

20 April 2006

Education/Training:Tthe Search for Quality Conference Organized by IRD/IRD/NIESAC infoen@educationhcm.com www.educationhcm.com

Ho Chi minh City, VietNam

18-20 April 2006

Singapore, Royal Holloway Contact: Verene Koh popnasia@nus.edu.sg

The Generosity of Artificial Langugages in an Asian Perspective Seminar Convenor(s): Frits Staal, Martin Stokhof, Wim Stokhof, Johan van Benthem, Robbert Dijkgraaf Organized by IIAS Contact: Marloes Rozing m.rozing@let.leidenuniv.nl

Leiden, Netherlands

18-20 May 2006

Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage Workshop Organized by International Cartographic Association Contact: Evangelos Livieratos livier@maplibrary.gr www.maplibrary.gr

Thessaloniki, Greece

18-19 May 2006

Imagining and Writing Korea and Worlds Conference Convenor(s): Boudewijn Walraven, JaHyun Kim Haboush, Marion Eggert Organized by Leiden University/Centre for Korean Studies and Columbia University Contact: Boudewijn Walraven b.c.a.walraven@let.leidenuniv.nl

Leiden, Netherlands

12-15 May 2006

Asian Expansions:The Historical Processes of Polity Expansion in Asia Workshop Organized by Asia Research Institute www.ari.nus.edu.sg/conf2006/expansion.htm

Singapore

12-13 May 2006

Cultural Memory and Cultures in Transition Conference Organized by Centre of Oriental Studies, Vilnius University Contact: Valdas Jaskunas oc@cr.vu.lt www.oc.vu.lt/confer_eng_3.html

Vilnius, Lithuania

11-13 May 2006

Lecture Series Emerging Digital Cultures in Asia Organized by Waag Society, Leiden University, ASiA and IIAS Contact: Jeroen de Kloet iias@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl

Writing Systems and Loan Words Symposium Organized by Research school CNWS Contact: Alex de Voogt a.j.de.voogt@let.leidenuniv.nl

Leiden, Netherlands

7-9 June 2006

Locating the Communal in Asian Land Tenure ASEF-Alliance Workshop Convenor(s): Thomas Sikor (Humbolt University) & Nguyen Tan Vui (Tay Nguyen University) thomas.sikor@rz.hu-berlin.de

Buon Ma Thout, VietNam

1 June 2006

June 2006

Intellectual History in Pre-colonial Asia Masterclass Convenor(s): Sheldon Pollock Organized by IIAS Contact: Manon Osseweijer m.osseweijer@let.leidenuniv.nl

Leiden, Netherlands

30 May-2 June 2006

Is There a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Dharma of Historyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;? Seminar Convenor(s): Axel Schneider Organized by IIAS/Leiden University Contact: Karin Aalderink k.a.aalderink@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl

Leiden, Netherlands

29-31 May 2006

Concept of Enviromental Conservation in Ancient India Conference Organized by Indological Society of India Contact: Anirban Sengupta harappa_04@yahoo.com

Kolkatta, India

29-31 May 2006

Exact Science and Empire in Pre-modern Eurasia: A Seminar in Memory of David Pingree Seminar Convenor(s): Kim Plofker, Jan Hogendijk Organized by IIAS Contact: Marloes Rozing m.rozing@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl

Leiden, Netherlands

29-30 May 2006

> Rubriek > International conference agenda

IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006

The Ritual Articulation of Cultural Identity and Sociopolitical Order in Indonesia Conference Convenor(s): Jos Platenkamp

Münster, Germany

29 June-1 July 2006

East-Osaka, Japan

19th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies Convenor(s): Dirk Kolff Organized by IIAS Contact: Marloes Rozing ecmsas2006@let.leidenuniv.nl www.easas.org

Islam and the Repositioning of Religion Summer academy

Essen, Germany

16-30 July 2006

Asia-PacificMissionaries: At Home and Abroad Second biennual ANU missionary history conference Convenor(s): Australian National University Organized by NIAP ian.welch@anu.edu.au

Canberra, Australia

25-26 August 2006

Tourism and the New Asia; Implications for Research, Policy and Practice Conference Contact: William Feighery wfeighery@beltourism.com www.pkutourism.com

Leiden, Netherlands

Emerging Shape of East Asian Economic Community Conference Organized by Japan Academy for AsianMarket Economies Contact: Takehito Onishi onishi@eco.kindai.ac.jp www.kindai.ac.jp

Beijing, China

15-16 July 2006

27-30 June 2006

20-23 August 2006

Rationalising China’s Place in Asia, 1800 to 2005 Conference Convenor(s): Zheng Yangwen & Liu Hong Organized by Asia Research Institute arizyw@nus.edu.sg & chsliuh@nus.edu.sg

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

CESS Annual Conference Conference

Ann Arbor, United States

28 September-1 October 2006

Culture and Commerce in the Indian Ocean Conference Convenor(s): Henk Niemeijer and Michael Pearson Organized by Leiden University and University of Technology, Sydney Contact: The Organizing Committee indian.ocean@uts.edu.au www.indianoceanproject.net

Leiden, Netherlands

25-27 September 2006

From Distant Tales: Archaeology and Ethnohistory in the Highlands of Sumatra Workshop Organized by National University of Singapore and the Free University of Berlin Contact: Dominik Bonatz bonatz@zedat.fu-berlin.de

Berlin, Germany

Singapore

13-31 July 2006

Asia Reconstructed: From Critiques of Development to Postdoctoral Studies Conference Convenor(s): Adrian Vickers Organized by 16th Biannaul Conference of the ASAA asaa@uow.edu.au http://coombs.anu.edu.au/ASAA/Conference

Second International Summer School in Central Asia Organized by Kyrgyzstan-Turkey Manas University Contact: Samara Turdalieva summerschool@manas.kg www.summerschool.manas.kg

21-23 September 2006

August 2006

China and the World: Harmony and Peace Forum Organized by World Forum on China Studies Contact: Vivien Lee vivienlee_vivienlee@yahoo.com

Shanghai, China

EU Relations with Taiwan and China

Taipei, Taiwan

1 December 2006

December 2006

Christianity and Cultures: Japan and China in Comparison (1543-1644) Symposium Organized by Ricci Institute www.riccimac.org

Macau, China

30 November-2 December 2006

Naples, Italy 19th IAHA Conference Organized by Philippines Social Sciences Council Contact: Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr iaha@pssc.org.ph

You can increase public awareness of your conference in this newsletter and in the online Agenda Asia by submitting your conference details to www.iias.nl/portal/

EUROSEAS Conference Convenor(s): EUROSEAS Organized by EUROSEAS Contact: Pietro Masina ofrattolillo@iuo.it http://iias.leidenuniv.nl/institutes/kitlv/ euroseas.html

12-15 September 2007

Quezon, Philippines

22-25 November 2006

September 2007

ICAS 5 Conference Organized by University Kebangsaam Malaysia/ATMA-IKON Contact: Institute of Malay World and Civilization (ATMA) icas5@ukm.my www.atma.ukm.my/icas5.htm Female Slavery, Orphanage and Poverty in the Portuguese Empire (XVI to XX Centuries) Conference Organized by Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administracao Contact: Clara Sarmento clara.sarmento@netc.pt www.iscap.ipp.pt/congresso2006

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Porto, Portugal

2-5 August 2007

August 2007

China Summerschool: ‘The Spread of PTH’ Convenor(s): Marinus van de Berg and Vincent van Heuven Organized by LUCL/IIAS/NOW Contact: Marloes Rozing m.rozing@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl/ilci

Leiden, Netherlands

13-15 July 2007

5th Urban Language Survey Seminar Convenor(s): Marinus van de Berg and Vincent van Heuven Organized by LUCL/IIAS/NOW Contact: Marloes Rozing m.rozing@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl/ilci

Leiden, Netherlands

9-11 July 2007

July 2007

Conference Organized by Academia Sinica Contact: Der-Chin Horng dchorng@sinica.edu.tw

20-22 November 2006

International Symposium on Asia-Pacific Studies Symposium Organized by Center for Studies on Asia and Oceania Contact: Ana Delia Soltura anadelia@ceao.co.cu

Crime, Law and Order in the Japanese Empire, 1895-1945 Workshop Organized by NIOD indie-indonesie@niod.nl 21-22 September 2006

Havana, Cuba

Amsterdam, Netherlands

3-4 August 2006

Communities of Interpretation Burma Studies Conference Organized by Asia Research Institute Contact: Alyson Rozells bsc2006@nus.edu.sg www.ari.nus.edu.sg/conf2006/bsc2006.htm

Singapore

13-15 July 2006

Local Cultures and its Manifestations in Nusantara Manuscripts 10th International Symposium of the Nusantara Manuscript Organized by MANASSA Contact: Titik Pudjiastuti simposiummanassa2006@yahoo.c

Palembang, Indonesia

28-30 July 2006

15-17 November 2006

November 2006

Youth and the Global South: Religions, Politics, and the Making of Youth in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East Conference Convenor(s): The Steering Committee Organized by ASC/CODESRIA/ISIM/IIAS Contact: Manon Osseweijer m.osseweijer@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl

Dakar, Senegal

24-26 October 2006

October 2006

Organized by CESS cessconf@fas.harvard.edu http://cess.fas.harvard.edu/CESS_ Conference.html

14-15 September 2006

Of Asian Origin: Rethinking Tourism in Contemporary Asia Workshop Organized by Asia Research Institute Contact: Tim Winter ariwtc@nus.edu.sg www.ari.nus.edu.sg/conf2006/tourism.htm

Singapore

7-9 September 2006

September 2006

11th Seminar Organized by International Association for Tibetan Studies Contact: P. Schwieger iats2006@uni_bonn.de www.iats2006.uni-bonn.de

Königswinter/Bonn, Germany

27 August-2 September 2006

Wollongong, Australia

26-29 June 2006

Chinese Nation, Chinese State, 1850-2000 Biannual Conference of the Historical Society for the Twentieth Century China Organized by Asia Research Institute Contact: Thomas Dubois histdd@nus.edu.sg

Singapore

25-27 June 2006

13th World Sanskrit Conference Conference Organized by International Association of Sanskrit Contact: John Brockington J.L.Brockington2ed.ac.uk www.arts.ed.ac.uk/sanskrit/13thWSC

Edingburgh, United Kingdom

10-14 July 2006

Arte-polis: Creative Culture and the Making Place Seminar and workshop on urban culture Organized by Institute of Technology Bandung psud@melsa.net.id www.ar.itb.ac.id/artepolis

July 2006

Bandung, Indonesia

21-23 July 2006

Redefining World Literatures Seminar Organized by Department of Literature, Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia Contact: Melani Budianta susatra_fibui@yahoo.com

Depok, Indonesia

19-20 July 2006

Convenor(s): Georg Stauth and Armando Salvatore Organized by Institute of Advanced Studies Contact: Armin Flender armin@flender@kwi_nrw.de

Global Co-operation Towards Energy Efficiency: Barriers and Opportunities Conference Convenor(s): Mehdi Amineh & Shi Dan Organized by IIAS/Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Contact: Marloes Rozing m.rozing@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl/iias/show/id=55001

Law, Power and Culture:Transnational, National and LocalPprocesses in the Context of Legal Pluralism Congress Organized by Comission on Folk Law and Legal Pluralism Contact: Sulistyowati Irianto sulis@pacific.net.id www.unb.ca/cflp

Depok, Indonesia

29 June-2 July 2006

Organized by Westfälische Wilhems-Universität Münster, Institute für Ethnologie Contact: Jos Platenkamp platenk@uni-muenster.de

Beijing, China

24-25 June 2006

Modernisation, Modernity and the Media in China Conference Organized by China Media Centre Contact: Yik Chan Chin chiny@wmin.ac.uk

London, United Kingdom

15- 6 June 2006

Gender Issues in Asia Conference Organized by WARI concourse02@yahoo.com

Bangkok, Thailand

13-22 June 2006

> Rubriek > International conference agenda

Board

IIAS Extraordinary Chairs

Wim Stokhof (Director)

Prof. P. van der Veer - Chairman (Utrecht University)

Prof. H.G.C. Schulte Nordholt (the Netherlands)

Amis Boersma (Project Coordinator)

Prof. P. Spyer (Leiden University)

Special Chair at the Erasmus University Rotterdam

Ines van Dijk (Secretary)

Prof. B.J. ter Haar (Leiden University)

‘Asian History’

Wouter Feldberg (Fellow Programme Coordinator)

Dr J. de Jong (Groningen University)

1 October 1999 - 1 October 2007

Manuel Haneveld (IT-Manager)

Prof. M. van der Linden (IISG/University of Amsterdam)

Takeo David Hymans (Managing Editor)

Prof. M.A.F. Rutten (University of Amsterdam)

Prof. H. Steinhauer (the Netherlands)

Natasja Kershof (Editor)

Prof. M. Sparreboom (Erasmus University, Rotterdam)

Special Chair at Nijmegen University

Staff

> IIAS Staff

Jeroen de Kloet (Coordinator, Branch Office Amsterdam)

> Colophon

‘Ethnolinguistics with a focus on Southeast Asia’

Heleen van der Minne (Secretary, Branch Office Amsterdam)

Academic Committee

Manon Osseweijer (Coordinator of Academic Affairs)

Prof. T. Atabaki (IISG/University of Amsterdam)

1 September 1998 - 1 September 2006

Anne-Marie Petit (Secretary)

Dr E.W. Ball (Free University, Amsterdam)

Joost Postma (Database Programmer)

Prof. H. Beukers (Leiden University)

IIAS Newsletter #40

Anouschka Premchand (Office Assistant)

Prof. P.P.S. Ho (University of Groningen)

Spring 2005

Marloes Rozing (Seminars & Publications)

Dr G. Persoon - Chairman (Leiden University)

Josine Stremmelaar (Executive Manager)

Prof. C.I. Risseeuw (Leiden University)

International Institute for Asian Studies

Paul van der Velde (Senior Consultant)

Prof. B.C.A.Walraven (Leiden University)

P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands

Sikko Visscher (Project Manager, ASiA)

T +31-71-527 2227

Thomas Voorter (WWW)

F +31-71-527 4162

Shaoqing Wang (Trainee)

iiasnews@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl Editors Takeo David Hymans & Natasja Kershof [

]

Guest editor The art of seduction Bart Barendregt Freelancers #40 Copyeditor: Lee Gillette Proofreader: Renata Jasaitis Our agents in the field Rod Aya, Henk Blezer, Amis Boersma, Carol Brash, Ines van Dijk, Suzana Dudic, Wouter Feldberg, Jos Gommans, Jan Houben, Jasper van der Kerkhof, Manon Osseweijer, Anne-Marie Petit, Gerard Persoon, Joost Postma, Marloes Rozing, Lena Scheen, Wim Stokhof, Josine Stremmelaar, Paul van de Velde, Thomas Voorter, Tao Yue Design JB&A raster grafisch ontwerp, Delft

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Printing Wegener grafische groep, Apeldoorn ISSN 0929-8738 Circulation 25,700 Next issue July 2006 Advertisements Submission: 15 April 2006 Subscriptions The IIAS Newsletter is published four times a year and is available free of charge. To subscribe, please return a completed subscription form to the IIAS secretariat. Subscription forms are available from the secretariat or online. iias.subscribe@let.leidenuniv.nl www.iias.nl/iiasn/subscribe.html Responsibility for copyrights and for facts and opinions expressed in this publication rests exclusively with authors. Their interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the institute or its supporters.

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IIAS Newsletter | #40 | Spring 2006