V I S I T O U R W O R L D W I D E W E B H O M E P A G E : H J T P : / / W W W , I I A S .

T H E

e, R u 4

2 0 0 0° s t i t u t e f o r A s *

P.O. BOX 9 5 I S , 2300 RA L E I DE N, THE N ET H E R L A N D S , T E L E P H O N E : + 3 1 - 7 1 - 5 2 7 22 27, T E L EF A X : + 3 1 - 7 1 - 5 2 7 41 62, E - MA I L : 11 A S N E WS @ R U L L ET. Le i d e n U n i v. N L

In s t itu t io n a l P u b lic a tio n S h ort M ew s

BBS PI7 7 7 7

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G E N E R A L N E WS

Some Reflections on the formationo f the Buddha image - an abstract o f

the keynote speech by ProfessorM a u riz io Taddei at the SouthAsian Archaeology conference

in Leiden. - (p. 3}

C E N T R A L A S I A

3 0 6

T H E M E S O U T HA S I A N L I T E R A T U R E

The lite ra tu res o f South Asiaspan an enormous array o f

languages, regions, and localcultures, together forming a uniqueand virtually inexhaustible record o fthe intellectual history o f the Indian

subcontinent during the last twocenturies. This section, edited byThomas de Bruijn, presents an

overview o f various newdevelopments in research in themodern literatures ofSouth Asia.

7 O 13

[JLZThe Samantabhadra Archives:

The N y ingm a Tantras Project.This contribution by David

Germano and Robert Mayer is thefirst in a series o f introductions to

Tibetological collections andarchives. - (p. 14)

14 O 15

S O U T H A S I A

‘Obscured by all the clamour overglobalization is the continuingexpectancy that social science

scholars from the South are stillexpected to focus on the South,

while scholars from the North mayresearch either South or North.’Anthropologist Rajni Palriwala

(India) reports on her experiencesconducting fie ld w o rk inthe Netherlands. - (p. 17)

The largest collection o f AsianPortuguese Creole folk verse, theSri Lanka Portuguese CreoleM anuscrip t, forms a part o f the

Hugh Nevill Collection in theBritish Library. An introduction byShihan de Silva Jayasuriya. - (p. 19)

16 O 20

S O U T H E A S T A S I A

‘Little has been said o f theIndonesian view o f the East

T im o r A ffa ir. This has impairedthe interaction between

the actors involved: rheWestern press, governments,and public opinion were out

o f sync w ith Indonesia’sofficials, m ilitary, and

politicians, and vice versa.’An article by Francois

Raillon. -(p. 21)

For the first time an academicconference on contem poraryBurmese p o litic s was held in

Australia. The interest andenthusiasm was such that it grewinto a major event. Emily Rudland

reports. - (p. 22)

- IIMDOEAH i

* - V l i

IêêÜI

A t m idnight on 19 December 1999,the old Portuguese-Chinese city o f

Macau has reverted to Chinesesovereignty. There was little or nopublic debate in the media aboutthe implications o f this change­

over. J. Abbink wonders how Macauhas prepared for the return to

China, and what w ill be its legacyand future as a specific urban

culture? - (p. 31)

29 O 33

N E W P U B L I C AT 10I N A S I A N S T U D I E S

ifDoris jedamski explores what it is

that accounts for the appeal o fEuropean examples o f adventureand crime fiction to audiences o fentirely different historical and

cultural backgrounds. A researchproject on the role o f popu la r

lite ra tu re in the process o f culturaladaptation and transference in

Indonesia, -(p. 25)

21 0 28

EAS T A S I A

In this special book sectionreviewers and academic publishers

present and discuss newpublications in Asian Studies. Mark

Turin appraises a long-awaitedNepali language course and Peter

Kloos introduces a Sri Lanka StudiesSeries in the Humanities and Social

Sciences. Much more on pages

34 0 42

A S I A N A R T

‘ • A l i

r \I

NT ƒThe F if th A nnua l C H IM E

Conference, w hich took place inSeptember 1999 at the Academy o f

Music in Prague, focused on musicalcontrasts between villages and cities

in China and East Asia. - fp. 30;

Malaysian arch itect Ken Yeangwas awarded the 1999 Prince Claus

Award for his environmentallyresponsive work. ‘The ecological

imperative has made his structureslively not dull, muscular instead o fflat-chested, and w ith an inviting,

gregarious face rather thanthe blank stare o f a Mafioso

behind dark glasses.’ An articleby Charles Jencks. - (p. 45)

43 0 47

Pink PcyesM A S N E WS

News from the HAS, includingthe Asia Update and interviews withProfessor Barend Jan Terwiel, holdero f an HAS Extraordinary Chair and

Professor Vincent Shen, formerholder o f the European Chair

o f Chinese Studies.

C L A R A N E WS

News from the research programme‘Changing Labour Relations in Asia’:

conference reports and a vacancyfor a visiting fellowship.

54

ESF A S I AC O M M I T T E E

News from the ESF Asia Committeeand a report o f the workshop

'Chinese Transnational Enterprisesand Entrepreneurship’.

56

I N S T I T U T E S I NT H E L I M E L I G H T

The EU-China AcademicNetworkThe Seminar on Languages andCultures o f Central AsiaThe North American TaiwanStudies AssociationThe Institute o f InternationalRelations

59

I NDEX I I ASN 21

48

CONFERENCE AGENDA

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

64

E D I T O R I A L P A G E

HAS N E W S L E T T E R N ?2 1February zooo

64 pages

■ EDI TORI AL OFFI CEVisiting address: Nonnensteeg 1-3, Leiden

Mailing address: HAS, P.O. 80x9515,2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

Telephone: +31-71-527 22 27Telefax: +31-71-527 41 62

E-mail: iiasnews@rullet.leidenuniv.nlhttp://www.iias.nl

■ EDI TORI AL STAFFEditor - Elzeline van der HoekCo-edttor South Asian Literature

-Thomas de BtuiinCentral Asia Editor - Ingrid NooijensSouth Asia Editor - Netty Bonouvrié

Insular Southwest Asia Editor - Sandra EversSoutheast Asia Editor - Dick vander MeijEast Asia (China) Editor - Marieke te Booij

East Asia (Japan) Editor - Margarita WinkelEast Asia (Korea) Editor - Koen De Ceustet

Asian Culture Editor - The GATE FoundationEnglish Editor Editor - Rosemary Robson

■ C O R R E S P O N D E N T SAnn Beard (AAS, Ann Arbor)

Victor A. van Bijlert (Bengal Studies)Robert Cribb (Australia Correspondent)

Leo Douw (Qiaoxiang Programme)Marieke te Bootj (ESF Asia Committee)

Leo Schmit (EU, Brussels)Mario Rutten (CASA, Amsterdam)

Ratna SaptariI (Changing Labour Relations in Asia, CLARA)

Willem Vogelsang(Research School CNWS, Leiden)

■ C O N T R I B U T O R SJan Abbink, Kamran Asdar Ali, Noosgoi

Aitantsetseg, Robert Ash, Denise Austin,Maarten Bavinck, Wolfgang Behr, VictorA. van Bijlert, Stuart Blackburn, Henk

Blezer, Marieke te Booij, Vladimir I.Braginsky, Thomas de Bruijn, FreekColombijn, Stephane Corcuff, Heidi

Dahles, Vasudha Dalmia, TheoDamsceegt, Alfred Daniels, Olga

Deshpande, Nelly van Doorn-Haraer, LeoDouw, Jan Elliott, Christine Everaert,Janie Fung, David Germano, Martin

Grofiheim, Michel Hockx, Rik Hoekstra,Vincent Houben, Gustaaf Houtman, CenHuang, Juha Janhunen, Doris Jedamski,Charles Jencks, Janet Kamphorst, Nico

J.G. Kaptein, KarpChon Kim, JohnKleinen, Peter Kloos, Karel R. van Kooij,

Frank Kouwenhoven, V.V. Krishna, Ku Pi­ling, Sabine Kuypers, J. Thomas Lindblad,Marcel van der Linden, Pauline LunsinghScheurleer, Erik de Maaker, Robert Mayer,Dick van der Meij, Mark Meulenbeld, P.P.

Mishra, Liga Mitenberga, GerbrandMuller, Shing Müller, Pal Nylri, Lucia

Obi, Christina Oestetheld, RajniPaltiwala, Nathan Porath, Jana

Raendchen, Francois Raillon, MartinRamstedt, Tim Riedel, Laura Rivkin, Lucy

Rosenstein, Emily Rudland, RolandRutgers, Rama Saptari, Sagaree Sengupta,

Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya, ElizabethSinn, Ivo Smits, Marc R. Spindler, Hein

Steinhauer, Wim Stokhof, Andrea Straub,Maurizio Taddei, Gerda Teuns-De Boer,

Harish Trivedi, Mark Turin, CarolineTurner, Cathelijne Veenkamp, Veronika

Veit, Edward Wang, Uta Weigelt,Marianne L. Wiesebron, Jaushieh Joseph

Wu, Robert J. Zydenbos

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See also page 64

THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR FACTS AND OPINIONSEXPRESSED IN THIS PUBLICATION RESTS

EXCLUSIVELY WITH THE AUTHORS AND THEIRINTERPRETATIONS DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECTTHE VIEWS OP THE INSTITUTE OR ITS SUPPORTERS,THE IMS NEWSLETTER (lIASN) IS PUBLISHED BY HAS

AND IS AVAILABLE FREE OF CHARGE.

E ditoria l~ T t has often been said in these columns: Asia has clearlyI become an important global partner for Europe. In the

A. new world order, existing expertise on Asia in Europemust be co-ordinated, improved, and optimized. This canbe achieved through, amongst other techniques, makingfull use of information technology.

In numerous institutes and libraries all over Europe arekept valuable materials which are of great relevance togaining a better insight into all things Asian - not onlymaterials dating from the colonial era which are still ofgreat importance for understanding contemporary issues,but also a host of more recent documentation.

Millions upon millions of pages filled with all sorts ofdata, ranging from highly technical information on soildeposits to visual material such as photographs of van­ished temple treasures, are waiting to be studied by re­searchers from Asia as well as those from the Atlantic areaor further afield. However, information about these collec­tions is not always easy to come by. Unfortunately manyinstitutions still lack the necessary know-how and meansto make their treasures more accessible.

Quite apart from this lack of expertise, there is a cleardearth of co-ordination demonstrable between librariesand institutions at national levels, let alone at a Europeanlevel. Add to this reality the fact that almost every institu­tion cherishes its own idiosyncracies in cataloguing, stor­ing, and lending regulations, as well as in the degree of ac­cessibility of their materials and (when available) of theirdatabase, and it will be obvious that finding the rightmanuscripts, photographs, books, and so on, can be a time-consuming undertaking. Every so often this zealous dig­ging may surprise us with unexpected discoveries, but foryoung, inexperienced researchers and older, busy acade­mics alike, the effort of trawling through poorly accessibledata often seems frustrating and unattractive.

I believe that the time has come for the major holders ofAsian collections in Europe to join forces so as to form a Eu­ropean Platform of Asian Collections under the umbrella ofthe European Science Foundation and/or the EuropeanCommission to improve the quality and accessibility of li­brary (including digital) collections relevant to Asian Stud­ies. The gigantic collections of data pertaining to Asia arepart ofa shared Asia-Europe cultural heritage. They shouldbe well preserved and be made accessible to Atlantic as wellas Asian scholars in a co-ordinated, coherent way. Scatteredall over Europe these collections are of great value in theirown right, but their worth can be increased exponentiallyif they are made accessible online, nationally, regionally,and worldwide. The IIAS plans to invite European libraries

and other institutions with important Asia collections tocommence discussions about the creation of a EuropeanInternet Service for Asian Studies (EISAS).

EISAS could comprise an Internet-based infrastructureinto which bibliographical and other data sources will beintegrated. A vital reinforcement to classic library services,the EISAS site will be made available to scholars and allother interested parties. General information on AsianStudies and scientific sources that are available at variousinstitutes in Europe will be presented in a uniform fashionand heterogeneous databases of various origins will belinked so as to be searchable with just one single search ac­tion. In this way, the Internet may be used to approach thescientific apparatus in an unprecedented manner by creat­ing innovative intersections, relations, and cut-outs.

The source materials to be made available through EISAScould include:- bibliographical databases;- databases which describe visual material;- important, much used, but poorly accessible printed ref­

erence works;- unique sources which belong to the national heritage of

European member states.

The importance of such a service to Asian Studies in Eu­rope is evident in various fields: 1) scientific research: elec­tronic documentation of primary sources facilitates thefeasibility of innovative research; 2) academic education:the service provides the use of original sources for the MAphase of university study and in PhD research at various re­search schools; 3) cultural education: the service will createthe possibility for a public beyond the confines of the acad­emic world to gain access to an important corpus in the na­tional heritage; 4) facilitation: the service will enable otherparties to link up with a variety of information relevant toAsian Studies; 5) visibility: the EISAS will contribute to themore extensive profiling of the important position enjoyedby Asian Studies in Europe.

Needless to say, setting up such an Internet service onthe basis of European co-operation in library resources onAsia will not be easy: costs, standardization, and data-for-matting are only some of the issues to be solved. Given thegreat importance, however, that some national govern­ments and the European Commission seem to attach to theimprovement of research infrastructures, it may be a goodidea indeed to organize a workshop and to prepare a work­ing paper.

This draft could play a role at national and Europeanmeetings at which the objectives for the sixth frame pro­gramme will be established.

Reactions are invited. Happy millennium. ■

WIM S T O K H O F

Director o f the IIAS

C O - E D I T O R FOR T H I S I S S U E ' S T H E M E' S OUT H AS I AN LI TERATURE'

T H O M A S DE BRUI J N

In his PhD ‘The Ruby Hidden in the Dust’, Thomas de Bruijn ex­plored the language employed by Sufi poets in northern India inthe Middle Ages. Currently he has shifted his focus to contem­porary India. For the period June 1998 to June zooo he was grant­ed a post-doctoral fellowship by the Netherlands Organizationfor Scientific Research (NWO). During this time he has beenworking at the International Institute for Asian Studies as an af­filiated research fellow. His project is entitled ‘Nayi Kahani: Newstories and new positions in the literary field o f Hindi literatureafter 1947’. Thomas de Bruijn calls for closer co-operation be­tween sociology and the study o f literature.

■ By ELZELINE VAN DER HOEK

It appears as tltoiyhyou made a majorshift inyour work afteryour PhD.Initially I had planned to continue

my Sufi research, until I was given thechance to take part in the NWO re­search programme ‘The Impact of In­stitutions in the Literary Field’. Thereis a continuity in the sense that themedieval period is much more directlythe forerunner of pre-modern and

contemporary India, than is the classi­cal India of the Vedas. Issues like therelationship between Hindus andMuslims originated in the medievalperiod and are still highly problemat­ic

A sociological problem.It may seem as though Indologists

merely read texts, but it is in thesethat one finds the ideas and the cul­tural products of an age. There is still

An interviewan enormous gap between sociology,the ‘study of real life’, and the study oftexts, but I believe a combination ofthe two is absolutely possible. Themodern literature contains a rich

Continued on pa,ge7 ^

M A S

The International Institute for AsianStudies is a post-doctoral institute jointly

established in 1993 by the RoyalNetherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

(KNAW), the Vrije Universiteit vanAmsterdam (VUA), the Universiteit van

Amsterdam (UvA) and Universiteit Leiden(UL). It is mainly financed by the Ministry

of Education, Culture and Sciences.

The main objective of the HAS is toencourage Asian Studies in the Humanitiesand Social Sciences (the alpha and gamma

sciences: ranging from linguistics andanthropology to political science, law,

environmental and developmental studies)and to promote national and international

scientific co-operation in these fields.One of the tasks undertaken by the IIASis to play an active role in the gathering,

co-ordination and dissemination ofinformation on Asian Studies.The instituteplays a facilitating role by bringing (inter-)

national parties together. Situated ina small country of which the political

influence is rather limited, the Institute hasopted for the flexible role of

intermediator on an international level.Furthermore, in keeping with the traditionin the Netherlands of transferring goods

and ideas, the IIAS serves asa clearinghouse for knowledge

and information.This entails activities such as providinginformation services; constructing an

international network; setting upinternational co-operative projects and

research programmes; and providingfacilities for Dutch and foreign scholarsto conduct research at the IIAS (and/or

at corresponding institutes in theNetherlands and abroad).Through itsso-called ‘Schiphol function' the IIAS

establishes contacts between Asianistsfrom all over the world.

Research fellows at a post-PhD level aretemporarily employed by or affiliated to

the Institute, either within the rramewwUof a collaborative research programme,

or on an individual basis.The IIAS organizes seminars, workshops,and conferences, publishes a newsletter

(circulation approximately 20,000 copies)and has established a database which

contains information about researchersand current research in the field of AsianStudies within Europe and world-wide.

A Guide to Asian Studies In Europe,a printed version of parts of this databasewas published in l998.The Institute also

has its own server and a Web site onthe Internet to which a growing

number of institutes related to AsianStudies are linked.

Since 1994 the IIAS has been appointedto run the secretariat of the EuropeanScience Foundation Asia Committee

(Strasbourg).Together with thisCommittee the IIAS shares the objective

of improving the international co­operation in the field of Asian Studies

(additional informationcan be acquired at the HAS).

In 1997 the Strategic Alliance wasestablished: an international co-operation

between the Nordic Institute of AsianStudies (NIAS), Copenhagen, and the IIAS.

The Institut fur Asienkunde (Hamburg)joined the Alliance in 1998.The StrategicAlliance was set up to enhance researchon (contemporary) Asia and to create

networks in Asia and Europe withacademic and non-academic institutions

and actors.

Upon the initiative of the HAS, and in closeco-operation with NIAS, the Programme

for Europe-Asia Research Linkages(PEARL) was established in Seoul inOctober 1998 during a meeting of

35 researchers from ASEM (Asia-EuropeMeetings) member countries, representing

leading Asian and European Studiesdepartments and institutions for research

funding. PEARL seeks to enhance Asia-Europe research co-operation and a top

level Asian/European presence in theASEM process.The IIAS provides the

Secretariat for PEARL.

2 • IIAS n e w s l e t t e r 14521 • February zooo

G E N E R A L N E WS

Some Reflectionson the Formationof the Buddha ImageThe process o f formation o f the anthropomorphic image o f the Buddha eventually led to amodel capable o f imposing itself throughout the whole Buddhist world. The choices made dur­ing this process were not shared by all the geographical areas involved - it is now clear that theso-called ‘kapardin’ type was opposed for some time to the Gandharan type. - An abstract o f thekeynote speech by Professor Maurizio Taddei at the South Asian Archeaology Conference, Lei­den, July 5, 1999 .

M By MAURIZIO TADDEI

'The sexuality

o f male figures

in Indian art

is consistently

underemiphasized’

he well-known goldtoken from Tilya-

— tepe (50 BC-AD 50)is a clear synthesis of theiconographical problemsthe Buddhists had to

face in the years which saw the ap­pearance of the anthropomorphicimage of the Buddha - i.e., the prince­ly vs. the spiritual aspect. Such con­trapositions cannot be explained inmerely doctrinal terms. ProfessorHartel (1985, 1996) wrote that the so-called kapardin Buddha / Bodhisattvaimages from Mathura embody theMaster, in clear contrast to the medi­tative Gandharan Buddha, as a royalfigure, Le, as a vision of the Mahapu-rusa, in which dwell the essentialpowers of a Cakravartin as well asthose of a Buddha. It appears that thekapardin Buddha is an attempt to con­nect the ruler to the Buddha closely.Nothing really new in itself, thoughthe magnitude of this ideological set­ting is evidenced by various concomi­tant circumstances, underscored byHartel himself

Quite recently, Vishakha Desai(1997) observed that the sexuality ofmale figures in Indian art 'is consis­tently underemphasized, or notmentioned at all’ in art-historical es­says, due to the traditional maledominance of scholarship. In partic­ular she says that ‘the increasedfocus on the physicality of divineand semi-divine beings and on theexplicit depiction of their genitalia’in Mathura Kushan iconography, in­cluding the Buddha, ‘may suggesttheological [...] significances thatshould not be overlooked’. I think wecan agree with Desai when she saysthat these representations of themale divinity ‘are directly linkedwith the characteristic features of achakravartin mahapurusha, an ide­alised superman or ruler’. Thus thefact that the Buddha / Bodhisattvafigures in Kushan Mathura showvery well-articulated male genitalia,is another proof that they actuallywere representations of the Buddhaas a king.

Even recent contributions take asa starting point the not so penetrat­ing reflections Alfred Foucher devel­oped on the subject at the beginningof the twentieth century. Foucher(1912.) believed that the GandharanBuddha was a real iconographicalfailure because he does not show thetonsure which is the characteristic ofa monk, etc.

What is crucial here is to under­score the fact that some of Foucher’spremises are wrong. Actually it is

not true that there is a contradictionbetween the literary lives of the Bud­dha and iconography - no literarytext ever stated that Siddharthashaved his hair; they only say that hecut away his hair along with his tur­ban (e.g., Buddhacarita, Johnston (ed.)193d, pp. 88-89): dccheda citram tnu-kutam sakesam, ‘he cut off his deco­rated headdress with the hair en­closed in it’. The artists were thusperfectly within their rights to rep­resent the Buddha with a tuft ofhair, though not with the long knot­ted hair which was the characteristicof the young males of high caste. Theciida-chedana is well documented inlater art but it appears to be rare inGandharan art: a new specimen ismade known here.

Let us now revert to the chignonwhich characterizes the Buddha’shead. It is only too well known thatthe term tisnïsa designates both theturban and the cranial protuberancewhich is one of the Buddha’s mainlaksanas. It is the present trend in thestudy of Buddhist iconography totake for certain that the usnïsa is ahair-knot which was later interpret­ed as a cranial protuberance, as itwas suggested seventy years ago byA.K. Coomaraswamy and J.N. Baner-jea. In recent years, other scholars(Spagnoli, 1995; Krishan 1996) accept­ed this old view without any furtherdiscussion. This interpretation maybe true when we deal with theMathura kapardin Buddhas - it is nottrue in Gandhara. My point is thatthere are some Gandharan Buddhaswhich unmistakably show that theirhair conceals a cranial protuberance.I believe that what was suggested byStella Kramrisch in the thirtiesshould still be kept in mind andmeditated upon (Kramrisch 1935).

One could refer to many examples.I prefer to limit myself to a few fairlyearly ones whose interpretation isbeyond any possible doubt: fromButkara I (Swat), Taxila, etc. I wouldalso include in the list, the head ofthe fasting Siddhartha in LahoreMuseum. This induces me to sug­gest that the presence of the usnïsa asa protuberance in Gandharan art asopposed to the elsewhere predomi­nant kaparda type is a confirmationof the fact that Gandhara looked atthe Buddha as to an accomplished

yo^m , much more than a cakravartin(cf Klimburg-Salter & Taddei 1991).

A few words should be added con­cerning the alleged Greek derivationof the Gandharan Buddha. In a re­cent article, M. Spagnoli (1995) hasresumed the line of reasoning of

Foucher concerning this problemand tried to connect Apollo’s hair-dowith the iconography of the Gand­haran Buddha. Needless to say, shecould not really point to any corre­spondence between Apollo’s top-knot and the Buddha’s usnïsa, rathershe suggested that there may besome connection between Apollo’shair-do and Maitreya’s loop-shapedtop-knot. But Maitreya, from theviewpoint of iconography, is not theBuddha.

It thus appears that Mathura firstdepicted the Lord in a princely as­pect, as a ‘Bodhisattva’: at the sametime Gandhara was developing an­other type of icon, the meditativemonk-like Buddha. Mathura ap­pears to have laid stress on the Bod­hisattva as a symbol of dominance,Gandhara on the Buddha as a modelfor mankind.

We might say that Mathura re­mained faithful to the old gods andfashioned the Tathagata keepingthem in mind, though KushanMathura introduced a significantnovelty, namely the depiction of themale genitalia, which were not visi­ble in most of the pre-Kushan divineimages; on the other hand, Gand­hara felt free to put more emphasison the meditative aspect of the Lord.

The displayed male sex of theMathura icons could not be acceptedby a culture which saw in the Bud­dha a recluse who had even over­come any yogic accomplishment -from a certain point of view he couldbe thought of as sexless. It will beenough to look at any ‘Gupta’ imageof the Buddha from the Mathura re­gion for understanding to what ex­tent the ‘Gandharan’ conceptioneventually prevailed.

What appears to he evident is thatthe great change in attitude towardsthe figure of the Tathagata is to beconnected with Gandhara ratherthan with Mathara and apparentlyinvolved the Mathura region and therest of Northern India by the lateKushan or the beginning of theGupta period. The cultural environ­ment which produced the KushanBodhisattvas from Mathura couldnot be the same which saw the com­pilation of the lists of laksanas in­cluding the ‘hidden sex' (a subjectcertainly to be discussed at length).

In conclusion, I think we have todismiss the old contrapositions (In­dian vs. Greek) and try instead tofocus on the original contributionsof Gandhara itself. It would be veryeasy to explain the ostentation of themale sex in the Buddha / Bodhisattvaimages - if it were a characteristic ofGandhara - on the basis of the Hel­lenistic tradition of divine and hero­ic male nakedness. But ‘Hellenizing’Gandhara chose the less ‘Hellenistic’solution - and it was a successfulchoice. ■

References

- Desai, V.N.Rejections on the History andHistoriography o f M ale Sexualityin Early Indian ArtIn: Representing the Body:Gender issues in Indian art, V. Dehejia(ed.), N ew Delhi, 1997, pp. 42-55.

- Foucher, A.L’origine grecque de Vintage du BouddhaIn: Conferencesfaites au musée Guimeten 1912 (Annales du M usée G uim etBibliothèque de vulgarisation,XXXVIII), Chalons-sur-Saone,1912, pp. 231-272

- H artel, H.The Concept o f the Kapardin BuddhaType o f M athuraIn: South Asian Archaeology 1983,J. Schotsm ans & M. Taddei (eds),Naples, 1985, pp. 653-678

- H artel, H.The Term Devaputra in the Inscriptionso f Kapardin Buddha Images fromMathura: An incidental observationIn: FestschriftDieter Schling lo ff zurVollendung des 65. Lebensjahres,F. W ilhelm (ed.), Reinbek, 1996,pp. 99-108Klimburg-Salter, D.E. & M. TaddeiThe U snïsa and the Brahmarandhra:An aspect o f light sym bolism inGandharan Buddha imagesIn: Aksayanlvi Essays Presented toD rD ebala Mitra in adm iration o fher scholarly contributions,G. Bhattacharya (ed.),Delhi: Sri Satguru, 1991,

PP- 73-93Kramrisch, S.Emblem s o f the Universal BeingIm joum al o f the Indian Society o fOriental Art, C alcutta, 1935,pp. 148-165, Repr. in Exploring Ind ia 'sSecret Art, B. Stoler M iller (ed.),Philadelphia, 1983, pp. 130-140.Krishan, Y.The Buddhalmage:Its origin and developmentNew Delhi, 1996Spagnoli, M.Note sullagenesi jigurativadel Buddha gandharicoIn: Rivista degh Studi Onentali,LXiX 3-4, Rome, 1996, pp. 429-445Taddei, M.

Ancora sul Buddhagandharico:premesse ad una discussioneIn: Annali Istituto UniversitarioOriëntale, 56/3, N apoli, 1998,pp. 407-417

For a full report on South Asian Archaeology

1999 Conference, please refer to HAS

Newsletter 20, page 20.

■or new publications in Asian Studies, p lease refer to pp. 3 4 -4 2F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 0 • h a s n e w s l e t t e r n ?21 • 3

G E N E R A L N E W S3 0 J U LY 1 9 9 9U N I V E R S I T Y OF Q U E E N S L A N D , A U S T R A L I A

Asian ReligionOn Friday, 30th July, 1999, a workshop on Asian religion washeld at the University o f Queensland, in memory o f the lateClayton Bredt. It was organized by Chi-kong Lai, Director o fthe Asian Business History Centre and was jo intly sponsoredby the Departments o f Studies in Religion, History, Asian Lan­guages and Studies; and by the Asian Studies Centre, AsianBusiness History Centre and the International Relations andAsian Studies Research Unit. The workshop revealed severalimportant features o f Asian religions, including: their rela­tionship with individuals and society; their historical originsand future direction; and their evolution and endurance.

By DENISE A U S T I N

artin Stuart-Fox(Head, History,

JL Y j l UQ} opened the, 1 workshop by discussing

the importance and diver­sity o f religion in Asian

culture and therefore the necessityfor very broad coverage by the speak­ers. John Moorhead (History, UQ}paid a moving tribute to ClaytonBredt, as a valuable member o f theHistory Department, from the early1960s, particularly for his involve­ment in the Asian Business HistoryCentre, w ith Chi-Kong Lai. He notedthat it was appropriate to hold aworkshop on Asian religion in hishonour because he was highly re­spected in Quaker circles for the

depth o f his spiritual experience.In the keynote address, Sarva DamanSingh (History, UQ} discussed therelationship o f individuals and soci­ety, w ith the three incarnational reli­gions in India: Hinduism, Bud­dhism, and Jainism. Hinduism pro­fesses that everything arises out o fthe universal self and must find itsway back to the universal reality,through the individual’s life cycle o fstudy, household experience, incomeearning, retirement, and self-con­centration. By contrast, Singh notedthat Buddhism emphasizes the uni­versal experience o f sorrow, resultingfrom the impermanence o f life whichindividuals can escape only throughthe Noble Eightfold Path. The speak­er described the ancient religion o fJainism as a dualistic faith which

holds that individual souls have tofind their purity out o f the clutcheso f matter, to rise to the highest levelo f the cosmos. Jainism’s vow o f non­violence has left an indelible effect onthe pysche o f India.

Regarding religion in relation tosociety, Singh pointed out that thecaste system in India was a producto f historical circumstance - notHindu philosophy - and that reli­gion led to the development o f thewelfare state, in Indian governmentpolicy. Whilst weakened by Hinduassimilation, Islamic aggression andBritish imperialism, Buddhism hasseen some resurgence in Indian soci­ety. The individual and social ram ifi­cations o f these three religions haveshaped Indian culture, through alegacy o f spiritual salvation, freedomo f conscience, and philosophical d i­versity.

The first round table discussioncontrasted the origins o f early Chi­nese religion w ith future possibili­ties. Rod Bucknell (Asian Studies andReligion, UQ} explained how com­parisons between Pali and Chineseversions o f Buddhist texts can reveala clearer picture o f early Buddhism.Choong Mun-Keat (Religion, UQ}compared original writings o f thePali Vedana Samyutta and the Chi­nese Shou Xiangying, finding signifi­cant similarities. Martin Lu (Direc­tor, Centre for East-West Culturaland Economic Studies, Bond Univer­sity] bridged the past and present, byproposing a change in the originalconcept o f a Confucian sage because

technological advancements meanthe expansion o f decision-makingpowers, the internalization o f thezen and the development o f non-contact religious relationships viathe Internet.

‘Cultural Christians’Denise Austin (History, UQ} pre­

sented Christianity in modern andcontemporary China as a vibrantfaith, centred on the love o f God. Sheheld that missionary contributionswere significant, particularly in theareas o f education and social reform.However, i t is the indigenous churchwhich is a thriv ing social phenome­non in China today, making Chris­tianity a Chinese religion. EnochChoy (Asian Studies, UQ} discussedthe growing significance o f ‘CulturalChristians’ in China, whose culturaland theological visions merge to con­struct a humanistic theology in flu ­enced by Document 19 which em­phasizes scientific research in reli­gious theory. Historical research,w ith technological adaptation andcultural indigenization makes forsignificant future possibilities in thereligions o f Asia.

Another round table discussioncentred on the evolution and en­durance o f religions in Japan, ancientChina, and post-Mao China. JohnWeik (History, UQ} traced the devel­opment o f religion in Japan from tra­ditional Shrine Shinto worship o f na­ture and ancestors, to Buddhist-in­fluenced Imperial Shinto, finally tonationalistic, State Shinto as a reac­

tion to Western invasion. ConradYoung (Asian Studies, UQ} revealedevidence o f divination, name taboos,and other forms o f ancestor worshipfrom China’s Neolithic period andthough declining during the West­ern Chou dynasty, these endured tobecome central to Confucian patriar­chal and patrilineal culture. C.L.Chiou (Government, UQ} proposedthat, although Mao’s legacy is one o fsocial transformation - his shrinesare venerated; his picture is carriedfor good luck; and his memorialstands at Tiananmen - the very ele­ments o f Maoism hinder it fromevolving into a religion. Mao pro­mised no sagely example, heavenlyparadise, human harmony, or spiri­tual salvation - only violence andclass struggle - and the Falun Gongaffair has verified that religion is notwelcome in Communist China. Nev­ertheless, because o f the enduringnature o f Asian religions, furtherevolution cannot be excluded.

This workshop on Asian religionrevealed that religion plays a signifi­cant role in affecting individuals andalso society, as a whole. I t has been anintegral and enduring part o f Asianculture from ancient times to thepresent day. It is believed that the in­troduction o f multimedia technolo­gy w ill serve to promote further evo­lutionary development o f religionthroughout the world. ■

Denise Austin, Asian Business History

Center, The University o f Queensland.

5 > 7 J U L Y 1 9 9 9B A N D U N G , I N D O N E S I A

Entrepreneurship andEducation in Tourism

atlas ASIA Inauguration Conferenceentrepreneurship & Education in Tourism

W //. mV / / 9 6 _ I Tilburg University ]

By H EI D I DAHLES

On 5-7 July 1999, the ATLAS Asia inaugural conference tookplace in Bandung, Indonesia. ATLAS Asia is a section o f the Eu­ropean Association for Tourism and Leisure Education(ATLAS]. I t was initiated to provide a forum for the increasingnumber o f Asian institutions and professional bodies engagedin tourism and leisure education and research.

versiteit Amsterdam, ATLAS, the In­ternational Institute for Asian Stud­ies, and the Center for Research inTourism at the Institut TeknologiBandung. In order to address a themethat is central to the concern o f ATLASAsia and its members, emphasis waslaid on the relationship between theprivate tourism sector and issues o feducation and training for tourism.The purpose o f the conference was tomap the field o f tourism education,both academic and vocational, tocompare different educational prac­tices and experiences in Europe andthe Asia-Pacific region, to explore theneed for education and trainingamong large and small privatetourism enterprises, and to discusstourism employment and industrygrowth. The conference was attendedby 130 participants from Europe, theUnited States, Canada, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Keynote presentations were provid­ed by Drs Acep Hidayat (Resourcesand Technology Development Agen-

TLAS Asia aims todevelop transna­tional initiatives in

1 tourism and leisure edu-I cation, particularly w ithin

Asia and between educa­tional institutions in Asia and Eu­rope. At present ATLAS Asia member­ship is largely concentrated in In­donesia. In accordance w ith an obvi­ous demand from Indonesian insti­tutes o f higher education and sup­ported by a special funding pro­gramme o f the Dutch M inistryof Ed­ucation and Culture, promotional ac­tivities were largely focused on thearchipelago. Since its inception,ATLAS Asia has booked considerableprogress in recruiting members inother parts o f Asia. The associationcurrently has about 60 members in 15different Asian countries.

The ATLAS Asia inaugural confer­ence was prepared as a jo in t effort be­tween Tilburg University, Vrije Uni-

cy, M inistry o f Tourism, Arts and Cul­ture, Indonesia], Dr Geoffrey Wall(Waterloo University, Canada], ProfIda I Dewa Gede Raka (ITB], Drs H.Kodyat (Institute for IndonesianTourism Studies (Jakarta], Prof KayeChon (University o f Houston, U.SA],Prof F.M. Hartanto (ITB], Prof M.Callari Galli (University o f Bologna,Italy) and Dr John Swarbrooke,Sheffield Hallam University, GreatBritain). A forum discussion, chairedby ATLAS Asia co-ordinator HeidiDahles, addressed a number o f inter­related issues. The first revolvedaround the nature-nurture debate asapplied to entrepreneurship: can en­trepreneurial skills be acquiredthrough education and training ordoes a person have to be born an en­trepreneur to be successful in busi­ness? As most o f the forum membershad a background in tourism educa­tion, a consensus was reached that ed­ucation and training considerably en­hance entrepreneurial skills. The sec­ond issue revolved around the ques­tion as to whether tourism studies is ascience requiring academic educationor a profession requiring vocationaltraining. The debate resulted in acompromise: while tourism employ­ment in the industry requires a well-trained labour force, trainers, and pol­

icy-makers need the feedback re­quired by scholars w ith an academicbackground.

About 25 papers were presented ad­dressing topics like training in eco-tourism, guiding and interpretation,local participation in tourism, innov­ative approaches in tourism develop­ment, small-scale tourism enterpris­es, curriculum development, and cul­tural tourism in new Asian destina­tions. The organizers are preparingtwo publications resulting from theconference: the proceedings w ill bepublished by the Center for Researchon Tourism o f ITB, while ATLAS Asiais compiling a volume o f selected pa­pers.

Immediately following the confer­ence, ATLAS Asia and the ITBlaunched a very exciting venture: thefirst ATLAS Asia-sponsored summercourse on ‘Challenges o f TourismManagement’ held at the Center forResearch on Tourism o f the ITB. Thecourse attracted 26 participants fromIndonesia, Cambodia, and Malaysia.Most o f the participants had a back­ground in provincial administration

(ten different Indonesian provincessent officials entrusted w ith tourismpolicy issues to Bandung) or in acade­mic and vocational tourism training.There were also a few participantsfrom private companies, in particularthe hotel sector and travel agencies.The lecturers - from the ITB, SheffieldHallam University, University o fNorth London, Tilburg University,and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam -were recruited because o f their exper­tise in tourism management andmarketing and their long-standinginterest in tourism education inSoutheast Asia. Both the lecturers andthe participants enjoyed the well-or­ganized course because o f the interna­tional atmosphere and the compara­tive approach. A follow-up o f thiscourse is planned to take place in Baliin June 2000 and in Hainan (China) inOctober 2000. ■

Dr H eid i Dahles is Assistant Professor at

Department o f Culture, Organisation, and

Management, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam

The Netherlands, E-mail: h.dahles@scw.vu.nl

4 • h a s n e w s l e t t e r W 21 • February 2000

G E N E R A L N E W S

21 ► 2 4 S E P T E M B E R , 1 9 9 9U N I V E R S I T E I T L E I D E N , T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

Evaluating Visual EthnographyThe conference ‘Evaluating Visual Ethnography: Research,Analysis, Representation, and C ulture’ opened at the FacultyClub o f th e U niversite it Leiden w ith speeches by ProfessorReimar Schefold, Dr Dirk J. N ijland (both o f Leiden), and Pro­fessor Jean Rouch (M usée de 1’H om m e, Paris) addressing theprim e issues on which it was concentrated. The conferencemarked the retirem ent o f Dr N ijland, w ho has headed th e Lei­den Visual Ethnography section for a lm ost 30 years.

By ERIK DE MAAKER

rofessor Schefoldstressed that at theAnthropology De­

partment of UniversiteitLeiden, which hosted theconference, Visual Ethno­

graphy already has a history of near­ly five decades. During these years,many ethnographic films have beenproduced, generally based on exten­sive anthropological research. Mostnotably Nijland and his predecessor,Professor Adrian A. Gerbrands (1917-

1997), have made significant contri­butions to the development of a the­oretical perspective on the utiliza­tion of visual media in anthropolog­ical research. Senior anthropologistand ethnographic filmmaker Rouchlooked back to the year 1980, whenan honorary doctorate was conferredon him by the Universiteit Leiden.On this occasion, his close col­leagues, Joris Ivens and Henri Storck,were present and they were filmedby Rouch him self in the notoriousCinemafia - Rencontre I (1981). ‘Payingtribute to the ancestors’, Rouch se-

( A d v e r t i s e m e n t )

Whose Millennium?

Asian Studies Association of Australia13th Biennial C onference

3 - 5 July 2000The University of Melbourne

Australia

Internet: www.asaa2000.unimelb.edu.auemail: c.burnett@asialink.unimelb.edu.au

lected a fragment from this film,which was screened during theopening session to commemoratehis friend Henri Storck, who hadpassed away five days earlier.

Bringing Leiden scholars togetherwith ten specialists of other majorcentres for Visual Ethnography inFrance, the UK, Germany, Japan, andthe USA, the conference aimed atcomparing distinct theoretical per­spectives and practical approaches.Explicitly taking ethnographic filmsas a starting point for the debate, theconference attempted to proceedfrom ‘praxis’ to ‘theory’, that is, fromthe concrete to the more abstract. Itwas this focusing on an extensiveevaluation of films made by the par­ticipants that determined its format.First, the films concerned werescreened (‘evening screenings'). Next,generally the following day, one andhalf hour sessions were devoted toeach film. The filmmaker would reada paper on the making of the film;then a discussant reflected on boththe paper and the film. Each day wasconcluded by a round table led by theday’s chairman discussing the issuesthat had emerged during that day'spresentations at a more abstractlevel. The conference was sponsoredby: Research School of Asian, African,and Amerindian Studies (CNWS);Royal Netherlands Academy of Artsand Sciences (KNAW); NederlandsFonds voor de Film (Amsterdam); In­ternational Institute for Asian Stud­ies (Leiden-Amsterdam); Leids Uni-versiteits Fonds (LUF); the Faculty ofSocial and Behavioural Sciences, andthe Department of Cultural and So­cial Studies, Universiteit Leiden.

Evening screeningsIn the evening the first three films

were screened: The Shadow o f the Sun(Dogon, Mali) by Dr Nadine Wanono(CNRS, Paris); Teyyam, the Annual Visito f the God Vishnumurti (Kerala, India)by Erik de Maaker (Universiteit Lei­den); and Seven Young Gods o f Fortune:

Fertility Rite o f Dosojtn (rural Japan) byDr Yasuhiro Omori (National Muse­um of Ethnology, Osaka). Since thescreenings had been widely adver­tised, and thanks to the sponsorswere accessible free of charge to any­one interested, that evening the au­dience grew even larger than ju st theparticipants in the conference. This

'In anthropology

a more prom inent role

should be allotted

to the ‘visual'

trend continued during the subse­quent ‘Evening Screenings’, whichwere attended on average by some50-70 people.

The following day Professor JosPlatenkamp (University of Münster)chaired the session ‘Research andAnalysis Using Audio-Visual Media’.Starting out with a paper read byPaul Folmer (Universiteit Leiden) onhis research on marriage rituals ofthe Manding of Senegal, attentionwas directed not towards ethno­graphic film as a document, but tothe manner in which the use of videorecordings can enhance the outcomeof ethnographic research. Next,Wanono discussed her film, made inco-operation with Dr Philippe Lour-dou (Université de Paris X), on thesuccession of a priest among the

2 0 M A R C H 2 0 0 0L E I D E N , T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

Towards the Millennium RoundAsia, The European Union, and. Latin America

t I 1 he collapse of theI Soviet Union has

JL hastened integra­tion processes in Europe,Latin America, and Asia.Political integration has

received renewed emphasis in Europe,but for Asia and Latin America eco­nomic integration is on the top of theagenda. Latin America has adoptedsome elements of European style eco­nomic co-operation, but is also ex­posed to U.S. led ‘globalization’. The‘Asian crisis’ of 1997 has slowed downthe co-operation within the APEC

framework, and damaged the eco­nomic and political cohesion ofASEAN. The economic slowdown ofthe Chinese economy and tensionswith the U.S. over Taiwan makeagreement over the PRC’s accession tothe WTO more difficult, and there arealso questions concerning the posi­tion of India towards global economiccooperation as represented by newproposals for the Millennium Round.

In each of the three continents themain players - the core states of theEU, Japan, and the United States areconcerned about the direction their

foreign (economic) policies in a periodof rapid change. None of the threeplayers is able to impose its ownmodel of global co-operation withouttaking into account the other majorplayers, but also factors such as China,the ASEAN, India, and MERCOSUL.

This symposium will focus ontwo issues:a. Practical policies and strategies of

the EU, MERCOSUL, and Japan to­wards the question of global eco­nomic cooperation (the Millenni­um Round);

b. Concepts for global co-operationagainst the background of differentmodels of regional integration(ASEAN, APEC, MERCOSUL, EU). ■

for more information:Dr M arianne L WiesebronFaculty o f ArtsDepartment Languages and Cultures o f LatinAmericaP.O. Box 95152300 RA LeidenThe NetherlandsE-mail:Wiesebron@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

Short News

Dogon of Mali. The afternoon wasdevoted to Omori’s attempts to re­fine techniques for video elicitationwhen doing fieldwork in rural Japan.That evening Song o f the HamarHerdsmen (Ethiopia) by Professor IvoStrecker and Professor Jean Lydall,and Sacrifice o f Serpents: the Festival o fIndrayani; Kathmandu 1992/94 by Nij­land, Bert van den Hoek (Univer­siteit Leiden), and Bal Gopal Shrestha(Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu,Nepal/Universiteit Leiden) werescreened.

The third conference day was de­voted to ‘The Visual Representationof Anthropological Research’, andchaired by Dr Jonathan Benthall(Royal Anthropological Institute,London). The first paper was readjointly by Van den Hoek, Shrestha,and Nijland, on the making of theirfilm in Nepal. De Maaker (Univer­siteit Leiden) discussed the makingof his film on the Indian Teyyam rit­ual, and the manner in which theparticipants in the filmed ritual as­sessed it. Strecker and Lydall talkedabout their thirty years of researchamong the Hamar of SouthernEthiopia. Janine Prins (filmmaker,Leiden/Amsterdam), for years deeplyengaged in ethnographic film mak­ing, discussed their work. Thatevening the film O f M en and Mares(Zeeland, the Netherlands) by MetjePostma (Universiteit Leiden) and afirst version of Boarded Up (Amster­dam, The Netherlands) by SteefMeyknecht (Universiteit Leiden) wasshown.

The last day was devoted to ‘TheNarrative in Ethnographic Film’.Postma read the day’s first paper, ex­patiating on the process by whichher film on Dutch draughthorseshad come about. The last paper wasread by Meyknecht, who talkedabout the making of his film on thedemolition and rebuilding of a nine­teenth-century quarter in the city ofAmsterdam.

Dr Nijland concluded the confer­ence with a farewell lecture. He paidattention to the emergence of VisualEthnography as a sub-discipline, andspecified the reasons why in hisopinion the ‘visual’ plays a prime andeven to a certain extent autonomousrole in the human mind. As a conse­quence, he argued, in anthropology,as the study of cultured and social­ized human behaviour, a moreprominent role should be allotted tothe ‘visual’ in order for scholars tocome to a truly holistic understand­ing of culture.

During and after the conferencethe guests expressed their satisfac­tion with the quality and ambianceof the conference. The renowned vi­sual anthropologist Karl G. Heiderwrote: ‘It was the best organized con­ference I have been to - by showingthe films the night before and thenspending plenty of time discussingthem the next day, we really wereable to think out the various issues.(As opposed to the usual strategy ofshowing a dozen films a day with 20minutes to discuss each)’. The con­ference proceedings will be pub­lished as an edited volume, includinga Digital Video Disk with selectedfilm fragments. ■

Erik de M aaker (WOTROICNWS),e-mail: maaker@rulfsw.leidenuniv.nl

February 2 0 0 0 • has n e w s l e t t e r n ? 2 1 • 5

G E N E R A L N E W S

Between Cultureand ReligionMuslim w o m en s rightsThis past summer, I made a research trip to Indonesia to holdinterviews for a book I am preparing about M uslim WomenLeaders in Indonesia. Funding for this trip came from grantsfrom Valparaiso University and from the International Insti­tute for Asian Studies in Leiden, the Netherlands. I also wasinvited to an international m eeting about strategies in advo­cating M uslim wom en’s rights. Here are some impressions o fthis unique event that was entitled ‘Between Culture and Reli­g ion’: Discussing M uslim wom en’s rights.

By NELLY VAN DOORN-HARDER

t the end of July,around sixty reli­gious leaders, so­

cial activists, and scholars(both women and men)from different countries in

Asia and the Middle East gathered inYogyakarta for a meeting sponsored bythe Ford Foundation. Their goal was todiscuss whether or not organizationsthat advocate women’s rights actuallysucceed in safeguarding those rights.The meeting was held in Indonesia be­cause its Muslim women’s organiza­tions have been instrumental in pro­moting the position of women since1917. Furthermore, during this pastdecade, in Indonesia, programmeshave been developed concerning there-interpretation of Islamic religioussources. These programmes are uniquebecause the conclusions and new ideasthey generate are not confined to acad­emic circles, but are disseminated to awider audience via Qur’an schools,workshops, and publications.

The participants at the meetingstudied issues such as women’s educa­tion, women’s roles in the public/po-litical sector, domestic violence, repro­ductive health rights, and how womenparticipate in the re-interpretation ofthe Islamic religious sources. Also,there were highly technical and in-depth discussions about the re-inter-pretation of the Islamic Jurisprudence(Fiqh) concerning woman’s position.The participants represented organi­zations that ranged from Aisyiyah, thewomen’s branch of the Indonesian Re­

formist Muhammadiyah organizationthat has existed since 1917, to MiddleEastern scholars of gender studies.

The Ratu Hemas, the wife of the Sul­tan of Yogyakarta, used her openingspeech to state that the Qu’ran doesnot demean women, but societies doby considering women as weak andless important and by ignoring thespecial gifts that women contribute tothe fabric of life. In spite o f women re­ceiving higher levels of education thanever before, women still find them­selves ‘trapped between culture andreligion,’ she stated.

Nuriyah Rahman, the wife of theformer chairman of the NahdatulUlama, Abdurahman Wahid, currentlythe president of Indonesia, called forlocal re-interpretations of the Qur’anin order to eradicate gender discrimi­nation originating from biased re­gional religious stances. Participantsagreed that discrimination againstgirls often starts at home to be con­firmed by the surrounding society andculture, and that the deeply engrainedidea that ‘woman is created for andfrom man’ seems to be translatableinto almost every culture.

M ale biasDuring the debate about women’s

participation in public and politicallife, it was stressed that women notonly have less access to political powerbecause men control sectors such asthe judiciary and the media, they alsoface significant male bias. Mona Fayadfrom Lebanon mentioned that whenteaching classes in political science,her male students question her ability

m m1 V rft

Ratu Kanjeng H em as, wife o f the Sultan o f Yogyakarta , conversingw ith Dr Fatima Khata^y (E gypt) and Dr Mona Fayad (Lebanon)

to analyse political views correctly.I Farida Bennani from Morocco, one of

the few female specialists on f iqh ,added that women’s religious positionin Islam is complicated, because dur­ing the course o f history, womenthemselves relinquished their role inthe religious discourse and allowedmale interpreters to impose male-bi­ased views. As she explained, religiousinterpretations about the position ofwomen gradually changed in tonefrom ‘this is my opinion, may God for­give me,’ to the indisputable ‘Islam

[ says.’ As a result of this, female ac­tivists in most of the Muslim coun-

j tries feel unprepared to react to malereligious leaders quoting traditionsabout women as if they came directly

I from God. To them, the source of au­thority these words come from is sim-

| ply too high and overwhelming. Alsoactivists fear to be branded as ‘anti-Is-lamic’ when questioning quotes from

[ the holy sources. This situation isprevalent because most women ac-

| tivists have little training in the reli­gious fields of study. An urgent recom­mendation of the meeting was thatspecialists such as Farida Bennani cre­ate short, intensive courses for womenactivists on religious matters.

A wide variety of religious viewswere represented which at times led tointense debating. This was especiallythe case during the presentation ofMasdar Mas'udi, an Indonesian legalscholar of Islam, who for many yearshas been active in the debate concern­ing the re-interpretation of holy texts.Mas’udi’s ideas also are widely dissem­inated in Indonesia and discussed inplaces such as the traditional boardingschools for Quranic studies. He teach­es that the original Quranic teachingsshould be placed in the context of his­tory and culture, while interpretersshould distinguish between the ab­solute or fundamental principles ofIslam (such as individual freedom andequality before God) and the local, cul­tural aspects of the texts. This method,for example, was tested during theheated debate concerning maritalrape. The issue was brought up in thecontext of violence against women.While in essence marital rape is a newtopic of discussion in Islamic discours­es, Indonesian scholars such as SitiRuhaini and Masdar Mas’udi havelong studied it. They hold that mostinterpreters of Islam have misunder­stood Quranic references to husbands’domination over wives in sexual rela­tionships. Especially issues like thishave been interpreted in legal/formalways while in fact they belong to therealm of Islamic ethical/moral princi­ples. These principles, according toMasdar, must be obeyed, as they are !unchangeable. Hence, marital rape is aviolation of women’s basic humanrights.

CircumcisionIn the end, all agreed that the cur­

rent strategies o f Muslim women’s or­ganizations are not effective in advo­cating women’s rights. Reasons forthis vary from country to country.Women’s organizations in the MiddleEast have to battle accusations thatthey are Western inventions bent onpromoting anti-Islamic values. Oftenthey lack grass root support and donot have great affiliation with themostly poor, illiterate women they areworking with. The participants fromPakistan explained that in their coun­

try women’s issues are still so sensi­tive that organizations empoweringwomen have to choose names thathide the true nature of their work. ForIndonesia, which boasts extensiveschooling for girls and large organiza­tions for Muslim women, it was con­cluded that the programmes of theseorganizations are limited to tradi­tional efforts in improving women’swelfare such as traditional Qur’anstudy groups and mother and childcare. Gender interests such as genderinequality, discrimination againstwomen, and developing strategies toraise women’s awareness about theircondition and empower them eco­nomically have not become part of theagenda of the majority of the organi­zations yet.

At the close of the meeting, Hoda El-sadda (Egypt) remarked that it hadbeen empowering to realize how oftenconstraints against women are inter­mingled with culture, politics, andidentity. Awareness of differences be­tween the many cultures of Muslimareas and comparative studies helpwomen to rebut local opinions that‘there is only one way we can dothings.’ For example, female circumci­sion in Egypt is presented as ‘Islamic’while it is not practiced in many otherMuslim countries. It was decided thatthis meeting should have a follow-upand that at the same time the networkof women should be broadened to in­clude non-Muslims as well, since stig­

mas put on women are often more in­fluenced by culture than just by reli­gion. In spite of the obstacles manywomen activists face in their work, thespirit of the meeting was upbeat asmany of those present felt that womenwill be major agents of change in thisnew millennium.

Three weeks after the conference,the day before I returned to the US, Ihad a chance to interview Ratu Hemasfor my book. She had been reflectingon our meeting and had come to theconclusion that the issues discussedwere very relevant to her in her capaci­ty as the Sultan’s wife who has to leadthe wives of government officials inthe so-called Dharma Wanita organi­zation. In order to be equipped to startthe transformation of Dharma Wanitathat is considered to be a champion ofbureaucracy, ineffectiveness, and fos-silization, she will attend the secondmeeting to be held in Cairo, December2000. Though most Indonesian femi­nists have given up on Dharma Wani­ta, this organization has the potentialto reach millions of women and to cre­ate strong networks that work fromwithin and that comprise all layers ofsociety, from the poorest of the poor allthe way to the top, to the sultana. ■

Nelly van Doorn-Harderis assistent professor religious studies,

Valparaiso, IN, USA.E-mail:

Pieternella.HarderVandoorn@valpo.edu

TheA sia -Pac i j ic -Forumi

A new Asian-Euro-l X pean Internet-Pro-

L X ject is in theprocess of realization. Inautumn 1997 and againin 1999 more than 150

economic and cultural events ofAsian-European dialogue took placein Berlin as part of the bi-annual Asia-Padfic-Weeks. Encouraged by therapid growth of the event, a networkof commercial, public, and non-gov­ernmental institutions within theframework of the Asia-Pacific-Weekswill open a new internet-site onAsian-European dialogue starting inMay 2000.

This network features:1. A platform of presentation for

European companies, scientificinstitutions, artists, and non­governmental organizations whowish to multiply their activitiestoward Asia-Pacific. The

participation on this site will befree of charge for non-commercialand public organizations;

2. Several platforms for co­operation, partner-search, andcommunication betweenenterprises, institutions, andindividuals in Europe and Asia;

3. A number of useful sites forinformation and entertainmentlike news, addresses, links, events,country details, publications,tourist information. ■

For more information on how to become a

participant, content-partner, advertiser, or

sponsor o f the site please contact:

Tim RiedelAsia-Pacific-Forum

Berliner Rathaus, 10173 Berlin, Germany

Tel.: +49-30-9026 2835

Fax: +49-30-9026 2845

E-mail:

Tim.Riedel@Skzl.verwalt-berlin.de

H ttpJlwww.berlin.delapw

Letter to the editorl e t t e r toth e E d ito r I found the over anti-

American tone of thearticle by Dr Leo

Schmit in the last issue ofyour paper [‘Reflectionsfrom the ASEM Bowl in

China’, IIASN 20, p.4, ed.] highly in­appropriate and alarming. Using thegeneric bogey of American enomom-ic imperialism instead of looking forserous and specific objectives of ex­change between Asia and Europedrags the idea of greater understand­ing between academics o f the twocontinents to a tactical ploy and vin­

dicates those in Asia who see the fu­ture of international relations inpurely Machiavellian terms. It isshort-sighted to believe that belat­edly borrowing the Chinese Com­m unist Party’s united front dis­course against American hegemonycan be the basis of better Asian-European relations. ■

PAL N Y IR I

Senior Research Fellow,

University o f Oxford

E-mail: nyirip@mail.matav.hu

6 • h a s n e w s l e t t e r N?2 i • February 2000

T H E ME

South Asian Literature 5? ffL^f t

Variations onModernityThe many faces of Southksian literaturesThe recent success o f South Asian authors such as SalmanRushdie, Vikram Seth, Rohinton Mistry, and Arundhati Roy inthe field o f English literature has attracted a wave o f attentionand certainly benefited the perception o f South Asian culturein the West. The authors ‘wrote back’ in the language o f theformer colonial ruler and presented Western readers with acolourful image o f life in modern South Asia and the complexidentities o f South Asian immigrants abroad. The downside o fthis success has been that a specific, Westernized, cosmopoli­tan outlook on South Asia has usurped the narrow bandwidthof attention available to this region in the Western media andliterary criticism. The strong presence o f English post-colonialfiction has pushed other South Asian literatures into the back­ground, creating an unduly negative impression o f their con­tribution to the development o f South Asian culture.

By THOMAS DE BRUIJN

owever entertai­ning and enlight­ening the post-

colonial English writingfrom South Asia is, it in­creasingly represents a

record of the loss of identity. Its au­thors are rooted in and concernedwith their cultural background butwrite about it almost as outsiders,describing to other outsiders a partof the world that was the land theygrew up in and which they still cher­ish. Both writer and reader share adetachment that allows them tothink, read, and write about SouthAsian societies from a distance, refer­ring to it as an ‘imaginary home­land’: a land of wondrous tales, sweetmemories of childhood, and a puz­zling complex of social and culturalrealities.

In the literatures that are written inthe modern South Asian languageswe are confronted with a conversationin which South Asian writers andreaders describe, comment upon, ide­alize, or criticize the world they actu­ally live in, now and in the future.These literatures span an enormousarray of languages, regions, and localcultures, together forming a uniqueand virtually inexhaustible record ofthe intellectual history of the IndianSubcontinent during the last two cen­turies. The glossiness of post-colonialwriting should not distract those whoare studying modern South Asian so­cieties from taking these vast re­sources into account.

This special section of the Newslet­ter will therefore present an overviewof various new developments in re­search on the modern literatures ofSouth Asia. Although the number ofscholars is small in comparison with

other branches of South Asian Studiesand in relation to the number ofspeakers of the languages involved,the field still produces a plethora ofresearch initiatives. While the studyof modern South Asian literature usedto be primarily a tool for acquiringsome practice in reading the lan­guages, it has now developed into adiscipline that increasingly entersinto dialogue with sociological andhistorical research of the area. Thismultidisciplinary research into therich resources that these literaturesprovide has given rise to a serious re­definition of the aims, methods, andstrategies for defining and describingmodern South Asian literatures.

Modern literature in South Asianlanguages is a product of the samecluster of social and cultural phenom­ena that was involved in the makingof new societies, communities, andnations in the region during the lasttwo centuries. It is a child o f‘moder­nity’ as it is intimately linked to de­velopments such as the institution ofa nation-state, the emergence of aprinting and publishing industry, theformation of national and communalidentities, the rise of a metropolitanmiddle-class culture and its audi­ences, and a newly developing publicsphere of political and cultural de­bate. Being thus tied up with the cul­tural construction ofa modern nationand community, and no longer beinga product of patronage of culturalcraftmanship or traditional folklore iswhat makes these literatures ‘mod­ern’.

Composite literaturesIn many respects, Western litera­

ture has been a model for the develop­ment of this literature. One should,however, not underestimate the in­fluence of Russian writers and otherexamples that did not come with thepower of symbols imposed by theBritish colonial regime. In the courseof the development of modern writ­ing in South Asian languages, a liter­ary vocabulary and grammar devel­oped which, like the languages of theregion, was composite in nature but

the unique expression of a specific so­cial and cultural environment. Dur­ing the development of modern stylesof literary writing, the various influ­ences have become completely ab­sorbed and combined with the re­gion’s own cultural idiom. Therefore,the ‘Indianness’ and 'national' charac­ter of this literature remains an elu­sive concept which is strenuously de­bated in literary criticism. The mod­ern literatures of South Asia showtheir modernity in being composite,not ‘pure’, and, at times, abstract andchallenging.

The various contributions to thissection will show that the commonsocial and historical background ofnineteenth-century modernity has byno means led to a uniform develop­ment of modern literatures across theSubcontinent. The models of Bengaliand later Hindi literature have beeninfluential in shaping the style ofwriting and the choice of genres, butrecent research has increasinglybrought to light how local influencesand cultural environments haveshaped modem writing in the manyregional languages which is shown inthe contributions by Robert Zyden-bos and Stuart Blackburn. Harish

The draw ings represented inthis section are taken fro m

the literary m a g a z in e Ajakal.

Trivedi highlights the changes thatIndian Independence brought to theposition of Hindi literature and its re­lation to many regional literatures.Lucy Rosenstein explores how Hindipoetry adapted to the new circum­stances of an independent India.

As a result of the revision of the lit­erary history of modern South Asia,the focus of scholarly research hasshifted towards subaltern traditionsof writing which have been largely ig­nored by the canon of'high’ literature(see articles by Dalmia and Blackburn,and Christina Oesterheld). Other con­tributions show how divisions andcategories that have been taken forgranted have to be reformulated:Janet Kamphorst demonstrates howthe modern can co-exist with histori­cal genres and content, ChristineEveraert investigates the thin lines di­viding Hindi and Urdu, and TheoDamsteegt makes a case for the con­tinuing presence of traditional Indianvalues in the modem writers’ questfor moral guidance. The two extremesin the development of modern litera­ture in South Asia are represented by,on the one hand, the contributions ofVictor van Bij lert and Sagaree Sengup-ta who outline important notionsthat lay at the base of the cultural de­velopment that yielded modern liter­ature, and this is contrasted with alook at the latest formation of a publicsphere on the Internet in an article by

| the present author.Representing the wealth of modern

South Asian literature in this con­fined space is an impossible task andthis section is by no means completeas major literary traditions fromSouth India, Gujarat Maharashtra,and many other areas are not repre­sented. Despite these omissions itshows how research into this litera­ture thrives and engages in a dialoguewith the broader field of modernSouth Asian Studies. ■

Dr Thomas de Bruijn is an HAS affiliated

fellow (NWO) at the HAS.E-mail: tbruijn@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

4 ^Continued jrom pcye 3CO-EDITOR FORTHIS ISSUE’S THEMETHOMAS DE BRUIJNElzeline van der Hoek

record of the past 150 to 200 yearswhich is largely undocumented. Whatwe need now is an understanding ofthe language of literature to unravelthe various layers of expression.

You have chosen to Jocus on the literarymovements after the War?After the War young writers sought

j new ways of voicing their experiencesof life in the young state of India. The

I Partition, which had caused an esti­mated two hundred thousand deathsin just a few months, has long been a

taboo. There was no way to addressthe subject other than through litera­ture. Nayi Kahani was the first move­ment offering a clearly new style andthe first to break with the past. Its as­sociates are making a stand againstthe idealism, the nationalist opti­mism, and social-realism that pre­vailed in Hindi literature before thewar. They apply a more realistic narra­tive style to portray the disillusion­ment and alienation that many oftheir contemporaries have experi­enced.

Interestingly, these innovators havebecome the new establishment overtime. The world of periodicals, whichconstitutes their main channel ofcommunication, is after all a commer­cial one and the Nayi Kahani move­ment has to live up to the expectationsit has created.

* 0

The thematic issueyou compiled coversa broader span o f time.Most articles focus on the late

nineteenth, early twentieth century,now a popular field of research. Dur­ing that time modern society andthe ‘imagined community’ begantaking shape and people started toposition their languages as parts oftheir identities.

This issue presents various regionsof South Asia. Literature developedalong the same lines throughout theSubcontinent. People from far andnear were concerned with nation andsociety building and the modern gen­res, the novel and the short story,were introduced everywhere. Everyregion, however, has its unique char-

What arey our plans Jor the future?In the future I would like to set up

an interdisciplinary research schoolthat links sociology to literary re­search. I would like to combine teach­ing and research, as I do not think ithealthy to separate the two. More­over, I would like to give the studies ofthe modern languages and of theMiddle Ages a more prominent placethan they occupy at present.

In the short run I shall organize aconference together with Theo Dam­steegt in March of this year: ‘The Indi­an Character of Indian Literature’. Wepose the following questions: is theresuch a thing as Indian literature and

if so, how can it be defined? Are criti­cisms and value judgements concern­ing literature useful in literary re­search? We shall bring together acad­emics, critics, and writers, like Krish­na Baldev Vaid, to tackle these sub­jects.

Some time after the conference Iplan to travel to India again, where Ishall set out to meet some of theyounger writers. I already met manyof the older, prominent writers in theinternational arena of the WorldHindi Conference, but there is also animportant national circuit withinIndia itself as well. ■

February 2000 • has n e w s l e t t e r n ?21 • 7

S O U T H A S I A N L I T E R A T U R E

New Literary Histories forNineteenth Century India

■ By VAS UDHA DALMIA ANDSTUART BLACKBURN

R esearchProject

adI

In charting the history of the modem literatures of India, liter­ary scholars have tended to focus on the public literary sphereas it emerged in the urban centres o f mid-nineteenth centuryIndia. It was in these metropolitan centres, in the complexity ofthe colonial context, that the modem literatures o f South Asiaevolved, self-consciously and deliberately establishing linkswith traditions, both ‘classical’ and more recent, even whilepropelling themselves forward in the spirit o f the new.

Until recently, the histories of themodern literary languages of Indiadocumented the works of this earlyperiod conscientiously and meticu­lously, but the grid by which theymeasured the literary production ofthe era was itself taken from theWest. Scholars concerned themselveswith the ‘realism’ of the novels,plays, and short stories (the last ofthe trio to emerge], the ‘credibility’of the characters created, the dura­bility, in fact, of the literary reputa­tions established at the time. Such atextual approach has failed to appre­ciate and to account for the complexmilieu of social, political and intel­lectual processes that influencedthese newly emerging literatures.Existing literary histories of the pe­riod also largely ignore the fact that

t was through thesenew literatures thatnationalisms were

imagined, that commu­nities were newly consti­tuted and that, as the

family itself was newly defined, thedomestic was sought to be cordonedoff from the public. The literarysphere then, was a part of a largercultural and political enterprise, andwas constituted, as elsewhere, by lit­erary journals, civic associations, ed­ucational groups, reading and debat­ing clubs, amateur theatrical associ­ations, and religious and reform as­sociations with their manifold pub­lications and activities.

this literary culture was not restrict­ed to the activity of the elites alone,whether new or old. Instead, literaryproduction was crisscrossed by a va­riety of discourses. Popular culturaland artistic activities, rural andurban, not only survived and prolif­erated, they also interacted with thenew to produce dynamic forms, suchas the Parsi Theatre.

In the wake of the ‘subaltern’rewriting of colonial history, the lit­erature of the period has began to beseen as participating in much largerdiscursive formations and thereforeshould be reappraised and relocatedin a wider analytical frameworkthan that provided by conventionalliterary histories. In the last twodecades, some monographs have ap­peared as have also a number of arti­cles, scattered over journals and vol­umes of conference proceedings. Wefeel that the time has now come forus to attempt a fresh analysis of thedata from new perspectives. The taskwe have set ourselves then, is notonly to recover works forgotten andfaded, lost in the files of old libraries,private and public, but also to un-

'Modernity' in KannadaLiteratureBesides having the second oldest literature among the livinglanguages o f South Asia, Kannada has received the most presti­gious all-India literary award, the Jnanpith Award, more timesthan any other language; but the rest o f the world is very slow inaccording Kannada and Karnataka the recognition they are in­creasingly receiving in India. Karnataka is home o f tradition yetits capital, Bangalore, is the capital o f India’s booming informa­tion technology industry. One can readily understand thatwhile 20th-century Kannada authors continued writing in liter­ary forms that are many centuries old, including verse epics,change had to make itself felt in this society, and that it couldnot fail to provide material for thought and literary creativity.

By ROBERT J. ZYDENBOS

R esearchProject w hen one surveys

Kannada litera-

Tture since 1947,

one cannot fail to noticethat the world beyond Kar­nataka’s borders scarcely

plays a concrete role (except ofcourse in the travelogue, which is ahighly productive form in Kannadaliterature]. Only a few authors wholive elsewhere (e.g., novelists Yash-want Chittal and Vyasaraya Ballal inMumbai] present narratives that areset outside Karnataka. India north ofKarnataka tends to be mentionedwith disdain or indifference, if it ismentioned at all, and the onlynorthern personalities who figure inKannada literature tend to be thosewho have acquired an almost myth­ic, all-Indian aura, like MahatmaGandhi, Vivekananda, and Au-robindo. Similarly, pan-Indian po­litical developments receive hardly

any attention, except for a dramaticinterlude like Indira Gandhi’s‘Emergency’, which drew some po­etic protest.

Modernity is thought of as ‘West­ern’ and is seen as either a welcomesource of social and cultural changeor as a threat to ‘Indian culture’ (see,for a detailed discussion, Zydenbos1996]). ‘Indianness’ is practically al­ways implicitly negatively defined:‘Westernness’, its supposed oppositecaricature, is ‘modern’, hence what­ever is ‘not modern’ is ‘Indian’, andthis is always the socio-culturalbackground of the author in Kar­nataka. As a result, Kannada authorsre-evaluate their own backgrounds.The Tragatisila (‘progressive’] move­ment of the 1940s and early 1950s (ofwhich the leading, stylistically re­fined exponent was Niranjana (1924-1992]) had a politically ideological(Marxist] background; but all laterthinking on the subject of moderni­ty focused on aspects of traditional

j Karnatakan culture and society thatimmediately affect the manner inwhich individuals treat each otherin concrete, everyday life. The Navya(‘modern’] movement (which pro­duced numerous leading writerslike U.R. Anantha Murthy (1932-],Shantinath Desai (1929-1998], Yash-want Chittal (1928-] i.a.] derived awealth of inspiration from Euro­pean existentialist thought and pro­duced stylistically beautiful works,often of great psychological subtle­ty, in which a probing investigationof the individual and the surround­ing culture is given. At the sametime there was the lone but remark­ably popular voice of S.L. Bhyrappa(1934-], who aggressively asserted amodern religious-cum-nationalist‘Hindu’ identity that is purely nega­tive and reactionary in novels thatinveigh against marriage outsideone’s caste, glorify the RSS, and soforth.

However, the Navya style of writ­ing was found to be too individual­istic and introspective for the vari­ous authors who are collectivelycalled Nayyottara or ‘post-modern’.Most of these authors show concernabout some form of social discrimi­nation or the other, the injusticewhich they depict in their writings.Three groups in particular deservespecial mention: [a] Muslim authors(such as Boluwar Mahamad Kunhi(1952-] and Sara Aboobacker (1937-]]have taken to writing in Kannada in

derstand the cultural politics inwhich the ‘new’ emerged. What werethe breaks and continuities in pat­terns of patronage, of literary pro­duction and literary modes? In addi­tion to these discursive patterns, weshall also look at empirical studies ofprint technology, the operations ofprinting presses, publishing houses,and libraries.

We start from the premise that theliterary idiom from the West did notappear in a vacuum, but was actingupon rich narrative and performa­tive traditions and sophisticated lit­erary cultures. How did courtly po­etry, the vast corpus of devotionalpoetry and hagiographical litera­ture, the oral epics of remarkablemagnitude and power, respond toand accommodate the new genresfrom the West? What new needs andsensibilities, brought about bychanges in societal structures, by theintroduction of radically new juridi­cal, municipal, and educational in­stitutions, contributed to the cre­ation of new literary cultures? Howdid these in turn influence the selec­tion of specific literary modes andfeatures from the wide repertoire of­

fered from the West? And when thenew syntheses finally emerged,when the literary canons were recon­stituted, what linkages did they es­tablish with the past and what didthey exclude? ■

Vasudha Dalmia is professor o f Hindi

and Urdu at the Department o f South

and Southeast Asian Studies,

University o f California, Berkeley, USA,

fax: +1 -SI 0-642 4565. She has published

on modern Hindi literature:

Dalmia, Vasudha,'The Nationalization o f

Hindu Traditions: Bharatendu Harishchandra

and nineteenth-century Banaras', Delhi:

Oxford University Press, 1997.

Dalmia, Vasudha and Theo Damsteegt (eds),

'Narrative Strategies, Essays on South Asian

Literature and Film’, Delhi: Oxford University

Press, 1998.

For Stuart Blackburn’s affiliation, please see

his article on page 11.

quality and quantity as never before;(b] women writers, among whomAnupama Niranjana (1934-1991] andVaidehi (1945-], have gained specialprominence; (c] Bandaya (‘revolt’]and Dalita (‘downtrodden’] writers,who have paid special attention todepicting the evils of casteism invarious ways; at present this may beconsidered the dominant trend inKannada writing, and among themany authors in this category spe­cial mention may be made of criticand fiction writer Baragura Ra-machandrappa (1946-] and the inno­vative prose stylist Devanura Ma-hadeva (1949-].

What unites all the post-Navyaauthors is that their demand forsocio-cultural change stresses theimportance of the individual ratherthan of the group - determined bycaste, religion, or gender - intowhich the individual happens tohave been born. This marks a clearbreak with traditional social think­ing, in which collectivities were al­ways emphasized at the expense ofthe individual. It is in this aspect ofcontemporary Kannada writingmore than in any other that we seemodernity make itself felt. Tradi­tional categories which society im­poses on people are questioned:women increasingly create newroles for themselves; persons fromsocial groups that previously stoodoutside the literary process nowmake themselves heard. We may

presume that this trend will contin­ue until there has been a significantchange towards a society where onehas greater scope to give one's ownform to one’s own life - which cantake quite some time in a societywhere the uncertainties of changechase the unconfident majority ofpeople into the fortified structuresof communal identities. ■

Zydenbos, R.J.The Calf Became An O rphan - A studyin contemporary Kannada/ictionPondicherry: Institu t Frangais /École Frangaise d ’Extrême-Orient,1996.

Robert J. Zydenbos is researcher o f South

Indian literature. He lives in Mysore, India.

8 • has n e w s l e t t e r N?2i • February 2000

S O U T H A S I A N L I T E R A T U R E

'Balanced Action' inModern Hindi LiteratureReading zoth-century Hindi-literature, one is struck by its re­peated references to the Bhagavadgita, a philosophical Sanskrittext which dates back to the first millennium o f the Christianera. Not only are literary characters often found to read thework, but also one o f its principal teachings especially seems tohave inspired several texts. This is the theory o f disinterestedaction leading to a release from the cycle o f rebirths. In order toreach that goal, one should fulfil the duties which are inherentin one’s social position in daily life, while acting in a disinter­ested and balanced way, that is, without pursuing egotisticgoals and without being disturbed by emotions which tend toaccompany action, such as pleasure or disappointment.

By T HE O D AMS T E E GT

R esearchProject

or example, thisideal of balancedaction is found,

whether implicitly or ex­plicitly, in texts dealingwith the violent or non­

violent struggle for independence,like Ajneya’s stories about revolu­tionaries written in the 1930s, Vrnda-vanlal Varma’s novel Jhamsi ki ranilaksmibai (1945), and JainendraKumar’s novel Sukhada (1955), all ofwhich focus on the use of violence.But it is also present in texts dealingwith ordinary, present-day life in In­dian society. Several stories writtenby Giriraj Kishore (born 1937) couldbe cited as an example The Bha­gavadgita is explicitly mentioned inhis story ‘Bahar ek suhanapan tha’(i.e. Outside it was pleasurable, in

Shahar-dar-shahar, 1976), which dealswith an ambitious staff member inan office. One day he tells the chiefclerk: T have adopted the theory ofthe Gita in my life. I believe in acting,and have always been indifferent to­wards the results (-). I have never letmy desires grow rampant, becausethey become a jungle then and mangets entangled in them.(-) Now achance has come, only because I haveacted and patiently waited [that is, hehas acted disinterestedly]. But evennow that it has come, I am neitherhappy nor sad.’ The real feelings ofthe man, who tries to achieve a betterposition through manipulation arein sharp contrast to his words, and hefails to realize his wishes. Most perti­nently the story shows the present-day relevance of the theory of theBhagavadgita in the view of a mod­ern Hindi writer.

By HARI SH TRI VEDI

R esearchProject

sive

hrough the processinitiated in 1893with the founding

of the Nagari PrachariniSabha, Hindi fought toreverse the colonial divi-

discrimination against itselfand the preferential patronage givento Urdu by the British since 1835.With this battle rapidly won in 1900,Hindi not only gained the extensiveground from which Urdu now re­treated in a virtual rout but alsosought to ‘modernize’ itself throughan internal dynamic by determined­ly adopting the variety of Hindi thatis know as khari bolt as the mediumof both prose and verse to replace thebhakti-laden Braj and Avadhi. Next,with the founding of the HindiSahitya Sammelan in 1907, Hindi

Modern HindiLan^ua^e, n,and popular cultureThe present article is a preview o f a forthcoming long essay(c. 25,000 words), in which I seek to explore three related andcomplementary dimensions o f the vigorous renewal and pop­ular nationalist self-assertion through which Hindi languageand literature have effectively reinvented themselves over thetwentieth century.

aligned itself closely with the Gand-hian Congress nationalist massmovement and was soon adopted byit as the rasfitra-bfiosha, the nationallanguage, thus becoming not onlythe chosen vehicle of nationalismbut indeed one ofits major planks.

In literature, Hindi moved from aphase of revivalist cultural national­ism (represented in the writings ofMaithili Sharan Gupta etc.) in the1910s to mainstream Gandhian na­tionalism (Premchand etc.) in the1920s and the early 1930s. Over thefollowing two decades Hindi, whilefirmly rooted in native ground,opened up and responded to variousinternational literary movements bygoing through phases of Romanti­cism (Chhayavad; represented by thepoets Nirala, Mahadevi Varma etc.),Progressivism (Prcyativad; Mukti-bodh, Yashpal etc.), and Modernism

In other stories by Kishore the in­spiration remains implicit. His‘Cimni’ (i.e. Chimney, in the samecollection) has a former Sub-Super­intendent of Police who has beenfired from his job and has been be­having in an anti-social way eversince as its main character. The storyis narrated by a character-boundnarrator (an T) who happens to meetthe man on repeated occasions. Thetext mainly features external focal-ization by this narrator, that is, thereader is made acquainted with theperspective of the narrator-I at themoment he looks back and narrates,instead of the perspective he had asan actor at the moment the eventstook place, but this narratorial per­spective does not seem to be verymuch different from the actorial.The actor-I tells another character in

the story that the former SSP is a‘weak man (-). An employee musthave strong nerves. He should notfind too much difference betweenbeing kicked and being praised.’ Hethus speaks of a balance which ex­presses itself in not letting oneselfbeaffected too much by outside influ­ences, whether they be positive(‘being praised’) or negative (‘beingkicked’). In another statement by theactor-I, the balance is said to consistof steering a middle course betweenbeing an ‘employer’ and an ‘employ­ee’, terms which are here metaphorsfor assuming a position of power anddominance on the one hand, inwhich one feels totally independentfrom others, and one of absolutesubservience on the other, in whichone feels completely dependent onothers, on their comments, theirblame or praise. The story showshow the SSP’s ambitions, whichimply a lack of disinterestedness andbalance, have led to his downfall.

One would expect that the actor-Iin this story, who judges the formerSSP’s behaviour in terms of balance,to act in a balanced way himself. Asystematic analysis of the text, how-

[Trayogvad; Ajneya and the Tar Sap-tak poets). Through these greatlyspeeded up and therefore sometimesapparently contrary stages of devel­opment, Hindi now came abreast ofcontemporary literary trends andmovements sweeping the world.

With the coming of Independencein 1947 and the framing of the Con­stitution in 1950, Hindi, the popularnational language, was installed asthe controversial ‘official language’of the partitioned state. Ironically,its anti-imperialist role in colonialtimes was now eclipsed by thecharge o f ‘Hindi imperialism’ fromseveral other Indian languages. Justas a nationalist agenda is believed tobe exhausted upon the attainment ofa nation-state and to give way inturn to some alternative (sub-)na-tionalist agenda, so Hindi was nowforced to give way to the competing

political and cultural claims of theregional languages. Its nominal pro­mulgation and artificial construc­tion as the language of the state, in­tended in time to replace colonialEnglish, failed to persuade the pub­lic at large until it has now beengiven up as a lost cause, especially inthe face of the irresistible globaliza­tion of English and the recent inter­national success of Indian Writing inEnglish. At the same time, at a widercommon level of Indian society, theremarkable spread of Hindi, largelythrough the popular media of filmand TV, has given it a pan-Indianreach perhaps unequalled by anyother language in the history ofIndia.

Meanwhile, Hindi literature sinceIndependence has performed a pecu­liarly complex post-colonial, post­nationalist function, by voicing its

ever, shows that this is not the case.Thus, both in this story and in‘Bahar ek suhanapan tha’ even suchcharacters who are consciouslyaware of the theory of balanced ac­tion fail to put it into practice. Andthe same situation is found in storiesby Kishore which deal with familylife or politics (where the concept ofseva ‘disinterested service’ discussedby A.C. Mayer appears to be based onthe same Bhagavadgita ideal). It re­veals a rather gloomy perspective ofpresent-day Indian society on theauthor’s part, one in which charac­ters are ruined because they fail torealize the ideal even though theyare aware of it. Indeed, only a fewamong Kishore’s stories featurecharacters who manage to fulfil theideal, among them ‘Tilism’ (i.e. Mag­ical spell, 1967)- ■

Dr Theo D am steegt teaches Hindi at the

Kern Institute o f Indology o f Leiden

University, The Netherlands. His recent

publications include ‘Giriraj Kishor’s Yatraem,

A Hindi novel analysed’, Groningen: Egbert

Forsten, 1997, and a volume he has edited

with Vasudha Dalmia entitled ‘Narrative

Strategies, Essays on South Asian Literature

and Film’, Oxford University Press, 1998.

increasing disillusionment (mohab-han^a) with the aspirations initiallyraised by the liberated nation (Shri-lal Shukla, Raghuvir Sahay, Haris-hankar Parsai). While on the onehand it has sustained its explorationof the hybrid and the cosmopolitan(Mohan Rakesh, Nirmal Verma,Surendra Verma, and many dedicat­ed translators of world literature), onthe other hand it has continued torepresent the grass-roots authentici­ty of the local predicaments of thereligious minorities (Rahi MasoomRaza, Manzoor Ehtesham, AsgharWajahat) and the marginalized fig­ures of the woman (Jainendra Ku­mar, Krishna Sobti, Maitreyi Pushpa)and the subaltern (Renu, Nagarjuna,Vinod Kumar Shukla). Altogether,Hindi’s chequered progress throughthe last century of Indian nation­building constitutes a major strandof our modern history, just as its lit­erature of the period is an index ofour social and cultural transforma­tion. ■

Harish Trivedi, educated at the universities

o f Allahabad and Wales, is Professor o f

English at the University o f Delhi. He is the

author of'Colonial Transactions: English

Literature and India’ (Calcutta 1993;

Manchester 1995), and has translated from

Hindi:‘Premchand: His life and times’by

Amrit Rai (Delhi I982;rpt. 1991) as well as

works o f modern poetry and short fiction. He

has also co-edited ‘Interrogating Post-colonialism:Text and context’ (Shimla 1996),

and ‘Post-colonial Translation: Theory and

practice’ (London 1999).

February 2000 ■ has n e w s l e t t e r 19521 • p

S O U T H A S I A N L I T E R A T U R E

Hindi and UrduShort StoriesExploring the bordersbetween H indi and Urdu

By C H R I S T I N E EVERAERT

R esearchProject

-r n the past few decades,I there has been a

JL wealth of discussionin and outside Indiaabout the linguistic rela­tionship between Hindi

and Urdu. The linguistic and termi­nological histories of both languagesare very closely related, to the extentthat sometimes both linguistic com­munities claim the same author asone o f ‘their’ authors, as happenedwith Kabir. Quite apart from this,there is a great deal of confusionabout the terminology, which ischanging all the time and has notbeen used consistently. At certainmoments in the past it is difficult tograsp whether the terms ‘Hindus­tani’, ‘Hindvi’, ‘Urdu’, ‘Hindi’, ‘Hin-dui’, ‘Dakhani’ etc. are referring towhat we now consider as Hindi,Urdu, or something else.

The question of whether both lan­guages are, and if so, have alwaysbeen two separate languages, is oftenanswered with political argumentsrather than by linguistic studies.

The origin o f the researchTwo years ago I finished my disser­

tation on the Hindi short stories ofBhagavaticaran Varma, which weremainly written in the 1930s. I decidedto work on the short story since it is amany-sided genre and besides that, agreat deal of the existing research ison either poetry or novels.

During my research I noticed thatthe language used in these short sto­ries consisted of a highly fluctuatingpercentage of Perso-Arabic- or San­skrit-based words, depending uponeither the character speaking or thetopic of the story. I became fascinatedby this feature and started a smallpiece of linguistic research of my ownby counting how many words used inthe different stories (and in some sto­

ries I examined the speech of differentcharacters) had a Perso-Arabic, San­skrit, Turkish, or English origin.

The percentage fluctuated tremen­dously: in one story 66.7% of the nounswere Perso-Arabic in origin, where inanother 85% of all the words were ofSanskrit origin. Still both stories,written by the same author, wereidentified as pure Hindi short stories.At this point, the question arose as towhere precisely the line has beendrawn between Hindi and Urdu.

Theoretical aspectsThe results of my dissertation are

the foundation for the PhD disserta­tion on which I am working on at pre­sent. Often there are very heated dis­cussions about whether or not Hindiand Urdu are two separate languagesor only one. In the coming years Iwant to find an answer to a slightlydifferent question: are Hindi andUrdu in their literary forms two sepa­rate languages, and if they are, has italways been that way?

To answer these (and several other)questions, I shall select short stories(or pieces of prose, if there is no otheroption) by several Hindi and Urdu au­thors. The texts will date from the17th century to 1999. Dakhani, the va­riety of Urdu that started to evolve asa literary language during the16^/17^ century in the Deccan, is theoldest Indian language which con­sists of linguistic elements with ei­ther a Perso-Arabic or a Sanskrit back­ground. Therefore I consider it usefulto go back in time to one of the earli­est prose-texts written in this lan­

guage (1635), because it is likely thatthis language is the origin of Urdu,Hindi, or maybe both.

The entire collection of texts iswritten in places that take or havetaken a prominent place in the lin­guistic development of Hindi or Urdu(Delhi, Lucknow, Deccan, Pakistan).The authors are from different back­grounds (e.g. Muslims writing inHindi, Hindus in Urdu, Urdu authorsliving in important Hindu cities andvice versa). Moreover, the texts havebeen written at historically impor­tant moments (e.g. the electoral suc­cess of the BJP, a decade before andafter the Partition, during the Parti­tion).

This large corpus of texts allows meto investigate various matters. Firstof all, it should show whether therehave been general developments inthe use of the language. Apart fromthis aspect, I shall be able to do re­search on whether there has been apersonal evolution in the languageusage of any of the authors, who havelived through historically importantchanges (for instance somebody whowas writing before, during and afterthe Partition). By comparing the textsit should also be possible to find outwhether there have been regional dis­tinctive changes.

The pra g m a tic sideBecause this research only tells us

about the literary use of the lan­guages, I shall eventually transposesome Urdu texts of the corpus intoDevanagari script and some Hinditexts into Perso-Arabic script. These

texts will be given to different peoplefrom different regions and education­al backgrounds, without telling themabout the origin of the text. Thisshould prove a good test of how muchHindi-speakers can understand of theUrdu texts and vice-versa. ■

References- Dittmer, Kerrin

Die mdisdien Muslims und die Hindi-Urdu-Kontroverse in den United ProvincesWiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1972

- King, Christopher R.One Lan^ua^je, Two Scripts:The Hindi movement in nineteenthcentury North IndiaBombay, etc: Oxford University Press,1994

- Rai.AmritA House DividedDelhi: Oxford University Press, 1984

- Russell, R.The Pursuit o f Urdu Literature,A selected histotyLondon, 1992

- Sadiq, M.A histoiy o f Urdu literatureDelhi, 1995

- Shackle & SnellHindi and Urdu Since 1800:A common readerLondon: SOAS, 1991

Christine Everaert is assistant at theDepartment o f Languages and Cultures ofSouth- and East-Asia o f Gent University,Belgium and teaches Hindi and Urdu,E-mail: Christine.Everaert@rug.ac.be.

Some UnexploredAreas in the Historyof Urdu FictionWhen we look at the histories o f Urdu literature written inEnglish which are commonly used as standard reference booksand which form the main basis o f information for all thosewho do not read Urdu (see references), the history o f the Urdunovel in the nineteenth century is confined to four outstand­ing names: Nazir Ahmad, Ratannath Sarshar, Abdul HalimSharar, and Muhammad Hadi Ruswa.

By C HR I S T I N A OESTERHELD

R esearchProject

ambabu Saksenamentions some ofthe other authors

of original novels oradaptations of Bengaliand English works (Sajjad

Husain, Nawab Syèd MohammadAzad, Jwala Prasad Barq, HakimMuhammad Ali) in passing (Saksena1996 (i927].'355-378). Shaista BanoSuhrawardy Ikramullah’s CriticalSurvey of the Development of the UrduNovel and Short Stoty (1945) still in­cluded the ‘minor’ writers later leftout by Muhammad Sadiq (Sadiq1964; 2nd ed. 1984). It seems that, inthe process of canonizing the historyof Urdu literature, a very rigid selec­tion took place resulting in a land­scape of a few peaks surrounded by avoid, or a few islands in an otherwise

empty sea. This picture is reflectedin the curricula of Urdu courses atcolleges and universities in Indiaand Pakistan.

The scene presented in studies ofthe Urdu novel written in Urdu ismuch more differentiated. The mostdetailed survey of the developmentof the Urdu novel available so far isYusuf Sarmast’s Bisvin sadi men urdunaval (The Urdu novel in the Twenti­eth century, 1973). In other worksthe so called ‘minor’ writers areoften simply mentioned withoutgoing deeper into any of their works.Asif Farrukhi has recently seizedupon this fact. His concern is to res­cue such ‘minor’ authors and theirworks from oblivion and to providefresh access to the history of theUrdu novel, one not obliterated byan outdated critical approach and byan over-emphasis on the influence of

English literature and English edu­cation (see Saughat 1993:84-89).

Farrukhi’s article highlights oneof the main deficiencies in the studyof the Urdu novel. However, his ap­proach, too, is centred on authorsunderstood to have contributed intheir own way to ‘high’ literature -that is to a novel of literary merit.The time is certainly overdue to paymore attention to lesser known au­thors and to analyse their ways ofhandling the new format of thenovel and dealing with the ideologi­cal issues figuring so prominently inthe late nineteenth century. Whatremains outside the orbit of researchon such authors is the vast and wide­ly unexplored realm of the pulp nov­els produced strictly with an eye tothe commercial main chance. Thetwo fields do of course overlap. Thereis a lot of formulaic writing in ‘seri­ous’ reformist writers, and many oftheir works were also commerciallysuccessful. Within the framework ofa larger project dealing with a newassessment of literary histories ofnineteenth-century India, I havestarted to look into some of theselesser known novels.

A study of novels produced as com­modities for mass consumption couldfocus on the following aspects: 1. theproduction process; 2. the sociology ofreaders; and 3. the structure of theworks produced and the ideologiestransmitted by them. The structureof the novels produced in both fieldsand the literary techniques, the leit­motifs, and topoi used in them haveto be analysed in the broader contextof narrative traditions available tothe Urdu writer of the time. So far,links have been drawn from longerprose romances (dastan) to the novel.Shorter narratives such as tales, fa­bles, anecdotes, and witticisms havehardly ever been studied in the con­text of the development of the novel,though they seem to have contri­buted much more to the short popu­lar novel than the dastan. Therefore,at present I am studying qissas (tales)and collections of short narratives,summarized in Urdu as lata’if andnaqliyat, which were published ingreat numbers from the beginning ofthe nineteenth century to the earlytwentieth century and are still avail­able on the market in cheap editions.

This is also a case study of theprocess of marginalization of threegenres: until the end of the nine­teenth century, qissas, lata’if, andnaqliyat appeared in costly, well-pro­duced editions, and the latter consti­tuted an integral part of standardworks of Urdu literature such asAzad’s Ab-i hayat (The Water of Life,1880) and Hali’s Yad^ar-i Ghalib(Memoirs of Ghalib, 1897). Today,however, short narratives of this typeare to be found mainly in textbooksfor schools and in chapbook editionsfor the barely literate. Both studies

will hopefully contribute to a fullerand more differentiated picture ofUrdu fiction in the nineteenth centu­ry-

ReferencesSaksena, Ram BabuA history o f Urdu literatureLondon, 1927Sadiq, MuhammadA histoty o f Urdu literatureLondon: Oxford University Press, 1964Schimmel, AnnemarieClassical Urdu literature fromthe beginning to IqbalIn: A history of Indian LiteratureVol. 8: Modern Indo-Aryan literatures,pt. 1; fasc. 3, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,

1975‘Hairatï haiyah a’ina: Urdu naval kidastan’ (An Astonishing Mirror:The story o f the Urdu novel)In Saughat, 1993:84-89.

M/

Dr Christina O esterheld teaches Urdu atthe South Asia Institute, University o fHeidelberg, Germany. A recent publicationsfrom her hand includes:Oesterheld, Christina and Claus Peter Zoller(eds) 'Of Clowns and Gods, Brahmans andBabus: Humour in South Asian literatures’,New Delhi: Manohar, 1999.E-mail: n40@ix.urz.uni-heidelberg.de

I O • has n ewsletter N9 2 1 • February 2000

S O U T H A S I A N L I T E R A T U R Em tm

•2&5Tafer

Bengal's Modernity andNationalism 1880-1910 xFrom regional cultural politicsto international impact

Cover o f an issue o f the literarymagazine Sarika, which was an

im portant forum fo r the NayiKahani story-writers.

Nineteenth-century Bengal with Calcutta as the imperial me­tropolis o f British India was the birthplace o f Indian moderni­ty. During the nineteenth century this modernity, largely theproduct o f Hindu urban intellectuals, was disseminated inBengali and English through the printing press. In order tocommunicate the paraphernalia o f modernity, the Bengalilanguage had to be moulded into an appropriate vehicle. TheBengali printing industry began to produce magazines, news­papers, and books for popular consumption. Bengali literaturewas read and appreciated especially in the women’s quarters o fthe Bengali middle and upper-middle class homes. Englishwas being used as the language o f contact with the British rul­ing class and increasingly also as the language o f communica­tion with the world outside Bengal.

By V I C T O R A. VAN BIJLERT

R esearchProject B

non:

engali/Indian mo­dernity was a com­posite phenome-European science,

economy, and politicaltheory were intricately

mixed up with Indian thought and aforward-looking Hindu ethos. Itwas the latter, however, that led toIndian radical nationalism at theend of the nineteenth century andthe beginning of the twentieth. Inthe first decades of the nineteenthcentury, Bengali modernity ex­pressed itself almost exclusively inHindu religious reform. Towardsthe middle of the nineteenth centu­ry the Bengali language and itsidiom were being adjusted to mod­ern literary forms in accordancewith the new tastes of the urbanreading public. Western literarygenres such as the novel and thesonnet were tried out in Bengali.Bengali belles-lettres gained widepublic recognition in the latter halfof the nineteenth century whenform and content were thought tobe able to compete with the best inEuropean literature. Michael Mad-husudan Dutta (1824-1873) in poet­ry, Dinabandhu Mitra (1830-1873) indrama, and Bankim Chandra Chat-terjee (1838-1894) in novels and es­says had fundamentally changed thelandscape of Bengali literature.

All through the nineteenth centu­ry Indians expected (and were ofteninstructed to expect) that Britishrule was necessary and would last fora long time to come and that it wasimpossible even to imagine its end.All that was left to indigenous intel­lectuals was to express themselves incultural production. They werenever expected to put forward hardpolitical demands. From the middleof the nineteenth century onwardsBengali print capitalism acted as aleaven even for the other linguisticareas in the Indian empire. Lookingat the example set by Bengal, theydeveloped their own forms of printcapitalism. Up to the beginning ofthe twentieth century, the national

impact of Bengali modernity wasprimarily cultural and eminentlyliterary.

The first imaginings of Indian in­dependence or resistance in the formof a war of liberation were not stim­ulated so much by the study of his­tory, political science, or sociology,as by literature. Bankim ChandraChatterjee’s later writings, especiallyhis novel Anandamath (t882), ac­complished this feat. During his life-time Bankim had been regarded onlyas a talented innovator of Bengaliprose. Less than ten years after hisdeath he began to be revered as therishi, the ‘seer’ and prophet, of Indiannational liberation. The last decadeof the nineteenth century saw themeteoric international career of an­other cultural hero of Bengal: SwamiVivekananda (1863-1902). He propa­gated a highly modernized brand ofVedanta philosophy as an ideology ofnational empowerment in India andspiritual renewal for the rest of theworld. Vivekananda’s contributionto Bengali literature is very small ashis writings were published mainlyin English. However, his influenceon Bengali and Indian self-respectand national pride was tremendous.During the 1890s RabindranathTagore (1861-1941) rose to promi­nence as the most prominent Ben­gali poet, novelist and dramatistafter Bankim. But as far as national­ism was concerned, Bankim stillreigned supreme.

National outrageWhen the Government of India

implemented an administrative par­tition of Bengal in 1905, it uninten­tionally gave a major boost to Indiananticolonial nationalism. This parti­tion provoked mass protest amongthe Bengalis who were joined intheir indignation by nationalists inthe other provinces. The size of thepublic outrage opened the eyes of In­dian opinion to the possibility of all-out resistance to British rule. Utiliz­ing this wave of national outrage,the radical Bengali journalist andpolitical thinker Aurobindo Ghose(1872-1950) revived and expanded

Bankim’s nationalist symbolism andVivekananda’s Vedantic empower­ment into a consistent ideology ofIndian nationalism based on thetotal overthrow of British rule.

Between 1906 and 1908 Aurobindopoured out his radical Indian na­tionalism in English in the newspa­per Bande Mataram founded by BipinChandra Pal (1858-1932). Revolutionwas openly preached in the Yugan-tar, a Bengali paper with which Au­robindo was secretly but deeply in­volved. The highly seditious piecesthat appeared in Yugantar werewritten by different authors, fore­most among whom was AbinashChandra Bhattacharya (1882-1962)whose articles were collected in twobooklets which were consideredseditious by the Government. In thesame period, Rabindranath took thelead in the mass protests against thepartition of Bengal and wrote nu­merous patriotic songs celebratingMother Bengal. He quickly distancedhimself from the protest movement

when its violent revolutionary as­pects began to come to the fore.

Between 1905 and 1908 revolution­ary underground propaganda byword in seditious magazines and pro­paganda of the deed increased expo­nentially, not only in Bengal proper,but it was also spreading in the Pun­jab and the Bombay Presidency. Oneof the most notorious cases was theso-called Alipore bomb case (1909), inwhich Aurobindo and his youngerbrother, Barindra (1880-1959), wereamong the principal accused. In theBritish perception this case markedan important turning-point. TheGovernment now regarded much ofthe Indian nationalist discourse dis­seminated through the printing presswith the utmost suspicion and itbegan seriously to prosecute thosevernacular newspapers that it regard­ed as preaching sedition. By 1910,armed revolution was not only beingpropagated in India itself, but alsothrough Indian nationalist maga­zines produced abroad such as the

Ghadr, ‘Mutiny’ published in Urdufrom San Francisco by Har Dayal(1884-1939), who explicitly based him­self on the Calcutta Yugantar; or theBande Mataram published in Englishfrom Geneva by Madame BhikhaijiRustom Cama (1861-1936). Bengali po­litical radicalism had begun to makeits impact felt on a global scale and ithad accomplished this almost solelythrough utilizing the potential of theprinting press. Bengali modernityhad successfully accomplished thetransition from cultural theory to po­litical practice. ■

Dr Victor A. van Bijlen is researcher o f

Bengali literature and history and connected

to Leiden University, The Netherlands. He is

editor o f the Bengal Studies page in the HAS

Newsletter, publishes on Bengali literatureand the history o f Indian nationalism and has

also translated works o f Rabindranath Tagore

into Dutch.

The Role of Tamil Folkorein Modern LiteratureMy current research on Tamil literary history focuses on therole o f folklore and print in the emergence o f a literary cultureduring the nineteenth century. My starting point is that, al­though the study o f colonial India is replete with works on na­tionalism, Hindu revivalism and so on, we know little aboutthe place o f folklore in these movements. We recognize thecentral role o f folklore in constructing ‘authentic’ languagesand literatures in Europe and, in turn, their role in Europeannationalisms. I believe that a case, similar yet different, can bemade for folklore in India.

By ST U A R T BLACKBURN

R esearchProject T he project address­

es two core ques­tions. First, what

role did early printedbooks of folklore play inthe development of a

Tamil literary culture in the nine­teenth century? Two thousand yearsofTamil literary history underwent aseries of major changes during thecentury: the advent of a printing in­dustry; a public school system; a uni­versity system; the rediscovery of an­cient Tamil poetry. As a result, a lit­erary culture emerged in whichTamils began to articulate new ideasabout language and literature; liter­ary biography began and literary his­tory was written.

The role of folklore in the emer­gence of this literary culture is large­

ly determined by the transformationof oral traditions to print. By 1900nearly a thousand Tamil books werepublished annually, but before 1850most printed books were collectionsof folktales, proverbs and songs,which were continually reprinted.The impact of this printed oral litera­ture on literary practices and linguis­tic identity is an important area ofmy research.

Secondly, what role did folkloreplay in the development of national­ism and regional movements insouth India? Once available in print,and sometimes in English transla­tions, Tamil books of folklore enteredinto public debates about the ‘na­tion’ and ‘Dravidian’ identity. A pre­liminary study of the prefaces and re­views of these books reveals that theywere invoked as evidence of indige­nous culture, as a cultural safe-haven

from the inroads of the colonial state,the English language, and Christian­ity. By the end of the century, thisprinted oral literature was recog­nized as a ‘national literature’.

This research is informed by simi­lar work in other modern Indian lan­guages, which was presented at theEuropean Association of ModernSouth Asian Studies at Prague in 1998and at a conference at the Universityof California at Berkeley in 1999, or­ganized by Prof V. Dalmia. A volumeof essays, provisionally titled ‘NewLiterary Histories for NineteenthCentury India’, is forthcoming. ■

Dr S tu an Blackburn teaches at the School

o f Oriental and African Studies, London and

specializes in Tamil folk-traditions and

literature. E-mail: sb 12@soas.ac.uk

His publicabons include:

‘Inside the Drama-House: Rama stories and

shadow puppets in South India’, Berkeley:

University o f California Press, 1996;

'Singing o f Birth and Death.Texts in

performance’, Philadelphia: University o f

Pennsylvania Press, 1988;

Blackburn, Stuart H. et al feds) ‘Oral Epics in

India’, Berkeley: University o f California Press,

1989.

February 2000 • has n e w s l e t t e r T4 8 2L • 1 1

S O U T H A S I A N L I T E R A T U R E

B§

Narrative Traditions of RajasthanMy analysis o f the form, content, and function o f medieval Dingalheroic poetry and contemporaiy oral epics o f the peoples o f theGreat Indian Desert details the manner in which Rajasthan’s pastis connected to its present. The bardic language, Dingal, andVirkavya’ (heroic poetiy) took shape in the context o f the medievalsocial and political formations in Rajasthan. For centuries, Caranbards, court poets, and chroniclers contributed to the tradition o fDingal Virkavya’. Today, medieval virkavya as well as extant oraltraditions continue to inspire Rajasthani prose and poetiy. Al­though contemporaiy literature is only partially o f interest to myhistorical research, I would like to highlight some aspects o f yetanother unwritten literary history o f South Asia. Here, I shallshow how Rajasthani literature, like narrative genres world-wide,is shaped by the interplay between written and oral traditions.

By JANET KAMPHORST

R esearchProject T he development of

written and oralRajasthani narra­

tives can be illustrated bya study of the medievaland modern tradition of

the adventures of Pabuji DhandhalRathaur, a fourteenth-century Rajputhero. Epic poems and panegyric cou­plets dedicated to Pabuji were part ofthe Dingal manuscript tradition fromthe beginning of the sixteenth centuryonwards. Caran bards memorializedhis self-sacrifice on the battlefield inverses like Pabuji ra duha, Pabuji rauchand, and Pabuji koyash vaman. Theoral qualities of the bardic traditionwere retained long after the verses be­came part of the manuscript traditionof the area.

In modern times, poets revitalizedDingal virkavya to air their anti-Britishsentiments. Hence Mahakavi MorajiAshiya exalts Pabuji’s self-sacrifice inPabu Prakash (1932), a Dingal poem ex­uding patriotic pathos. After Indepen­dence, the Rajput ideals of virkavyaproved well suited to expressing a na­tionalist love for the young nation.The self-sacrifice of Rajput warriors onrhe battlefield [tyagi), for instance, eas­ily translated into a desire to dedicateone’s life to the motherland. Poets glo­rified medieval Rajput heroes and con­temporary freedom fighters employ­ing Dingal versifications and bardicidiom.

Rajput tyagi is likewise an ingredi­ent of modem, regional definitions ofRajasthani identity. Last year, Pabuji’sstory inspired Nirmohi Vyas (1934) towrite a Rajasthani play titled The HeroPabuji (Pranvir Pabuji 1999). The dra­matic plot highlights Pabuji’s battlewith his foe, Jindarav Khinci. It is un­clear whether it is a coincidence thatthis play was published in the after-math of Indo-Pakistani skirmishes inKargill but, in his introduction to theplay, Swami Sanvit Sonagiri suggeststhe contrary. He applauds the mannerin which Pranvir Pabuji kindles ‘eternalvalues' like the sacrifice of individuallives for a just cause. Sonagiri’s subse­quent remark is part of the ongoingproject of regional identity building.He holds that ‘ethnic’ topics like thelife of Pabuji are a more potent sourceof inspiration for Rajasthani writersthan adopted and, by implication, in­sipid Western literary themes.

It is easy to see how, in Pranvir Pabu­ji, oral narrative influences contempo­rary Rajasthani writings. The play notonly represents the written traditionabout Pabuji, the influence of the ex­tant oral epic of Pabuji is also clear. Al­

though the play is written in contem­porary Rajasthani prose, it begins witha versified invocation sung by tradi­tional Bhopo bards. The epic of Pabuji,as orally transmitted by the Bhopos,dates back to at least the sixteenth cen­tury. This oral Bhopo tradition wasfirst mentioned by Munhata Nainsi inhis seventeenth-century chronicle ofRathaur history (Smith 1991:100).

Current evilsOral narratives are also a source of

inspiration for Rajasthani prose writ­ers like Vijay Dan Detha (1927). Dethais ranked among Rajasthani prqgatishil(pragativad) or progressive prose writ­ers who express a modern political,often reformist awareness throughtheir writings. Using contemporaryliterary genres (short stories and nov­els), Detha rewrites folk narratives andexperiments with oral narrative tech­niques and vernacular idiom. In hiscollection of translated Rajasthanishort stories, The Dilemma (1996), ani­mal fables are modernized to create an

The hero Pabuj i is the subject of afolk-epic in Rajasthan, North India.

awareness of current evils like capital­ist greed. And the age-old tale aboutthe prince who kidnaps a princess isre-actualized in a story about the vil­lage belle who abducts her femalefriend. The pair lives happily ever after.Detha has merged new folktales withmodern motifs in his 1984 Rajasthanistory Anek Hitler (Many Hitlers). It re­lates the tale of five Vishnoi brotherswho saved up together to buy a tractorand subsequently fall prey to feelingsof deadly vengeance. The moral of thestory is obvious: destructive feelingslie dormant in everyone’s heart.

The writings of Vyas and Detha il­lustrate how the content as well as theform of oral narratives affects contem­porary literature. Likewise, oral recita­tion remains central to present dayKavi Sammelans or gatherings of Ra­jasthani poets. ‘Poets recite their poet­ry on stage as it is the best way to reach

the vast audience of mainly illiterateRajasthanis’, said C.P. Deval (1949), apoet of Nuttin Kavita (New Poetry), dur­ing the Kavi Sammelan this year inDeshnok. Poets of Dingal verse, pro­gressive poetry, and Nunin Kavita gath­ered at Deshnok's Kami Mataji templeto recite their work in public.

Deval, editor of the Rajasthani sec­tion of Medieval Indian Literature, a vol­ume to be published by the SahityaA kade my this year [1999], is of the opin­ion that Rajasthani literature will re­tain its oral qualities as long as Ra­jasthani is not recognized as a nationallanguage. Deval holds that RajasthaniNunin Kavita (along the lines of HindiNai Kahani) has had relatively little fol­lowing in Rajasthan for similar rea­sons. ‘The small, literate class whichspeaks Rajasthani is only taught Hindiin school, while a major portion of Ra­jasthan’s population remains illiterate

to this date’, argues Deval. ‘And liter­ary Rajasthani magazines and pub­lishers are few. New ideas as expressedin Hindi prose and poetry have hadonly a moderate influence on the liter­ary tradition of Rajasthan. It remainsoverwhelmingly oral in character’.

The interrelated development ofwritten and oral narratives is worthconsidering when drawing a new liter­ary map of the Subcontinent This isan assertion that will hardly surpriseanthropologists and other students oforal traditions. But, keeping in mindtext-based and equally text-biasedstudies of the written traditions ofSouth Asia, it is important to empha­size how the content and the form ofthe texts we study are influenced bythe interplay between written and oraltraditions. ■

ReferencesBhati, N.S. (ed.)Pabu Prakas Mahakavi Moraji Ashiya kntaJodhpur, 1983Detha, Vijay DanThe Dilemma, Delhi, 1996Aneka Hitler, Delhi, 1984Sahitya AkademyMedieval Indian LiteratureVol. Ill, forthcomingSmith, John D.The Epic of Pabuji, A study,transcription and translationCambridge, 1991Vyas, NirmohiPranvir PabujiBikaner, 1999

Janet Kamphorst is a historian who ispreparing a PhD dissertation on the historicalcontext o f the development o f the writtenDingal'virkavya’tradition and extant oralepics o f Rajasthan. She works at the CNWS,Leiden University.E-mail: jankam65@hotmail.com

Modernity in Hindi PoetryPoetry written in Modern Standard Hindi is a relatively newphenomenon. Until the 20th centuiy two Medieval Hindi di­alects, Braj Bhasha and Avadhi, were the recognized mediumso f poetry. Its main topics were religious devotion and courtlylove. However, the advancement o f modernity in India - thegermination o f national identity, the emergence o f a publicsphere, the exposure to Western ideas, forms, and genresthrough English education - cast Hindi literature and, in par­ticular, Hindi poetry in a very different mould.

By LUCY ROSENSTEIN

R esearchProject At the beginning of

the twentieth cen­tury the ideal

worlds of the divine cou­ple, Radha and Krishna,and of courtly heroes and

heroines, were replaced by the imper­fect world of human concerns. Thepoetry written in Modern StandardHindi in the first two decades of thetwentieth century was dedicated topublic nationalism and social reform,and resembled eighteenth-centurypre-Romantic English poetry in itsmatter-of-factness and descriptive­ness. It was quickly replaced by theaesthetic, highly refined, and pro­foundly subjective poetry of Cha-yavad, the Hindi incarnation of Ro­manticism (1918-1938), which in itsturn gave way to the political, oftenMarxist, verse of Prajjativad, Progres-sivism (1930s). The publication of Tar

saptak, an anthology of the work ofseven poets, in 1943 planted the firstseedlings of Nayi Kavita, New poetry,a movement nourished by Westernmodernism, particularly by the influ­ence ofT.S. Eliot.

Whereas Cftayavad has been reason­ably well covered by Western Indolo-gy, very little research of substancehas been done on the post-Indepen­dence period of Hindi poetry. In orderto fill this gap I have been working ona number of related projects. My mainundertaking is an anthology of con­temporary Hindi poetry which willfocus on Nayi Kavita. It will includeselections from the works of 10 poetsassociated with Tar Saptak, and itssuccessors Dusra saptak and Tisra sap­tak (The Second and Third Heptads).The poets will be introduced at somelength - biographical notes will besupplemented with general observa­tions on their oeuvre. The Hindi textswill be followed by annotated English

A poem by Dushyant Kumar

Morning was about to break.Birds, awake,Fluttered wings in their nests,One by one flew off.Foreboding spread, creeping, creeping,Pain started throbbing;A tender hand began to grindGram in the early morning.

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translations and accompanied by a se­lected glossary. The introduction willnot only locate Nayi Kavita on thegeneral map of Hindi poetry, but willalso chart the characteristics of mod­ern Hindi poetry against the back­ground of modern Hindi fiction andWestern poetry, in an attempt to ex­amine the extent to which the all-per­vasive concerns of the time havetransgressed the boundaries of genreand even nation.

Under the umbrella of ‘ModernHindi poetry’ I have been workingalso on less ambitious, more specificprojects. My paper “New Poetry’ inHindi: a quest for modernity’ which isdue to be published in the springissue of South Asia Research, 2000,analyses Nayi Kavita's formula formodernity as its distinctive signatureand its prerequisite for success. I havejust completed “Shakespeare’s sister’in India: in search of Hindi women

poets’, an essay which looks at mod­ern Hindi poetry through the lens ofgender studies, and examines the rea­sons for the scarcity of women poetsin Hindi literature. Following this av­enue of enquiry I also intend to focuson the work of specific female poets,like Amrita Bharati.

Because of the importance of oralityin the Indian context, verse has beenthe dominant form; thus poetry canpresent a more complex model ofmodernity than prose - a model basedon intricate dialectics with traditionrather than one inscribed on a. tabularasa. It is therefore imperative to putan end to the neglect with whichmodem Hindi poetry has been treat­ed by Western Indology. ■

Dr Lucy Rosenstein teaches Hindi atthe School o f Oriental and African Studies,London, United Kingdom,E-mail: Ir I @soas.ac.uk

1 2 • h a s n e w s l e t t e r TsE2 i • F e b ru a ry 2000

S O U T H A S I A N L I T E R A T U R E

Hindi, Brajbhasa,and Bengali Poetryof the i5>th CenturyIndian poetry o f the nineteenth century is my major researchinterest. Far from being left behind by the rise o f print cul­ture, this poetry reshaped itself in response to various notionsof social reform and artistic innovation. Often this meant at­tempting to downplay the eroticism o f Indian lyrical tradi­tions by stressing the martial, the classical, and the presum­ably more idealistic romanticism of the West. The differentaudiences which would encounter these works in print had tobe accommodated, even while published poets continued toparticipate in the traditional oral cultivation o f poetry.

■ By SAGAREE SENGUPTA

R esearchProject M y current re­

search on theBengali poet

Michael MadhusudanDatta [1829-1873) springsdirectly out of my work

on the Hindi and Brajbhasha writerBharatendu Hariscandra (1850-1885).Hariscandra knew of and was in­spired by the conscious efforts Ben­galis had made to identify a literarycanon. This canon needed to suit de­veloping ideas of national and re­

gional identity within the frameworkof British colonial domination. Thismeant that in addition to identifyingclassics from the past, works such asliterary epics, auditorium dramas,and novels would have to be pro­duced in order to fill gaps in the pro­jected canon.

Also of interest to me is the centralrole of the multifarious and prolificcreative writer in the definition of re­gional identity. Several such figureshave been prominent in variousSouth Asian regional literary canons,and they were in general self-con­

scious about the roles they playedwithin their own traditions. MichaelMadhusudan Datta and BharatenduHariscandra are examples of this phe­nomenon, and their pronouncementson their respective missions have, toan extent, become part of received lit­erary lore. In my work I consider theimportance sof both Michael Mad­husudan Datta and Bharatendu Har­iscandra as icons of renewal to theirregional literary histories, and alsohow detailed examination of theirlives and works complicates their sta­tus as national heroes. Hariscandraacknowledged his failure to make thevariety of Hindi that is known as khariboli Hindi as poetically attractive asBrajbhasa. In addition, several gener­ations of critics have pointed outMichael Madhusudan’s failure tomaintain the heroic tone in his epicM eghnadbadh Kavya. These are illus­trations of the conflict between thepoets’ internalized tendencies andtheir stated intentions.

Kabi-matrbhasa, orBangabhasaBengali sonnet, by Michael Madhusudan Datta, i860

(Upon turning back to Bengali after attempting to be a poet in English)

O Bengal! Such a crowd of gems in your treasury,Yet ignorant me, I neglected them all and travelled to foreign lands

Drunk with the lure of the wealth of othersI adopted a beggar’s ways at that evil hour

And spent many days bereft of comfort and happiness.Sacrificing slumber and food, 1 dedicated body and soul.

Fixed on a boon that could never be granted.I sank myself in fruitless austerity, I sported in slimyWeed-filled waters, forgetting my native lotus grove,

Until forgiving Lakshmi, my ancestors’ goddess, spoke in a dream:‘My child! Such a richness of gems in your mother’sTreasure-chest, and you in this beggar’s dress today!

Go back, unknowing one, go back to your home!’Happily, I obeyed her command, and in time

Once more found my mother tongue-That precious mine laced with a bounty of gems.

While the growth of prose litera­ture in the nineteenth century is ofundeniable importance, poetic gen­res which had wide currency at thetime have often been overlooked.The separate projects I am pursuingare meant to contribute to compara­tive literary study across the regionsand languages of South Asia. The ac­tive exchange which has long existedamong literatures in different South

Asian languages has been neglectedin favour of the critical emphasis onthe relationship with Western litera­ture. Turning the attention of schol­ars towards literary connectionsamong the South Asian regionsthemselves may help to dispell someof the myopia that has resulted fromdependence on more accessible gen­res and languages. ■

Sogaree Sengupta is Visiting Assistant Professor Languages and Cultures of Asia and teachesHindi and Urdu at the Center for South Asia, University o f Wisconsin, Madison,Wisconsin, USA.

E-mail: sagaree@uts.cc.utexas.edu

The InternetA virtu a l public sphereThe various contributions in this section it have shown howmodem writing in South Asian languages has evolved with theformation o f new communities and public spheres. Literaturehas closely followed this development, as it appeared in mediasuch as newspapers, journals, and magazines which also fea­tured news and political essays. The printed periodicals havebeen very important for the rapid distribution o f new styles orgenres o f writing. Books are expensive and have a notablysmaller readership than the many literary journals and maga­zines. In all the languages o f the Indian Subcontinent, maga­zines have provided opportunities for the debut o f young writ­ers, debates on literature and culture, and literary criticism.

zines in South Asia. The contents ofthese periodicals consist of contribu­tions of poetry and short stories bytiro authors, and literary reviews.Many of the magazines are based out­side South Asia and seem to fulfil adouble-sided role: for many SouthAsians in the USA, Canada, or else­where, they are an outlet for literarycreations and discussions on cultureor literature and function in the sameway as printed literary periodicals doin India. Yet, being based on writingin English, they are part of the cultur­al life of the immigrant communityoutside South Asia and mainly reflectthe culture clashes and other experi­ences of this specific community,while still maintaining the link withSouth Asian culture.

By T H O M A S DE BRUIJN

he format of theseperiodicals differsgreatly: from small

f A j l private publications aim-n Sh I ed at a specific audience

to large glossy publica­tions with a nation-wide or interna­tional readership. The tuning of thecontents of these publications to thewishes of the audiences allowed for acertain ‘patronage’ by the readers,while advertisements provided an­other significant source of income.With the changes in middle-classculture and the rise of a new form of‘consumerism’, television, film, andinternational English magazineshave taken over from the local peri­odicals. Yet, a large number of publi­cations has survived and still playsan important role in the presenta­tion of new literary trends, newviews on criticism, and in hostingpolitical and cultural discussions.

The latest stage in the developmentof mass-media for public debate andliterary publications is the emergenceof magazines, newspapers, and jour­nals on the Internet. Almost all o f theleading newspapers are also availableon the Internet with digital issues,ranging from weekly digests to full-fledged news-services such as the siteof the English newspaper The Hindu(www.hinduonline.com), modelledon the example of CNN.com and theBBC Online. The possibilities forsmall, low-cost publication enterpris­es or even private initiatives on the In­ternet are boundless. With a limitedamount of investment, even muchless than the sum needed for a printedpublication, a far greater number ofpotential readers can be reached, espe­cially those South Asians who live andwork abroad.

It is an interesting phenomenonthat the various smaller Internetmagazines have used the format andoutlook of the printed literary maga-

PortalsEnglish writing is in most cases the

common link for the readers andwriters who use this new form ofpublication and communication, butthere are also e-magazines which arebased on writing in a South Asian lan­guage. In this case, the Internet is amedium which can bring togethermembers of a community with amore direct link with local cultures inSouth Asia. In this respect the Inter­net publications reflect the practice ofpress and publishing which hasshaped the outlook of modern SouthAsian literature and periodicals. Forthe development of post-colonialwriting in English by South Asian au­thors who have in most cases grownup outside the region, these media oc­cupy a position that is similar to thatof the earlier printed periodicals inSouth Asia. This similarity seems toprovide a level of consecration that isessential to recognition and the at­tainment of a position in the literaryfield. In Hindi literature, for instance,

the scene of the magazines providedan important forum for innovationand development of a literary avant-garde in the years after Independence.

The latest phenomenon on the In­ternet is the ‘portal’. For users of theWorldWideWeb, it is convenient tohave a start page which comes upwhen starting the browser. This pagecontains all sorts of links, news, infor­mation, or advertisements. The por­tals reflect a certain identity and havebecome favourite targets for enter­prises which want to exploit the com­mercial possibilities of the Internet.This has led to a large number of por­tals, including those based on a specif­ic ethnic or linguistic background.There is a certain overlap with digitalmagazines, but the portals are de­signed to influence the ‘surfing’ be­haviour of the users much more di­rectly. Portals targeted at the SouthAsian web user, such as www.orienta-tion.com, offer services like e-mail inHindi and specific news of the region.A mix of an electronic magazine in the‘traditional’ style and a portal isChowk (www.chowk.com) with agreater emphasis on participation bywriters, reviewers, and debaters.

The Internet can be seen as the lat­est stage in the development of a pub­lic sphere where members of a com­munity formulate and exchange ideasor literary works and where identitiesare formed. All through the history ofmodern writing in South Asian lan­guages exposure in the public spherehas been a central force in the devel­opment of literature, essay writing,and other genres. With modernitycame the diaspora of South Asians toall parts of the world, forced or volun­tary. This process created a communi­ty and a cultural identity in whichhome and origin took on new mean­ings. Despite huge distances and diffi­

cult circumstances, writing in thelanguages of South Asia provided alink with the region of origin as wellas with fellow immigrants. The possi­bilities for communication without acentre among a widely spread out ‘vir­tual’ community on the Internet hasgiven rise to a new form of publish­ing. Departing from formats and con­tent that are linked to the early histo­ry of the field of modem South Asianliterature, this initiative will explorethe many possibilities of post-mod­ern publishing. ■

A fe w linksto digitalpublications

http://www.monsoonmag.comhttp://www.chowk.comhttp://www.sulekha.comhttp://www.orientation.comhttp://www.zameen.comhttp://www.south-asian-initiative.org/sanam/http://www.dawn.comhttp://members.xoom.com/southasia/http://www.indiastar.comhttp://www.parabaas.com (Bengali)http://www.jaalmag.comhttp://www.himalmag.comhttp://www.mp.nic.in/panchayika/http://www.rajasthanpatrika.com/http:// www.indiatimes.com

February 2000 • has n e w s l e t t e r N°2i • 1 3

R E G I O N A L N E WS

CentralAsia

A F G H A N I S T A N • K A Z A K H S T A N

K Y R G Y Z S T A N • M O N G O L I A

T A J I K I S T A N • T I B E T

T U R K M E N I S T A N • U Z B E K I S T A N

X I N J I A N G - U Y G U R

The Samantabhadra ArchivesThe Nyingm a Tantras Research Project’The Samantabhadra Archives’ is an electronic and collabora­tive project designed to facilitate the reproduction, analysis,translation, and interpretation o f one o f the most importantreligious canons ofTibetan Buddhism, namely ‘The CollectedTantras o f the Ancients (rNying ma’i rgyud ‘bum]’. The projectis technologically innovative in its basis on Standard General­ized Markup Language [SGML] and Extensible Markup Lan­guage (XML) to ensure ease o f access via the World Wide Web,enhanced search and analysis capability, and complete cross­platform compatibility. In addition, we are working towardsthe use o f Unicode-compliant Tibetan language fonts as thesebecome viable. Institutionally, it is based at the Institute forAdvanced Technology in the Humanities at the University o fVirginia and the Centre for Social Anthropology and Comput­ing at the University o f Kent at Canterbury, and is co-directedby David Germano and Robert Mayer.

■ By D A V ID G E R M A N O ANDROBERT MAYER

wmmTIBETOLOGICALCOLLECTIONS &ARCHIVES SERIES

The following article by David Germano andRobert Mayer describing The Samanta­bhadra Archives: the Nyingma Tantras ResearchProject is the first in a series devoted to im­portant projects on cataloguing,'computeri­zation' (inputting and scanning), editing, andtranslation of important Tibetan languagetext-collections and archives. In the follow­ing issues of the HAS Newsletter, variouscolleagues will briefly present their initia­tives to a larger public, or, as the case maybe, update the scholarly world on theprogress of their already well-establishedprojects. Some are high-profile projects, ofwhich at least Tibetologists will generally beaware, yet some may also be less well-known. Nevertheless, I trust that it will beuseful to be informed or updated on allthese initiatives and I also hope that theprojects presented will profit from the ex­posure and the response that this coveragewill engender. If you are interested in any ofthe projects described, feel free to contactthe author of the article. In case you wouldlike to introduce your own (planned) workin the field, please contact the editor of theHAS Newsletter or the author of this intro­duction. We should very much like to en­courage our contributors to keep us in­formed on the progress of their projects byregular updates.

The next contribution in this series willbe by Yasuhiko Nagano on his Bon project(based at the National Museum for Ethnolo­gy in Osaka,Japan). ■

ResearchProject T

HEN K BLEZER

Research fellow HASE-mail: Blezer@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

@EUJ

he Collected Tantraso f the Ancients is oneof the most crucial,

but least studied, collec­tions of pre-fifteenth cen­tury translations and in­

digenous compositions in TibetanBuddhism. This collection currentlyexists in at least six variant editions:the sDe dge,gTing skyes, mTshams brag,Waddell, sKyigrong (in two forms) andthe Bai ro r^yud 'bum. We are activelyseeking out other editions said toexist in Bhutan and Nepal, for exam­ple: partial collections of related oridentical materials also exist in somebKa’ ‘gyur and bsTan ‘gyur editions,and elsewhere. Although there is abasic core set of texts, there are con­siderable variations from edition toedition, even with respect to theircontents. All are based on the tripar­tite classification scheme of Atiyoga,Anuyoga, and Mabyoga, with the ex­ception of the Bai ro r^yud ‘bum, whichis an exclusively Atiyoga-based collec­tion. Moreover, individual texts maybe found in other smaller collectionsor on their own. All together, The Col­lected Tantras o f the Ancients containsmore than a thousand unique textsthat are not found in any other Ti­betan scriptural collection. Many ofthe texts are translations into the Ti­betan language, and are attributed toa wide variety of Chinese, Indian, andCentral Asian authors; however,many of the texts appear likely to beindigenous Tibetan compositions.

Until now, only one of these edi­tions, the Tingkyay [gting skyes), haseven been indexed (in a Japanesepublication by E. Kaneko); other edi­tions remain unindexed, much lessanalysed. Moreover, until now onlylimited scholarship on these textshas emerged in contemporary acade­mic circles, few critical editions ofeven the individual texts have beenpublished, and the historical rela­tionships between the various edi­tions have yet to be adequately

analysed. For these reasons, researchinto these texts represents an impor­tant and relatively underdevelopedfield of Tibetan and Buddhist stud­ies. Although Canonical Studies hasrecently emerged as a central topic inTibetan Studies, research to date hasfocused largely on analysis o f the twonormative collections of translationsof texts: the bK a ’ ‘gynr, attributed tovarious Buddhas, and the bsTan ‘gynr,attributed to miscellaneous Indianauthors. Despite its crucial impor­tance, however, The Collected Tantraso f the N yingm a has previously beenlargely overlooked within this devel­oping field of research.

Multimedia environm entThe Samantabhadra Archives is a sig­

nificant attempt to redress this situa­tion. The initial aim is to index com­prehensively each individual editionof The Collected Tantras o f the Nyingmain SGML and XML, and create a mas­ter cross-referenced index. The secondmajor goal is to create digital imagesof the original manuscripts alongwith electronic editions that can thenbe searched and reformatted usingUnicode Tibetan script fonts. Thethird aim is to utilize these differentelectronic editions systematically tofacilitate the creation of critical edi­tions. This will allow scholars to de­termine the historical relationshipsbetween the various editions, and willyield valuable insight into their his­torical development. The fourth aimis to solicit translations of each text,which will eventually result in theentire collection being translated intomodern European languages.

Our long-term plan is that eachtext will have associated with it a re­search archive of translations, digi­tized images of the original manu­script, editions of the original Ti­betan, analytical summaries, text crit­ical analysis, relevant iconographicimages, and so on. All of these materi­als will be interlinked via SGML/XMLthrough the catalogues, so that a plu­rality of editions, research, and con­textualizing information can be ac­cessed through the catalogues of thetexts. To facilitate this, we plan tolaunch a refereed electronic journalthat will provide an important acade­mic forum for publication of relevantresearch. Our orientation is interdis­ciplinary, and we will be actively so­liciting participation by philologists,historians, historians of religion, an­thropologists, art historians, literaryspecialists, and so forth.

The use of Standard GeneralizedMarkup Language (SGML) and Exten­sible Markup Language (XML) will

greatly enhance scholars’ ability tosearch and analyse a vast amount oftextual material. In addition to en­abling a wide range of sophisticatedoperations, it will create a multime­dia environment for the display of in­dexes, cross-references, texts, transla­tions, and analyses that will be Uni-code-compliant and Internet-accessi­ble. In short, the use of SGML/XML inthis project will maximize the func­tionality of these materials as researchaids and insure their continued use­fulness well into the future. Anotheressential goal is to create a diverse butinterlinked set of electronic controlsand co-ordinating mechanisms forthe networked management of such acomplex collaborative project based atmultiple centres. This will open theproject to the wider scholarly com­munity with automated proceduresfor handling the different types ofdata in ways that minimize adminis­trative labour, automate record keep­ing, and facilitate efficient exchange.

In this way scholars in any countrywill be able not only to access thesematerials, but also to contribute theirown translations, analyses, etc., to theevolving database with no difficulty.

By the beginning of 2000 we plan tohave a public release of an initial ver­sion of the Archives over the WWW(http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/tibet/), which will consist of a partialform of the mTshams bra j edition’s cat­alogue. Over the course of 2000, the sitewill be gradually updated with thegoal of completion of the mTshams bragedition’s catalogue by June 1,2000. Thecatalogue for the Waddell edition is duein 2001. Preliminary work on the othereditions has begun, but the timeschedule for them is partially depen­dent on pending funding requests.This initial public release will be ac­companied by the launching of an in­terdisciplinary electronic journal de­voted to Tantric studies in Tibetan cul­ture with a strong emphasis on therNying ma and Bon po traditions. ■

David Germano, University ofVirginia,Dept of Religious Studies,E-mail: germano@virginia.edu:Robert Mayer, Gastprofessor TebetologieZentralasien Seminar, Von HumboldtUniversitat, e-mail: r.mayer@ukc.ac.uk

By J U H A J A N H U N E N

ee Feigon, a historyprofessor fromMaine, sets out to

counter such myths andtries to convince hisreaders of the opposite -

that Tibet is not a part of China but aseparate country that was de factoindependent until the Communistinvasion in 15150, or even until the‘democratic’ reforms and the exile ofthe Dalai Lama in 15152. Even thoughit is true, large parts o f Tibet had ear­lier already been absorbed into theChinese provinces o f Gansu, Qing-hai, and Sichuan.

Considering the fact that Feigonclaims to be ‘demystifying’Tibet, hisapproach may be regarded as some­what idealistic. The concept ofGreater China, comprising Tibet,Mongolia, and Eastern Turkestan, isnot an invention of the communistgovernment - it has far more ancientroots in history. Formally Tibet has

A Voice for TibetIf there is anything that unites Chinese people o f all persua­sions, it is the Chinese view on Tibet. Communist or nationalist,mainland or overseas, cadre or dissident, virtually all Chineseagree on that Tibet is an inalienable part o f the Chinese mother­land. To promulgate this view the Chinese resort to legends,such as the tale o f the Tang princess, Wencheng, who marriedthe Tibetan king, Songtsen Gambo, in the 8th century, thus al­legedly sealing the union o f the two nations for all time to come.

even been a part of China since it wasannexed by the Manchus around1720. In the first place the territorialidentity of modern China reflectsthat of the Manchu state.

For those who aspire to an inde­pendent Tibet, Feigon’s book is apainful reminder of the vicissitudesof history. So little would have beenrequired to make the dream cometrue, if only the right decisions hadbeen made at the right time. But oneopportunity after another was lost,and in the end everyone can beblamed for indecision and inconsis­tency: Britain, India, the US andTibet itself whose 20th centuryrulers found the task of creating amodern nation beyond them. Theonly nation of which Tibet policyhas been both consistent and suc­cessful is China.

Even more painfully, however,Feigon is right in that the destruc­tive developments in Tibet are accel­erating at an alarming pace. WhileTibet has had its share of Chinese ^

1 4 • has n e w s l e t t e r N?2i • February 2000 For new pub lica tions in Asian Studies, p lease refer to pp. 34-42

C E N T R A L A S I A

Political Reformsin MongoliaThe disintegration o f the socialist system, which was one ofthe remarkable events which took place at the end o f the 1980sand the beginning o f 1990s throughout the world, opened uppossibilities o f making essential changes in the socio-econom­ic life o f former socialist countries. Coincidentally, with therenewals going on in the Soviet Union and East Europeancountries, the same process began to happen in Asian socialistcountries, in Mongolia in particular. As in other socialistcountries, Mongolia was ruled by a single-party political sys­tem, Marxist-Leninist philosophy had to be worshipped dog­matically, and every effort was made to implement this by anymeans whatsoever.

■ By N. ALTANTSETSEG

f a f he existing central-| ized planned econ-

JL omy was based onstate ownership. Humanrights, freedoms, andbasic principles of demo­

cracy were violated to a great extent.So the climate in Mongolia was rightfor a strong movement to develop toovercome this situation, by changingthe political and economic systemsand developing the country in a de­mocratic way. From its inception thedemocratic movement in Mongoliawas characterized more by politicalfeatures rather than economic ones.The late S. Zorig, General Co-ordina­tor of the Mongolian DemocraticUnion, who was killed in dubiouscircumstances, once said the follow­ing: ‘The goal and the guideline ofMongolian Democratic movement of

cultural influence over the cen­turies, it was virtually free of Chi­nese physical presence until the Cul­tural Revolution. It has only beenduring the last two decades that eth­nic Chinese have infiltrated Tibet ona massive scale. Ironically, much ofthis is due to the economic openingup and increasing prosperity ofChina.

Since China’s prosperity is in every­body’s interest, there is no hope ofgetting help from the internationalcommunity. Tibet would also be wiseto refrain from looking for sympathyfrom Taiwan - a government whichhas not even recognized Mongolia.Indeed, Tibet activists had better for­get about independence altogether -the crucial thing today is survival.The only viable option for Tibetwould seem to be the Hong Kongmodel. But the real problem is thatChina has few reasons to make anyconcessions on the Tibet issue. ■

- Feigon, LeeDemystifying Tibet: Histoty, culture,peoplefrom its seventh-century originsto the present dayLondon: Profile Books, 1996,ISBN 1-566-63089-4

Professor Juha Janhunen chairs theDepartment o f East Asian Languages andCultures at the University o f HelsinkiJP 59,FI 00014, Helsinki, Finland.

Mongolia is to transfer to a multipar­ty system, adopt a law about politicalparties, to put an end to the predom­inant rulership of one party, tochange the People’s Great Khuralinto a permanently working Parlia­ment, and the establishment of acommission on human rights’.

New political organizations com­menced their activities. Parties and or­ganizations like the New Develop­ment Union, the Democratic SocialistMovement, the Mongolian Green Par­ty, the Mongolian Social DemocraticParty, the Mongolian National Devel­opment Party, and the MongolianFree Labour Party were established.They have not only swelled in num­bers, they have widened the frame­work of their activities as well. As a re­sult of the stalwart struggle and thepersistent urging by Mongolian de­mocratic forces, the Central Commit­tee of the MPRP called an urgentmeeting at which it made the decisionthat the Political Bureau and all partysecretaries should be dismissed com­pletely.

PluralismThis 1990 decision marked a democ­

ratic revolution won by peacefulmeans, forcing an authoritarian re­gime to collapse, and it created thepolitical and legal foundations for es­tablishing a democratic political sys­tem in Mongolia. It opened up possi­bilities for eliminating the singleparty ideology and for establishingconditions for pluralism. It unlockedpossibilities for the socialist central­ized economy to transform into amarket economy and for the creationof free competition among the eco­nomic units in the country. It createdthe social and legal environment nec­essary for the implementation ofdemocracy, human rights, and free­doms, for putting people at the centreof social life.

The process of political renewal inMongolia can be divided into the fol­lowing stages:1. The stage of transition from a one-

party system to a system with a per­manently working parliament, be­tween December 1990 and July 1992.The main features of this stagewere:

- The multi-party system was intro­duced and any problems whicharose were solved by the politicalpowers on the basis of discussionsand compromise.

- The Administration of the Presi­dent of Mongolia was establishedin order to solve problems by peace­

ful means. Without this, the con­flict between the old system andthe new could have ruptured thepristine state administrative mech­anism.

- At this time the State Baga Khural(Small Parliament) continued toconduct the matters of state untilthe new Constitution was adoptedand the new permanent Parliamentbegan its work. In the Baga Khural,the highest legislative body, theseats were divided as follows: theMPRP - 31, the Mongolian Develop­ment Party, and the Mongolian So­cial Democratic Party 3 each.

- During the first democratic elec­tions held in 1990, the number ofdeputies was increased from 370 to430 and taking the proposals of theparties into consideration a newstate Baga Khural was established.

- It was decided to discuss the newconstitution and present it to theParliament to be ratified.

- During the elections of 1990, thedeputies to all the levels of the khu-rals were elected. Four hundred andthirty people were elected to theBaga Khural and about 13,000deputies to the local khurals.

- T h e former ruling party won 68seats and the democratic forces 32seats in the Baga Khural. Thismeant that the MPRP had a freehand to arrange its own cabinet,nevertheless it was composed insuch way that D. Ganbold from theMongolian National DevelopmentParty and Dorligjav from the Mon­golian Democratic party were ap­pointed as deputy-prime ministers.So 14 members or 87.5 per cent ofthe Cabinet were drawn from theMPRP, with the Mongolian Na­tional Development Party and theMongolian Democratic Party hav­ing one person each giving them12.5 per cent.This transitional system lasted till

July 1992 and the working principlesof the Great Khural and the Govern­ment were described in the supple­ment to the Constitution. The princi­ples of the new democratic systemwere thoroughly worked out and,after it had been discussed by the pop­ulation of the country, the New Con­stitution of Mongolia was adopted onJanuary 13,1992. The principles of thestate activities and the composition ofthe state organizations were set out init. The Constitution says that ‘theGreat Khural of Mongolia is the high­est state governing body and the leg­islative rights belong to the GreatKhural only. The Great Khural hasone chamber and seventy-six mem­bers, members of the Great Khural areelected by the citizens on the basis offree, direct elections’. ‘The President isthe Head of the State person whosymbolizes unity of the country.’ TheConstitution states unequivocally:‘The Government is the highest exec­utive body.’

P ecu liarThe New Constitution declares

Mongolia to be a parliamentary re­public. It divides the power betweenthe Great Khural as the legislativebody, the executive bodies (Presidentas the Head of the State and the Gov­ernment), and the judicial body, theCourt. But it is peculiar because it hassome features of a presidential state.The president who is elected by thewhole population has the right to

veto the decisions on the laws adoptedby the Parliament and the Parliamentcan reject the veto if two-thirds of itsmembers vote to do so. The presidentappoints the judges, but the courtswork independently. The supreme ex­ecutive body must report its actionsto the supreme legislative body. Theconstitution provides possibilities forall these bodies to work independent­ly, but at the same time has built-inmechanisms for mutual control andbalance. The democratic system creat­ed the Constitutional Court which isthe highest body to protea the ad­ministration of justice and controlthe implementation of the constitu­tion.2. The stage of establishing a perma­

nently working Parliament, the pe­riod after July 1992. The outstand­ing features of this period havebeen:

- The Parliament has been electedtaking the programmes of the par­ties and the real situation in thecountry into consideration.

- Human rights have been declaredto be the most precious item in thepolitical sphere.

- A mechanism was created which al­lows the minority to put a check onthe activities of the majority in theParliament.Since 1992 when the new Constitu­

tion was adopted, two parliamentaryand two presidential elections havetaken place. In the 1992 elections tothe Parliament, the Mongolian De­mocratic Party, the National Develop­ment Party and the Mongolian Unit­ed Parties formed a union which con­tested the eleaions as a single body.The Mongolian Social DemocraticParty participated independently. Atthese elections the MPRP won 71seats. The Union of the MongolianDemocratic Party, the National De­velopment Party, and the MongolianUnited Parties four and the Social De­mocratic Party one seat. The MPRPgained beneficial experience in partic­ipating in elections, and besides this,the participation of a number of dif­ferent small parties influenced the re­sults of elections. And at that time notmuch trust was evinced in the newyoung parties.- At the presidential elections, which

were held not long after the parlia­mentary ones, the Mongolian Na­tional Demoaatic Party united it­self with many small democraticparties and together with the Mon­golian Social Demoaatic Party putforward the name of P. Ochirbat aspresidential candidate. At the firstpresidential elections P. Ochirbatwon by 57.8 per cent.

- At the regular parliamentary elec­tions in 1996, the National Democ­ratic Party and the Social Democ­ratic party organized the ‘Democ­ratic Union Association’ to partici­pate in the elections. The ‘Democ­ratic Union Association’ won fiftyseats, the MPRP won 25 and theMongolian Traditional UnitedParty 1 seat.At the first session of the newly

elected parliament, which took placeon July 18,1996, a member of the So­cial Democratic Party R. Gonchigdorjwas elected as speaker of the Parlia­ment and a member of the Demoaat­ic Party, Ts. Elbegdorj, as deputyspeaker. The next day, the Associationstarted to organize its cabinet headedby M. Enkhsaikhan. N. Bagabandi

worked as the leader of the MPRPgroup of the Parliament.

The elections showed the faith ofMongolians in their espousal of thedemocratic way of development, thehonouring of human rights, and theadvantages of the market economy.People put a great deal of trust in thenew state. This did not mark the endof the struggle in the Mongolian po­litical arena. During this period oftime the MPRP put a full stop behindits earlier activities and managed torevise its policy, which brought betterresults. For example, at the presiden­tial elections of 1997, the candidatefrom the MPRP, N. Bagabandi, wonthe election gaining 60.8 per cent ofthe votes. The MPRP was also quitesuccessful in the elections after 1993.

The recent rise in the MPRP’s pres­tige can be explained by the fact that,although the main guidelines of thepolicy of Demoaatic Union wereright, it has made some mistakes dur­ing their implementation. The Asso­ciation has produced four new gov­ernments in the 3 years since July 19,1996. Now the fourth government hastaken office. The frequent changes ingovernment are connected with thedifficulties of the transition period.

During the process of privatization,many former state-owned enterpriseswere closed down as a result of whichthe number of unemployed rose. Thiscaused a fall in the standard living ofthe population, which was the reasonfor the dismissal of the first demoaa­tic government. The second govern­ment failed to accomplish the over­haul and development of the Mongo­lian banking system. The third gov­ernment was dismissed in connectionwith problem of the Mongolian-Russian joint combine ‘Erdenet’. Nowthe fourth government is ensconced.It is headed by the Prime Minister R.Amarjargal.

From all which has been said aboveit is evident that there is conflict be­tween the political system and theeconomic system arising from thetransition to the market economy.Difficulties which have occurred dur­ing this transition period have had anadverse influence on the minds ofpeople. In other words, economic dif­ficulties have influenced the politicalsituation. Deterred by the mistakesmade by the Democratic Union, peo­ple have turned to the MPRP in in­creasing numbers. It is clear that atthe elections to be held in 2000 peoplewill give their votes to those forceswhich they feel might be able to solvesocio-economic problems which arebeing faced by the country.

Nowadays the situation requiresparty and political forces which canimprove the living conditions of peo­ple and pull the country out of theeconomic crisis. Whatever happensMongolia should not and will notturn away from the demoaatic way ofdevelopment. We are confident thatin the near fixture the country shallovercome its present economic diffi­culties. ■

Dr N. Altantsetseg, an HAS visitingexchange fellow (Mongolian Academyof Science) can be reached at:E-mail: iiasguest8@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

For more information on institutes of Central Asian Studies, p lease refer p. 60 of the Pink Pages February 2000 • IIAS NEWSLETTER >4521 • 1 5

R E G I O N A L N E WS

SouthAsia

B A N G L A D E S H • B H U T A N

I N D I A • NE P A L

P A K I S T A N • SRI L A N K A

South Asia EditorA U T U M N 1 9 9 9U N I V E R S I T Y O F W I S C O N S I N , U S A

N e tty B onouvrié The M adisonNetty Bonouvrié worked as a chemical analyst in a medical lab­oratory until she decided to pursue her interest in culturaland linguistic studies. She took up Indology in Utrecht andspecialized in the religions o f India. She is currently roundingoff her PhD and works as an academic documentalist at theDocumentatiecentrum Zuid-Azië, at the University o f Leiden.Since its inception Netty Bonouvrié has been South Asia Edi­tor for the IIAS Newsletter.

hat is the subjecto f your doctoralresearch?

My PhD is a literary studyof the Bhakti tradition ofnorthern India, in the

turbulent period 1300 to 1550. Duringthat time many religious movementswere in contact with one another.Bhakti (literally: devotion) is a Hindumovement which spread from thesouth. We can distinguish two maintypes of North Indian Bhakti: one isSaguna, the branch that thinks of thegods personified in Krishna or Rama,the other is Nirguna, the type that ad­vocates faith in an impersonal Being.A link between Nirguna Bhakti andSufism has always been suspected,but no serious research had yet beenconducted to establish this. I hope topresent my results next year.

Canyou describeyour work atthe Documentatiecentrum Zuid-Azië?In my current job I keep track of the

political, social, and economic devel­opments in South Asia, more specifi­cally India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Mal­dives, and Tibet. I co-ordinate the ad­ministration ofjournals. These, alongwith the books we acquire, are kept inthe Kern Institute Library. Here, Imaintain a collection of video tapesand grey literature. I am also settingup a database which will be madeavailable on the Internet in the fu­ture.

The main task of the Documen­tatiecentrum is to answer questionsposed by governmental departments,schools, lawyers, the Hindu Broad­casting Company, etc. To give one ex­ample: a Sikh, when applying for a jobin the Netherlands, once insisted onworking in his complete traditionalcostume, including his sword. Wewere asked by his worried future em­ployer whether this was to be consid­ered a sign of aggression. In this case Icould inform him about the customsof the various groups of Sikhs. Atother times, I refer to specialists in thefield, for example, in case of questionsabout the Kashmir dispute.

You are a lecturer on top o f that?Though I hold no official post as a

lecturer, I teach parts of courses onHinduism and on ContemporarySouth Asia. In the latter, Jos Gom-mans and I focus on a new subjecteach time and we encourage our stu­dents to make use of newspapers,journals, and the Internet. This year’stopic will be The Identity Crisis inSouth Asia: Nationalism and funda­mentalism in India and Pakistan’. .

Doyou plan to continue these tasksinjuture?As a matter of fact, I am getting

more and more interested in ModemIndia and modem Hinduism myselfOne option after finishing my PhDwould be to conduct further researchon contemporary issues. I also plan tocontinue teaching and working at theDocumentatiecentrum, and to starttravelling to South Asia again, after afour-and-a-half year break duringwhich my son was born.

How doyou performj/our South Asiaeditorship fo r the IIAS Newsletter?Through my work of course I re­

ceive a wealth of information. I keeptrack of conferences, and many arti­cles are sent to the IIAS on people’spersonal initiative. I think we presenta reasonably balanced overview of thestate of affairs in South Asian Studies,there are often contributions rangingfrom anthropology to classical Indol­ogy. We could present more politicaland economic issues and we couldcertainly devote more attention tocountries like Bhutan and Bang­ladesh. It would also be interesting tohear more from such fields as healthcare, environmental studies, wildlifeprotection, etc. ■ (EvdH)

S outh AsiaC onference 1515)5)The Madison South Asia Conference, which is organized eachautumn by the Centre for South Asia o f the University o f Wis­consin, is arguably the most important academic event for so­cial scientists interested in this particular geographical region.Gathering anthropologists, historians, textual students, politi­cal scientists and others from all parts o f the United States andabroad, it provides for almost three days of discussion on a widevariety o f subjects. In 1999, approximately 450 people attendedthe 28th annual conference. Regretfully, however, only a hand­ful o f Europeans and residents o f South Asia were present.

N etty Bonouvrié can be reached at bonouvne@rullet.leidenuniv.nl.

By MAART E N BAVINCK

ut why Madison ofall places? Thisspacious l i t t l e

Midwestern city, electedby Money magazine asthe USA’s No. 1 place to

live, is certainly pleasant, even when- as during this year’s event - itsstreets are thronged by men,women, and children dressed in thered and white garb of the local foot­ball team (luckily, the home teamwon). But it is small, not especiallyeasy to reach, and its South Asia de­partment, although of good quality,is not renowned. Why then do schol­ars, both those with well-earned rep­utations as those just starting out,gather in this particular place? Whatexplains the number of fascinatingpanels, the impressive papers, andthe high level of discussions? Inshort, what makes this such a won­derful conference to attend? The an­swer to this question probably doesnot differ from the one of why such-and-such a place in South Asia hasbecome a religious pilgrimage centre- chance, individual volitions, a par­ticular chain of events. Seen in thislight, Madison is the Madurai, theBenares, of South Asia scholarship -at least for a few days a year.

The 1999 South Asia Conferenceincluded no less than 75 panels, avideo festival (with 16 films), fourround tables, a book exhibit and aplenary session on human rights.The keynote address was deliveredby Dr Ved Pratab Vaidik, journalistand chairman of the Council for In­dian Foreign Policy, on the topic ofGlobal terrorism: threat to worldpeace.

What about the panels? Thesecatered to a large range of scholarlyinterests, including religious studies(e.g. Controversies and contested is­

sues in Buddhist Studies), textualstudies (e.g. Yuganta: reading Ma-habharata as another millenniumwinds down), history (e.g. Financingwar, trade and industry: early mod­ern social and economic history),gender studies (e.g. National identi­ty and the women question), politi­cal science (e.g. Perspectives of Indi­an polity), economics (e.g. State-pri­vate sector debate in India), and an­thropology (e.g. Identity shiftsacross time, place, and language).However, this year’s conference alsodisplayed some biases. Geographi­cally, attention centred on NorthIndia, with other parts of South Asiareceiving considerably less atten­tion. To my European eyes, the lowincidence of panels on topics of so­cial anthropology and contemporarydevelopment issues was also surpris­ing. Discussions tended to be elevat­ed and culturally oriented, therebyoverlooking many of the Subconti­nental population’s daily concerns.But, of course, there were exceptionstoo, such as the interesting panel onStruggle for social justice and identi­ty: issues of dalits and Buddhism inIndia.

ExaggerationEvery participant in the confer­

ence will have his or her own list ofhighlights. For me, being a staunchlover of South India and the Tamillanguage, the panel on Literarymetamorphoses, Tamil and othertraditions, chaired by George Hart,was a special delight. This expertpanel discussed various Old Tamilliterary texts, placing them in thelanguage contexts of their time. Oneof the conclusions was that one sim­ply cannot study Indian languagesin isolation.

Another of my favourite panelswas called Performing the political.Chaired by Sunita Mukhi of the Asia

Society in New York, it consideredways in which performances such astheatre, song, or dance are used toaddress political issues. The fact thatall of the speakers are active per­formers themselves gave added valueto the panel. One of the ‘papers’ -centred on two video fragments -was shocking to a person accus­tomed to Indian gender roles. By ex­panding on and exaggerating aHindi film dancer’s performance, itformed a lurid commentary on theposition and expectations of Indianwomen.

This brings me to another point.South Asia Studies in North Americais fast becoming the domain ofscholars who come from the regionitself Many of them have beentrained, and have then chosen towork, in the United States. Their in­volvement has brought in new skills(such as language) and insights intothe field. It also infuses many discus­sions with the fervour of the questfor identity - with the questionsthese scholars have about them­selves, their backgrounds, and theirposition in society. From the mus-ings of armchair academics dis­cussing ‘the Other’ in Indian society,conferences like this thus now alsotalk about ‘us’, the members of thediaspora. This makes them morethan just academic events.

And then, finally, my own panel,entitled India’s fisheries: social andecological impact of globalizationand economic development. Al­though this panel was ‘ghosted’ tothe end of the conference when al­most everyone had already left, itprovided a unique opportunity formeeting others and for comparingnotes. Hopefully we shall be able togive this initiative a follow-up innext year’s South Asia Conference.For, let me be clear, that is an event Ihope to attend.

The 29th Annual Conference onSouth Asia will take place October 13to 15, 2000. The deadline for the sub­mission of proposals is May 15, 2000.Further information can be pro­cured from www.wisc.edu/south-asia/conf/ ■

M aarten Bavinckis attached to the University o f Amsterdam.Email: bavinck@isg.frw.uva.nl

l 6 • IIAS n e w s l e t t e r "N?2i • F ebruary zooo For new publications in Asian Studies, p lease refer to pp. 34-42

S O U T H A S I A

An Indianfieldworkerin the 'NetherlandsReverseAnthropology?Anthropological or fieldwork-based studies o f the welfarestate are few and studies o f Western Europe by anthropolo­gists from Asia or the South are rare, making for a crucial pointo f departure in this study. It has been undertaken within theframework o f collaborative research between Indian andDutch scholars (IDPAD). It aims to address theoretical andpolicy debates centering on the interrelationships betweenstate, society, and gender, through case studies o f vulnerablecategories in the Netherlands.

■ By RAJ N I PALRIWALA

ver the last fiftyI 1 years an exten-

sive welfare sys­tem has been developedin the Netherlands. Witha booming economy, cit­

izenship and economic indepen­dence allowed individuals to bypassmediating social units and networksand deeply affected the material di­mensions, intensity, and emotionalcontent of personal relationships. Inbroad terms, this was a general pat­tern in much of Western Europe. TheDutch system ranked very high inconferring state benefits by familyunit rather than by individual. Whilesocial legislation transformed inter-generational responsibilities of fami­ly members towards each other, poli­cies assumed notions of gender / par­enting responsibilities as seen in theconcept of the male breadwinner andfull-time mother. This led to an un­equal division of benefits withinfamilies and earned the Dutch wel­fare system the reputation of beingsimultaneously progressive and tra­ditional.

Bowing to the pressures of the eco­nomic recession and the shift in theinternational balance of power, gov­ernment spending and West Euro­pean welfare systems have comeunder increasing pressure over thelast decade. Moreover, it is of interestthat even as cutbacks have becomethe benchmark in recent years, theDutch system has again received ac­colades. Among the terms in whichthe current retraction of the statewelfare system and its future havebeen argued are the moral implica­tions of ‘being on welfare’ and theneed to strengthen ‘social connected­ness’, revive ‘family values’ and re­duce the presence of the state. Simul­taneously, the process of individual­ization is stressed as inevitable anddesirable as is demonstrated in re­cent proposals in the Netherlands re­garding work-obligations of singleparents with infants.

In the first phases of the project,structural shifts in and the contem­porary debates regarding the futureof the Dutch welfare state and itsgendered conjunctions have been ex­amined by Maithreyi Krishna Raj,while Carla Risseeuw has analysedthe literature on and historical

trends in familial relationships inthe Netherlands. The two fieldworkfoci in the project are the age groupof 65+ (Kamala Ganesh) and singleparents (Rajni Palriwala), both in theRandstad and primarily within theLeiden municipality. The category ofsingle parents includes divorced,never-married, and widowed parents- both mothers and fathers. Some ofthe specific issues which arise per­tain to the gendered access to work,income, institutional support - stateor community based, and social net­works, the paucity of public child­care, changing marriage arrange­ments and inter-generational ties,child custody, financial responsibili­ties and care arrangements, and con­cepts of relatedness. Pervading thediscussions and the organization ofeveryday life are strongly ideologicalnotions of parenting (mothering)and upbringing. Despite the empha­sis on the individual, the cohabitingcouple appears as the core unit of so­cial life.

MystiqueFieldwork is not complete and I

think it is fruitful to look at some is­sues and problems raised by the field­work process itself, though considera­tions of space force me to condensethe discussion considerably. The rela­tionship between the anthropolo­gist/the researched-the field/the eth­nography has been taken centerstage in much of the recent critiqueof anthropological theory andethnography. There has been an at­tempt to dismantle the mystiquethat surrounded the creation ofethnography. However, there hasbeen minimal change in anthropo­logical and fieldwork practice in onedirection in particular. Obscured byall the clamour over globalization isthe continuing expectancy that so­cial science scholars from the Southare still expected to focus on theSouth, while scholars from the Northmay research either South or North.A number of presuppositions arethrown into disarray with the rever­sal of Asian scholars studying the‘West’. These include the interna­tional scale of power and ‘progress’that ranked the societies of the re­searcher above those being re­searched, in the mind of both thelayperson and the scholar. As is wellknown, the international economic

and political order is reflected in andmarkedly skews the distribution offunds in favour of scholars from theUSA and Western Europe. And theycontinue to predominate in studyingthemselves and others.

It was puzzling for many people -including some university colleaguesand prospective interviewees - as towhy an Indian should wish to studythe Netherlands. The possible an­swers others put to me were (x) to in­form people in India about theNetherlands; (2) there is much a poorcountry like India has to learn fromthe Netherlands; or (3) that the aimof the research is a comparison of thewelfare state and family in India andthe Netherlands. However, giventhat India and the Netherlands wereso vastly different in material wealthand values, the possible success of thesecond and third intentions weredoubted.

The desire to inform her/his ownsociety of another, learn from the‘Other’, and comparison are legiti­mate motivations for research as isbeing undertaken here and were notabsent from the founders’ and/or theresearchers’ motivations. However, Ithink it is useful to set these answers

‘A number o fpresuppositions are

thrown into disarraywith the reversal o f

Asian scholars studyingthe 'West’

against what would be the mostcommon answers and pedagogicalpropositions, even today, as to why ascholar from the North sets off tostudy a development programme orthe welfare state in the South. In thesimplest terms, the scholar from theNorth is to bring her/his consider­able non-partisan expertise toanalyse what is going wrong in theSouth and how it can be set right.The scholar from the North is under­taking the study to make policyinput primarily in or about theSouth, not in the North. The scholarfrom the North has something to tellthe members of the society she/he isstudying which they do not alreadyknow or understand about them­selves.

ReversalThat the negation rather than the

reversals of these propositions is de­sirable is germane. Nevertheless, forthe time being what is of interest isthat the reversals have rarely oc­curred to the range of people whoasked why Indians were studying theDutch welfare state. When they werearticulated, it was as irony. The re­versal of who studied who could notdislodge the pedagogical assump­tions, variously voiced or left unsaid,which filter development and an­thropological research. Perhaps it isbecause they are rooted in the above-

mentioned international economicand political order, little touched byglobalization.

One experience relevant to thisissue and the fieldworker-field rela­tionship is striking. About two-fifthsof my single parent informants inthis first round of fieldwork wereself-selected. A large number of themcame from ‘non-Dutch’, colouredbackgrounds or had had partnersfrom such a background. They choseto speak to an Indian researcher - anon-Dutch, coloured woman. Andmany had questions not just as towhy an Asian was doing this re­search, but about life and society inIndia.

Among the people who were themost ready to accept the legitimacyof an Indian researcher with the aimof producing input in the Nether­lands itself were some single parentinformants, despite my expressionsof personal scepticism regarding theextent of policy impact. Why was thisso? A crucial factor was their vulnera­ble position and their experiences ofthe ‘other side’ of the Netherlands.They needed to hope that thingscould change in their favour, but an­other aspect was also at work. Manyof them came to know me and of methrough an interview in a Leidennewspaper section devoted to Mu­nicipality information. I was withthe University. I was not an Indianalone, but with and of institutionsthat are believed to make policy in­puts. I could talk to civil servantsabout their and my work much moreeasily than their ‘clients’ could abouttheir problems. Thus the unequalpower relationship between the indi­vidual researcher and the infor­mants/ individuals researched hasnot been entirely reversed. This alsohighlights the immense symbolicpower of education in Dutch society,an issue to be explored later.

‘Other’There is another sense in which

the present study does not reversethe dominant trend in anthropology,although it has meant a shift for thepresent researcher. I am now study­ing a society and culture viewed asvery ‘Other’ from my own. Past field­work has been in areas in my owncountry where my relationship withthe field was one of sameness anddifference, and where I often had toexplain why I asked about things Ishould know about. What this alsomeans is that I carry implicit com­parisons not just with my own back­ground, but with past fieldwork.

An anthropology of the Dutch wel­fare state and family has meant thenecessity to innovate in the tradi­tional modes of entry and introduc­tion into the field, establishing con­tact, rapport, and residence and themethods of fieldwork. Anthropologi­cal fieldwork in urban settings is notnew. However, rather than a com­munity, institution, or organizationwhich the researcher may enter tolive and work in, as has been com­monly the case, here the fieldwork isfocused on a category of people dis­tributed over a large and complexspace: single parents of various class­es, ages, marital status, and genderliving in the city of Leiden. They donot form a community in terms oflocality or residence, work, religiousor social life. Therefore informants

had to be individually ‘found’. Theproposed methods of entry werealong well-tried anthropological lines- contacting influential institutions,organizations, and individuals, whichwould then snowball into a range ofinformants. On the face of it, thecontact-introduction-snowball effectmethod has proved effective. Butthat is not strictly true.

The anthropological method tendsto assume a society and culturewhere social space and time is orga­nized very differently from that to befound in contemporary Dutch cul­ture and capitalist societies in gener­al. It assumes that the fieldworkerand informants will meet not only byappointment, but also informallyand casually, of and on. However, so­cial life in The Netherlands is by ap­pointment. The casual visitor usuallycomes with a specific purpose, is re­ceived politely, and leaves at the ear­liest opportunity with little likeli­hood of a good gossip session takingplace! It assumes informants who arewilling to and can have the field-worker accompany them throughtheir day. For most informants thework situation and ethos makes thisunthinkable. It assumes that oncerapport is established, informantswill be happy to introduce the field-worker into their families and socialnetworks. However, the compart-mentalization of life and processes ofindividualization meant that I metmost informants as an individualalone in her/his house, a café, or myoffice. By and large each single parentinformant was the end of the chain,except to other single parents whowould tell their own stories, relatedto the first informant only themati­cally and laterally. One factor was thesocial isolation and poverty of manysingle parent-mothers.

The Dutch sense of self, time, andsociability are not easily compatiblewith the assumptions of participantobservation, whether by an Indian ora Dutch, based as they are on non­capitalist and Third World societies.On the other hand, undivided atten­tion is expected and given when anappointment is made. Each ‘inter­view-conversation’ session tended tobe very intense and concentrated,with informants speaking with ap­parent frankness. However, the an­thropologist’s time could be thebreak here. In the immediacy the an­thropologist cannot concentrate anyfurther and must break the conversa­tion. In the longer run the anthro­pologist is not allowed/able to re­main in the field as long as used to bethe case. Despite the absence of anidiom, a fabric, through which wecould easily cross the barrier betweenwork meetings and personal, socialand informal interaction, rapport de­veloped as informants realized thatthere was a genuine interest in theirstories. Here was somebody who wasprepared to sit and listen to them foras long as they wished to talk. Theywished to share their problems andsorrows, their accomplishments andviews, despite difficulties in lan­guage. ■

Dr Rajni Palriwala was an HAS affiliated

fellow (IDPAD) I April - I November 1999 .

She will join the HAS again I May -30 November 2000.

E-mail: rajnip@hotmail.com

For Photographic Prints a t the Kern Institute Leiden, see p. 24 February 2000 • iias n e w s l e t t e r N?2i • 1 7

S O U T H A S I A

Tracing Thoughtsthrough ThingsSeventh Gonda Lecture byProfessor JaniceOn Friday 12 November 1999, Professor Janice Stargardt heldthe seventh Gonda lecture in the building o f the RoyalNetherlands Academy o f Arts and Sciences, Kloveniersburgwal2.9f Amsterdam, under the title ‘Tracing Thoughts throughThings: Early Buddhist Archaeology in India and Burma.’

By GERBRAND MULLER

rofessor Stargardtis Senior ResearchFellow in Archae-

. 1 ology and Historical Ge-I ography and Director of

the Cambridge Projecton Ancient Civilization inSouth EastAsia, Department of Geography ofthe University of Cambridge. She isalso Directeur d’Etudes étranger forlife in South East Asian Archaeologyat the Ecole Pratique des HautesEtudes at the Sorbonne.

In her lecture Janice Stargardtshowed that only archaeological evi­dence throws light on the economicand social conditions of the middleGanges Valley in the period preceed-ing the development of Buddhism,Jainism and important new stages ofHindu thought there. Through theart and archaeology of the NorthernDeccan and especially of Andhra, shedemonstrated that a rich, continu­ous and datable record of Buddhistthought is contained in the archaeo­logical remains of North and SouthIndia. The Andhra region providesthe background to the spread ofBuddhist culture to Burma.

In the second half of her lecture,she dwelt upon a relic chamber be­longing to the 5th-6th century AD atSri Ksetra in Central Burma. Thiscontained the largest sacred treasureof gold and silver Buddhist objects sofar known in India or South East

Asia, among them the oldest texts inpure Pali in the world, and some ofthe earliest Buddhist art found out­side India. Tracing the ceremony ofmerit-making involved in the in­scription of the Golden Pali Text ofthe Pyu, she pinpointed a majoromission in one of the eight excerptscontained in this text, which made ita ritually imperfect object and thusnot suitable to become the principalrelic in the sacred deposit.

She then presented the Great Sil­ver Reliquary which was found atthe centre of the same relic cham­ber, and, by presenting a reading ofthe inscription around its lid rim,she showed that the last part of thatinscription contained the very pas­sage which had been omitted fromthe Golden Pali Text. Togetherthese two objects formed a rituallyperfect deposit. The fact that theyare, at one and the same time, theoldest surviving samples of purecanonical Pali and represent twotexts in which one corrects theother, makes them of quite excep­tional importance. In tracing thethought behind this sacred deposit,she concluded, one needs both thethings and the texts. ■

Drs Gerbrand Muller, Secretary for theArts, Royal Netherlands Academy o f Arts andSciences. E-mail: Gerbrand.Muller@knaw.nl

Relics or SacredBurials?Professor Karel van Kooij o f the Kern Institute, University ofLeiden and Dr Janice Stargardt, Cambridge Project on AncientCivilization in Southeast Asia, Department o f Geography, Uni­versity o f Cambridge are running a Joint Project on ‘Relic Wor­ship and Sacred Burials in Early Buddhism of India and Burma.’

R esearchProject T

The Great Silver Reliquary

he Project waslaunched in 1998-1999 with an ex­

change of visits support­ed by the British Counciland the NWO for the

Netherlands. This exploratory stageestablished that both the researchexperience, interests, and researcharchives of the two scholars werecomplementary and together formeda basis for a detailed investigation ofthis subject. The second stage of theProject has now begun with a three-month research visit by Dr Stargardtto The Netherlands, with financialsupport of the NWO and the BritishAcademy, and with research facili­ties provided by the InternationalInstitute of Asia Studies, who havemade her an Affiliated Fellow duringthe course of her stay in Leiden. Thisstage of the project involves inten­sive use of the research facilities ofthe magnificent library of the KernInstitute, including its PhotographicProject.

During this stage research discus­sions have focused on redefiningrelics and sacred burials in a Bud­dhist context, and re-examining agreat deal of primary data from early

excavations of ancient Buddhist sitesin North and Central India. Thesedata have been compared with andcontrasted to the evidence fromsome of the earliest Buddhist sitesoutside India - the Pyu sites of Cen­tral Burma, where excavations haverevealed relics, burials in sacredplaces, and possibly sacred burials(Stargardt, 1990,1992a and 1992b],

Both researchers are going onfieldwork early in the New Year. Pro­fessor van Kooij to South India andSri Lanka; Dr Stargardt to Thailandand Burma. They will collate andcompare their research data by e-mail during 2000, reinforced by thereturn visit to Cambridge by Profes­sor van Kooij in the autumn of 2000.

As this Project develops it is envis­aged that its scope will be widened alittle to include a small network ofscholars with closely related researchinterests, so that intensive discus­sions can be continued. ■

Professor K. van Kooij can be contacted(after March 2000) at:E-mail: krvankooij@rullet.leidenuniv.nland Dr Janice Stargardt can be contacted(after March 2000) at:E-mail: JS119@cam.ac.uk

Urbanization inMedieval OrissaThe present project is designed to study the growth o f urbancentres covering a time span from the advent o f Afghans inOrissa in 1568 up to the beginning o f colonial rule in 1803.

By P.P.MISHRA

R esearchProject T

The Golden Pali Text.

he general ten­dency among his­torians dealing

with post-fifteenth cen­tury Orissa has been toproject the period as one

of urban decay and decline in com­mercial activity. This argument is theproduct of two mistaken beliefs.Firstly that the advent of the Afghansmarked the end o f‘Hindu’ kingdomof Orissa resulting in decline of com­mercial activity. This argument jux­taposes the efflorescence of Orissansociety and economy under the Gan-gas (1035-1435 CE) and Gajapatis(1435-1537 CE) with the so-calledMuslim rule. Secondly that, politicaldevelopments should not be linkedtoo closely with the process of urban­ization. The contemporary Persianchronicles, accounts of foreign trav­ellers, factory correspondence and di-

of the agents of Europeanariestraders present a different scenario.

In medieval Orissa towns devel­oped as centres of administration,pilgrimage, and trade. Places likePithunda, Palura, Manikpatna, Khal-kattapatna, Konarka, Puri, Kataka,etc. became important on the inter­national map. After coming of theMughals, there was a decline in thetrade of the southern ports and thecommercial activity shifted tonorthern region. Pipli, Balasore,Harishpur and Hariharpur rose toprominence as urban centres. But to­wards the second half of the eigh­teenth century, the rise of the Cal­cutta fleet affected the fortunes ofOrissan ports. The European compa­nies and traders had already madeinroads into the preserves of Indianmerchants. There was decline ofcommercial activity and the Britishoccupation of eastern Orissa in 1803sounded the final death-knell.

The problem of urbanization inOrissa will be studied in a theoreti­cal context taking into account theadvent of the Afghans, the Mughals

and of European traders. The basichypotheses supporting the projectare:a. There was neither urban decay nor

a decline in trade and commerce inthe period under review.

b. The unique character of Orissantowns could be attributed to com­mercial intercourse and in thisway urbanization was result of de­velopments happening on thehigh seas. Up to the seventeenthcentury, the Asian merchants hadassumed a major share of mar­itime trade but from the eigh­teenth century onwards Europeanshipping was in the ascendance.

c. The urban centre was linked verti­cally with the rural hinterland.There were horizontal linkages be­tween different urban centres tofacilitate the exchange of materialgoods. ■

Dr P.P. Mishra, Department o f History,Sambalpur University, Orissa, India.E-mail: ppmishra@dte.vsnl.net.in

1 8 • has n e w s l e t t e r n s 2 1 • February 2000

S O U T H A S I A

Sri Lanka PortugueseCreole VersesThe Hugh Nevill Collection in the British Library contains2,227 manuscripts written in Sinhala, Malayalam Tamil, andPali. Among the Oriental collection o f Hugh Nevill manu­scripts, lies an authentic source o f Portuguese Creole whichalso represents the largest collection o f Asian Portuguese Cre­ole folk verse: the Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole Manuscript.

■ By S H I H A N DE SILVAJAYASURIYA

■y T ugh Nevill (1847-I I 1897) was an out-

J - J L standing Britishcivil servant who workedin Sri Lanka (formerlyCeylon) from 1865 to 1897.

He first served as Private Secretary tothe Chief Justice. In 1869, he joinedthe Civil Service and held many posi­tions until 1897, when he resigned asthe District Judge of Batticaloa. Hethen sailed for France with his collec­tion of manuscripts but died theresoon after.

Nevill is, however, better knownfor his scholarship. His interest instudying the origin and develop­ment of Sinhala (the language of in­terethnic communication and themother tongue of74% of the popula­tion today) led him to make himselfone of the pioneer scholars in the di­alects of the Veddhas, Rodiyas, andVanniyas He founded and editedThe Taprobanicm, a journal, in whichhe published many of his articles.

Nevill wrote on many disciplines:anthropology, archaeology, botany,ethnology, folklore, geography, geol­ogy, history, zoology, mythology,palaeography, and philology. He wasalso instrumental in the formationof the Kandyan Society of Arts (Ma-hanuvara Kala Sangamaya), an insti­tution which still flourishes in con­temporary Sri Lanka.

The Hugh Nevill Collection con­tains 2,227 manuscripts. Nevill pre­pared two descriptive sets of his vol­umes, one on the prose works andthe other on the poetical works. Hetook his hand-written works toFrance with the intention of pub­lishing them but his untimely deathprevented him seeing this through.His works on the poetical manu­scripts were subsequently edited byP.E.P. Deraniyagala and published asSinhala Kavi (Sinhalese Verse). Afterhis death, Nevill’s manuscripts werebrought to the British Library fromFrance by a Sri Lankan scholar, DonMartino de Zilva Wickremasinghe.The Hugh Nevill Collection (1904),now in the British Library, contains

manuscripts written in Sinhala, Ma­layalam Tamil, and Pali.

Mr K.D. Somadasa of the BritishLibrary, London (formerly librarianat the University of Sri Lanka) hasgone through the Nevill manu­scripts afresh and has describedthem in detail. His works run intoseven volumes and have been pub­lished by the British Library and thePali Text Society.

The Sri Lanka PortugueseCreole ManuscriptAmong the Oriental collection of

Hugh Nevill manuscripts lies an au­thentic source of Portuguese Creolewhich also represents the largest col­lection of Asian Portuguese Creolefolk verse: the Sri Lanka PortugueseCreole Manuscript. Asian PortugueseCreoles once flourished in the coastaltowns of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia,Singapore, and Macao but are a dyingrace.

Mr K.D. Somadasa suggested that Itranslate the Sri Lanka PortugueseCreole manuscript. My translations(into Standard Portuguese and Eng­lish) have been published as two pa­pers (1995 and 1997) by the Journal ofthe Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka.The manuscript which contains1,049 quatrains is divided into threesections: ‘Portuguese Song Bat­ticaloa’, ‘Songs of the Portuguese

Kaffrinha - Portuguese Negro Songs’and ‘The Story of Orson and Valen­tine’. The first two groups were sungby mother tongue Creole speakers:the Burghers (people of Portugueseand Dutch descent) and the Kaffirs(people of African descent brought tothe island by the Portuguese, Dutch,and British, the three European colo­nial powers). Batticaloa is a districtin the Eastern Province of the island;the capital of the district is Bat­ticaloa Town. It has become the cul­tural homeland for the Burghers andthe Creole community. The roots oftheir songs are preserved in thismanuscript. The Kaffirs have formeda cultural homeland near Puttalamin the Northwestern Province. Mod­ern Kaffir songs can be traced to thismanuscript. The story of Valentineand Oersan is known in Sri Lanka asthe Balasanta Nadagama, one of theearliest fully-fledged theatrical per­formances in the Sinhala theatre. InEnglish literature, Valentine andOrson are two figures of romance. InCharles Dickens’ A Christmas CarolScrooge said: ‘And Valentine and hiswild brother, Orson, there they go!’.There are French, English, Dutch,Swedish, Italian, Spanish, and Ice­landic versions of this story. In SriLanka there are variants of this story,in Pali (5th century AD), in Bud-dhaghoas’s Manorathapurani and inDharmapala’s Paramatthadipani.

The Dutch orthography of thismanuscript is particularly interest­ing in places. Although the scribeshave attempted to maintain the Por­tuguese spelling, it is apparent thatthey knew Dutch. But this is not sur­prising as some of the Creole-speak­ers did know Dutch. Dutch was used

for official purposes during theDutch Era (1658-1796) but Sri LankaPortuguese Creole was the home lan­guage even of the Dutch communi­ty. During the British Era (1796-1948), some Burghers opted for Eng­lish and today the Portuguese Creoleis no longer spoken by all theBurghers in the island.

Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole wasthe successful solution to the inter­communication problems that arosewhen the Portuguese and SriLankans came into contact from thesixteenth century. The Creole servedas a lingua franca, the language forexternal communication and tradepurposes, for about three and a halfcenturies, until English took overthis role.

In the last few decades, linguistshave realized the importance ofstudying contact languages (pidginsand creoles) as they are importanttesting grounds for linguistic theo­ry. In fact, they are to linguists whatDrosophila flies and guinea pigs areto biologists. The Portuguese Creoleis the oldest creole based on an Euro­pean language and are therefore par­ticularly interesting. The Nevillmanuscript of Sri Lanka PortugueseCreole is, therefore, an invaluablesource for linguists. It is also a valu­able source for literary, anthropolog­ical, and folkloric studies. ■

Mrs Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya, MSc,is attached to the University College London.E-mail: S.Jayasuriya@ion.ucl.ac.uk

1 9 9 9K A T H M A N D U , N E P A L

HimalayanLanguagesFor the first time in the Symposium’s short existence the an­nual meeting was held in Nepal, in the heart o f the Himalayas.More than ever, this year’s conference offered an opportunityto scholars from many o f the Himalayan regions in particularto share their knowledge and present their findings and viewsto an international audience.

■ By ROL AND RUTGERS

r r - l he Himalayan Lan-[ guages Symposium

JL is an open interna­tional forum at whichscholars can exchange theresults of their research

with others working on related issuesin the same geographical area. Theterm ‘Himalayan’ is used in its broadsense to include north-western andnorth-eastern India, where languagesof Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, and Austro-Asiatic linguis­tic stocks are spoken; plus embracingthe languages of Nuristan, Bhutan,Baltistan, and the Burushaski-speak-

| ing area in the west. ‘Languages’ isused as opposed to ‘Linguistics’ tobroaden the scope of the symposiumbeyond linguistics proper, so as toallow those scholars working in the

related disciplines such as archaeolo­gy, philology, and anthropology topresent their research wherever this isdirectly relevant to the understand­ing of Himalayan languages and lan­guage communities.

This year, the symposium was awonderful event in the heart of themountain resort Kathmandu, capitalof Nepal. The conference was hostedby Tribhuvan University. Scholarsfrom Nepal, Tibet, India, severalWestern countries, and Australia pre­sented their papers. Below is a briefreport on a few of the many interest­ing topics addressed.

A continuous matter of concern inthe Himalayas, as elsewhere in theworld, is the endangerment of mi­nority languages. Although forcesmay be mustering to tackle thisproblem, it remains a vast commis­sion even ‘merely’ to document these

languages, not to mention providingmaterials for primary mother-tongue education for such minoritygroups. It was precisely this issuethat Professor C.M. Bhandu of Trib­huvan University in Kathmandu ad­dressed in his keynote speech. Wheremuch is done for biological specieson the verge of extinction, moribundlanguages often die a silent and un­lamented death, leaving us with anirretrievable loss of human intellec­tual tradition and cultural heritage.Bandhu observed that the age-oldneed for communication in areaswith a variety of linguistic commu­nities or areas dominated by speak­ers of a different language, as well asthe generation gap between the un­schooled elderly, who are proficientspeakers of their mother-tongue,and the youth who are educated in aregional lingua franca, contribute tothe dwindling and ultimate extinc­tion of many languages.

Among the many interesting top­ics discussed at the Symposium, wasa paper presented by Mrs JuanitaWar from Shillong University on aset of grammatical markers in theKhasi language of Meghalaya. Sheexpounded on the use of the thirdperson ‘particles’ i, u, ka, and ki,demonstrating why these markerscannot be considered particles, sincethey have lost any synchronic con­nection with specificity and seem in­stead to sub-divide nouns into class­es by virtue of their being mutuallyexclusive and expressing numberand gender of modified nominal en­tities.

Balthasar Bickel of the University ofCalifornia came up with some mind-provoking analyses toward a betterunderstanding of syntax in Hi­malayan languages. His paper dealtwith the way Tibeto-Burman lan­guages allow noun phrase features tocombine in an appositional, parti-tional, or even a relational structurewith the features marked by theagreement morphology. This con­trasts with the principle in Indo-Eu­ropean languages where agreementcauses features of noun phrases andverbal forms to merge systematicallyinto a unitary referential expression.Bickel proposed the term ‘associative’to coin the underlying principle in Ti­beto-Burman languages. This princi­ple manifests itself, not only in agree­ment, but also in the structure ofgrammatical relations, in details ofrole semantics and in discourse ten­dencies.

The study of historical relationsand people movements in the remotepast is undoubtedly one of the moreexciting topics of Himalayan linguis­tics. Van Driem summed up the stateof the art with respect to the extinctlanguage of Zhang-Zhung, and pro­pounded his reasons for clinging tothe hypothesis that this language isrelated to the Western Himalayanlanguages Bunan, Manchad, Kanaurietc. Professor Suhnu Ram Sharma ofDeccan College in Pune, India, offeredus an insight into the manner inwhich time and space terms in theManchad language reflect the practi­cal aspects of life for the Manchadpeople. He also speculated on how the

well-known Whorfian hypothesis oflinguistic relativity could be used toexplain the influence of geographyand culture on the linguistic realityand vice versa.

Dr Rudra Laxmi Shreshtha present­ed a highly significant description ofverbal morphology in the NewariBadikhel Pahari dialect. She expound­ed on the various stem classes of theverb, and the related regular and ir­regular morphological categories,touching on all different types ofmodal and non-finite verbal forms.What emerged as a new insight wasthat, apparently, the morphology ofverbs in this dialect constitutes a kindof missing link between KathmanduNewari, which only has rudimentarypronominalization, and the Newaridialect of Dolakha, which has a muchmore extensive agreement morpholo­gy. Addressing verb pronominaliza­tion in a different language, Kar-nakhar Khatiwada shared his find­ings and analyses of the morphologyof Dhimal verbs. Even though he ar­gued that flexional verb forms in Dhi­mal lack the complexity of relatedlanguages such as Chepang, Hayu,and the Kiranti languages in general,his illustrative examples demonstratea typical set of Tibeto-Burman pro­nominal verb affixes, proving Dhimalan undoubted member of Tibeto-Burman pronominalized languages.

The forty-eight papers that werepresented will hopefully be publishedthis year. ■

Dr Roland Rutgers can be contacted a tE-mail: rrutgers@compuserve.com

February 2 0 0 0 • has n e w s l e t t e r NS21 • 1

S O U T H A S I A

The Rebirth ofTagore in LatviaThe first book o f Rabindranath Tagore’s works translatedfrom Bengali into Latvian by the University o f Latvia professorViktors Ivbulis was among the best sold books four monthsafter being published.

By LIGA MITENBERGA

VÜ 2 T H I T 7 i k t o r s I v b u l i s ’ ‘ R a - ,bindranath Tagore’is the first and the

only large book in theBaltic States that in­cludes so many transla­

tions ofTagore’s works directly fromBengali. It offers the Latvian readerrich material on the Bengali writer:scrupulous analysis of Tagore’s lifeand creative writing, the first com­plete translation of the novel ‘TheHome and the World’ into Latvian,the plays ‘Nature’s Revenge’ and‘Post Office’, a part of Tagore’s theo­retical essays - ‘The Beautiful andLiterature’, his speech of 1917 ‘TheMaster’s Will be Done’, and fiftypoems.

In fact this is not the first time theLatvian readership has been intro­duced to the Bengali writer. We havehad a very serious interest in Indiasince the mid-19th century stem­ming from the postulated related­

ness of Latvian to Sanskrit. This wasactually a reason for contemporane­ous intellectuals and the press atthat time to consider Indians ourbrothers. The spiritual attraction to­wards India inspired Karlis Egle andRihards Rudzitis - the predecessorsof Viktors Ivbulis in Latvia - to trans­late Tagore from English and as earlyas 1928-1939. As nowhere in theworld, Tagore's ‘Collected Works’were published in Latvia in nine vol­umes. Viktors Ivbulis himself claimsthat Tagore was the most translatedbelles-lettres author into Latvian in1930s as well as the most widely readpoet in the world in early 1920s.

There is no doubt that Tagore’snovel ‘The Home and the World’,which is imbued with extremelysober nationalism, may touch theheart of any nation that has been op­pressed. Latvians have suffered un­der various foreign rulers; our sec­ond independence is only nine yearsold - it may be just a coincidence -the situation was also very similar

when ‘The Home and the World’ waspublished in Latvian for the firsttime, too. However, there is anotherimportant aspect why the novel isimportant today that cannot beoverlooked. Namely - the fine repre­sentation of the relationship be­tween a husband, a wife, and the‘third one’. The doubts, hopes, in­tentions, sufferings, and actions ofBimala resemble those of anywoman; and because of these humanqualities the novel is equally impor­tant to a European as it is to an Indi­an. It seems that Bimala’s mono­logues include some part of anywoman’s confessions and it only re­mains to admire the amazing self­evidence of Indian woman’s emo­tional experience as presented by thewriter. The times of political, eco­nomic thus accordingly - personalrelationship changes in Latvia inmany cases have left people withoutany terms of reference to judge trueor false values. Tagore's fine repre­sentation of Bimala, Nikhilesh, andSandip by such unusual literarymeans as continuous monologuesand no direct description whatsoever- that actually starts the mechanismof opinion forming already as onereads - suggests a new set of valuesto the reader’s mind, thereby alsoproving the quality of the literarywork. For this particular reason notonly the idea itself plays the role -the form of expression is important,and the comprehensibility and at­traction towards the whole settingof the novel are indispensable. Of

Professor ChakrabortyVisits the Netherlands

By VICTOR A. VAN BIJLERT

rofessor S.K. Chak­raborty, convenerof the Management

Centre for Human Val­ues, Institute of Manage­ment, Calcutta, visited

the Netherlands in May 1999 on invi­tation from Leiden University andNijenrode University. At Nijenrode,prof Chakraborty did part of a longerworkshop on ‘Meaning of Values forLeaders'. Among the participantswere managers of some major Dutchbanks (ING, ABN-AMRO, VSB), po­lice-organisations, and the automo­bile industry (Mercedes-Benz).

To bring the notion of values insharper focus Chakraborty made adistinction between values andskills. Values are concerned with be­coming, for instance becoming agood human being. Skills deal withdoing, the way we perform action,but skills do not address any moralissues unlike values. It is importantin leadership roles to find the rightbalance between values and skills.Another important distinction towhich Chakraborty drew attentionwas that between problem-prevent­ing and problem-solving. Values areproblem-preventing, skills problem­solving. According to Chakraborty,the keynote of leadership-develop­ment is ‘purity of heart, and foster­

ing noble emotions’. Leadershipshould invite emulation by thosethat are being led. Real human val­ues in a leader inspire followers toemulate. Among human valuesChakraborty counts gratitude, con­tentment, honour, humility. Ac­cording to him they can be fosteredthrough meditational practice.

In Leiden, Chakraborty spoke atthe Indological Department of theLeiden Faculty of Arts. The topic wasadapted to the assumed interest ofthe audience, namely ‘ConsciousnessEthics, the Vedantic Approach’. Ac­cording to Chakraborty since the lasttwo hundred years the emphasis inmodern culture has been on the in­tellect to the detriment of the emo­tions. Vedanta as an Indian psychol­ogy has a lot to contribute to the cul­tivation of positive emotions. Posi­tive emotions help us to developgood ethics. Ethical behaviour is notlimited to behaviour betweenhuman beings but includes humanbehaviour vis-a-vis nature. Vedantateaches a feeling of oneness. Thiscloses the gap between human be­ings and between humans and na­ture. Positive emotions help to liftup our consciousness to greaterheights. It helps silencing out egowhich is a barrier to ethical behav­iour. A simple method to elevate theemotions is a form of meditation inwhich one is drawing in the positive

emotions while breathing in and isexpelling the negative ones whilebreathing out. Asked why we shouldhave ethics at all, Chakraborty an­swered he wished to have soundsleep because of a clear conscience.Morality may be a heavy word andoneness unappealing, therefore itwas suggested that ‘feeling’ is a goodstarting-point. The term ‘responsi­bility’ could be preferable to morali­ty-

Ethics from a Vedantic perspectivecan be further learned about in theAnnual International Workshops onHuman Values held every year at theIndian Institute of Management,Calcutta. ■

For information one can contactProfessor Chakraborty at:Management Centre for Human Values,Indian Institute o f Management CalcuttaDiamond Harbour Road.jokaP.O.Box 16757, Calcutta 700027Tel.: +91-33-467 8300 04 / 8306 / 8313Fax:+91-33-46 7 830 7 / 46 7 7851http:llwww.iimcal.ac.in

course, it is just as well to recall thatthe changing point of view tech­nique was then also very much usedin European literature.

W hite laceEven though the Balt languages

and Sanskrit may have some com­mon roots, the very practical differ­ences between Bengali and Latvianhinder the maximum representa­tion of important details, let alonetalking about the impossibility oftranslating the rich, culture-boundmaterial. Viktors Ivbulis’ transla­tion from Bengali proves to be su­perior to the first Latvian version of‘The Home and the World’ in boththe rendering of the characteristicsof Indian culture into Latvian andin providing fluent and reader-friendly target text. There are evensome paradoxical ‘findings’ com­paring his translation and the firstLatvian translation of ‘The Homeand the World’. Even though Ivbu­lis often has used modern words (insome cases even overdoing this) andhas rendered all terms that are re­lated to Indian religion and cultureas transliterations - which was nota case in the first translation (manyterms were explained, not translit­erated) - the novel in his interpre­tation is far easier to read than thefirst translation. The translationfrom Bengali could be compared toa white, carefully knitted lace,while the translation from Englishis like a red silk ribbon. The qualityof the first lies in the necessity topossess the particular ability toknit and the attention and the pa­tience required to keep the pattern,while the second is nice and a goodthing to have, even though practi­cally it has less use and value thanthe first. Obviously Ivbulis’ IndianStudies experience plays a role inhis having this ability to representthe details of the country’s culture,as do the long years of scrupulouswork while the book was beingcompleted (he started working withthe first translations in 1972).

In fact, Professor Ivbulis has de­voted more than thirty-five years ofhis academic career to Indian Stud­ies and to the research on that greatheir of Indian culture - Ra­bindranath Tagore. The currentbook is Professor Ivbulis’ seventhbook on India and the fourth onTagore, including two works thatconsist of both critical introduc­tions and translations. The 137-page introduction, that is a mono­graph in itself, reflects ViktorsIvbulis’ writings in other lan­guages, and his teaching experiencein several universities in Americaand Europe. For his life-long workmainly on India, he has been elect­ed corresponding member of Lat­vian Academy of Sciences.

The distinctive feature of Ivbulis’monograph on Tagore is the factthat the author presents Tagore’screativity from the perspective ofIndian-European literary relation­ship. There is a discussion not onlyof the merit of Tagore’s works, butalso a representation and exposi­tion of India's development and itsgrowing importance in the globalhistorical context. Ivbulis also dis­cusses the role of Tagore on theworld’s political and creative stagefrom a literary historical perspec-

Contributions to thisBengal Studies page as wellas letters with suggestions

are very much welcome.Please send to:

V.A. VAN BIJLERTBurg. Pati jn laan 1062

2585 CE Den HaagT h e N e th e r la n d s

F a x :+31-71*527 2615E-mail:

Bijlert@ rullet . le idenuniv.nl

five (the author is the only personpublishing books on literary theoryin Latvian at present).

The monograph regarding theformation of Tagore’s personalityand his creative manifestations islargely theoretical; but it also has arich factual background. Thus theconclusions and evaluations Ivbulissuggests in the book are highly ob­jective. It should also be noted thatbecause of the particular selection ofworks for translation, Tagore be­comes a stronger and a more mascu­line personality than he was previ­ously known in Latvia. It also seemsthat Ivbulis will succeed in provingthat Tagore was above all a romanti­cist and thus close to the document­ed literary climate in Latvia in 1920-1930s. I am happy to hear that an­other Ivbulis book, ‘RabindranathTagore and East-West CulturalUnity’, has just been published inCalcutta.

In conclusion, I would like to saythat the timing of the publicationof the Latvian ‘Rabindranath Ta­gore’ has been perfect. The politicaland economic situation is fairly sta­ble in Latvia; it is time to startthinking about a new system of val­ues. The global significance of Ta­gore’s ideas, the profundity of Ivbu­lis’ work are the reasons for takingpublic interest unawares. It is also aproof to the quality of contempo­raneity of their work. ■

Liga M itenberga, Latvia,E-mail: strazds@hotmail.com

Z O ■ h a s n e w s l e t t e r NS21 • February 2000

R E G I O N A L N E W S

SoutheastAsia

ï r A ,

B R U N E I • M Y A N M A R • C A M B O D I A

I N D O N E S I A • L A O S • M A L A Y S I A

T H E P H I L I P P I N E S • S I N G A P O R E

T H A I L A N D • V I E T N A M

Global Flop,Local Mess:Indonesia betrayed byE astT im oran d the West‘We are being slandered’, ‘Indonesia is wrecked’ (‘Kita dihujat’,‘Indonesia terpuruk’), these were the words that were heardagain and again at the time o f the East Timor crisis in Septem­ber 1999. Public opinion vented its frustration and anger bothat the rejection o f integration by the East Timorese in the 30August referendum and at the international outrage that fol­lowed the violence by the pro-Jakarta militias. While such a re­action was deeply emotional, and easily dismissed by foreignobservers, little has been said o f the Indonesian view o f theEast Timor affair. This imbalance has impaired the interactionbetween the actors involved in the crisis. The Western press,governments, and public opinion were out o f sync with In­donesia’s officials, military, and politicians, and vice versa.

By F R A N C O I S R A I L L O N

o grasp Indone­sia’s overreac­tion, it should be

borne in mind that thecountry was in a very se­rious condition when

the crisis broke out: it was barely re­covering from an unprecedentedeconomic and social meltdown, itwas led by a weak, transitional gov­ernment, and although a successfulgeneral election had just been heldin June, the political future wasfraught with uncertainty. Morespecifically, the relationship to theoutside world was characterized bysuspicion and distrust. Beyond localbad governance, hostile global forceswere regarded as a major factor inthe Indonesian crisis. Seen as a com­pound of erratic capital flows, IMFblind dictates, and US hardly-hiddenagendas, globalization was consid­ered a Western attempt to under­mine Asian values and miracles.

When the UN Mission in EastTimor (UNAMET) proclaimed theresults of the referendum indicatinga very clear rejection of Indonesia’srule (by 78.5%), the Jakarta press wasindignant: while East Timorese in­gratitude was no doubt blamed, thefairness of the poll itself was ques­tioned. UNAMET was accused ofbeing biased, even of cheating on alarge scale. As new, scrupulous prac­titioners of democracy, the Indone­sians complained that the UN haddisclosed results ahead of the sched­ule, without sufficient time forchecking, that it had mixed togetherall returns from the various districts,while scrutineers lacked objectivitysince ‘they were all independentis-tas’. Such a ‘rigged’ outcome was the

reason for the ‘desperate’ response ofpro-integration Timorese: theyburned down their own houses inDili before fleeing, while the militiaswent on a terrible rampage with theassistance of Timorese desertersfrom the Indonesian army. The15,000 troops stationed in the terri­tory included some 6,000 Timoreserecruits. When President Habibieand General Wiranto acknowledgedthe victory of the independentistas,they felt betrayed and joined thepro-integration militias in the sackof Dili. So, according to Jakarta’s ra­tionale, post-referendum excesseswere a ‘civil war’ among Timorese.

Answering the Indonesian Com­mission on Human Right Violationsconcerning army involvement, Gen­eral Wiranto denied any part in theviolence: ‘Morally we wanted thepro-integration side to win, but wedid not do anything to help themwin (-] Of course, the militias wereorganically under the army; in somecases we armed them. But they hadexisted long before the referendum’(‘Doa di Ruang Pemeriksaan’, Gatra 1January 2000).

Mass killings were also denied.The number of victims admitted bythe military ran in the hundreds, ascompared to the 10,000 claimed byBishop Belo. So far and based onfindings on the field, the number ofactual victims of the September dev­astation remains relatively low (lessthan two hundred). However, it isdifficult to make a proper assess­ment, as some 200,000 East Timoresefled or were deported. Unsurprising­ly, Jakarta officials object to the term‘deportation’ to characterize thismassive migration. They label it asthe ‘evacuation of refugees’ withmilitary assistance, as was done in

the cases of the Ambon or Pontianakconflicts earlier in the same year. Intheir view, people fled ‘spontaneous­ly’, either to West Timor (those whohad sided with Indonesia), or to thehills south of Dili to seek the protec­tion of the Falintil independenceforces.

Negative reports or ‘disinforma­tion’ were attributed to ‘propaganda’from the ‘Republic’s foes’, led by Por­tugal and Western NGOs. It was ad­mitted that they had successfullygiven credence to the idea of a geno­cide perpetrated by the military inthe early period of Indonesian rule inEast Timor. Jakarta rejects both theaccusation of genocide and the200,000 figure regularly mentionedby Fretilin and Portuguese sources.The actual figure, says Jakarta, ismuch less than too,000 casualties(which is still a very high figure),and is not due to military atrocitiesbut to various circumstances: thecivil war in East Timor before theDecember 1975 Indonesian assault,the invasion proper, and especiallythe large-scale famine that wascaused by the failed harvest in 1978when tens of thousands died (for de­tails, see my ‘Timor oriental, vu d’ln-donésie’, in Lettre de 1’AFRASE #49,Paris, November 2999).

A last grudge was the fact thatHabibie had to give in to irresistible

Western pressure and accept an in­ternational force in East Timor (IN-TERFET), in order to restore peaceand order. It was humiliating, sinceIndonesia was proven to be unable todo the job, while it was not longerable to defy the UN as it had done atthe time of Konfrontasi. To makematters worse, Jakarta had to acceptAustralia as the backbone of theforce. Australia, which had formerlyrecognized Timor's annexation byIndonesia, was no longer to becounted among friendly countries: itwas now the spearhead of the West’sunrelenting crusade against Indone­sia.

The whole affair then was seen asan incomprehensible mess: Indone­sia had taken over East Timor withAmerica’s blessings in 1975, and nowunder the pressure of Western pow­ers it had to release the territory. Afew days after the East Timor deba­cle, Aceh’s independence movementdemanded a referendum, starting aprocess of what could be Indonesia’sunravelling. Considering Kosovo andChechnya, Indonesians ominouslyfound they had been treated like an­other Yugoslavia rather than Russia.Despite the size of the archipelago,they were treated like a second-ratepower, and did not receive the rela­tive forbearance enjoyed by a former,but still nuclear, superpower.

2 > 3 MA R C H 2 0 0 0L I S B O N , P O R U G A L

The Role ofTimor LorosaeSponsored by the United Nations Centre in Lisbon, the Luso-Asian Forum is organizing a conference on East Timor entitled‘The Shifting Challenges o f the Pacific South and the Issue o fTimor Lorosae’.

tions that Australia wants to fill thepointer position until now assumedby the United States. This couldform a threat to the power equilibri­um in the Region and to the gather­ing of the Muslim world, that re­views itself in the destiny of Indone­sia. This poses new questions aboutthe role of religious confrontationsthat recently occurred in the Regionbetween Muslims and Christians inthe international Order, the Pacificstrategy defined by the United Statesto the new Millennium and the roleof the United Nations to assurePeace in the World.

The conference on March 2-3 willcover subjects as ‘Timor Lorosae as ademocratic and free nation and itsimpact on the future of Indonesia’,‘the role of the Islam and the

f he creation of EastI Timor as a new

J L country separatedfrom Indonesia has led tohigh expectations re­garding the develop­

ment and the deepening of the de­mocratic transition process in Asia.For the time being East Timor isunder International Community ad­ministration, through the UnitedNations, but shall develop into anew and independent nation in thePacific South. Although a smallcountry with scarce resources, itscreation has already generated alarge impact on the geo-strategicbalance in the Region.

The new role assumed by Australiain security terms has given rise to in­creasing concerns from Asian na-

Short News

&

The Timorese miscarriage was dueto a double bind: Indonesia failed toappraise the post-cold war era andher own dependency on the outsideworld, while the international com­munity failed to read Jakarta’s sensi­tivities and to assess the conse­quences of East Timor’s divorce onother provinces in Indonesia.

By the close of 1999, with mixedfeelings Indonesians witnessed thereturn of another former Portuguesecolony to an Asian non-democracy:Macau was taken over by the PRC.However, Beijing never forcibly in­vaded Macau, and was smart enoughto negotiate its peaceful handover.

Yet nationalism is still runninghigh in Indonesia. Commenting onIndonesia’s own, pre-emptive, inves­tigation on human right abuses inEast Timor, Alwi Shihab, PresidentWahid’s foreign minister, reiterated:‘We don’t want outsiders to sentenceor even try our people’ ■

Dr Francois Raillon, CNRS/EHESS,

can be reached at:

E-mail: francois.raillon@wanadoo.fr

Catholic Church’, ‘the new responsi­bilities of Australia in the Pacific re­gion’ and ‘the future of the UnitedNations in a multilateral and cen­trifugal world’. Participants includepolicy makers, academics, and jour­nalists and such names as Dr RamosHorta, vice-president of the EastTimor National Resistance Counciland Head of the Interest Section ofIndonesia in Portugal, AmbassadorFernando Neves, Portuguese ForeignOffice, Father Victor Melicias, HighCommissioner for Timor, GeneralLemos Pires, last Portuguese Gover­nor of Timor, Representant of theUnited States Embassy in Lisbon, DrJaime Gama, Minister of Foreign Af­fairs of Portugal, and Professor Adri­ano Moreira, ISCSP jubilated profes­sor, former Portuguese Minister. ■

For new publications in Asian Studies, please refer to pp. 34-42 February 2000 • has n e w s l e t t e r W 21 • 2 1

S O U T H E A S T A S I A2 5 >• 2 6 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 9 8C E N T E R F O R P A C I F I C A S I A S T U D I E S , S T O C K H O L M U N I V E R S I T Y , S W E D E N

The Democracy Movementin Burma Since 1962In the wake o f the unhappy post-8-8-88 and post-9-9-99moods, and the regime’s lack o f initiative in undertaking con­structive political reform, few conferences have been as incon­gruous in their location as this one. The sumptuous luxury ofthe Högberga Gard Conference Centre, located so peacefullyhigh above one o f the most scenic spots in Stockholm, was thevenue for assessing the political situation in what is by all ac­counts one o f the poorest, and also one o f the least peacefulnations in South-east Asia.

■ By G U STAAF H O U T M A N

I l f he organizers are1 to be applauded

JL for holding a con­ference on such chal­lenging theme at the in­vitation of the Swedish

government. However, scholarshipin this field is only in its infancy and,for various reasons, it is difficult tofind speakers who can give academicweight and coherence to such a slip­pery topic as Burmese democracy. Inall, seventeen speakers ranged fromacademic approaches (politics, eco­nomics, history, anthropology),human rights (Amnesty Interna­tional), policy issues (EEC, SwedishGovernment), ethnic perspectives(Burmese Buddhist, Chin, Karen,Shan), to activism (the Free Burmaboycott campaign).

A few papers sought to place thesuffering once again before us ingraphic detail. Though well-inten-

5 > 6 A U G U S T 1 9 9 9C A N B E R R A , A U S T R A L I A

tioned, I felt these contributed littleto any intellectual coming-to-termswith Burma’s long-standing politicalproblems. Academic papers includedSeekins (Okinawa) on the transforma­tion of Rangoon, Hudson-Rodd(Perth) on land rights, and Matthews(Nova Scotia) on Burma’s future.Hoadley (Stockholm) gave a compara­tive perspective on economic syn­cretism in Burma, Vietnam, and In­donesia. Paul Lim (Brussels) gave usan insight into the complexities ofpolicy making on Burma within theEEC and the problems in relation tonormalization of relations withASEAN. Lundberg (Goteborg) gave apaper on the anthropology of theBurmese student movements inBurma and abroad. Zöllner (Ham­burg) presented a portrait of AungSan. Mojeiko (Moscow) drew a wittyparallel between Russian and Bur­mese ideas of democracy and social­ism, warning us that not all is what itseems.

In my view, the high points werepapers by up-and-coming Burmesescholars who have so far given muchacademic credit. I very much regret­ted Chao-Tzang Yawnghwe’s last-minute absence, for his work deserveswider circulation; his paper arguesagainst a Balkan model for Burma andfavours treating Burma as a politicalrather than - as has been done by theBurmese army and accepted by manya foreign scholar - an ethnic problem.He favours improving links betweenthe state and society, not necessarilybetween the army and ethnic groups.Zaw Oo’s (American University) papersought to come to terms with inter­national perspectives on the democra­tic struggle. Lian Sakhong's paper onthe Chin perspective (later filled outby Aung Lwin (Berlin) from the Karenpoint of view) on the role of the Unit­ed Nationalities League for Democra­cy stood out; not only was he himselfinvolved in negotiations to set up thiscross-ethnic alliance, but he was ableto present a coherent picture of whatfederalism means to the Chin andother minority groups. Lian Uk, elect­ed member of parliament from theChin State, gave us a flavour of what itis like to be a Chin parliamentarianwithout a functioning parliament.Ying Sita reflected on the significanceof ‘ethnic nations’, and in particularthe Shan.

Academic ,gapsThere is no template for a confer­

ence such as this. Burma is only justopening up to foreign scholars. Un­like, for example, Thailand, where in­digenous scholars and intellectualshave exercised a significant influenceon international academic opinionlong-term, Burma unfortunately hassuppressed its own intellect, whilesome pioneer foreign scholars some­times say supercilious things aboutthis country.

Few scholars have lived in thecountry for any length of time, andfewer still read or speak any of theBurmese languages. Internationally,academic approaches to Burma arenot co-ordinated and, without in-depth studies of the country, oppor­tunism sometimes wins the upper-hand in plugging academic gaps.This sometimes also goes hand-in-hand with politically conservative,some call it 'pragmatic’, scholarshipthat avoids questions that mightalienate the regime. To keep Burma’sdoors open, some academics evenplay to the regime by doing the sortof research that accords best with itspropaganda.

Were one to trace Burma’s profilefrom international academic re­search, the result is not only outdat­ed and impoverished, but in someareas also often a misleading view ofwhat is and what has been going onin the country. Drawing attention toKhin Nyunt’s propaganda that hu­mankind and civilization began inBurma, in my paper I grappled withthe role of foreign archaeological andpalaeo-anthropological scholarshipin the regime’s attempt at ‘Myan-mafication’ (replacing Aung San inforging national unity with an im­personal and intangible ‘Myanmarculture’); here - as the regime’s vi­sion of the superiority of ‘Myanmar

ASEAN membership since July t997,and of the Asian financial crisis thatpreoccupied Burma’s main allies soonafterward. His conclusion was thatthese events have not had a major im­pact on the Burmese economy, withthe Asian crisis causing no more thana setback to the slow processes of de­velopment. Bertil Lintner also exam­ined the Burmese economy, but fo­cused instead on those exports thatare not accounted for in the GDP cal­culation, namely narcotics. He de­tailed the extent to which the drugtrade is inextricable linked to the po­litical problems facing Burma, andhow proceeds from the drug trade arethe main prop that holds up the econ­omy, and through that, the rule of themilitary regime.

The last two papers turned thefocus more to the perspective of out­siders. Morten B. Pedersen gave acomprehensive analysis of interna­tional policy toward Burma over thelast decade, specifically focusing onattempts to promote political reform.He looked at the three different ap­proaches to relations with Burma andsystematically deconstructed the rhe­toric within them using an examina­tion of the military mind and the dy­namics of Burmese politics. The finalpresentation, by Dr Mohan Malik,placed the issue of international poli­cy towards Burma in a realist contextof regional security. He made it obvi­ous that Burma’s domestic politics are I

Burma Update ConferenceOn August 5 and 6, 1999, the first Burma Update conferencewas held at the Australian National University in Canberra. Formany years Australia has had a significant interest in Burmathrough activist and advocacy activities. As far as I know, how­ever, this is first time an academic conference on contemporaryBurmese politics has been held in Australia. We had anticipat­ed a low-key conference, but the interest and enthusiasm wassuch that it grew into a major event, with over 140 people at­tending from academic, government, private sector, and com­munity groups.

By EMILY R U D L A N D

cademic gather­ings such as thisare important be­

cause Burma has a ratherlow academic profile inmost of the world. The

possibilities for conducting researchin Burma are extremely limited. As aresult, Burma has been largely over­looked both in academic and govern­ment circles, except as a democracycause. The eight speakers each gaveseminar-length presentations intheir areas of expertise. Dr Mary P.Callahan spoke on military-societyrelations in Burma in 1988, dismiss­

ing the simplistic perception of themilitary as a monolithic institution.This in-depth analysis of internalmilitary politics did not underesti­mate the strength of the institution,but characterized the years since 1988as an attempt to repair ‘Cracks in theEdifice’. Andrew Selth spoke on themilitary from another angle, by pro­jecting a number of scenarios for thefuture armed forces both under mili­tary and democratic rule. In this, heraised the pragmatic considerationthat a democratic government inBurma will face many problems, in­cluding some of the same ones thecurrent regime cannot deal with suc­cessfully.

The military is central to Burmesepolitics, mainly as a result of its at­tempts to destroy alternate powercentres. Both Dr David I. Steinbergand Dr Craig Reynolds, however, indi­cated that, great though the coercivepower of the Burmese military maybe, it is less than absolute. Steinbergexamined this issue by revisiting a po­litical culture approach that showspower, legitimacy, and social space asbeing grounded in a historical andcultural context. Although he con­cluded that the current political im­passe is rooted in this legacy and un­likely to be resolved easily, he is opti­mistic that an eventual change is in­evitable. Reynolds’ account of a per­sonal dilemma and his experience ofthe intellectual elite in Burma wascomplementary to this conclusion, byindicating that there are avenues ofpluralism that remain slightly open.

The second day of the conferencebuilt upon the examination of the do­mestic political scene by expandingthe level of analysis beyond Burma’sborders. Dr Mya Than assessed theBurmese economy in light both of

Report

/

culture’ takes shape - fossils are be­ginning to take over from relics, andmuseums from pagodas.

Improved access to Burma wouldhelp, but it cannot solve this problem.Again, a major factor in maturing in­ternational scholarship on Burmamust be participation by well-in­formed and trained Burmese acade­mics and intellectuals. Unfortunate­ly, repression of university life meansthe next generation of Burmese acad­emics have to be trained outside thecountry. If the international commu­nity is indeed serious about helpingBurma find its feet, it must nourishthis transplanted intellect. Hopefully,when the time comes, these scholarswill inform international opinionand contribute constructively to theircountry’s future.

Future politics must orient andadapt to reality. The military charac­teristically fields international ques­tions about the country by ‘correct­ing misunderstandings’. It does sowith great confidence, but withoutdemonstrating even a semblance ofhaving done any serious research tofind out what is really happening. Iwonder, unless the regime liberal­izes Burma’s university life, who willhave the ability to engage in such‘international misunderstandings’over Myanmar? ■

Gustaaf Houtman, Royal Anthropological

Institute, E-mail: ghoutman@ tesco.net, is

author o f ‘Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis

Politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National

League for Democracy’. Study o f Languages

and Cultures o f Asia and Africa Monograph

Series No. 33. Tokyo University o f Foreign

Studies, Institute for the Study o f Languages

and Cultures o f Asia and Africa, 1999, 400

pp. ISBN 4-87297-748-3.

This is accessible via the Internet at:

http://go.to/Mental_Culture

highly relevant to regional politics,mainly due to the efforts of the coun­try’s two large neighbours - Chinaand India - to gain influence overBurma. Malik takes a controversialposition that sees Burma’s indepen­dence, security and stability compro­mised as it is pressured to fall in linewith China’s grand strategy for thetwenty-first century.

The Burma Update developed as agrowing interest in Burma studies atthe ANU which has been promotedby Professor Desmond Ball (authorof Burma’s M ilitary Secrets: Signals In­telligence (SIGINT) jrom 1941 to CyberWarfare (1998), Andrew Selth (authorof Transforming the Tatm adaw: TheBurmese Armed Forces Since 1988 (1996),and a few post-graduate studentswriting on Burmese politics. Thesuccess of the Burma Update hasgiven a boost to aims within theANU to establish a Burma StudiesCentre. The eight papers are current­ly being edited into a book, Burma-/M yanm ar: Strong Regime, Weak State?which will be published in October1999 by Crawford House and theirassociates. ■

Emily Rudland. PhD Candidate,

Department o f Political and Social Change,

Research School o f Pacific and Asian Studies,

The Australian National University.

2 2 • has n e w s l e t t e r N?2 1 • F ebruary 2000 For an in terv iew w ith Prof. B. J. Terw iel, HAS Extraord inary C ha ir 'C u ltu res o f M a in land Southeast A s ia ', see p. 52

S O U T H E A S T AS I AI

'Hinduism' in Modern IndonesiaOn 16 and 17 September 1999 the HAS seminar ‘Hinduism’ inmodem Indonesia’ was held in Leiden. The seminar was con­vened by Martin Ramstedt, who is at present attached to theLeiden branch o f the International Institute o f Asian Studiesin the Netherlands as a research fellow.

■ By NI CO J . G. KAPTEI N

f r i he seminar wasI opened by the IIAS

J - Director, Wim Stok-hof, who stressed that thestudy of Hinduism in In­donesia has lagged far be­

hind compared to that of Islam, forexample. In the first presentation,from a general theoretical perspec­tive Peter van der Veer (Universiteitvan Amsterdam] raised a number ofconceptual issues, relevant to thetopic of the seminar: the concept of‘Hinduism’ (between quotationmarks!) itself (and the concept o f‘re­ligion’); the relationship between(colonial and post-colonial) state andreligion.

Martin Ramstedt gave a more geo­graphically oriented introduction tothe topic, outlining one importantparameter o f ‘Hinduism’ in modernIndonesia: Indonesianization. Heshowed that the after the integrationof Bali into the state of Indonesia in1950, representatives of Balinese Hin­duism reconstructed various tenetsand practices within their traditionto ensure these fell within the cate­gory of agama (religion), as this wasstipulated by the Indonesian stateideology (the Pancasila), which was

coloured to a large extent by Christ­ian and Muslim concepts. As a resultof this reconstruction (e.g. with re­gard to monotheism, sacred lan­guage, pilgrimage, holy books,prayers, standardized religious cal­endar and the like) between 1958 and1961 these ‘Hindus’ succeeded inachieving recognition of their varietyof'Hinduism’ as religion by the Min­istry of Religious Affairs, and conse­quently were no longer a target ofChristian and Muslim missionaries.

The first session of the seminardealt with ‘Ethnicity, Religion andNation-Building in Indonesia’. Thefirst paper was given by Karel Steen-brink (Utrecht University) who high­lighted the affinity between thethoughts of a number of prominentIndonesian Christians, like Sadrachand Reksosusilo, and certain ele­ments of the Hindu tradition in Ja­vanese culture. Next, in a fascinatingpresentation, Robert Hefner (BostonUniversity) compared conversion toHinduism in two close and cultural­ly similar regions, to wit the Yo-gyakarta region, where only sporadicconversions to Hinduism had takenplace, and the Klaten region, whichhas witnessed the highest percentageof Hindu converts in Java. It was ar­gued that this dissimilarity was re­

lated to the difference in the percep­tion of Islam among the Javanesepopulation in each region. Since themass killings of 1965-1966 in Klatenhad been far more awful than thosein Yogyakarta, in Klaten the politicallandscape had been far more politi­cized than in Yogyakarta. Because thekillers in Klaten were to a large ex­tent identified with Islam, the peoplein this region did not convert toIslam, but preferred Hinduism (andChristianity).

The next session was entitled ‘TheDevelopment of ‘Indonesian Hin­duism’ (Hindu Dharma Indonesia)’.Michel Picard (CNRS, Paris) outlinedthe debates held among Balinese in­telligentsia after 1917 when the firstmodern organization was foundedup to 1958, when Balinese religionwas recognized by the state as AgamaHindu Bah. These debates focused onthe relationship between ‘religion’(iagama) and ‘tradition’ (adat), and therelationship between Balinese Hin­duism and Indian Hinduism. I GustiNgurah Bagus (Udayana University,Den Pasar), dealt with the attemptsof the state-sanctioned variety ofHindu reform, the Parisada HinduDharma Indonesia, to free itself fromgovernment interference, especiallyin the 1990s. Professor Bagus con­cluded that the voice of the Hindureligion in Bah, and in Indonesia atlarge, had become much moreprominent recently. Ngurah Nala(Hindu University, Denpasar) out­lined some elements of formal and

non-formal Hindu education in Bah,while Leo Howe (University of Cam­bridge) concluded the first day of theseminar with a presentation whichshowed how onwards the religiouslandscape in Bah has been diversifiedsince the early 1980s by the introduc­tion of the Sai Baba movement, andhow this devotional movement over­laps, and is in dynamic tension with,forms of Hinduism.

U niversalismThe second day of the seminar

started with the session ‘Neo-Indian-ization of Local Discourses in In­donesia’. Silvia Vignato (CNRS, Paris)dealt with two ethnic groups of Hin­dus in North Sumatra, the immi­grant Tamils and the native Bataks.It was argued that, unlike theTamils, the Karo Bataks were not ableto fulfil their need for intellectualchange within Hinduism. The nextpresentation was by Somvir (DehliUniversity; Udayana University, DenPasar), read by Peter van der Veer. Thepaper stressed the idea of the univer-salism of Hinduism (and the com­mon ancestry of India and Indone­sia), and highlighted a number ofcontacts between Indonesia andIndia in the post-colonial era. Thethird paper in this session, by JuaraGinting (University Leiden), dealtwith some organizational aspects ofKaro Hinduism, and Martin Ramst­edt concluded this session by pre­senting some preliminary conclu­sions, based on his fieldwork in

'Hinduism'in Modern Indonesia (2}As a supplement to Nico Kaptein’s report, the following articlepresents some conclusions from and responses to the Interna­tional Seminar on Hinduism in Modem Indonesia which wasconvened on the id1*1 and 17th September, 1999 , at the HAS inLeiden with the additional financial support from the NWO(‘Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek’or Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research).

By MARTI N RAMS TE DT

he purpose of theseminar was to elu­cidate the concep­

tual as well as actual ten­sion between local tradi­tion (adat) and global re­

ligion (‘agama’) in the modern In­donesian nation state by focusing onthe development of modern ‘Indone­sian Hinduism’ in various parts ofthe archipelago.

The international convention ofseventeen scholars working on thetopic of religion and the nation statein the context of present-day Southand Southeast Asia was consideredtimely for the following reasons:1. was the first conference which

concerned itself solely with the de­velopment of modern IndonesianHinduism (Hindu Dharma Indone­sia);

2. it addressed the precarious situa­tion of Indonesian Hindus at atime of increasing Islamizationand Christianization after the fallof Soeharto’s ‘new order’ regime;

3. it raised awareness of the possiblelink between Hindu activism inpresent-day Indonesia and India.

Major conclusions of the seminarcan be summed up as follows:1. Conversion to Hinduism by non-

Balinese Indonesians during thelast four decades can generally beviewed as an attempt to circum­vent state prescribed conversion tothe ‘new order’ version of moder­nity;

2. lack of funding, inadequate ad­ministrative penetration, as wellas bureaucratisation of ‘religion’has impeded the official represen­tatives of Indonesian Hinduism tosuccessfully promote Hinduism asan attractive alternative to the

‘modern’ religions Christianityand Islam outside of Bah;

3. both the religious practice, whichis predominantly based on adat,and the socio-cultural backgroundof the majority of the Hindu com­munity, who belongs to the edu­cationally and economically mar­ginalized rural population, hasfostered Islamic and Christianprejudice against Hinduism asbeing primitive, polytheistic, ani­mistic superstition. This in turnhas given rise to the rather precar­ious situation of Hindus in pre­sent-day Indonesia;

'4. its modest success notwithstand­ing, official Indonesian Hinduismhas tried to gradually transformadat into a^ama;

5. the negative image of Hinduismreflects to a certain extent the neg­ative image oflocal tradition (adat)in modern Indonesia. However, ithas received a boost by ‘culturaltourism’. Hence, a folklorized ver­sion of local tradition called bu-daya has been acknowledged asvaluable cultural capital by the In­donesian government;

6. Indonesian Hindus belonging tothe affluent, urbanized middle-class and mostly living in Bah or

in Javanese cities have turned toIndia for intellectual and spiritualsupport. Hence, various new Indi­an Hindu sects have gainedground in Bah and Java wherethey have contributed to the in­creasing heterogeneity of Indone­sian Hinduism, simultaneouslyweakening local tradition infavour of a globalized form of reli­gion.

The seminar received valuablefeedback from colleagues, journal­ists, and Hindus in the Netherlands,Indonesia, and India. A journalist ofthe Indonesian newspaper Bah Post(issue of 27th September, 1999) en­thusiastically linked the major con­clusions of the seminar with thestruggle of Indonesian Hindusunder the present socio-politicalconditions. A similar enthusiasmwas expressed by Indian Hindus. Theforthcoming publication of the sem­inar proceedings, which will be pub­lished jointly by Curzon Press andthe IIAS under the title ‘Religion andthe Nation State: Hinduism in Mod­ern Indonesia’, will, therefore, haveto take into account the range of re­sponses it might stimulate or pro­voke, taking a clear stance for reli­gious tolerance and pluralism. ■

Dr M artin R am stedtis an ESF / Alliance fellow andis stationed at the IIAS in Leiden.He can be reached at:mramstedt@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

South Sulawesi, about how HinduDharma Indonesia might be ableprotect the local traditions in thisarea, where the centralization, ratio­nalization, and bureaucratization of‘religion’ is taking place on the ini­tiative of state-sponsored and statecontrolled institutions.

In the final session, "Hinduism’and Local Identity vis-a-vis Islam andChristianity’, Gerard Persoon (Uni­versiteit Leiden) discussed the localreligion of a small ethnic group onthe island of Siberut (West Sumatra).He had evidence to show that thislocal religion had not disappeareddespite various concerted efforts bythe government and Christian orMuslim missionaries achieve this,because this religion had never orga­nized itself which made it impossi­ble to come to grips with it. More­over, more recently, a more positiveattitude towards this indigenous re­ligion has developed as a result of thegreat appreciation for this shown bytourists, while the efforts to preservethe natural environment of the is­land also implies a greater respect forthe indigenous culture.

Dik Roth (Wageningen Agricultur­al University) dealt with a number ofsocio-political and demographic pro­cesses in Luwu and Tana Toraja(South Sulawesi] in the Dutch colo­nial and the post-colonial period,and argued that the political-admin­istrative categories used by those inpower did not coincide with Torajaidentity. The next paper was by TanjaHohe (Münster University) and dealtwith the concept of pela in Ambon,which constitutes a form of alliancebetween two or more villages. This iseven able transcend the border be­tween Christianity and Islam. In thepaper it was optimistically arguedthat this concept could play a role inavoiding interreligious conflicts. Thefinal contribution to the seminarwas by jan Houben (University Lei­den) who showed part of a film abouta the performance of a Vedic ritualwhich he shot in Dehli in 1996.

All in all, the seminar brought to­gether a wealth of relevant expertiseon the very original topic of ‘Hin­duism’ in modern Indonesia. Thefocus of the seminar was very wellchosen, since an up-to-date, compre­hensive publication about this topicis a great lack. The choice of this topicwas also very timely, because of themany social and political changeswhich are taking place in Indonesiaat the present time. Unfortunately,in my opinion, a few of the presenta­tions were not sufficiently in linewith the central topic of the seminar.This was a pity because the busyschedule of presentations did notallow for a closing session, in whichsome general conclusions mighthave been drawn.

It is envisaged that the proceed­ings will appear at the end of 2000 atthe Curzon Press. I trust that the justmentioned lack of a concluding ses­sion will be made up in this - un­doubtedly valuable - forthcomingpublication. ■

Dr Nico J.G. Kaptein is the co-ordinator ofthe Indonesian-Netherlands Cooperation inIslamic Studies, and secretary o f the IslamicStudies Programme at Universiteit Leiden.E-mail: NKaptein@rulletleidenuniv.nl

February 2000 • i i a s n e w s l e t t e r n ?2I • 2 3

S O U T H E A S T A S I A

Photographic prints a t the Kern Institu te LeidenCollecting Alms as a Character of Burmese LifeContained within our South and Southeast Asian photo collec­tion there are 18 prints by the commercial photographer P.A.Klier (ca. 1845-1911). In a collection dominated by art and ar­chaeology, these so-called ‘characters o f life’ taken in studiostend to catch the eye. They are proof o f the specific contributionby photography to the process o f imagining a society, in thiscase Burmese society by the end o f the nineteenth century. Whywere outdoors ritual observances transported into the studio?

By GERDA THEUNS-DE BOER

hilip Adolphe Klierwas an outstand­ing photographer.

Nevertheless, he under­took various professionalactivities. They all seem

to have contributed to his skill. Klierwas of German origin. He began hisactive life as a professional photogra­pher in 1871, starting in Moulmein,one of the bigger cities of ‘LowerBurma’. Although Klier can be re­garded as an early photographer,photography as such was no longerexperimental.

Making a living from photogra­phy at that time was still difficult.From the directories which mentionKlier, we learn that he tried to mini­mize his business risk by takingwork as an optician, watchmaker,and jeweller as well running thefirm known as Murken & Klier, withHeinrich Murken being his businessassociate. Klier worked his way upand was described in the IllustratedLondon News of March 1877 as a‘local artist of considerable repute’.Around 1880 Klier moved to Ran­goon, Burma’s biggest and fastestgrowing city. In the wake of the con­quest of the Irrawaddy Delta by theBritish in 1852, Rangoon had becomethe centre of Indo-British power. ForKlier, Rangoon presented a heaven­sent chance to extend his profession­al activities. In the beginning Klierworked on his own. The desire tohave a studio was what most proba­bly prompted him to look for a part­ner and so he worked together withJ. Jackson in the period 1885-90 butthen, for the rest of his life, he car­ried on independently.

From advertisements in the Ran­goon Gazette, the Rangoon Times,and the Weekly Budget, we may con­clude that Klier succeeded admirablyin commercializing his photo­graphs. The texts are always embell­ished with slogans such as: Awardedprize medals; New Series and NewDesigns; Pictures finished in thehighest style of art; Photographs inall the latest processes; Pictorialpostcards in colour and black andwhite etc. The core of his work is ex­pressed best in an advertisement inthe Rangoon Gazette of March 2,1887: ‘Portraits taken from 8 am to 3pm. Views of Upper and LowerBurma, Maulmain and the AndamanIslands, also Burmese celebrities andcharacters of Burmese life’. Besidesthis, he was a specialist in art pho­tography. Quite a few of his pho­tographs were published in artbooks as photogravures. He focusedon silverware, glass mosaics, wood­

carving, iron and steel work, andpanel art. Here we can see how hisphotography and other professionalactivities were related to each other,as from later advertisement it isknown that Klier took up trade againas a dealer in objects d'art, silverwork,and furniture! It is my belief that allof his additional undertakings inMoulmein and Rangoon con­tributed to his photographic skill.Let us take a look on photo 578 enti­tled ‘Burmese Hpongyees CollectingAlms’.

Collecting almsIn the centre o f the photograph we

see two novice monks, (Pon-gyi inBurmese, meaning Great Glory) en­gaged on their daily ritual of beg­ging, which is still common in Ther-avada Buddhist countries. Everymorning the younger monks andnovices go out in a silent processionto beg their food. The monks stopwhen anyone comes out to put an of­fering of rice, cake, fruit, fish, or veg­etables in the earthen or lacquer warebegging-bowl. No word will be spo­ken, either of request or thanks, forthe monks are doing the laity afavour by allowing them to acquiremerit. The monk’s eyes must bedowncast, for the monk should notlook upon a woman. Hands must beclasped beneath the begging-bowl.After about an hour, the monks goback to the monastery. A portion ofthe alms will be offered to the Bud­dha. Tradition says that the foodshould be reheated and eaten beforenoon, but it is the practice to givethis eclectic mixture of food to thesmaller boys, wanderers, and dogs,while better food, donated bywealthier supporters, is eaten by themonks themselves.

On the photograph we see that allthe rules of correct behaviour arebeing strictly followed. Klier uses aso-called backdrop, a painting thatcould be fixed to give the scene thenecessary realistic background. Pos­sibly Klier made it himself as he alsomade hand-painted Christmas andNew Year cards. The backdrop givesthe photograph a soft, romantictone. Although space in the studio islimited, he deftly succeeds in sug­gesting depth. We can look into thehut, while on the left we take stock ofthe luxuriant nature. It is almost im­possible to see where the backdroptouches the floor. Klier rendered thewhole scene very cleverly: the grasson the floor, the position of the mainfigures, the boy sitting on a realwooden verandah in front of thepainted hut, the jars, a broom... Al­though we know that everyone isposing, it is done naturally. The boy

Rangoon, Monks collecting alms, Albumen print ca. 1890

has been clearly told to sit still (lookat the stiff position of his left arm).But, by not allowing him to look atthe act of alms-giving, Klier stressesthe everyday character of the ritualthereby creating a character of dailylife’.

Why did Klier move this ritual intothe studio? Within our collection wealso have an outdoor photograph byKlier of the same ritual. What is thedifference? In the outdoor photo­graph Klier merely acts as a witnessto the scene. In the studio, where all

technical and theatrical aspects areunder ‘control’, he is able to create aperfect exotic emblem of virtue andnothing is more certain than that hisclients will prefer this photograph!

For whom did he take his pho­tographs? Besides a small group oflocal Burmese elite who wanted theirportraits taken, most of his cus­tomers were Europeans, with someconnection with the colonial system.In a Rangoon Times advertisement of1905 he calls himself ‘Photographicartist by appointment to his Honour

the Lieutenant-Governor of Burma’.Europeans were very much interest­ed in ‘Views of Burma’, ranging fromthe Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Rangoonto ‘Burmese girls’. The photographswere intended to be a souvenir oftheir Burma days or for ‘friends athome’. Klier took hundreds of theseviews and sometimes compiled theminto albums. Thanks to their quality,they show little deterioration. TheKlier print shown can be dated as endof the 1880s. It is a albumen printmade from a gelatin dry plate. By theway, the total costs for all these 18prints were 14 rupees-only! ■

I want to express m y thanks toJohn Falconer fo r providing mewith some interesting biographicalnotes on P.A. Klier.

Drs Gerda Theuns-de BoerPhotographic Project manager

Kern Institute

Leiden University

E-mail: theuns@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

1 6 >■ 1 8 SEPTEMBER 1 9 9 9P A S S A U , GERMANY

EUROVIET IVIn the middle o f September last year, a sunny Bavarian late sum­mer saw a number o f experts convene in Passau for three days inorder to discuss current developments in Vietnam. Under thetitle ‘The Economic Crisis and Vietnam’s Integration intoSoutheast Asia’ over twenty papers were discussed. These com­prised not only a survey o f the economic indicators o f the impacto f the Asian crisis in Vietnam but also focused on social conse­quences and government policies to alleviate the situation.

■ By MARTIN GROBHEIMAND VINCENT HOUBEN

he consequencesof the crisis forthe process of the

increasing integration ofVietnam into the region,partly through its mem­

bership of ASEAN, and the securitysituation in the South China Seawere also the subjects of debate. Theparticipants in the conference were abalanced mixture of representativesof Vietnam itself and of countrieswhere Vietnam Studies take a promi­nent place among Southeast AsianStudies in general. Among the nineVietnamese representatives wereacademic staff from Hanoi and HoChi Minh Universities, but also offi­cials from the Foreign Ministry andthe Ministry of Labour, Invalids, andSocial Affairs. The Deputy-Ambas­sador of Vietnam in Germany, MrTran Ngoc Quyen, attended the con­ference as a special guest. Besides

these Vietnamese guests there wereEuropean researchers from Ger­many, the Netherlands, the Nordiccountries, Russia, and France, as wellas several Americans.

The keynote speech was deliveredby Prof Carlyle Thayer, who clearlyillustrated how the impact of the cri­sis necessitates a clear-cut domesticpolicy response from Vietnam,which seems to be poised between astepped-up doi irtoi-2 and a wait-and-see policy. After an analysis of recentmacro-economic trends in the coun­try by two Vietnamese economists(Phan Thanh Ha and Le HongTruong), the implication of theAsian financial crisis on Vietnam’srelations with the region wereanalysed by Khu Thi Tuyet Mai andRamses Amer. Tran Thi Anh Daoshowed how the recent growth oftrade linkages and intra-regionalproduction units has exacerbatedthe nation's vulnerability to a crisis.In the historical section, two Frenchresearchers focused on regional inte-

The participants o f the conference.

2 4 • has n e w s l e t t e r >C21 • February 2000

S O U T H E A S T A S I A

►

Popular Culture and Decolonization:Mimicry or Counter-Discourse?Today’s best-known patterns o f popular literature were set bya small number o f so-called classics o f adventure and crime lit­erature.

Its most famous heroes, such as Robinson Crusoe, the Counto f Monte Christo, and Sherlock Holmes, have long since devel­oped into emblematic characters. They represent crucial facetso f Western bourgeois history and illustrate the imagined de­velopment o f a reflecting, responsible subject from the earlyeighteenth century onwards. Surprisingly, the specific histori­cal context o f these texts does not seem to have hindered theirtransfer to non-Westem - and colonized - cultures, for in­stance to colonial Indonesia.

The question arises o f what could possibly account for theappeal o f these European examples o f adventure and crime fic­tion to audiences with entirely different historical and cultur­al backgrounds. Unfortunately, the role o f popular literaturein the process o f cultural adaptation and transference has asyet not attracted much scholarly attention. My research pro­ject, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG),is a contribution to this field o f Intercultural and LiteraryStudies.

■ By DORI S J EDAMSKI

apid and immense|- c changes took place

V . in the NetherlandEast Indies during thelast decades under colo­nial rule. Modernization

and nationalism are only two key­words, the discovery of individual­ism is another. Whenever majorchanges occur in a society, when

life-styles, social classes, and socialstructures are being modified or dis­solving, the subject needs to be rede­fined and repositioned too. Litera­ture in its broadest sense is a medi­um to constitute the subject mosteffectively. The genre of the noveloffered the colonized new forms ofreflection. It was the perfect meansto express newly developing ideas,wishes, demands, doubts, and vi­sions.

gration of an earlier kind (SophieReig on Cochinchina’s integrationinto Indochina and Southeast Asia]and on current account balances ofthe 1940s to the 1970s (Hugues Ter-trais). There were two contributionson the ways in which Vietnamshould model its future financial ar­chitecture (Gottwald/Klump, GalinaBirina).

One group of papers interpretedthe consequences of the economicproblems for both the domesticeconomy, especially employment(Vu Van Toan, Irene Norlund,Nguyen Thi Hoa) and big industrialestate projects (Laurence Nguyen).Long-term patterns of urbanization(Ton Nu Quynh Tran) and entrepre­neurial culture (Mutz/Meyer-Tran-/Wolff) were highlighted as well. Thefinal group of contributions aimedto put Vietnamese foreign policy andgrowing integration into the regioninto the perspective of the implica­tions of the crisis. Le Linh Lan gave asurvey of Vietnam’s relations withASEAN, Ngo Dang Tri discussed thebasic tenets of the Vietnamese Com­munist Party’s view of foreign rela­tions. The issue of the contested is­lands in the South China Sea was ex­plained by Stein Tonnesson, andNguyen Van Lich described the for­eign orientation of Ho Chi MinhCity. Finally, possible future devel­opment paradigms were discussedby Tim Goydke (referring to Japan)and Pascal Bergeret, putting forwardthe hypothesis that maintaining thesocialist market economy modelmight lead to a development strate­gy promoting agriculture ratherthan industry. Daniel Hoang, from

the international committee for thedefence of workers' rights in Viet­nam, made a critical statement onthe social situation after twelve yearsof reform.

The level of the discussions, heldmainly in English but also in Frenchand sometimes Vietnamese, washigh and showed how a currenttheme with a clear focus allows afruitful cross-disciplinary exchangeof thoughts in which the Viet­namese guests participated withguests. During the conference a newbook on rural Vietnam was present­ed: Bernhard Dahm & VincentHouben (eds.), Vietnamese Villagesin Transition. Background and Con­sequences of Reform Policies inRural Vietnam. Passau: Lehrstuhl ftirSiidostasienkunde 1999, 224 pages. Apublication of a selection of the con­ference papers by the organizers ofEUROVIETIV is envisaged. ■

Prof. Vincent Houben holds the Lehrstuhl

fuer Suedostosienkunde at Passau University,

At the time o f the conference Dr MartinGroDheim was working as Associate

Professor (Wissenschaftlicher Assistent) at

the same Dept. Since I October 1999, he

has been affiliated as a Postdoctoral Fellow

with the Center for East and Southeast Asian

Studies at Lund University/Sweden.

E-mail for both professors:

seastudies@uni-passau.de

rtöR A L A

t j a R -KfUirfDCSA&i

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Translation + Adaptation =Imitation?Western popular fiction was intro­

duced to Indonesia by way of trans­lations and adaptations. Initially,these publications were produced by‘cultural gate-keepers’, Eurasiansand Chinese Malays, who very oftencombined the roles of translators orauthors, publishers, and distribu­tors. They could draw on a well-es­tablished element in Malay literarytraditions in which the copying offoreign models has always been acrucial and highly regarded form ofliterary endeavour. This ‘copying’was the unavoidable first step whichhad to be taken to allow a broaderaudience access to forms and ideascoming in from other cultures. If re­garded relevant, these new elementswould then be taken up by other au­thors to be developed more inten­sively and subsequently be ‘assimi­lated’ into the indigenous culture.Consequently, the leading criteriawould not be the Western notions oforiginality and genius, but useful­ness within cultural, social, and po­litical discourses.

M im icry and counter­discourseThe literary niche of translations

and adaptations in particular invitedIndonesians to develop a counter­discourse - undisturbed and rightunder the colonizer’s gaze. Heroessuch as The Count of Monte Christo andSherlock Holmes played a decisive rolein the emerging discourse on moder­nity and identity among Indonesianauthors and readers. Monte Christo,for example, provided a model ofpower relations which could be re­interpreted in various ways, includ­ing in favour of the colonized andagainst the colonizers. Most of all heoffered a fantasy of how to defeat thethreatening capitalistic structuresby turning its prime weapon againstit: money. Sherlock Holmes, the epito­me of Occidental rationalism, on theother hand, apparently impressedwith his demonstrations of how toread the signs of modernity. He wasthe hero able to put back in orderwhat had been disintegrating, to

structure the world anew. However,Conan Doyle’s famous detective wassoon replaced by various indigenous,master minds' - often journalists -who provided a perfect foil for theprojection of Indonesian ideas of thenew society. During the late 1920s, itwas timidly anticipated that colonialrule might actually come to an end -or, at least, would undergo drasticchanges. The issue ofrevenge’, ruth­lessly pursued by Monte Christo, butalso dealt with in crime fiction andChinese silat stories, entailed a floodof novels about pembalosan(vengeance). These novels representa diversity of positions, dependingon the authors’ ethnicity and reli­gion. Western-oriented Eurasians,Sumatran Muslims, or Javanese Chi­nese Malays (some of them againMuslim converts) all contributed tothis discourse.

The colonial pow er forced to‘w rite back’There is thus no suggestion that

this ‘imitation’ of Western classicsby indigenous writers representedsome form of imposition of colonialculture, such as is usually seen to bethe case with the teaching of Euro­pean literature in the colonial class­room. The opposite is true. For along time the colonial power seemedconcerned only with the indigenouspress and failed to ascribe any greatsocial or political potential to popu­lar literature - or to any kind of liter­ature. This situation only changed inthe last decades of colonial rule. Infact, it was the colonial power itselfthat was forced to ‘write back’ - inthe languages of the colonized. Theemergence of the colonial govern­ment’s publishing house, Balai Poes-taka, can also be seen as an attemptto control the process o f ‘imitation’that was gaining ground in indige­nous society of the time. Balai Poesta-ka set about developing and estab­lishing a modified type of the West­ern psychological novel in the In­dies. Only when the Dutch officialsrealized that they could not expectany early success in ‘counterbalanc­ing’ the newly developing forms ofindigenous literature by establish­ing the affirmative model of an in­digenous ‘psychological’ novel - the

DfBRAtA

KSTJUIOOE&H I

mimic Bildun^sroman - they compro­mised and began to put out theirown translations and adaptations ofthe most popular novels.

The (colonial) subjectre-definedCampe’s Robinson Crusoe - likely to

be the first novel in Western style incolonial Indonesia to be available inMalay translation - was used as text­book in schools for many decadesfrom 1875. Still, the subject model in­troduced by this novel was not pickedup by Indonesians and subjected tothe indigenous discourse. It should beadded here that modified forms of theRobinson model, such as Mou/gli andTarzan, did not prove any greater suc­cess when dissiminated in Malaytranslation by Balai Poestaka duringthe 1920s and 1930s. One possible ex­planation is that the restricted and al­most autobiographical focus on a sin­gle protagonist is likely to have madethe novel too alien to appeal to thegeneral Malay-reading public in colo-

.1 V' . j

> « « ■

A

nial Indonesia. Furthermore, RobinsonCrusoe embodies the notion of the in­dividual as unified and sovereign sub­ject who, through introspection andself-reflection, acquires self-mastery.As a consequence, (Western) civiliza­tion is seen to establish itself in theface of solitude and disorder. ThisWestern-bourgeois philosophy is un­known to Malay thinking. Instead,the Indonesian/Malay subject is de­termined and defined by its place inthe community and its relation toothers. Descartes’ famous statementJe pense doncje suis would, as Tickellnicely pinpoints, probably evoke thequestion - and where areyou? However,Robinson Crusoe seems to have provid­ed ‘counter-discoursive inspiration’to the Malay re-interpretations ofMadame Butterfly: the white male pro­tagonist makes his appearance as ashipwrecked and stranded man onone of the white beaches of the Malayarchipelago. ■

Dr Doris Jedamski (Hamburg) is working

on her Habilitation and can be reached at:

Doris.Jedamski@t-online.de

She was an HAS research fellow (DFG)

between September 7, / 999 and January 14,

2000 .

February 2 0 0 0 • has n e w s l e t t e r N ?2 i • 2 5

S O U T H E A S T A S I A

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Farmers protesting at the Governor’s office

tion from a fellow researcher whostudies the Sakai. Tabrani is one ofthe foremost informal leaders of theprovince, who openly speculatesabout full independence for Riau. Hehas also sued President B.J. Habibie,and some others, alleging that thepresident had already promised toreturn 10% of the oil revenues to Riauthe previous year. Tabrani, in histurn, introduced me to the governorof Riau and asked his blessing for myundertaking. Despite his obstinatebehaviour, Tabrani has remained ongood terms with the local govern­ment and is admired by the generalpublic. Networks count in Indone­sia, and my connection with the gov­ernor and Tabrani proved to be help­ful again and again.

Tabrani himself is well aware ofthe importance of (international)contacts. Since my return to theNetherlands he has supplied mewith a wealth of valuable documen­tation via e-mail. Of course, he isusing me for his cause as much as Iam using him for my purpose. It isinteresting to note that extendedfieldwork developed since Mali­nowski’s times has been replaced bya series of short fieldwork trips, sup­plemented with e-mail contact withone’s interlocutors and the readingof local newspapers on the web.

C ontested claim sTo the ordinary people, land, not

oil, is the most important issue.Plantation companies have in thepast trespassed on the land used by

villagers. When a dispute eruptedbetween villagers and plantationsduring the New Order of formerPresident Soeharto, the local govern­ment usually backed the planta­tions. Nowadays, the local govern­ment takes a more impartial stancewhen it investigates the rights to aplot of land, and sometimes con­cludes that a plantation companymust return land to villagers or paythem compensation. It has thereforebecome a common sight to see agroup of villagers waiting on the

her trade, it squeezed the whole vil­lage economy.

Another example of contested ac­cess (now in the juridical sense) con­cerns a village of tribal people calledSakai. The village, Penaso, was firstabandoned when the road fromPekanbaru to Dumai was built, butlater the inhabitants reoccupied thesite. The Sakai village, which used tolie in forest land, is now half encir­cled by PT ADEI, a big rubber planta­tion in Malaysian hands. Last Junelabourers from PT ADEI intentional­ly destroyed four places consideredsacred by the Penaso Sakai. Some ofthese places are old and have aunique religious and historicalvalue. The Sakai sued PT ADEI forthe damage done. In their suit theywere counselled by the above-men­tioned Tabrani, who has taken asympathetic interest in them foryears. After having submitted theircomplaint to the court ofjustice, theSakai marched in protest to theMalaysian consulate in Pekanbaru,the office of the governor, theforestry department, the land reg­istry, and the office of PT ADEI itselfThe whole action is exemplary of thecommon wish in Riau to obtain jus­tice, but also to refrain from mass vi­

The Riau road

square in front of the governor’s of­fice to hand over a petition to thegovernor. It has become worth theeffort for the villagers to oppose aplantation company. The ‘reformasi’has therefore led to more intensiveconflicts between smallholders onthe one hand and plantation andlogging companies on the other. It isnotable that in these and many sim­ilar cases, ethnicity does not seem toplay a role. The dividing line be­tween the parties is a socio-politicalone: villagers versus estates.

A good example of contested access(in the geographical sense) to natur­al resources is a dispute between theinhabitants of one particular villageand a logging company. In 1998 thevillage handed over a road to thecompany without financial compen­sation, on the condition that thecompany would maintain it. Theroad was their only connection withthe outside world and pivotal to thevillage economy. A year later thecompany drew the conclusion thatthe villagers used the road to export,among other commodities, timber.The company considered this woodits own, and defined the villagers’trade as theft of its standing stock oftimber. To baulk this ‘theft’, thecompany dug a five by seven metrewide hole in the road. The hole notonly stopped the alleged illegal tim-

olence, as has happened so tragicallyin other provinces.

I read about the protest march on­line in a Riau journal, but the veryfirst information about it was sent tome by Professor Tabrani and a Sakaihead via e-mail. I interpreted this e-mail not only as a notification, butalso as a request to support thestruggle of the Sakai people. Theevent embodies the fact that it is nolonger easy to keep aloof from socialand political tensions. One is urgedto take sides, the Indonesian citizenas much as the foreign anthropolo­gist. ■

Dr Freek Colom bijn is research fellow at

the HAS. He can be contacted at the HAS, or

by e-mail:

colombijn@rulleLleidenuniv.nl

See also:

http://iias.leidenuniv.nl/iias/research/colombijn/

For further reading on Riau, please see

Chou, Cynthia and Will Derks (eds)Riau in Transition, Bijdragen tot deTaal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Journal ofthe Royal Institute of Linguistics andAnthropology, issue 153, 1997.

Riau in theReformation Era

Demanding ten percent

Every Indonesian province or region seems to be going its ownway in the present ‘reformation’ era. The people in the eastSumatran province o f Riau see the reformation as an opportu­nity to make new claims to old natural resources. These chang­ing socio-political conditions im pinge not only on the lives o fIndonesians, but also on the fieldwork done by foreign an­thropologists.

By FREEK C O L O M B IJ N

R esearchProject TI he coastal area of

mainland Riau isrich in forest prod­

ucts and mineral oil. Forcenturies access to thesegoods was restricted by

the virtually impassable soil, whichwas either swampy or simply inun­dated. In the past the rivers formedthe only convenient axes of trans­port. A new road from the inlandcapital of Riau, Pekanbaru, to theseaport of Dumai had a revolution­ary impact. This road was construct­ed by the oil company Caltex in 1959to facilitate the construction andmaintenance of an oil-pipeline. Theroad opened up the area to successivewaves of newcomers: first Caltex,then logging companies, who liter­ally cleared the ground for subse­quent rubber and oil-palm planta­tions, and transmigration projects.The booming economy also attractedmany spontaneous migrants. Thisprocess of exploiting new oil fields,constructing and upgrading roads,and opening new land has continueduntil today.

The aim of my research is to un­derstand how and why various eco­nomic actors have gained access,both in the geographical and the ju ­ridical sense, to the natural resourcesof Riau. The most important issuethis year has been the Riau claim toten percent of the net oil revenuespresented to the national govern­ment in Jakarta. Strictly speaking,this ten percent claim falls outsidemy research interest, because it is

about the revenues of oil and notabout the resource itself (which,everybody agrees, should safely beleft in the expert hands of Caltex).

F ieldw ork conditionsThe local attempts to gain more

autonomy from Jakarta entail cer­tain consequences for the field-worker. In my latest experience,from April this year, research per­mits from the Indonesian Academyof Science (LIPI) and the Minister ofInternal Affairs in Jakarta are nolonger indispensable. High-rankingcivil servants in Riau’s provincialand Pekanbaru’s municipal admin­istration now decided themselveswhether or not they supported myresearch. Happily, in the reformistera the civil servants have quicklylearned to be more open and respon­sive toward civilians, including for­eign anthropologists.

The other side of the coin of in­creased local autonomy is thatnowadays local civil servants canmore easily show an unwelcome re­searcher the door. In practice, how­ever, this potentially negative side ofthe local autonomy did not befallme. In fact, I found the local civil ser­vants extraordinarily helpful. Apartfrom the new, general opennessmentioned above, Riau people arepleased to have foreign attention.The saying that every village has itsown anthropologist may apply toMinangkabau and Balinese regions,but certainly not to Riau. Perhapsmore important was that I visitedProfessor Tabrani at an early stage,accompanied by a letter of introduc­

2 0 • has n e w s l e t t e r NS21 • February 2000

IO IO

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S O U T H E A S T A S I A

Repossessinga Shrine in RiauOn June 1999, I received an e-mail from a well-known RiauMalay, notifying me that the workers o f a sharehold companyhave destroyed a Sakai shrine and other locally meaningfulsites. In the past few years, the shrine o f Grandfather White-hlood had emerged in associations with landright claims. Adispossessed group o f Sakai had re-entered the woods to reap­propriate an ancestral shrine and landscape. The political ar­ticulation with the sharehold company has not only caused arevitalization o f some Sakai customary practices relating to theshrine. It has also introduced novel ways in relating to theshrine. Landscapes are never fixed but recreated, remodifiedand always renegotiable. By reappropriating the shrine andthe surrounding land, Sakai not only retell the legends o f thelandscaped to visitors. They rework the stories as a cultural ar­gument to accompany their legal attempts at repossession.Talking about landscape is not simply talking about culture,but about both customary and legal rights.

■ By N A T H A N PORATH

he Sakai are a Ma-I lay-speaking indi-

J L genous people ofRiau (Sumatra) who for­mally called themselvesOrang Batin. In the past

they lived in administrative territori­al units called pebatin headed by aBatin headman appointed by the sul­tan of Siak. There were thirteen pe-batms that flanked the rivers of thearea. Today, the pebatin system,which was the product of the Siakkingdom, has been smashed. TheSakai now live in Indonesian territor­ial villages (desa). Many have settledby the side of the highway which cuts

j through their traditional territory.

They form pocket settlements be­tween a majority migrant populationand are surrounded by oil-fields andrubber and palm oil plantations. Re­gional developments in the name andideology of Development have dis­possessed them of much of their tra­ditional land area.

During the mid-1990s a well-re­spected, blind Sakai shaman, whowas the Batin headman of the areabefore the change in village organi­zation, had a dream. GrandfatherWhite-blood called him to re-enterthe woods and protect his shrine.The old shaman organized his mar­ried children and grandchildren intoa group, and re-entered the woods.They formed a settlement beside theshrine. Before moving to live by the

shrine, the group o f about fifteenfamilies lived on a small area of landby the highway. They lived in a set­tlement with a high concentration ofSakai families all squatting on anoth­er’s land. Surrounding them was asettlement of ethnically mixed mi­grants and the notorious brothel ofthe area.

To look at, the shrine is just a smallburial mound surrounded by trees.However, this tumulus is consideredmagical ground possessing verystrong powers although there are nopilgrimages or cults surrounding it.The shrine is merely part of the locallandscape. People visit the shrine re­questing aid in healing or for otherendeavours. (Recently, some peoplealso ask Grandfather White-blood fora winning lottery number.) The Sakaibelief in the power of the ancestralshrine is part o f a wider Malay beliefin the power of graves of legendarypeople. These people were believed tohave had saint-like qualities whenthey were alive. For Sakai the whiteblood running through GrandfatherWhite-blood's veins was evidence ofhis uniqueness. Legends retell his ex­ploits. For example, somewhere fur­ther upriver is the estuary of theDrunkard Waters. According to Sakai,once a year, the fish swimmingthrough this estuary rise to the sur­face as though they were drunk, mak­ing it easy for people to catch them.According to legend, this was theplace Grandfather White-blood re­sisted a Dutch attempt at capturinghim. The colonials sent a ship of sol­diers to search for the magic man.They reached the river-opening, andseven men hauled a rowing-boat andpaddled up the river. As they wererowing, they came across a local man(of the pebatin) sitting on the edge of

the river. The Dutchmen asked thelocal man if he could take them toGrandfather White-blood. He agreedand accompanied the visitors in theirboat. The Batin man led the Dutch­men to the estuary and then re­proached the Europeans. He toldthem that the man they were afterwas a magic man and therefore theywere wasting their time in trying tocatch him. The disbelieving Dutch­man passed this off as local supersti­tion. To prove his point, the Batinman, told them that with magic hecould turn the waters into alcohol.The Dutchmen took his bait, andasked him to prove this. The Batinman put his finger in the water, andthen offered the Europeans to drinkit. They did, and immediately felldrunk, so drunk that they forgottheir mission. The man then helpedrow the merry crew of DrunkenDutchmen back to their boat. Littledid the colonials know that this manwas Grandfather White-blood.

If legends of the shrine reveal howGrandfather White-blood helpedtransform the landscape, today Sakaiare also transforming the landscapethrough their attem pt at resistingfurther dispossession of land andreappropriating the shrine. Whenthe group of Sakai families movedinto the shrine area, they choppedsome wood and built a fence and agate around the shrine. They lockedthe gate and the shaman kept thekey. They also emphasized theshrine’s presence by erecting a signpost declaring that this was theshrine of Grandfather White-blood.Underneath the name they wrote adate +, -, 250 years, thus transform­ing the legendary reality of Grandfa­ther White-blood into a historicalfact.

Sakai have also been active in peti­tioning for the shrine and the sur­rounding land. On the 17th Decem­ber, 1998, a large group of Sakai visit­ed the newly appointed ProvincialGovernor as his official guests. Onehundred and sixty-four individualsfrom four settlements were presentand in the new spirit of reformasicould air their problems. One of thesettlements represented were thepeople living by the shrine. Answer­ing their request for schooling, thegovernor granted the four settle­ments a large sum of money forbuilding schools. A month later, theheadman of one settlement receivedaudience with the Governor and pe­titioned for the land surroundingthe ancestral shrine of GrandfatherWhite-Blood. The Governor respond­ed positively, and authorized a grantof 2000 hectares of land surroundingthe shrine to the settlement. Untilthen, the Sakai group had been re­sisting the sharehold company’s at­tempt at taking over the land. Re­grettably, it seems then, that Sakaiattempts at protecting the shrinewere not fully successful. At thisstage it is difficult for me to assessthe amount of damage done to thesite. Nevertheless, whatever the fu­ture outcome, the Sakai attempt atprotecting the shrine presents anhistorical moment in the biographyof Grandfather White-blood’s shrineand the surrounding land. It is withregret that I received the news fromProf. Tabrani about the destructionof the shrine. ■

Nathan Porath, CNWS, Leiden University,

E-mail: Porath@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

2 6 > 2 8 J U L Y 1 9 9 9Y O G Y A K A R T A , I N D O N E S I A

Continuity and Crisisin the Indonesian EconomyThis is an exceptionally exciting time in Indonesia, caught inthe toils o f both sudden political change and mastering thecurrent economic crisis. A link was forged between experiencesfrom Indonesian economic history and today’s predicamentsand challenges during an international conference hosted bythe Department o f History at Gadjah Mada University in Yo-gyakarta in late July 1999 . The conference testified to the re­cent revival o f the field o f economic history in Indonesia. Therevival has been reinforced by intensified international co-op­eration and increasing contacts between historians and econo­mists within Indonesia.

By J. T H O M A S L I N D B L A D

I he Yogyakarta con­ference was in factthe second inter­

national conference heldin Indonesia specificallydevoted to Indonesian

economic history (the first one tookplace in Jakarta in 1991). The meetingat Yogyakarta formed the conclusionof a four-year project o f co-operationbetween Dutch and Indonesian eco­nomic historians sponsored by theRoyal Netherlands Academy of Sci­

ences. Other sponsors of the confer­ence included the Toyota Foundationand the Yayasan Pendidikan Ke-bangsaan in Jakarta.

The three-day conference, from 26to 28 July, attracted participants fromnot only Indonesia and the Nether­lands but also from Australia andJapan. The keynote address was deliv­ered by Emil Salim, one-time Minis­ter for Environmental Affairs and aformer economics professor at theUniversity of Indonesia in Jakarta.

The general theme of the confer­ence was ‘Crisis and Continuity: the

Indonesian Economy in the Twenti­eth Century’. This theme was dis­cussed in twelve papers, one halfabout the late colonial period and theother half concerning the Soekamoand Soeharto periods. The level ofanalysis included both global ap­proaches and detailed case studies. Afew examples may suffice. CeesFasseur (Leiden) analysed the failureof the Dutch colonial Government toimplement an effective industrializa­tion policy before the Pacific War,whereas Arjan Taselaar (PhD fromLeiden) invited comparisons with thepresent day with his description of in­stitutionalized links between privatebusiness and the colonial administra­tion. At the level of case studies, RogerKnight (Adelaide) and Arthur vanSchaik (Amsterdam) drew attention tothe complexities of land and labourarrangements on Java sugar estates,while Y. Uemura (Hiroshima) offeredinsights into how government inter­ference in local rice markets in 1918-20actually worked out. Jamie Mackie

(formerly ANU, Canberra) urged for areappraisal of Soekarno’s achieve­ments with respect to nation-build­ing in Indonesia. Two Yogyakartaeconomists, Laksono Trisnantoro andBudhi Soesetyo, introduced a histori­cal dimension into the young field ofhealth economics in Indonesia link­ing disparities in treatment and qual­ity to political choices. Proceedingsbased on a selection of all these contri­butions will be published as one ortwo special issues of the Yogyakartahistory journal Lembaran Sejarah.

At the Yogyakarta conference theconventional setup of individual pre­sentations was supplemented bythree separate panel discussions. Oneconcerned a new comprehensive text­book on Indonesian economic historythat is being prepared at the presentby a team of authors consisting ofThee Kian Wie (Jakarta), Howard Dick(Melbourne), Vincent Houben (Pas-sau), and J. Thomas Lindblad (Leiden).The penultimate manuscript of thebook was presented to the conferenceparticipants and subjected to a criticalexamination. The book is scheduledto appear in the year 2000.

A second separate panel inevitablyfocused on the current Asian crisis.Anne Booth (SOAS, London) placed thedecline in income and employmentsince 1997 in a historical perspectiveand discussed the agenda for econom­ic reform, whereas Sri Adinigsith(Gadjah Mada) offered an overview ofthe liberalization in Indonesian bank­ing that preceded the crisis.

The final day of the conference waslargely devoted to yet another sepa­rate panel containing presentationsby so-called ‘young’ Indonesian re­search in economic history, i.e. re­ports on research in progress inpreparation of MA or PhD theses.Topics ranged from legal arrange­ments in the feudal economy of theCentral Javanese sultanates in thenineteenth century to labour rela­tions in contemporary North Suma­tra or the successive technological up­grading in Indonesian textile manu­facturing. Two presentations origi­nated in a larger project on the histo­ry of the Jva Sea region between 1870and 1970 based at the DiponegoroUniversity in Semarang and one indi­vidual project explored regional eco­nomic development in Besuki in EastJava. The three panels during the con­ference underscored the strong inter­national dimension in current syn­thesis in Indonesian economic historyas well as the immediate link withtoday’s urgent issues. Last but notleast, they made clear that a younggeneration of Indonesian historians,devoted to their country’s economichistory, is taking shape and preparedto carry on the work of previous gen­erations. ■

Dr ]. Thomas Lindblad, Department o f

Southeast Asian Studies, Universiteit Leiden.

E-mail: j.th.lindblad@worldonline.nl

F e b r u a r y 200 0 • HAS N E W S L E T T E R 19? 2 1 • 2 7

S O U T H E A S T A S I A

Biak in NijmegenFor tw o sem esters the am azing language o f Biak has been beingstudied at the Catholic University o f N ijm egen in a lingu isticfieldwork course conducted w ith the aid o f a native speaker. Thelanguage is typologically extraordinary in that it has gram m ati­cal gender, hut only in the plural, not in the other num bers(singular, dual, trial). But th is is not all that is amazing.

■ By HEIN STEI NHAUER

iak is an Austrone-sian language which

JlJ vs spoken in variousdialects in the Schouten Is­lands, in parts of the RajaAmpat archipelago, and in

settlements along the north coast ofthe Bird’s Head Peninsula of WestNew Guinea. The estimated number jof speakers must be well over 50,000,which makes it one of the biggest lan­guages in that part of Asia. Yet it isunder pressure from the language ofschool, church, government, and tele­vision, Indonesian. As a result a clearshift towards Indonesian (or rather alocal variety thereof) can be observedin the more urban environments: out­side the market in the district capitalof Biak on the island of the samename, it is rare to hear this languagespoken.

The first reports on the Biak lan­guage date from the middle of the19th century. The missionary VanHasselt published a grammaticalsketch in 1905. A short dictionary ap­peared posthumously (1947). The mis­sionary-anthropologist Kamma pub­lished quite a lot about Biak customsand the messianistic movementswhich were prevailent among thepeople, but nothing about the lan­guage. He did collect heaps of Biak

stories, typewritten by Biak infor­mants and/or by himself, single­spaced and without margins (paperwasn’t easy to get in the field in thosedays), all dated prior to the mid-1950s.His - unordered - archives were in­herited by the Dutch anthropologistJelle Miedema and are kept on thepremises of the HAS.

Van Hasselt was still the most re­cent source for the language when theIndonesian lexicographer Soeparno,working with students from Biak inYogyakarta, wrote a Biak-Indonesiandictionary (1975). It was his findingswhich put me on the track of the gen­der phenomenon.

In the early 1980s several Indone­sian anthropologists studied in Lei­den in one of the sandwich pro­grammes which were still in fullswing at that time. With one of them,Johsz Mansoben, a native speaker ofBiak, I started to work out Soeparno’sfindings. However, both he and I hadto meet deadlines. His resulted in adissertation on the traditional politi­cal systems in Irian Jaya. Mine in apaper on number in Biak, which leftmany problems undecided, butwhich made one thing clear: Biak didhave a gender opposition in the pluralwhereas in the singular, dual and trial |it had none.

One illustration may suffice. Fromthe nominal bases in ‘fish’ and rum

‘house’ the following noun phrasescan be formed:

- in i ‘the (one) fish’,rum i ‘the house'

- in sui ‘the two fish’,rum sui ‘the two houses’

- in skoi‘the three fish’,rum skoi ‘the three houses’,but

- in s i ‘the (many) fish’,rum na ‘the (many) houses’.

That Biak had a gender oppositionat all was unusual: grammatical gen­der is not a feature of Austronesianlanguages so far west.

Most unusual, however, was the cu­rious distribution of the opposition,which was a counter-example to the

whether this is a case of parallel devel­opment or of common origin (lesslikely) is needed.

More research was needed for Biakinto the meaning of the grammaticalgender, into the extremely complicat­ed deictic system, and into the struc­ture of noun phrases in relation to thatdeictic system. Only when I was askedto do a linguistic fieldwork class at theCatholic University of Nijmegen didthe opportunity present itself Withfive dedicated students and the help ofthe unsurpassed Zacharias Sawor as anative speaker, we have been studyingthe language since January last year.Several of the texts from the Kammaarchive were analysed. With the aid ofdiscovery tools, developed by the Ni­jmegen-based Max Planck Institute forPsycholinguistics, we have been trying

Hein Steinhauer (centre) during the course on Biak in Nijmegen

alledged (and indeed plausible) lan­guage ‘universal’ that a languagemust have at least as many gender op­positions in the singular as it has inthe non-singular. Since then morecounter-evidence has been reported,much of it derived from Berber lan­guages, but the Biak pattern seems tobe parallelled only by one other Aus­tronesian language, Marshallese. Fur­ther research into the question

to tackle the problem of the deictic sys­tem. Many problems remain. One ex­ample will illustrate the nominalphrase structure and definitenessmarking.

The phrase ‘the fish which swimsunder the house’ (traditional housesare built off-shore) is: in ve-bur rorum-ya vavn-di ni (fish which-swimin/at house-the space.below-the/itsthe), whereas ‘the (many) fish which

swim below the two houses’ becomes:in ve-bur ro rum-su-ya vavn-su si(fish which-swim in/at house-DUAL-the space. below-the.DUAL the.PLUR).

The semantic difference betweenthe ‘si’ and the ‘na’ class of nouns is notyet clear. What are obviously animals(including human beings) belong tothe ‘si’ class, but so do things which inthe common European perception are‘inanimate’, such as spoons, plates,stars, drums, bananas, and oranges,whereas comparable objects such asknives, cups, trees, and fruit belong tothe ‘na’ class.

One more finding is worth men­tioning. Biak presents one of the rareexamples of a sound change inprogress. It distinguishes a voiced bil­abial stop [b] and a voiced bilabialfricative [v]. To the Dutch ears of theProtestant missionaries this could notbe true, and they wrote b for bothsounds and pronounced them as [b] intheir sermons. Today it is for nativespeakers a sign of cultivated languageuse if one does not make the differ­ence.

Biak shows features of Austrone­sian languages further to the west,but it also has characteristics ofOceanic languages. It is highly likelythat there have been mutual influ­ences between Biak on the one handand the various Non-Austronesianlanguages of the Bird’s Head andNorth Halmahera. The future of mostof these languages is bleak. (Further)research is urgent. ■

Professor Hein Steinhauer is affiliated

with the Catholic University Nijmegen for

Ethnolinguistics o f Southeast Asia and

Universiteit Leiden for Austronesian

linguistics. He holds the HAS Extraordinary

Chair for ‘Ethnolinguistics with a focus on

Southeast Asia’. He can be reached at:

E-mail: steinhauer@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

Traditional Malay LiteratureTraditional Malay literature - one o f the major literatures o fSoutheast Asia, w hich com bined ethn ic and in ter-eth n ic func­tion s, represents an im portant part o f th e cultural heritage o fthe peop les o f Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore. Inits m ultifarious aspects and m anifestations th is heritage con ­tinues to in fluence and inspire the literary process in all thesecountries. In recent decades, thanks to the efforts o f a num bero f scholars, first and forem ost European, M alaysian, Indone­sian, and Australian, know ledge o f traditional Malay literaturehas broadened and deepened considerably.

By VLADIMIR I. BRAGI NS KY

R esearchProject Many new publi­

cations of tra­ditional works

and new stimulatingstudies of a general and aparticular nature, in­

cluding those devoted to its literaryhistory, have appeared.1 Be that as itmay, ever since the well-known His­tory ofClassical Malay Literature by R.Winstedt - first published in 1939,after that only slightly revised and bynow very much antiquated both inthe facts it contains and in its theoret­ical background - no other compre­hensive history of traditional Malayliterature, written in any Europeanlanguage, has seen the light of day. Itis to fill in this gap that is the task ofthe project ‘The Heritage of Tradi­tional Malay Literature’.

The project is designed to meet theneeds of both scholarship and educa­tion. As it has been carried out by ProfV. Braginsky (SOAS) - the organizerand the author of the bulk of the book- Dr N. Phillips (SOAS) and Dr G.Koster (Universiti Sains, Malaysia), fi­nanced jointly by the British Academyand the ILAS, and planned to be pub­lished by KITLV Press, it therefore rep­resents the result o f British-Dutch co­operation.

The project includes a descriptionof the oral traditional literature ofthe Malays, a reconstruction of OldMalay literature (7^-14* c.), a de­tailed analysis of the early Islamic(x4th-i6th) and the classical (i6th-i9 thc.) periods of the literary evolution,as well as a study of the principalchanges characteristic o f the earlystage of the transition to modern lit­erature.

The history of traditional Malayliterature is viewed as a dynamicprocess - as the development of inte­gral literary systems, replacing eachother in the course of social, cultural,and religious changes in the region,subject especially to the process of Is-lamization. These developments areanalysed both externally - from thepoint of view of a modern scholar -and, for the first time, from the view­point o f the traditional Malay con­ception of literary creativity. It is pre­cisely the reconstruction of this con­ception and of the functions of litera­ture that made it possible to discernan integral hierarchical system in thetotality of traditional Malay works,particularly those of the classical pe­riod. In that period, in spite of theheterogeneity of the constituent ele­ments of the literary system, itsunity was based on the Islamic liter­ary self-awareness which permeatedMalay culture. The Islamic doctrineof Muhammad as the Logos - thesupport o f everything created - stip­ulated this unity. The hierarchicalstructure of the system was ensuredby the fact that every group of liter­ary genres corresponded to a definitelevel in the hierarchy of the Universeand of its counterpart - human psy­chic-somatic hierarchy. The fantastic

adventure romances (hikayat) and ro­mantic poems (syctir), endowed withbeauty (indah), were intended to har­monize the soul and to instruct incourteous behaviour. The intellectwas strengthened by the ‘benefits’(faedah) of the didactic works (‘mir­rors’ - hidayat, 'framed tales’) and‘chronicles’ (sejarah, salasilah), .morehistoriosophic than historiographicin their nature. The ‘spiritual heart’ -the organ of mystical intuition - wasprepared for the divine illuminationby the hagiographic works, Sufi alle­gories and the religious-mystical ‘lit­erature of kit ab (treatises)’.

The development of literary self-awareness in the theoretical spherewas coupled with the emergence ofliterary synthesis in the sphere of cre­ative practice. The basis for this syn­thesis was prepared in the Early Is­lamic period, when the works belong­ing to Hindu-Javanese and Arabic-Persian literary circles, after passingthrough the ‘filter’ of the Malay tradi­tion, came into contact with eachother within the confines of theMalay literary system as an integralwhole. In the classical period theprocess of Malayization, transforma­tion, and synthesis of the heteroge­neous elements gained in intensityand, proceeding from the principles

of Islamic literary self-awareness,these elements were fused within theconfines of a new unity - an individ­ual literary work, be it a chronicle, afantastic adventure romance, or apoem of love, whether historical or al­legorical content. Finally, beginningfrom the second half of the 18th centu­ry, the dissolution of the synthesisstarted as a result of the deepening Is-lamization, and Malay literature hasgradually approximated the model oflate-medieval Arabic literature.

Within the framework of the liter­ary developments outlined, the ori­gin and evolution of all genres oftraditional Malay literature arestudied and the most important andcharacteristic pieces of literature be­longing to these genres are analysedwith a special reference to their po­etics, meaning, structure, and func­tion. ■

Liaw Yock Fang, Sejarah KesusastraanMelayu Klasik, Jil. 1-2. Jakarta:Erlangga, 1991-1993;

- T. Iskandar, Kesusasteraan KlasikMel ayu Sejianjang Abad, Brunei:Jabatan Kesusasteraan Melayu,Universiti Brunei Darussalam, 1995;

- V.I. Braginsky, Yon# Indah, Beflaedahdan Kamal, Sejarah Sastra MelayuDalam A bad/-19, Jakarta: INIS, 1998.

Vladimir I. Braginsky, SOAS.

University o f London,

E-mail:VB I @soas.ac.uk

r

2 8 • has n e w s l e t t e r NS21 • February 2000

R E G I O N A L N E WS

a m

P. R. C H I N A

J A P A N

K O R E A

M A C A O

T A I W A N

The Myth of LabourRelations in OverseasChinese EnterprisesThe scenario o f idyllic labour relations in overseas Chinese-in­vested enterprises can be viewed as a myth. When overseas Chi­nese entrepreneurs claimed that they shared the same culturalvalues as the mainland Chinese, and could therefore take ad­vantage o f the cheap labour and favourable investment condi­tions in South China, none o f them could have expected to en­counter a ‘cultural shock’ in their hometown business opera­tions. Although both overseas Chinese employers and migrantworkers represent ‘sojourner’ populations with a similar pur­pose, namely to make money in South China, the conflicts be­tween them reflect more than just labour-management dis­agreements; they also illuminate disparate cultural back­grounds and experiences. These factors have contributed tothe complicated labour relations in the enterprises.

■ By CEN HUANG

f a 1 his paper intends toI explore the causes

of the conflicts andproblems between mi­grant workers and their‘foreign’ employers in a

broader social and cultural context.The objective of the paper is not todeny the existence of abusive, unfair,

| and inhuman treatment of migrantworkers in some East Asian foreign-invested enterprises. Nor is its inten­tion to defend the management ofthese enterprises. The author arguesthat the incidence of labour abuse,and subsequent unrest, is much morecomplicated than a simplistic, ortho­dox Marxist interpretation of the ex­ploitation of migrant workers by for­eign owners and managers.

Researchers have hypothesized thatdifferent socio-economic and educa­tional backgrounds result in different

| attitudes and expectations towardswork. Their work brought to lightthat there were various contrastingcharacteristics between overseas Chi­nese employers and migrant workers,which may help understand why andhow some problems and conflictswere created in these enterprises.

Mobility was a fundamental con­trasting characteristic between thetwo groups involved. Most migrantswe interviewed came to South Chinawith an unambivalent purpose,

| namely to earn money and then goback home within a matter of a fewyears. They were extremely mobile. Incontrast to their own flexibility, theemployers wanted their workers to

| remain in long-term employmentand worried about the high turnoverof the labour force.

Loyalty versus trust the second con­trasting feature. All employers de-

I manded their workers be loyal. Some

even claimed that they created a fam­ily-type atmosphere in the workplacein order to build up a base for work­ers’ loyalty. Migrant workers sawmatters otherwise, considering thattrust comes before loyalty, an atti­tude which stemmed from the uncer­tainty of their lives. This conflict hasplayed a thorny role in labour rela­tions. Both the employers and em­ployees interviewed complainedabout the other side for being eithernot loyal or distrustful.

Commitments versus alternativeshave played another important role.All employers demanded their work­ers be totally committed to the facto­ry, while most migrant workers weinterviewed intended to make use ofalternative choices for their employ­ment. A common complaint ex­pressed by employers about migrantswas that ‘very few of them have asense of belonging to the workplace,therefore, they rarely made commit­ments to work and they don’t take re­sponsibility for what they are doing.’In contrast, the migrant workers saidthat ‘how can we have a sense of be­longing to the enterprise when wework on a non-contract basis. Theemployers are too demanding in theworkplace and leave no space in ourlives.'

ConflictsThe most common complaint

made by entrepreneurs was that mi­grant workers had poor work habitsand lacked a sense of responsibility.They often failed to follow instruc­tions and were unwilling to co-oper­ate. An entrepreneur told us hisfavourite story, beginning ‘you ex­pected them [the workers] to be verywell informed about the correct pro­cedures for putting things togetherafter so many demonstrations and somuch training. Yet, as soon as they

were left unsupervised, they startedputting things together in their ownway.’ Others complained about thepoor hygiene habits of the rural mi­grants. A manager said, ‘Ifyou do nothave heavy fines on spitting and lit­tering, you will have a very dirtyworkplace.’ The empirical datademonstrated that socio-economicstatus was an important determinantin the amount of human capital in­vestment and subsequent economicsuccess. Work attitudes were relatedto a person’s personal habits and edu­cational level. Many employers indi­cated that the best way to train thepoorly educated rural youth inlabour-intensive factories is by im­plementing highly restrictive ruleand military exercises.

As was to be expected, the migrantworkers told a different tale. Manywere particularly angered by the ex­cessive and extreme restrictions im­posed on them. They accused the em­ployers of never showing any respectand trust towards workers. Oneworker told us, ‘What is really unfairis that the managers do not believe uswhen we are really sick. They treat usas though we are all liars even whensome of us almost fainted at work.’Another worker said, ‘The supervisorsare always rude and bad tempered.Their only concern is about the pro­ductivity and they never care aboutwhat we want.’ The workers made nobones about the fact that the mostdifficult thing about working in theenterprise was the detailed and un­fair rules, regulations and fines,which were construed as being tomake them feel inferior and subordi­nate.

When confronted by the criticismsabout their despotic managementapproaches, most employers felt thatthey had been misunderstood. One ofthem stated, ‘It was not fair that thepress also attacked us for exploitingworkers in China. We are not ex­ploiters, but producers. We are ex­ploited by the international markets,these are the real exploiters.’ Manyemployers interviewed shared thisview. They tended to defend them­selves by pointing out that discipli­nary measures were always counter­balanced by an appropriate use of in­centive programmes to induce work­ers to be compliant towards rules andincreased productivity. They arguedthat contrary to the bad press theyfrequently received, they had imple­

mented ‘good, sensible systems of re­wards and fringe benefits’ that in­cluded insurance, subsidized accom­modation and meals, organizedrecreation and social activities, andmedical benefits. Some felt that au­thoritarianism often went hand inhand with paternalism and could notsee anything wrong with it, particu­larly when dealing with workers in aChinese cultural milieu in whichsuch practices should be regarded asgoodwill. Despite what the scholarlyliterature says about ‘trust’ as a factorin the management of Chinese enter­prises, it is clear from this study thatmany employers need to work moreon this dimension by providing morebenefits, and by displaying more re­spect and creating a more friendly

'Becoming ‘Other’ is an

experience known to tens

o f m illions o f overseas

Chinese around the globe

and over the centuries’

work environment. They also need toacknowledge the rural, ‘cultural’,background of their workers.

The employers complained aboutthe above difficulties, but they never­theless admitted that most of the mi­grants were bright, kind-hearted,and not always malicious. They alsoappreciated the way workers reallyput their backs to the wheel. Theproblems were blamed on two points.One was to the failure of education inrural China, which completely ig­nores moral education (such as theinculcation of honesty, respect, andhard work) and the lack of basic voca­tional skill training in the curricu­lum. The narrowly defined nationalcurriculum which is designed only toqualify pupils for university entranceexaminations had left the majority ofrural youth with little preparation tobe able to adjust to working and liv­ing independently. The second cul­prit was a misunderstanding aboutthe issue of cultural affinity currentamong the employers. What sur­prised the overseas Chinese employ­ers most was that such an assump­tion of cultural affinity in many caseswas no longer valid in their SouthChina operations. Many also admit­ted they were surprised by the nu­merous problems that had emergedin industrial relations.

Despite their dislike of the authori­tarian and regimented nature of theirenterprises, the migrant workers weinterviewed admitted the merits of

the strict workplace discipline. One ofthem said that she felt she hadlearned more, while another suggest­ed she came to appreciate good workpractices only when she found herselfworking in a less ordered environ­ment. Yet another decided that disci­pline had helped her to develop bet­ter skills and her colleague noted thatdiscipline actually provided her witha better work routine.

ConclusionsIn many ways massive rural labour

migration in China since the 1980shas become part and parcel of an an­cient saga. The departure of millionsand ‘becoming ‘Other’ is an experi­ence known to tens of millions ofoverseas Chinese around the globeand over the centuries’ who havestepped across the borders that de­fined their identities to brave a life inan unknown realm. Back in the late19th century when many young peas­ant boys migrated to Southeast Asiafrom their home villages in Guang­dong and Fujian, they probably hadthe habits and the mentality of peas­ants, very similar to the migrantworkers today. And yet a centurylater, the descendants of the early im­migrants have become capitalist en­trepreneurs coming back to SouthChina to operate export-oriented fac­tories. The phenomenon of massivemigrant rural youth in overseas Chi­nese enterprises has made this an­cient saga more mythical, not onlybecause the two groups are identifiedas emigrants in an unknown land,but also because they both claim toshare a similar culture and linguisticbackground, which were assumed tobe an advantage to them both in real­izing their dreams of economic profitin South China. The conflicts andmisunderstandings created on thisbasis of their ‘shared’ cultural affinityand different expectations have con­tributed to many management-labour problems in the enterprises.This paper has explored some of thebasic fabric of the complicated rela­tionships between migrant workersand overseas Chinese employers. Thestudy was unable to verify systemati­cally whether or not these were com­mon occurrences, but at least it hasmanaged to represent the storiesfrom the sides of both employers andworkers. It is hoped that through thebalanced analysis of the perceptionand experiences of the both partiesinvolved, labour relations in overseasChinese enterprises will be able to bebetter understood. ■

Dr Cen H uang was a research fellow atthe HAS between November 1997 andJanuary 2000. She is currently the Directoro f the International Programs andPartnerships, International Centerat the University o f Calgary.E-mail: cenhuang@hotmail.com

For new pub lica tions in Asian Studies, please refe r to pp. 34-42 February 2 0 0 0 • has n e w s l e t t e r n ? 2 1 • I p

E A S T A S I A1 9>- 21 A U G U S T , 1 9 9 9B U F F A L O , U N I T E D S T A T E S OF A M E R I C A

Turning Points in Historical Thinking‘In recent years,’ Georg Iggers, an internationally recognizedauthority on the study o f historiography, remarked in hiskeynote speech at the conference on ‘Turning Points in His­torical Thinking: A Comparative Perspective’, ‘there have beenincreasing attempts at comparative history and hardly any atcomparative historiography.’ But a sound approach to com­parative history, Iggers stated, required ‘a reorientation in theways in which historians approached history.’ His commentswere agreed with by most participants at the conference, heldin August 1999 at State University o f New York at Buffalo,where Iggers served over twenty years as both professor anddistinguished professor o f history.

■ By Q. EDWARD WANG

he theme of theI conference, as stated

JL by its organizers, ‘isto identify turning pointsin historical thinking inworld cultures, with a

focus on Chinese and Euro/Americanhistorical traditions.’ As a workingconcept, the so-called ‘turning point’is defined as ‘a fundamental change inone’s perception of the past that oc­curs in a historical time and has a far-reaching influence in the later period.’Such ‘turning points’ should lead tothe rise of new schools in historicalwriting and new philosophies of his­tory, hence contributing to a newform of historical thinking that(re)shapcs one's vision of the past, thepresent, and the future. This new his­torical thinking can exert its influencewithin its own culture, or without,having an international, cross-cultur­al impact.

Centring on its theme, the confer­ence was designed to tackle threetasks: t) describing turning points inhistorical events in different cultures;

2) comparing and contrasting the oc­currences of the turning points in var­ious cultures from a global perspec­tive; and 3) identifying cross-culturalinfluences in making changes of his­toriography and historical thinking.In Chinese historical culture, for ex­ample, there were three readily identi­fiable ‘turning points’ that occurredduring the Qin-Han period (3rd centu­ry BCE - 3 rd century CE), the Song Dy­nasty (to* and 13th centuries), and the19th and the 20th centuries, respective­ly. These ‘turning points’ divided Chi­nese history, at least in regard to itscultural development, into threemajor periods, comparable to thewell-known tripartite scheme [an­cient, medieval, and modern) in Euro­pean history. It is also possible to drawa similar conclusion by looking atother cultures, in which ‘turningpoints’ of the similar magnitudecould also be identified in the courseof historical movement. But prior tothe worldwide expansion of capital­ism, these ‘turning points’ were gen­erated for different reasons, and thedifferences make comparative study aworthwhile endeavour. In modem

times, by contrast, ideologies such asnationalism, Marxism, and liberalismhave often had a cross-cultural im­pact, resulting in a more complicatedand hence a more colourful outcomeof the change of historical thinking.

As the conference was aimed at ad­dressing major changes in historicalwriting and thinking from a cross-cultural perspective, experts on bothChinese and Western historiographi­cal traditions attended. To enrich themixture even more, the organizersalso invited scholars specializing onhistoriographies of other cultures tojoin the discussion. This cross-cultur­al intention, was also manifested in itsprogramme which was divided intosix panels according to chronologyand each panel mixed historians fromdifferent fields, enabling them to ex­change ideas among themselves andwith the chair and the commentator,who, coming from yet another field,could add spice to the variety of thepanel.

Such international co-operationwas demonstrated on all the panels.When Benjamin Elman (UCLA), for in­stance, posited a ‘fourth turningpoint’ in the development of Chinesehistorical thinking that occured dur­ing the 27* and the 18th centuries,Achim Mittag, a German China schol­ar and a former HAS fellow, modifiedElman’s thesis by offering a broader,hence a global view of the change. Incommenting on their papers, ]örnRüsen, a noted historical theorist ofKulturwissenschaftes Institut ofEssen, Germany, shared his thoughtson 'multiple modernities,’ using EastAsia as a prime example.

International exchange, of course,does not mean that everyone sharesthe same view. In discussing the post­modern challenge to history, KeithWindschuttle, an Australian authorof the well-circulated book The Kill mgof History, attacked, as was only to beexpected, the theoretical underpin­ning of post-modernism. His criti­cism was shared by Zhilian Zhang ofPeking University, who basicallyviewed the post-modern phenomenaas products of an ‘unhealthy’ develop­ment of Western capitalism. ButRichard Vann, a long-time editor ofthe History and Theory and Arif Dirlik(Duke University) defended the oppo­site point of view. As Vann cited manyexamples from recent developmentsin Euro-American historical writingsto support his sympathetic view, Dir­lik, an expert on modem China, dis­cussed possible alternatives to ap­proaching the relationship betweenpost-modernism and history.

While it generated more questionsthan answers, the conference offeredan ‘excellent opportunity,’ as one par­ticipant put it for scholars of differentcultural and intellectual backgroundsto exchange and discuss ideas con­cerning the issues of historical study.This kind of exchange, as summarizedby Ying-shih Yu, an acclaimed Chi­nese intellectual historian fromPrinceton University, would help thework of the scholars in the Chinesestudy field most directly. Echoing Ig­gers’ observation in his keynotespeech, Yu, who gave the concludingremarks at the end of the conference,stated that there was an urgent needto overcome a ‘self-imposed Oriental­

ism’ that pitted China against theWest in a dichotomy, failing to ac­knowledge the specificities of bothtraditions, let alone adopting a broad,cross-cultural approach to compara­tive historiography. Realizing theneed for changing the ways historiansstudy history, therefore, may well beone of most important outcomes theconference has reached.

Funded mainly through the Chi-ang Ching-kuo Foundation in Tai­wan, the conference was co-sponsoredby the International Project on Chi­nese and Comparative Historiogra­phy based at City University of NewYork (cf HAS Newsletter No. 16, p. 30)the International Commission for theHistory and Theory of Historiography(of which Iggers is president), and theEast Asian Studies Program at SUNYBuffalo. ■

The papers given at the conference arenow being revised for publication.Anyone interested should contact:Q. Edward Wang

wangq@rowan.edu,

Georg Iggersiggers@acsu.buffalo.edu, or

Thomas Lee

thomashcl@hotmail.comfor more information.

Q. Edward Wang. The author is one o f theorganizers o f the conference and chair o f theHistory Department at Rowan University,New Jersey, United States. He would like to

thank Dr Thomas Burkman, the director ofEast Asian Studies Program at SUNY Buffalo,for helping organize the conference.

Liu Fang played the pipasolo tnTan Dun’s 'Ghost Opera’at the recent CHIME meeting in Prague

S E P T E M B E R 1 9 9 9P R A G U E , C Z E C H R E P U B L I C

Fifth CHIME ConferenceMusic in cities, music in villagesIn the study o f Chinese and East Asian music, urban genres aremore widely promoted and more thoroughly studied thantheir rural counterparts. The fifth annual CHIME conference,which took place in September 1999 at the Academy o f Musicin Prague, focused on musical contrasts between villages andcities in China and East Asia.

■ By F RANK K O U W E N H O V E N

1" udging from the manyI paper presentations, it

) is in the very interac­tion between urban andrural society that Asia’smusical culture is - and

has always been - at its most vibrant.A major concern is that rural genresconsistently receive too little atten­tion from scholars. One reason is thattravelling and research in Asian ruralareas can be a rather demanding expe­rience. Another reason is that, for along time the existence of numerous

rural music traditions has simply es­caped the attention of most (Western)scholars. Many kinds of music genresin China (notably ritual music) havebeen revived only in recent years. Sofar they have barely been described orexplored. In this respect, every newCHIME meeting has led to surprisesand new discoveries.

CHIME, the European Foundationfor Chinese Music Research, now inits ninth year of existence, has rapidlyestablished its position as an essentialplatform for scholars and students o fChinese and East Asian music andmusical ritual. The eighty-odd partic­

ipants who met from 15 to 19 Septem­ber in Prague for the Fifth CHIMEconference came not only from obvi­ous backgrounds like musicology,sinology, and anthropology, but alsoincluded art historians, archaeolo­gists, and journalists. Speakers exam­ined a wide range of genres, fromBuddhist ritual to forms of Asian localopera, story-telling, folk songs, andpop.

Clearly, the lines between ‘rural’and ‘urban’ cannot and should not bedrawn too sharply. Many new hybridforms of music began life in cities,from Peking Opera to pop and sym­phonic music, but the ongoing ur­banization of rural areas in Asia isanything but a one-way process.There is a continuous interplay be­tween rural and urban music tradi­tions. Pop musicians borrow elementsfrom Buddhist chants or folk music ^

3 O • h a s n e w s l e t t e r n s 21 • February zooo For a report o f the ESF Asia C om m ittee W orkshop 'C h inese T ransna tiona l Enterprises and Entrepreneursh ip ' see p. 58

EAS T AS I A

The Legacyof MacauAt midnight on 19 December 1999, the old Portuguese-Chi-nese city o f Macau has reverted to Chinese sovereignty, 44.Zyears after its founding. Except for some o f its inhabitants (no­tably the five percent Portuguese, other Europeans and non-Chinese), no one seemed to be overly concerned with thischange o f status. There was no public debate either in the localpress or in the international media about the implications ofthis change-over. This was in marked contrast to the clamourand anxiety in Hong Kong in the last few years preceding itshand-over a few years ago. Macau, one o f the oldest and mostintriguing ‘colonial territories’ o f the West therefore raisesseveral questions. Why is it different? How has it prepared forthe return to China, and what will be its legacy and future as aspecific urban culture?

By J. AB B I N K

s an industrialand trading cen-

, tre, Macau (at pre­sent a city of some460,000 people) has, atleast in the past century,

always stood in the shadow of HongKong, located opposite Macau on theother side of the Pearl River Delta.Macau’s history, however, is moreancient and diverse. The fact that itsstatus as a Portuguese territory wasnot forced upon China after a mili­tary defeat (as was Hong Kong in thetreaty after the Opium Wars), mayhave contributed to a pattern of mu­tual tolerance and of gradual rap­prochement with China.

Macau (in Chinese: Aomen) wasfounded in 1557 by Portuguese sea­farers, traders, and soldiers, with thepermission of the local Chinese gov­ernor in Xiangshan. The rockypeninsula was virtually uninhabit­ed, but there was a Chinese templededicated to the goddess Mazu, or

Ama, at the southern end, and therewere fishermen active in the bayarea. Since that date, Macau saw a re­markable development into a fast-growing entrepot city, with greatups and downs in its fortunes. Thereis also a unique urban quality thathas enveloped it in the course of cen­turies, confirmed by its proud resi­dents and experienced by many visi­tors as an elusive combination offaded colonialism, isolation or inde­pendence, (past) grandeur and eco­nomic wealth, and a specific identityconstructed from the mixture ofPortuguese-European, Asian, andChinese elements. (The best evoca­tion of this is given in Porter 1996,who writes a sensitive, historicallygrounded portrait of Macau’suniqueness). Indeed, while geogra­phically and culturally a meetingplace o f‘two different worlds’, sym­bolized by the ‘Barrier Gate’ withwhich the Chinese had sealed off thecity from the mainland, Macau hasbeen just as much characterized by amingling of those worlds, and by a re­

fer their commercial songs, but thesesongs then often find their way backto the countryside, where they are im­mediately ‘recycled’ in folk musicrepertoires, a point raised by AdamYuet Chau in his paper on folk musicin Shaanbei. The interaction is richand complex and cannot be capturedin simple models, as was also clearlyillustrated in contributions by DanielFerguson (Cantonese opera), Tan-Hwee San and Tian Qing (Buddhistmusic), Mercedes Dujunco (Viet­namese opera), Nathan Hesselink(Korean percussion music) to men­tion only some.

In Asia, music is travelling evermore easily thanks to an increased so­cial mobility and because of newmodes of communication. Thegreater mobility does not depend oneconomic factors alone, but also onsuch aspects as natural disasters(floods, droughts, famines), whichdrive thousands of people away fromtheir native areas. The ebb and flow ofmusical cross-fertilization in ThirdWorld regions may well be partly re­lated to the fluctuating water levels ofthe big rivers. Preconceived ideasabout contrasts between urban litera-cy/education and rural illiteracy werecalled into question by Kathy Lowryand other presenters. Czech and Pol­ish scholars offered various interest­

ing contributions. Hopefully, con­tacts with Central European scholar­ship can be extended at future CHIMEmeetings. The hosting organization,the CCK International SinologicalCenter at Charles University, put on aprogramme of a number of fine con­certs to bolster participants’ spirits.The Moravian Philharmonic, led byWang Jin, played new music fromChina, and there were concerts by theBeijing Buddhists, Han Tang Yuefu(Taiwan), and numerous fine soloplayers from Mongolia, Korea, Japanand China. Dr Lucie Olivova and hercolleagues in Prague are to be con­gratulated on their wonderful workin making this meeting possible. ■

Frank Kouwenhoven, Secretary o fthe Board o f the CHIME Foundation,and independent scholar o f Chinese music.CHIME, European Foundation for Chinese

Music ResearchP.O. Box 11092,2301 EB Leiden,The Netherlands.Visiting address Chime library:Gerecht I, 2 3 1 1 TC LeidenPhone: +31-71-5133.974 / 5133.123Fax:+31-71-5 123.183E-mail: chime@wxs.nl

sultant social fluidity and culturalhybridity. The Chinese immigrationinto the city was always strong (for­mally allowed since 1793), and fre­quent social and marriage relationsbetween the various populationgroups were notable. There hasemerged a specific group of ‘Maca­nese people’, with a unique style,identity and a local Creole language(Batalha 1974), and they have beenthe mainstay of Macau society.

This situation of contact and min­gling, brought about by economicinterests, did not mean that Macauwas always a peaceful place, or waswithout a strong social hierarchy ofclasses and ethnic groups and greatdifferences in power, wealth, andprivilege. The contrary was true.There was no question about thePortuguese and later Macanese elitebeing the masters. But comparative­ly speaking, Macanese history hasbeen marked neither by great rebel­lions and violent struggles amongits inhabitants, nor by acrimonious,implacable conflict with the Chineseon the mainland. The sovereigntyquestion was not pushed to a con­frontation either - the Chinese neverceded to the Portuguese in this mat­ter, and the Portuguese did not insiston a full and unambiguous legal sta­tus in terms of a treaty. The historyof Macau has also been characterizedby a strong sense of independencetowards both China and Portugal.

Interm ediaryHistorically, Macau can be consid­

ered one of those urban precursors ofthe ‘global economy’ as we nowknow it. Alongside Goa and Malacca,it was a pioneer mercantile settle­ment of the Portuguese on the traderoute from Europe to the East andFar East (some of the main itemswere silk, silver, cloth, brocades,pearls, amber, porcelain, spices, andagricultural products) and became avery important entrepot in the peri­od from the 1560s to the 1640s, afterwhich a decline set in (Boxer 1974).The wealth it acquired then has beenthe basis for its expansion and its at­traction ever since. The city experi­enced periods of boom and severe de­cline, accompanied by a certain senseof social and cultural isolation, but itnever went out of business. It re­tained a vital function in the emerg­ing global economy, opening up newvistas for personal advancement, andstimulating production and indus­try in China and Japan. In an eco­nomic sense, Macau always kept arole as an intermediary between Eastand West, and between the main­land and the coast.

In the 18th and 19th centuries,Macau revived its role and capitalizedon the emerging trade with the Chi­nese hinterland, which induced manyregional Southern Chinese traders tochoose Macau as their headquarters.Throughout its history, the city creat­ed new opportunities for the main­land Chinese, as witnessed by thesteady immigration to the town. (Inthe late 19th century this was drivenlargely by rural poverty and destitu­tion in China.) The city also expandedits role in the trade of new productslike tea, (illegal) opium, and contractlabourers or ‘coolies’ (see below). Inthe late 19th century, nevertheless,Hong Kong grew in importance at theexpense of Macau.

In a cultural sense also, Macau wasalso a precursor of a global society, amicrocosm of globalized culture be­fore its time. For instance, it was afocal point of early religious, techno-scientific, and cultural contact andexchange between the West andChina (and Japan). The Jesuits set­tled in and around Macau (from1561) to prepare for the Christianiza­tion of China (largely unsuccessful),and in the early nineteenth-centuryProtestants did the same.

When we as late 20th-century so­cial researchers and historians aremore than ever interested in the in­terface of the local and the global,Macau is an intriguing early exampleto explore this juxtaposition: a placeof an admixture of peoples, lan­guages, and ethno-cultural styles.This mix is also evident in the fasci­nating design and architecture ofthe city, with is plethora of churches,monasteries, forts, Chinese temples,and gardens. It is in the intersticesbetween the different styles - which,however, do not exactly resembleany of those found in the Portugueseor Chinese ‘motherland’ - that thespace for imagination and romanticimagery of Macau, as urban experi­ence and lifestyle, could emerge.

‘C oolies’But an inextricable aspect of‘glob­

alization’, especially in its early ex­pansionist forms, is force, violence,contestation: the seamy side of his­tory. Here, Macau was no exception:the Portuguese were not particularlybenevolent masters to their Chineseand other subjects; most of the citywas built on African slave labour,and after the decline of the com­modities trade and the rise of HongKong in the second half of the 19thcentury, it became a centre for thetrade in human labour, in ‘coolies’,virtual slaves, who were recruitedby, or offered themselves unknow­ingly to, Macau traders for inden­ture. They came mostly from themainland. Many girls were also sentto Macau and other places by Chi­nese families and became domesticworkers and prostitutes. In the earlydecades of the 20th century, Macauwas one of the ‘cities of sin’ (DeLeeuw 1934), a seamy place rife withgambling, drags, crime, prostitu­tion, contraband, and racketeering.Macau gambling syndicates enjoyedthe proverbial bad reputation. Manyliterary evocations of this dark sideof Macau exist (Kessel 1957). Gam­bling still exists as one of the centralpillars of the Macanese economy -the city does not and cannot deny itspast. There are eight big casinos, fre­quented by hundreds of thousandsof mostly Asian visitors, but they arenow ‘orderly businesses’.

In the t99os Macau entered anoth­er new phase in its history. Whilestill a mercantile and industrial city,more strongly than ever connectedto the modernizing Chinese hinter­land, it is now concentrating on en­tertainment and tourism, which atpresent generates about 45% of itsGDP. In 1996, a new internationalairport was opened on the nearby is­land ofTaipa, connected to Macau bya large new bridge.

As a result of the successful reori­entation of its economy, the sociallife and character of the city ischanging significantly. The old, elu­

sive urban atmosphere - includingthe architecture of the past - isgreatly threatened. Indeed, theimage of Macau’s past as a uniquecity - not Chinese, not Portuguese,not classically ‘colonial’, but all thesetogether - is cultivated in the newtourist discourse; but paradoxically,in this period of social change and offrantic construction of a new, hardurban landscape (high-rise hotels,gambling palaces, and office blocks),its material signs are being endan­gered by demolition and decay. Thisis one of the challenges that the newMacau has to deal with under Chi­nese sovereignty. In his bookJonathan Porter cites a Macanese an­tique dealer, who, shortly after the1985 announcement that Chinawould regain sovereignty overMacau, started packing his things togo to Portugal, saying that Macauwould hardly survive two years.

This may be too pessimistic; butquestion marks do indeed remain.Will Macau recede into its Chinesebackground? Is a Macanese identity- culture, social structure, language- viable in the long run? Will theEuro-Portuguese heritage vanish orbe absorbed into a broader Chineseurban culture? Research into manyaspects of this fascinating and dan­gerous place remains to be done. Inlight of the above questions, itwould be highly satisfying to see in­quiries into: the social structure andidentity of the Macanese elite; possi­ble conflicts between the differentgroups that form Macau society; thechanging Chinese views of Macauthroughout history; Macanese folkreligion and the changing role of themany public festivals of the city asmarkers of identity and community.Whatever changes will occur nowthat the Barrier Gate has been de­molished on 20 December 1999,Macau’s mysteries will not disappearfrom one day to the next. ■

References- Batalha, G.N.

Lingua de MacauMacau: Im prensa Nacional, 1974

- Boxer, C.R.Macao as a Religious and CommercialEntrepdt in the 16th and 17th CenturiesIn Acta Asiatica 26: 64-90,1974

- Kessel, J.Hong Kong et MacaoParis: G allim ard, 1957

- Leeuw, H. deCities o f SinLondon: Douglas, 1934

- Porter, J.Macau: The imaginary cityBoulder: Westview Press, 1996

Dr J.Abbink is an anthropologist and asenior researcher at the African StudiesCentre, at Leiden University.E-mail: abbink@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

For on in terview w ith Prof. V in ce n t Shen, fo rm e r holder o f the Europeon C ho ir o f Chinese Studies, see p. 53 F e b ru a ry 2000 • has n e w s l e t t e r n ?21 • 3 1

E A S T A S I A

Written Sources onYao Religion inthe Bavarian State Library

Two passes g u a n , obstructinga ch ild ’s fa te because o f

a n un favourab le birth horoscope,f r o m a Yao divination m a n u a l

(Bavarian State Library,Cod.sin. 346)

O T ,>rr

? * T% i u k :- J

I f l a ~ 13 'I*5

•X A- £ *£ % è i * f■t u’r^ Vi ft- •“* :>

■ ' ;s T; «

Over the last few years, the Department for Rare Manuscriptso f the Bavarian State Library has acquired a collection o f morethan iooo manuscripts pertaining to the Yao, an ethnic groupliving in China and the states on its southern border. To makethe manuscripts known to the public and available for furtherresearch, a Yao Project was launched in 1995 by the depart­ments for Chinese Studies o f the Universities o f Munich andHamburg and the Bavarian State Library. The project is sup­ported by the German Research Association (DeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft) and the Foundation o f Friends andPatrons o f Munich University (Miinchener Universitatsge-sellschaft. An exhibition o f selected manuscripts rounded offthe project in November 1999.

■ By SHING MÜLLER, LUCIAOBI, A N D UTA WEIGELT

f a Y he Yao collectionI of the State Li-

J L brary consists ofmore than 1000 manu­scripts. The earliest dateback to the beginning of

the 18th century, the latest to the1980s. They originate from Thailand,Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and thesouthern provinces of China Guang­dong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yun­nan. The manuscripts are written inChinese characters, most o f thembeing religious manuals. Canonicaland liturgical texts for initiations,communal sacrifices, and funeralsshow clear relations to Chinese Dao-ism. Looked at along with textbooksfor children, mythical-epical songs,manuals for divination and thera­peutical treatment by exorcism aswell as various other documents theygive an insight into the social and re­ligious life of the different Yaogroups.

The research team of the Yao Pro­ject, headed by Prof M. Friedrich(University of Hamburg) and ProfTh. O. Höllmann, consists of X.Götzfried, S. Müller, and L. Obi (allMunich University). One of the mainaims of the project is to make the Yaomanuscripts accessible and to con­tribute to a methodological approachof using written sources as a basis forresearch into Yao religion. A databasenoting date, regional origin, and per­sons mentioned has been producedin order to classify and analyse themanuscripts. The results will bepublished in Germany as a cataloguein the series Index to Oriental Manu­scripts (Verzeichnis der Orientalis-chen Handschriften in Deutschland).

As the manuscripts cover a periodof over 260 years and a wide geo­graphical range, it is not only possi­ble to find information on relatedfamilies, clans, and ethnic groupsbut also on the relationship of Yaoreligious culture to Chinese localpopular cults and Daoism. The histo­ry of Chinese Daoist schools amongdifferent Yao groups and the devel­opment of their liturgies and localcults can be revealed using exem­plary manuscripts which were exam­ined and annotated, and which willbe published.

PriestsManuscripts of the Pan-Yao (Iu-

mian-speaking) and the Landian-Yao (Jingmen-speaking) are the twolargest groups in the collection.While the Pan-Yao seem to haveonly one written tradition main­tained by so-called Shigong priests,the Landian-Yao have an additionaltextual tradition under the auspicesof Daogong priests. Usually LandianDaogong and Shigong priests operatein the same communities. Daogongare responsible for communal sacri­fices and funeral rites, and have ahigher social status. They are alsohigher-ranking within the Daoisthierarchy than the Shigong who areresponsible for minor rites (xiaofa),such as exorcisms and the healing ofindividuals. The Daogong texts, con­sisting of scriptures j in g , liturgicaltexts keyi for Jiao and Zhai rituals,and esoteric instructions (miyu), aremore orthodox and more similar tothe Chinese tradition as representedin the Daoist Canon Daozang.

The famous ‘Scripture of the Salva­tion of Mankind’, Durenjing, the firsttext in the Daozang, of which the col­lection contains several copies, wasobviously used in most of the Dao-gong rituals, as it often is mentionedin other liturgical texts. The tradi­tional Chinese Jiao liturgy is repre­sented in ‘Jiao for Morning, Noon,and Evening’, Sanshi ke, and ‘Notifi­cation ritual to the Big Dipper’,Gaodou ke. There are rituals similarto classical Chinese Zhai such as‘Three Grottoes Retreat’, Sandongzhaike, and the ‘Notification Liturgy’,Guan’gao ke, but also versions notknown from the Chinese context like‘Calling the Soul Liturgy’, Nanling keMiyu, like the ‘Instructions to Puri­fying Jiao Rituals’, Qingjiao miyu, tobe used exclusively by ordainedpriests contain instructions on howto conduct special rituals and howto communicate with the otherworld.

Shigong texts, sometimes trans­mitted orally and in seven-syllablerhyming verses, are more related tolocal popular traditions. The‘Demon Foot Liturgy', Guijiao ke, is amajor text sung in thanksgiving rit­uals to the mythical ancestor, KingPan, while the ‘Flowing RadianceLiturgy’, Chuan’guang ke, is usedduring initiations.

The Pan-Yao Shigong texts are differ­ent again from Landian-Yao Shigongtexts. They are concerned with com­munal as well as xiaofa rituals for indi­vidual purposes and are a mixture ofprose and rhyming passages. Theycomprise charms, incantations, andchoreographies as well as parts of tra­ditional Chinese liturgies. They arecalled ‘The Book of Hell’, Diyu shu,‘The Book of Calling Heaven’, Jiaotianshu, and ‘The Book for Dealing withDemons’, Shegui shu. The ‘Book forOpening the Sacred Area’, Kaitan shu, isa liturgy used especially in Pan-Yaoinitiations.

Elaborate epic songs in honour ofKing Pan, Tanwang ge, are used in thethanksgiving rituals of Iumian-speak-ing groups. The ‘Charter of King Ping’,Pinghuang quandie, and ‘The Placardfor Crossing the Mountains’, Guoshanbang, tell of the origin of mankind, theYao, and their history up to the pre­sent. These highly esteemed docu­ments are said to have been bestowedon the Yao by the Song emperor in theyear of 1260, when they were grantedan exemption from forced labour andtaxes and permitted to move freely inthe mountain regions.

Ethnic exchangeBesides these texts used exclusively

by one or the other, there are othersused by both as well as by other ethnicgroups. These include liturgies for fe­male deities like ‘The Meeting in Hon­our of Goddess Dowager’, Dimu dahuike, ‘The Liturgy of the Southern Hall’,Nantang ke, and ‘The Liturgy of theRed Tower’, Honglou banzuo ke. Textsfor divination with using coins, Qjan-gua sbu, geomantical methods, dili,and divination to find suitable mar­riage partners, Hepen shu, are alsofound among various other ethnicgroups in southern China. ‘The Bookof Nine Classics’, Jiujing shu, ‘Wise Lit­erature Enhances Knowledge’, Zeng-guang xianwen, and ‘Various Charac­ters’, Zazi, are textbooks for teachingchildren Chinese characters and in­culcating Confiician ethics. This hugevariety of manuscripts in the State Li­brary provides a better insight intoYao culture and religion and the im­pact of Chinese Daoism and popularcults on these for the first time.

The most outstanding manuscriptsof this collection along with other ob­jects concerning their religious back­ground were on display in an exhibi­

tion in the Bavarian State Library from4 November to 23 December 1999. Thecatalogue covering the exhibition con­tains short essays describing facets ofdaily life of this ethnic group. ■

- Thomas O. Höllmann,Michael Friedrich (eds)Botscha/ten an die Goner.

Religiose Handschriften der Yao.

(AsiatischeForschungen; 13 8)

Wiesbaden 1999, Harrassowitz.ISBN 3-447-04203-6)’.(Religiose Schriften der Yao,Harrassowitz, DM 78,-).

For more information please contact:Yao-ProjektInstitut fur OstasienkundeLudwig-Maximilians-UniversitatKaulbachstr. 5 1 aD-80539 München, GermanyTel.: +49-89-2180 3633Fax: +49-89-342 666E-mail: yao@lrz.uni-muenchen.deHttp:\\www.fak 12.uni-muenchen.de/sinlprojektelyaoproj.htm or:Bayerische StaatsbibliothekLudwigstr. 1680539 MünchenHttp.Www w.bsb.badw-muenchen.de

2 3 > 25 JUNE 1 9 9 9 •L O N D O N , UNI TED KI NGDOM

Literature & Theory,China & JapanLast June fourteen scholars o f Chinese and Japanese literaturecame together in London for a workshop to discuss the uses(and possible misuses) o f literary theory in the study o f EastAsian literature. The workshop, organized by Michel Hockx ofSOAS and Ivo Smits o f Leiden University, was the first jointventure o f the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)o f London University and the International Institute for AsianStudies (HAS) in Leiden.

■ By MICHEL HOCKX A N DIVO SMITS

T T arious new theo-ries have emerged

V during the pasttwo decades, uprootingtraditional forms of un­derstanding literary texts,

their function, their readership, andtheir interpretation. It has often beenargued that the majority of these the­ories are but o f limited use to thestudy of non-Western literatures, asthey are based on Western norms andviews of literature. Even those theo­ries which attempt to criticize oreradicate Western biases have them ­selves often been formulated byWestern scholars or in Western acad­emic contexts. Nevertheless, scholars

throughout the world have beenusing and discussing these theories.They often do so within the confinesof a specific country or ‘area’. Thisworkshop was set up to provide anopportunity for scholars of two close­ly related, yet often independentlystudied cultures, China and Japan, tocompare their views of specific theo­ries of literature, to discuss the ad­vantages and shortcomings of thosetheories, and to consider specific dif­ficulties related to the East-West di­mension. In view of the growingawareness that a substantial body ofcontemporary criticism was devel­oped on the basis of Western texts, at­tention also was paid to East Asianliterary concepts and the question ofhow these may contribute to ourthinking about literary theory.

Speakers were asked to focusspecifically on their understandingand application of theories and to il­lustrate this with examples fromtheir research. In their preparation,speakers had been asked to considersuch questions as: How does a par­ticular theory understand the con­cept o f ‘literature’? For which litera­tures, literary styles, or literary gen­res was the theory originally formu­lated? Which elements or compo­nents o f the theory can be consideredthe most useful, and which the mostuseless, for the study o f your sub­ject? In what way does your workcontribute to the further develop­ment o f the theory? How do (tradi­tional) East Asian concepts of litera­ture influence your views of literarytheory?

However, if the organizers hadstarted out with the idea of ‘sam­pling’ the workings o f different, crit­icism-based approaches to EastAsian literatures, then the partici­pants were quick to point out thatthe whole notion of'theory' is Euro­centric and modernist in origin andas a source of ideas it is often diffi- ►

3 2 • iias newsletter T9S21 • February 2 0 0 0 For more information on institutes of East Asian Studies, please refer to the Pink Pages

EAS T AS I A

The KoreanModel of CoupTwo coups that took place in Korea centuries apart are com­pared here; Tnjo panjong’o f March 13, 1623, and the ‘May 16Military Revolution’ in 1961. KarpChon Kim demonstratesthat there are three meaningful similarities to be found.

By DR K A R P C H O N KI M R esearchProject Injo panjong or

‘King Injo’s Restor­ing Things to Right­

eousness’, staged onMarch 13, 1623, duringthe Chosun Dynasty

(1392-1910) was mentioned officiallythree times by the army officers whohad a genuine connection with coupplans in which Park Chung Hee wasinvolved. The first such mention oc­curred during an abortive coup whichtook place when President SyngmanRhee was still in office. In this case, thecoup plan was code-named 'panjongfrom Tnjo panjong’ by Colonel ChongLae-hyok.

It was also referred to twice duringthe ‘May 16 Military Revolution’ in1961. Colonel Yu Won-shik had beenplanning a military coup with ParkChung Hee since the last stage of theSyngman Rhee Government andright after the coup as a member ofthe Supreme Council’s finance andeconomic committee was responsi­ble for forming a special committeeto draw up a five-year plan for eco­nomic development. He referred toTnjo panjong’ twice in the presence

of Park Chung Hee, and once evensaid in front of President Yun Po-son: ‘We regard this revolution asI njo panjong.’

This teaches us that Korean armyofficers, who were members of themost modernized organization inSouth Korea around that time, had avery precise knowledge of at leastsome parts of the history of theircountry and also were conscious ofit. We can confirm this point bypointing out several similarities be­tween the two coups. Three suchsimilarities are the most meaning­ful.

First, both King Injo, or as he wasthen Prince Nungyanggun, and ParkChung Hee assumed the responsibil­ity of coup leader right from theearly stage of the conspiracies.

In the neo-Confucian world viewof the Chosun Korean political ac­tors, kingship was dependent on theMandate of Heaven (chontnyong)which was based on the contract be­tween a king or emperor and Heav­en. Heaven created the universe andthe people and gave Its mandate to aking or emperor on condition thathe should protect ‘the whole duty ofman’ [kangsang), ‘the discipline ofthe nation’ (kikang), and ‘the liveli­hood of the people’ [mtnsaeng)’. To bemore precise, ‘kangsang’ means theuniversal moral principles of Confu­cianism and ‘kikang’ is a system oflegal order governing a society.

If the king failed to comply withthe contract, at first Heaven warnedhim of his mistakes through por­tents such as lightening, storms,earthquakes, phenomena related toMars, comets, and the like. And then,

cult to apply to East Asian texts justlike that. It is good to remember thatEurope is just as tradition-specific asEast Asia. In fact, some of the presen­tations showed how sometimes casestudies of such theoretical applica­tions can become studies in culturalbehaviour, admirably demonstratedin the contribution on Julia Kriste-va’s Des chinoises. In short, theworkshop, bom partly out of a prag­matic interest, quickly moved on tocover fundamental questions.

The question of whether there issuch a thing as ‘theory’ in the studyof literature and, if there is, whetherit is at all objective (can one speak ofmeta-theory?), has been asked be­fore, but is especially pertinent tothose who study Asian literaturesfrom the position of a scholar rootedin Western academic traditions. Oneof the speakers suggested that themain question should be: Do textshave an intrinsic value? Seen in thatlight, it would be a mistake to thinkthat there is only one approach: in­terdisciplinarity is the answer. Yet, itis possible to suggest that literarytexts are specific to a cultural gram­mar, which can be a large grammarof several cultures. Texts with in­trinsic values function within thelarger grammar; or, as someone sug­gested, might work in other gram­mars or even challenge the grammar(as opposed to be merely boring ornot understood).

The age of devoted adherence to asingle theoretical approach does in­deed seem over. Critical frameworkspresented at the workshop were aswide-ranging as the topics ad-

Participants of the workshop.

dressed: canon formation in Japan­ese literature, the writings of LaoShe, the literary field in modernChina and medieval Japan, JuliaKristeva and China, new historicismand Chinese literature, the ‘nativeplace’ ideal in modern Japanese liter­ature, the digitization of letter- andcharacter-based systems of inscrip­tion, cultural and structural me­chanics of classical Japanese litera­ture, deconstruction and China, au­tobiography and notions of thenovel in modern Japanese literature,readings of the Analects, and me­dieval Japanese poetic theories.

Apart from the organizers, partici­pants included the two keynotespeakers, Rey Chow (University ofCalifornia, Irvine and Haruo Shirane(Columbia University), Reiko AbeAuestad (University of Oslo), DariaBerg (University of Durham), HilaryChung (University of Auckland),

John Cayley (independent scholar),Stephen Dodd (SOAS), BernardFuehrer (SOAS), Rein Raud (Univer­sity of Helsinki), Haun Saussy (Stan­ford University), Michel Vieillard-Baron (University of Grenoble,Stendhal-3), and Henry Zhao (SOAS).

All this diversity nothwithstand-ing, the workshop generated gratify­ing surprise at finding that therewere no real boundaries betweenwhat was initially perceived as a pos­sible dichotomy; China and, ratherthan versus, Japan, and modern and,rather than versus, pre-modern.Plans are underway to publish theresults of the workshop in a book. ■

Dr M ichel Hockx is lecturer at SOAS,

E-mail: mh I 7@soas.ac.uk.

Dr Ivo Smits is lecturer at the Centre for

Japanese and Korean Studies, Universiteit

Leiden, E-mail: ibsmits@rulletleidenuniv.nl

if the king persisted in being blindto the error of his ways, Heavenwithdrew Its mandate and bestowedit on another person (hyokmyong) inhis own family or from another fam­ily. The former alternative is ‘restor­ing things to righteousness’ (pan-jong) and the latter is ‘change of sur­name’ (yoksong).

Theoretically, a pre-Confucianmeasure of panjong or ‘restoringthings to righteousness’ is resortedto only by subjects who are widelyrecognized as authentically moralConfucianists when the ruling kingis judged to have lost his Mandate ofHeaven. As a rule, in a legitimatepanjong the would-be king is not al­lowed to take part in the coup per­sonally but can only be invited to bethe new king by the subjects whohave risen against the incumbentking in the direct wake of the suc­cessful coup.

The Chosun dynasty witnessedtwo rounds of panjong, i.e. ‘Chung-jong panjong’ or ‘King Chungjong’sRestoring Things to Righteousness’in 1506 and the Tnjo panjong’. Thereis one important difference betweenthe two which should be mentioned.The first was a copy-book case of pan-jong because the would-be king didnot himself participate in the coupas a chief leader, but was only select­ed as the new king after it had beenaccomplished.

In contrast to what happened in‘King Chungjong’s Restoring Thingsto Righteousness’, Prince Nung­yanggun illegitimately played aleading personal role in the coup. Heassembled a group of soldiers for thecoup by spending his money freelyand took command of them on theappointed day. Accordingly, al­though Prince Nungyanggun wasconsidered by outsiders to have en­tered upon a somewhat illegitimatekingship, he was still thought to bethe largest stockholder in the coupproject by the coup officials.

This participation gave him such astrong foundation for royal authori­ty in contrast to King Chungjong inthat he could take initiative in allthe discussions about political refor­mation and other critical issues and,in particular, keep a firm grip on hissovereignty even after his surrenderto Ching China. But on the otherhand, because of the illegitimacy ofhis participation, he and his court, inturn, could not escape being the ob­ject of another attempt at panjong orcoup.

Kim Chong-pil, Park Chung Hee’scollaborator, once said at a press con­ference directly after the coup thatPark Chung Hee had joined the coupgroup in March 1961 as if he were thecoup’s instigator and that Park hadbeen invited to be a leader by himand other officers from the eighthclass of the military academy. Thisversion runs contrary to the facts.

Park Chung Hee, like King Injo,was the largest stockholder in the1961 coup right from its earliest in­ception. This seems to be one of thereasons why he was never confront­ed by a competitor who directlychallenged him in his inner groupbefore his assassination in 1979. Inthe coup only Park Chung Hee wasresponsible for all the units whichentered Seoul, because all of theircommanders were the colonels fromthe fifth class. The lieutenant-

colonels from the eighth class led byKim Chong-pil, however, had no realmeans by which to take over the gov­ernment.

Second, the two coups have threepillars ofjustification.

The Confucian cause that was usedto justify King Injo’s coup was‘restoring things to righteousness’(panjong). This consisted of the threecomponents referred to earlier: (1)restoration of ‘the whole duty ofman’ [kangsang), (2) recovery o f ‘thediscipline of the nation’ (kikang), and(3) the stabilization of‘the livelihoodof the people’ (mi nsaeng).

These pillars are also to be soughtin the causes of the May 16 coup.Among the six clauses of'the revolu­tionary pledge’, the third pertainsdirectly to the category of kangsangand kikang, and the fourth directly tothat of mi nsaeng. The first and fifthfall indirectly under those of kikangand mtnsaeng. In the terminology ofthe coup group’s official announce­ment kikang and mtnsaeng wereamong the most frequently men­tioned important words.

Later Park Chung Hee summed upthe pledge to achieve the two majorobjectives of the ‘May 16 revolution’in terms of kangsang, kikang, andmtnsaeng: ‘building morality and theeconomy’ or ‘rebuilding our human­ity and industry’.

Third, the coups have the samecourse of legitimation. Prince Nung-yanggun’s coup went through twostages of legitimation. At first, it wasendorsed internally by the queen ofInmokdaebi and then, externally, bythe emperor of Ming China whichwas then the ‘father country’ ofChosun Korea in its neo-Confucianworld view of'worship of the power­ful’ or sadae, as well as being the‘Central Country’ of the East Asian‘World’ system.

Park Chung Hee’s coup passedthrough two stages of legitimation

I as well. At first it was virtually en­dorsed by then President Yun Po-sunwhen he said ‘It’s a fait accompli’, inPark Chung Hee’s presence on May16. Though he did not recognize themilitary government until the resig­nation of Chang Myon’s cabinet, hedid not agree with the commanderof the US armed forces in Koreaabout the suppression of the revolteither. Next, on May 18 the US, thecentre country in the contemporaryworld system, finally recognized themilitary government as the situa­tion had turned to Park’s advantage.

In conclusion, this comparisonpertinently allows us to glance at aKorean way of legitimizing and jus­tifying political power. A coupwhich is initially carried out andjustified by a small group withoutthe prior consent of the super powerin the world system, and later for­mally endorsed by the super power,became the model of the coups inKorea following the model o f ‘KingChungjong’s Restoring Things toRighteousness’ in 1506. It repeateditself in the coup ofChun Doo Hwanand Roh Tae Woo on December 12,1979. m

Dr KarpChon Kim is a Visiting Exchange

Fellow (Korea Research Foundation) at the

HAS. He can be reached at:

E-mail: kkim@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

February 2000 • iias n e w s l e t t e r n ?21 • 3 3

N E W P U B L I C A T I O N S I N A S I A N S T U D I E S

New HAS Book SeriesAfter having jointly published several books with Curzon overthe past few years, the IIAS has now started a new series withthis British publisher. At least five books in these series will bebrought out in the course o f this year. The first one to appearwill be ‘Nomads in the Sedentary World’, edited by Anatoly M.Khazanov and André Wink (both professors at the University o fWisconsin-Madison). It is the outcome o f an IIAS-NIAS semi­nar with the same title that was held in Leiden in July 1998.

■ By CATHELIJNE VEENKAMP

B H l rr-f he book by Khaz-Ê Ê S B Ê I .inov and Wink.

JL which is sched-A uled to appear in spring

2000 in both hard- andpaperback, draws the

issue of the nomads in as wide a re­gion as Eurasia and North Africa upto a new level. The problem of the re­lationship between pastoral nomadsand the sedentary world has been ad­dressed by numerous scholars in a va­riety of ways. But its reverse, the im­pact of nomads on this sedentaryworld, and more particularly theirrole in it, while not failing to drawgeneral attention, has to a large ex­tent been the subject of speculationrather than research. It is the latterquestion that this book seeks to ad­dress by studying this issue within asystematic and comparative frame­work.

New Research in Asian Studies is thesecond volume to appear in spring2000. The volume has been edited by

Prof Frans Hiisken, (Nijmegen Uni­versity, IIAS president] and Dick vander Meij (Leiden University], and pre­sents a wide variety of articles in thebroad field of Asian Studies. The con­tributions stem from research thathas been carried out by scholars whoare or have been affiliated to the IIAS.As such the book reflects the rich di­versity within this area of research,leading the reader along conspicuoustopics such as the Central-EuropeanJewish community in Shanghai from1937 tot 1945 on the one hand and thecomplex linguistics of the Maithili(Nepal] verb on the other.

The series will feature three morebooks in summer 2000, and more mayfollow in Autumn or Winter. SouthernAfrica and Regional Co-operation in theIndian Ocean Rim is the long-expectedvolume, edited by Gwyn Campbellwho is now attached to the Centre forNorth-South Interaction at the Uni­versity of Avignon and who used to bean IIAS senior visiting fellow. The vol­ume examines past and present eco­nomic links between the countries of

Southern Africa and other regionsbordering the Indian Ocean. In par­ticular, it traces the historical back­ground to and examines the prospectsfor the IOR, the Indian Ocean Rim As­sociation for Regional Co-operationformally established in March 1997.

The contributors to the volumeoutline historical aspects of economicties across the Indian Ocean and pre­vious attempts on a sub-regionalbasis to promote economic co-opera­tion. This forms the context for ananalysis of the IOR initiative that hasresulted largely from two related fac-

8 ?OP

MWIn this

special b oo k sec t i onrev i ewers and

a c a de m ic publ ishersp re se n t and discussne w pub l i c a t i on s in

Asian S tud ies .

tors: the abortion of Apartheid andthe fall of the Soviet empire, coupledwith the rapid advance of globaliza­tion. The ideological constraints tothe establishment of political andeconomic links across the IndianOcean were thus removed and thepolicies of protectionism were dis­missed under the pressure of global­ization. One major consequence ofthis has been the promotion, notablyby South Africa, India, Mauritius, andAustralia, of the concept of a regionaleconomic grouping, establishing theIndian Ocean as a region of potentialeconomic power.

Images o f the ‘M odem W oman in Asia:Global Media/Local Meanings alsocoming out in hardback and paper­back, is a volume edited by ShomaMunshi, former IIAS research fellowwithin the research programme‘Changing Lifestyles in Asia’. It is thefirst major study to examine the rela­tionships between gender, media andmodernity in Asian contexts. In ex­amining these links, the contributorsanalyse some of the relationships be­tween gender and the fluctuations ofpower by concentrating on the reachof global media and its (re]workingsin local contexts. The book raises a se­ries of questions about the represen­tations of ‘modern’ Asian feminini­ties in global and local media imageryand their interpretations. It centerson a number of core themes, ques­tioning the validity of transposingEuro-American theorizing on theseissues. It seeks to right this balance bylocating the ‘modern’ Asian femininesubject within the framework of so­

cial relations - material, economicand interpersonal - which are in alarger perspective historical.

Law and Development in East andSoutheast Asia is another stronglycomparative volume in this series. Itresults from an IIAS workshop thattook place in Leiden in January 1998.This workshop took place shortlyafter the onset of the Asian crisis.Many analysts have argued that alack of legal regulation and the ab­sence of transparency were major fac­tors in triggering off the crisis. As aresult, international financial insti­tutions have made further financialsupport for individual Asian econo­mies dependent on an improvementof the legal framework in which busi­ness operates. Many of the articlesallow a conclusion to be drawn abouthow successful the current reformswill be and which features of theAsian approach to commercial lawwill be resistant to reform pressures.

For more information about the IIASpublications please contact:Elzeline van der Hoek,E-mail: evanderhoek@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

For the new Curzon Series you may contact:Curzon Press Ltd.15 The QuadrantRichmond, Surrey TW9 I BPUnited KingdomTel.:+44-181-948 4660Fax:+44-181-332 7835http://www.curzonpress.co.uk

( A d v e r t i s e m e n t )

MAO ZEDONG, ZHOU ENLAI AND THE EVOLUTION OF THECHINESE COMMUNIST LEADERSHIPThomas Kampen

This book analyses the power struggles within the leadership ofthe Chinese Communist Party between 1931, when it left Shanghai forthe Jiangxi soviet, and 1945, by which time Mao Zedong and ZhouEnlai had emerged as senior CCP leaders (and thereafter ruled the Partyuntil their deaths in 1976). Based on new Chinese sources, the studychallenges long-established views that Mao Zedong became CCP leaderduring the Long March (1934-35) and that by 1935 the CCP was inde­pendent of the Comintern in Moscow. The result is a critique not onlyof official Chinese historiography but also of Western (esp. US) schol­arship that all future histories of the use of the PRC will need to takeinto account. Contents: Introduction• (1) The CCP Leadership and Re­turn of the ‘28 Bolsheviks’ • (2) TheEvolution of a New Party Leadership• (3) The Transfer to Jiangxi andStruggle for Power • (4) LeadershipStruggles during the Long March •(5) Relations between the CCP andthe Comintern • (6) The Yan’an Rec­tification Movement and Evolution ofa New CCP Leadership • Conclusion• Bibliography • Index.NIAS, Oct 1999, 160 pp.Hbk • 87-87062-80-1 • £30.00Pbk • 87-87062-76-3 • £15.99

MAO Z E D O N G , Z H O U ENLAIAND T H E E V O L U T IO N OF

I HE C H IN ES E C O M M U N IS ILEAD ERSH IP

Thomas K.impen

NTAS

MONEY AND POWER IN PROVINCIAL THAILANDRuth McVey (ed.)

Most studies of SE Asian economic change have focused on growth in afew big cities with studies of the countryside tending to concern themselves withthe social and environmental impact of metropolitan growth. Very few analystshave looked at the middle distance between metropolis and countryside. This isthe horizon and focus of this volume, spurred by recent developments in Thai­land. In the past decade, the rise of a frequently violent competition for busi­ness and political leadership in the Thai provinces - an arena of growingnational importance - has drawn attention to how these centres are beinetransformed by capitalist development. Promising to be a classic in its field,this volume does much to aid our understanding of this transformation.NIAS, Dec 1999, 288 pp.Hbk • 87-87062-67-4 • £40Pbk • 87-87062-70-4 • £14.99

Nordic Institute of Asian StudiesLeifsgade 33, 2300 Copenhagen SDenmark: Fax (+45) 3296 2530E-mail books@mas.ku.dk

Books for the new millennium!

3 4 • IIAS n e w s l e t t e r N? 2 i • February 2 0 0 0

N E W P U B L I C A T I O N S I N A S I A N S T U D I E S

3 0 N O V E M B E R 1 9 9 9D E L F T U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E C H N O L O G Y , T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

Publishing Models( A d v e r t i s e m e n t )

m By RIK HOE KS T RA

n November 30,the library ofDelft University

of Technology hosted aWorkshop on PublishingModels. The problem dis­

cussed at the workshop was the alter­natives the new media, especially theInternet, offers for publishing schol­arly literature. The traditional pub­lishing of serials is in a crisis, becauseof a number of factors:- Prices of journals are going up by

15-20% per year, while budgets ofresearch libraries remain the sameor are being cut.

- The appearance of digital journalsand digital distribution technolo­gies. At the moment of writingthere are somewhere between 1500and 1700 scholarly journals avail­able in full text edition, mostly onthe World Wide Web. Their numberis increasing by the week. More­over, they are integrated into bibli­ographic databases like Silverplat-ter, Ovid and Ebsco, to name thelargest, which makes alternativeforms of publishing not only possi­ble, but already a reality.

- In principle, everything publishedon the Web is instantly available.This makes the old problems of dis­tribution (printing, distributing,slowness) obsolete.

- In addition, the Web makes otherforms of publishing possible: mul­timedia, (hyper)linked, various ap­pearances of the same information,full-text archiving etcetera.All this has caused the old roles in

the chain ofinformation to shift. Thisused to be split up in various roles:

Author >■ Publisher >Distributor > Library >■ Reader

There may have been more partiesinvolved, but these were the basicroles. The distributor often was thepublisher himself, but at times therewas also an intermediate journalagency. In the light of the develop­

( A d v e r t i s e m e n t )

UK-China Directory1999-2000published by theGreat Britain-China Centre

lists all British China-relatedorganizations, includinggovernment departments,universities, research institutes,and many other organizations.

UK orders £17.50European orders £25We will invoice you.

Email your order, or go to:www.gbcc.org.uk/pubns.htm

Great Britain-China Centre15 Belgrave SquareLondon SW1X8PSemail: directory@gbcc.org.uk

ments mentioned above, in the newsituation created by electronic pub­lishing the old divisions between theparties have shifted, mainly in therole of publishing and distribution, asthese are no longer technical issues. Inone form or another, this is a chal­lenge or a threat to all parties involvedin the traditional chain of informa­tion, which basically boils down tothe following alternatives:- Authors may publish their works

directly on the web. They can do sothemselves or with the help of a li­brary, which then becomes a pub­lisher (of university publications)

- On the other hand, both publish­ers and journal agencies may by­pass the library and deliver con­tents to readers right away. Pub­lishers can do so by making thefull-text of their publicationsavailable through the World WideWeb (or on CD-ROM, but that isunusual). Intermediaries offer in­tegrated searching and full-text re­trieving services of all publicationsin their fund.The threat for all parties, of course,

is in the loss of their old position. Thechallenge is to take on a larger shareof the information chain, withoutlosing the old position. At the mo­ment no one knows where this willlead us to, let alone where it will end.This has already led to rising insecuri­ty, even if much of the informationrevolution everyone is awaiting stillhas to begin. In reaction to the threatand challenges, separate responseshave evolved among the varios playersin the field. All parties try to defendtheir old positions by pointing to thevalue they add to the nominal rolethey fulfil:- Libraries claim added value they ac­

crue in filtering information fromthe flood washing over their usergroup (usually universities)

- Publishers state that there is muchmore to publishing than printing,distributing and marketing. Theirmost important role is to facilitatethe publishing process by (onceagain) adding a quality filter to theinformation offered for publica­tion.At the moment, the publisher role

is under siege, though more in theorythan in practice. Libraries are forcedto adapt their traditional roles to startacting as information intermediaries,and if they do not their role will bemarginalized to ‘undergraduate sup­port’. On the other hand, the ongoingrise in the prices of their products bypublishers has led to a much fiercerattack and some endeavours of pre­senting real alternatives to the tradi­tional publishing role. These alterna­tive models also featured at the work­shop. All participants were involvedin one alternative publishing modelor another. The immediate inspira­tion for the workshop was the foun­dation of a Dutch electronic academicpublishing, called Roquade, by DelftUniversity of Technology Library andthe Library of Utrecht University (atthe time of writing the URL was:http://131.211.208.51J/roquade/).

Three issuesThe workshop was chaired

by Joost Kircz, Senior VisitingScientist, University of Ams­terdam and Director of KirczKRA Publishing Research.Other participants includedJohn W.T. Smith Subject Li­brarian, The Templeman Li­brary, University of Kent atCanterbury; Tom Wilson Re­search Professor in Informa­tion Management, Universityof Sheffield; Michael KellerUniversity Librarian, StanfordUniversity, Publisher of High-wire Press; Julia BlixrudSPARC The Scholarly Publish­ing and Academic ResourcesCoalition; Fytton RowlandDeputy-Director of Under­graduate Programmes, Dept.Information Science, Lough­borough University; and BasSavenije Librarian, UtrechtUniversity.

Their presentations anddiscussions focused on the fol­lowing three issues:1. The cost of first copy, that

is, making a publicationready for publication, in­cluding peer reviewing and(copy) editing. Solutions forthe first point, costs of firstcopy, or the actual step fromthe manuscript to the pub­lished work, were the most hotlydebated. One participant put thegeneral feeling into words by say­ing that there were some points ofconsensus, however:

- New publishing forms can breakthrough the conservatism in acade­mic publishing. This may be hard,because it impinges on vested in­terests, not only on the side of thepublishers, but also on the side ofthe academic community. This iscurrently resulting in inertia;

- Everyone is so much accustomed tothe old forms of publishing, andthey are so important to the func­tioning of academia, they will re­main important and must be apoint of departure. On the otherhand, the academies already pay formost of the costs involved in get­ting journals published, so itshould not be too difficult to divertthese efforts from the commercialpublishers to not-for-profit pub­lishing;

- The image of a journal is very im­portant. Electronic publishing isnot considered the equal to pub­lishing in a traditional journal. Toachieve good quality standardswith new, electronic journals pub­lished by universities, several solu­tions were proposed:

- Publish everything on the web andlet the readers be the judge of qual­ity. For most this was no option, be­cause they considered quality filter­ing to be the principal function ofthe publishers. These problems aremost acute in the natural sciencefields and less in smaller fields,with less vested interests;

New with John Benjamins Publishing Company

ofAsian PacificCommunication

Edited byHerbert D. PiersonSt. John’s UniversityHoward GilesUniversity of California

The Journal of Asian PacificCommunication CJAPC) is aninternational refereed journalwhose academic mission is tobring together specialists fromdiverse scholarly disciplines todiscuss and interpret language andcommunication issues as theypertain to the people of AsianPacific regions and impact on theirDiaspora immigrant communitiesworldwide. The journal’s academicorientation is generalist, passion­ately committed to interdisci­plinary approaches to languageand communication studies in theAsian Pacific.Thematic issues previouslypublished: Sociolinguistics in

China; Japan CommunicationIssues; Mass Media in the AsianPacific. The Teachings of Writingin the Pacific Basin; Language andIdentity in Asia; The Economics ofLanguage in the Asian Pacific.Forthcoming special issues will beabout language management(planning) in the Asian Pacific andlanguage in Taiwan.

As from Volume xo, 2000JAPC continues publication withJohn Benjamins PublishingCompany.

Volume 10 (2000)2 issues ca. 320 pp.ISSN 0957-6851

John Benjamins Publishing Company • Amsteldijk44, P.O.Box 755771070 AN Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Fax: +31 20 6739773 ■ www.benjamins.nl

- Electronic publishing should be innot-for-profit enterprise form.This is a good solution as the in­volvement of academic institutionswill keep prices reasonable (two ex­amples: highwire, http://high-wire.stanford.edu/ and SPARC,http:/ /www.arl.org/sparc/.

2. Distribution, or getting publishedinformation to the readers. Thecontributors were all in agreementthat the distribution of informa­tion is not really an issue: the WorldWide Web is the medium, it workswell and it is efficient. There weresome questions about whether al­ternative models would not betterserve the possibilities of the newmedia. The journal as a gateway toinformation, subject-based pub­lishing or a cross-journal approach,http://www.stke.org/. In this, theissue at stake was less the actualdistribution, but rather the mergerof access, filtering, and publishing.

3 Archiving, or keeping digital infor­mation available over time. Someideas about solutions for archivingelectronic information were dis­cussed, including distributed andcommercial or semi-commercial,but no one had a full-fledged solu­tion nor was there consensus aboutthe best way in which archivingcould be achieved.

The workshop was about publish­ing models, and did not come to con­clusions. There have been a number ofinitiatives from the side of academia,but these are still in their infancy.However, when they take off, theywill pose an interesting alternative to

the market that is dominated by ex­pensive printed journals.

The workshop provided some inter­esting insights, but it showed twostrong biases. The first was in the vir­tually exclusive science approach.Many of the problems discussed arepresent in all scientific fields, but thenatural sciences with their informa­tion overload, stress on fast commu­nication, and near exclusive relianceon journals in scholarly communica­tion are the most greatly affected. Thesecond was a strong bias towards theAnglo-Saxon view of the question.While this is dominant in scholarlycommunication, there are many moresides to it. One of these is that com­mercial digital publishing (which forthat matter also extends to biblio­graphic databases) is focusing nearlyexclusively on Anglo-Saxon literature.

In addition to what was said aboutthe role of Academia in digital pub­lishing as a counterpoint to commer­cial interests is even more true of therole of digital academic publishing inthe fields in which commercial pub­lishing is not showing an interest.This includes many of the social sci­ences and nearly all of the humani­ties, as well as practically all non-Western or non-Western centredstudies. ■

Dr Rik Hoekstra is currently affiliated withthe Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis(Institute for Netherlands History) in TheHague, Netherlands. He is occupied withpublishing source materials concerning Dutch

History in an electronic form.E-mail: RikHoekstra@inghist.nl

February 2000 • h a s n e w s l e t t e r N ?2 i • 3 5

NE W P U B L I C A T I O N S IN A S I A N S T U D I E S

Precious Metals in Early Southeast AsiaIt took a long time, but it did happen: nowadays ancient In­donesian gold is a collector’s item. While easily transportablebronze figurines and ceremonial objects had been collectedever since the rediscovery and re-estimation o f the Hindu-Buddhist culture o f Indonesia in the nineteenth century, andeven heavy, hard to move stone sculptures were dragged awayfrom their ruined shrines to decorate the gardens o f colonialDutch and Javanese inhabitants, gold objects were collectedonly sparingly. The Royal Tropical Institute published a bookentitled ’Precious Metals in Early Southeast Asia: Proceedingso f the second seminar on Gold Studies’

■ By PAULINE L U N S I N G HSCHEURLEER

o doubt, the findof the treasure ofPlosokuning in

Central Java in 19510 ush­ered in a definitivechange and stimulated

the interest of an international pub­lic. This hoard contained a largernumber of golden objects in a widervariety of shapes and of a higher de­gree of craftsmanship than had everbefore been found in Indonesia. It isalso called the ‘Wonoboyo treasure’after the village in the vicinity of thehamlet Plosokuning where it wasfound. The objects in the hoard arenow generally accepted as havingoriginated from the early tenth cen­tury. The main part of the hoard is ac­commodated in the National Muse­um in Jakarta (see for instance Les Orsde [’Archipel Indonésien, exhibition cata­logue Musée National des Arts Asia-tiques-Guimet, Paris 1995, pp. 58-61,nos. 18, 20-35 and Wahyono Mar-towikrido ‘Der Goldschatz von Ploso­kuning’ in: Vcrsunkene Könichmche In-donesiens, exhibition catalogue Ró'mer-und Pelizdus-Museum, Hildesheim,Mainz 1995, pp. 257-261 and nos. 34-47)-

As collecting art objects raises ques­tions, it calls for research. The insti­tute leading the way in research intoclassical Indonesian gold objects isthe Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam,the Netherlands. During the exhibi­tion of the gold collection of the Su-varnadvipa Foundation in 1993, a firstseminar on the subject was organized.The contributors to this seminar ap­proached the theme from various an­gles: archaeology, art history, and ar­chaeometry. The results are publishedin Bulletin 334 of the Royal TropicalInstitute in Amsterdam: O Id JavaneseGold (4th- i5 th century). An archaeologicalapproach, edited by W.H. Kal, 1994.However, the activities of the Tropen­museum did not stop here.

A second seminar was organized.This time on the opposite side of theworld, where in Jakarta the NationalMuseum of Indonesia played host.Apart from representatives of thethree disciplines present at the firstseminar, here experts in anthropolo­gy, conservation, registration, andepigraphy attended, and there waseven one paper on Philippine gold. Inall there were fifteen papers. Spacedoes not allow me to deal with everyone of them, but instead, I shall de­scribe some instances that roused myinterest.

John N. Miksic talked about theproblem of Indonesian gold alwaysbeing found in hoards, which doesnot tell us much about the cultural

context of the find. He then presents arare case of eight gold objects found in1992 near a large group of fourteenth-century archaeological objects in thevillage of Kemasan at Trowulan, EastJava. The most beautiful object, no. 8,is a triangular pendant set withstones and with its chain still at­tached (pi. ij. The famous, huge(height 38.5 cm.) repousse gold plateconsisting of three parts, one abovethe other, connected by eylets, theupper part being decorated with a fly­ing Garuda holding the pot contain­ing the elixer of life stolen from thegods, kept in the Museum Mpu Tan-tular in Surabaya [p88], has been pub­lished by Sri Sujatmi Satari. She classi­fies this masterpiece of craftmanshipas a modesty plate, comparable withdecorations worn by goddesses on thestatues of Durga Mahishasuramardi-ni from Candi Singosari and CandiJawi and of Bhrkuti from Candi Jago.Jaap Polak, on the other hand, by dintof keen observation, classifies a re­pousse plaque in the National Muse­um in Jakarta (ill. p. 102), which hadalways been identified as a modestyplate, with decorative plates of thesame kind as the one discussed by Sa­tari. He identifies it as the central partofsuchapiece.

Cecilia Levin discussed the stylisticand narrative features of the bowldecorated with Ramayana scenes, oneof the masterpieces from thePlosokuning hoard. Composing achronology of Ramayana representa­tions based on the narrative reliefs ofCandi Prambanan of AD 856, the Jolo-tundo reliefs of AD 977, the putativelyixth century relief in the BostonMusum of Fine Arts Q. Fontein, TheSculpture o f Indonesia, The NationalGallery Washington / Abrams NewYork 1990, no. 19), she assigns it to aplace between Prambanan and Jolo-tundo, contemporary with the bronzefigurine of Sri Dewi in the MuseumSono Budoyo, Yokyakarta (Fontein,Idem, no. 48). She also postulates areason for the selection of the Ra­mayana scenes depicted on the bowl:each scene represents various forms ofloyalty between the protagonists. Thetheme may also indicate the reasonfor the commissioning of the bowl asa royal present marking a particularoccasion.

Gold languageA previously unexplored aspect of

ancient Indonesian gold is language.Hedy Hinzler collected terms for gold,and anything connected with gold,tools to work gold, gold smiths, theshapes of gold before tooling, thetechniques applied to gold, etc. etc.from Old Javanese inscriptions andliterary texts from the East JavanesePeriod (10th - 16th centuries). It is in­

'1•V I- * v ,

-r

Ï - - - .

■ lm

teresting to see that there aremany terms for gold and that allare derived from Sanskrit, theclassical language of India. Doesthat imply that the importanceof the material was also derivedfrom Indian culture?

Surprisingly many appliancesare found in literary passages forgold. The techniques men­tioned are the same as the onesso far met with in the investiga­tions of Professor Riederer andfrom the observations of others.The question of applying an­thropological data as a source ofknowledge for the classical peri­od was raised by Wilhelmina Kalby providing examples fromEastern Indonesia. This ques­tion would be an interestingissue for further discussion.

A Central Javanese metalgroup of three figurines representsthe triad of the Buddha flanked byWajrapani and Padmapani, a compo­sition well-known from Candi Men-dut and other metal groups fromCentral Java (Divine Bronze: Ancient In­donesian bronzes from AD 600 to 1600.Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam / Brill, Lei­den 1988, no. 12), but here the fig­urines are in standing position. Eachfigurine is placed on a lotus base andthe three lotuses are themselves set ona common rectangular base. Thethree metals used for the group areapplied hierarchically: gold for theBuddha, silver for the Bodhisattwas,and bronze for the bases. The essentialconservation of works of art does not

Gold p e n d a n tfro m the v illa g e o f K em asanat Trowulan, H ast Ja v a , Indonesia .

always assist the outward appearance.The report of the conservation of thismetal group, as an exception, showsthe spectacular result of the slim bod­ies stripped of the crust of corrosionand other extraneous additions thatthese had acquired during the cen­turies it had been in the earth.

A point of agreement of many of theauthors is the necessity to advance thestudy of Indonesian gold by involvingas many different disciplines as possi­ble. As mentioned already, the editorof this publication has succeeded inbringing together a whole bunch ofthem. But as multidisciplinity in­volves many specialists, not only ofdisciplines, but also of languages, so

does the editing of the papers,and this brings me to one mainpoint of criticism. By appoint­ing one editor only a range of se­rious mistakes could not beavoided and these, regrettably,marr an otherwise well-pre­sented publication.

My second point of criticismconcerns the illustrations. Thepublication is sparsely illustrat­ed and most illustrations in­cluded have clearly not beenprovided by the authors. Thismakes some of the papers, the

1 ones to which the illustrationsz are central, less valuable. All the£ trouble to find specialists and to2 bring them together from all over the world is wasted if more

attention is not paid to the sub­sequent publication. It is to behoped that these seminars will

be organized on a regular basis, butwith more care for the subsequentfate of the proceedings. ■

Reference- Kal, Wilhelmina H. (ed.)

Precious Metals in Early Southeast Asia:Proceedings o f the second seminaron Gold StudiesAmsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute,Tropenmuseum, 1999,ISBN 90 68 32 292 3

Pauline Scheurleer is guest curator

at the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden,

the Netherlands. E-mail: pauline@rmv.nl

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NE W P U B L I C A T I O N S I N A S I A N S T U D I E S

Early ChineseMedicalLiteratureDonald Harper in his impressive monograph ‘Early ChineseMedical Literature. The Mawangdui Medical Manuscripts -Translation and Study’ analyses the silk manuscripts that werefound in a tomb at Mawangdui in 1973. Anyone with an inter­est in the origins o f Chinese medicine, science, magic, and cul­ture will not want to miss it.

By W O L F G A N G BEHR

, i 1 A ccording t0 a re-.■MSyjk. L i cent survev of tin

L \ World Health Or­ganization (WHO], thereare few countries in theworld where Traditional

Chinese Medicine (TCM] has not beenenjoying a massive growth spurt dur­ing the last two decades. TCM herbalpreparations are currently sold to atleast 130 countries, including manydeveloping regions in Southeast Asiaand Africa, and reached an export vol­ume of some 500 million US $ in 1998.They account for 30-50 % of the totalmedical consumption in China, butthe per capita consumption in ab­solute figures is even higher in Japan.Increased Western interest in TCM isreflected by the fact that the WHOhas now set up seven TCM co-opera­tion centres in China, and that thenumber of foreign students of TCMat Chinese universities outranksthose in all other subjects within thenatural sciences.

Wherever TCM is sold, references tothe venerability of a seemingly mono­lithic medical ‘tradition’, reachingback ‘several millennia’ into China’sdim and distant prehistory, are sureto fill the marketing blurbs. Athoughthere have been a few brave attemptsby Chinese paleographers to cull thereferences to ailments, drug-names,and shamanistic treatments scatteredthroughout oracle bone and pre-Qinbronze inscriptions, the customarystarting point for any standard histo­ry of Chinese medicine is still the

Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor(Huangdi Neijing], the oldest layersof which probably stem from the latesecond or first century BC. Until veryrecently, this fairly heterogenous cor­pus of texts, which survived in threedivergent medieval recensions, wasconsidered to be the sum and sub­stance of the earliest Chinese medicalsystem. It is primarily concerned withan elaborate theory of physiology andpathology, focusing on the interplaybetween ‘vapour’ (qi), blood (xue) andthe vessels (mat), as well as the healingo f ‘disruptions’ between these unitsby means of acupuncture, moxibus-tion, herbal prescriptions, and othertreatments. Yet the late Bronze Ageorigins of this already quite complexsystem, still considered to underlie alllater practices of TCM, are ratherpoorly understood, as are the earlyhistory of its transmission and socio­cultural backgrounds. While mostmodern practitioners o f Chinesemedicine are perfectly happy to livewith such lurking uncertainties, the‘sudden’ appearance of the HuangdiNeijing was always a sort of an episte­mological nuisance to historians ofscience in China.

This disquieting situation was dra­matically changed by the famous dis­covery of thirty silk manuscripts in alacquer box in 1973. They were foundin a tomb at Mawangdui (Changsha,Hunan province), and only three ofthem (Laozi, Zhouyi, Xici zhuan) havecounterparts in the received litera­ture. Some eighteen percent of theforty-five texts included in the man­uscripts were found to have medical

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contents, predating the Inner Canonby at least a century. Supplementedby several other Warring States’ man­uscripts excavated during the last fewdecades (Zhangjiashan, Fuyang, Yun-meng, Wuwei, Baoshan), which aremore or less directly related to med­ical issues and subsumed under theconveniently broad-meshed headerof fang or ‘recipe-literature’, thesetexts and their intellectual back­grounds form the topic of DonaldHarper’s impressive monograph.

The study is roughly divided intotwo halves, one including an exten­sive prolegomena (pp. 1-183), theother a copiously annotated completetranslation of all fourteen manu­scripts (185-438). Three subject index­es of materia medica, physiologicalterms, and names of ailment, as wellas a short general index, round off thebook, unfortunately mixing entriesof English translation equivalentsand their underlying Chinese origi­nals without any clearcut organiza­tional principle. The translation oforiginal manuscripts, unlikely to berelated in a linear fashion to theHuangdi Neijing-tradition, andwhich clearly predate the emergenceof acupuncture and moxibustionwhich yet do not apply duo-pentais-tic [yinyang wuxmg) agent theories tophysiology and generally favour re­condite ontological notions of illnessto more sober functional explana­tions, is certainly an extraordinarilydaunting task. The author's under­taking aims at no less than recreatinga whole world of medical practicesthat had been totally eclipsed by laterrationalizing developments andtherefore inevitably leads back intothe realm of magic, occult practices,macrobiotic hygiene, natural philos­ophy, and a ‘culture of secrecy’ per­meating much, if not all, of the War­ring States’ medical discourse. Facedwith a lack of any positively guidingexegetical tradition, a translatorstruggling to find his way throughthe thickets of pre-Qin medicalknowledge, is virtually required to re­vive pre-modern exigencies of acade­mic pansophy, since the varied con­tents of the texts call for a thoroughfamiliarity with pre-Qin history, ar­chaeology, paleography, philosophy,botany, mythology, and macrobi­otics, to name but a few of the disci­plines involved. While one mightquibble over some of the translations,especially of plant/drug names,Harper has in general succeeded ad­mirably in producing a translationthat is highly reliable and thoroughlyreadable, in many respects clearly su­perior to Modern Chinese and Japan­ese renderings of the texts. One canfeel the awe-inspiring amount ofwork which must have gone into thebook since Harper’s first treatment ofone of the Mawangdui medical man­uscript in his dissertation almost twodecades ago. I am sure that this bookwill be of lasting importance to any­one with an interest in the origins ofChinese medicine and pharmacology,but, perhaps more importantly, alsofor those working on the history ofscience, philosophy, society, and cul­ture during the fourth to second cen­turies BC and beyond.

These backgrounds are amply dealtwith in the excellent prolegomena,which I will not even try to summa­rize here. Much to his credit, Harperhas been careful to refrain from ex­

tensive comparisons with later sys­tems of TCM or contemporaneousWestern medical traditions. Moreoften than not, comparisons of thistype have proved to be problematic inthe sense that they inevitably intro­duce subliminal theoretical presup­positions into a subject best ap­proached from a deliberately self-contained ‘internal’ perspective. Typ­ical examples of retrospective mis­conceptions discussed by Harper,which have arisen from rash compar­isons with later texts and traditions,include the mechanical association ofmacrobiotics and sexual techniqueswith a proto-Daoist background, theoverreliance on Huangdi Neijing eti­ology in the translation of arcane ail­ment names in the manuscripts, themisinterpretation of lancing asacupuncture, of cauterization asmoxibustion, or the anachronistic as­signment of different texts to formalmedical or philosophical ‘schools’. Tobe sure, Harper’s reconstruction ofthe world of medicine before the ‘Yel­low Thearch’ texts makes ample useof an impressive range oflater (as wellas contemporaneous) edited sourcesfor the identification of difficultterms and concepts, and, indeed, it

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documents a surprising degree ofcross-fertilization between medicineand other branches of natural philos­ophy during the late Warring Statesand Early Han periods. But the bookis a groundbreaking work, in the bestsense of the word, in that it alwaysgives preference to a close scrutiny ofthe textual relationships within themanuscript corpus itself

One of the most exciting chaptersin the prolegomena deals with thetransmission and copying of themanuscript texts, and the astonish­ing value of books as ‘objects ofpower’ for their elite owner and read­erships during the last centuries BC.In a sense, it is this culture that wasindirectly responsible for the preser­vation of the medical ‘texts in tombs’to the present day. The Warring Stateelites formed a fairly sophisticatedreadership, engaged in an informeddialogue with the physician-practi­tioners, and as the texts show, a clien­tele already much plagued by ‘civi-lizational diseases’ like haemorrhoidsand the inability to sleep. Yet theywere also a readership still inextrica­bly involved with the magic and ex­orcism of earlier periods, for whom ahaemorrhoid-cure like ‘hot-pressingwith vapour of a male rat boiled inurine’ (MSI.E.154) presumably sound­ed perfectly reasonable. Prescriptionslike this make the book an exhilarat­ing read, and Harper is to be congrat­ulated for making them accessible ina well-argued and beautifully pro­duced volume. Anyone with an inter­est in Ancient Chinese medicine, sci­ence, magic, and culture will notwant to miss it. ■

- Donald HarperEarly Chinese Medical Literature:The Mawangdui Medical Manuscripts -translation and studyLondon & New York: Kegan PaulInternational (Sir Henry WellcomeAsian Series), 1998,ISBN o 7103 0582-6 (hard cover), UK£75.00 / US $127.50

Dr Wolfgang Behr, Department o f EastAsian Studies, Ruhr Universitat Bochum,Germany.

E-mail: Wolfgang. Behr@ruhr.uni-bochum.de

3 8 • has n e w s l e t t e r Tsi?2i • February 2000

N E W P U B L I C A T I O N S I N A S I A N S T U D I E S

( A d v e r t i s e m e n t )

MONUMENTA SERICASubscription notice

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Founded in 1934 at the Catholic Fu-Jen University in Peking by Fr. Franz X. Biallas,S.V.D. (1878-1936), M onum enta Serica is an international journal devoted primarily totraditional China, covering all important aspects of sinology. 47 vols. averaging 500pages each have been published up to 1999.

Contents of Monumenta Serica, vol. 47 (1999), 620 pp.ARTICLES: Sophia-Karin Psarras: Upper Xiajiadian • Chen Zhi: A Study of the Bird Cult ofthe Shang People • Y uet Keung Lo : To Use of Not to Use: the Idea of ming in the Zhuangzi •Chen Jue: “Shooting Sand at People’s Shadow.” Yingshe as a Mode o f Representation in MedievalChinese Literature • JlA JlNHUA: A Study of the Jinglong w enguanji. •Special Section: Selected Papers of the International Laozt-Symposium: Die Laozt-Forschungnach der Auffindung der Mawangdui-Seidentexte“, Marienthal/ Westerwald (Germany), 17.-21.Mai 1993: Lutz Geldsetzer: Dao als metaphysisches Prinzip bei Lao Zi. Einige Gedanken zurLogik der metaphysischen Begriffsbildung • Wolfgang Bauer (1930-1997): Ich und Nicht-Ich inLaozis Daodejing • Rolf Trauzettel: Von Laozi 6 zu Laozi 42. M ythologischer, literarischerOder philosophischer Diskurs? • H ans-Georg Möller: Verschiedene Versionen des Laozi. EinVergleich mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des 19. Kapitels • Robert G. Henricks: Chapter 50in the Laozi'. Is it “Three out o f Ten” or “Thirteen”? • Konrad Wegmann: Laozi-Textversionenim Vergleich. Das Problem der historischen und inhaltsbezogenen, computergestiitzten strukturel-len Darstellung • Henrik Jager: Ein Beispiel buddhistischer Exegese. Das Daodejing jie vonGroflmeister Hanshan Deqing (1546-1623) • Florian C. Reiter: Zur Bedeutung und FunktionLao-tzus im religiösen Taoismus.REVIEW ARTICLES: M ichael Quirin: M acht und Gegenmacht von Herrschern undHistorikern in der Tang-Zeit • Joseph D ehergne, S.J. (1903-1990) et a l.: Catéchismes etcatéchèse des Jésuites de Chine de 1584-1800 • Jean-Claude M artzloff: Euclid in China •D aniel J. Bauer, s .v .d : Fiction from Modern China • OBITUARIES: M arek M ejor: JanuszChmielewski (1916-1998) • W. South Coblin: Paul L-M. Serruys, c .i.c .m . (1912-1999) •

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South Asia: General CatalogueIDC’s outstanding collection of titles onmicroform on South Asia containshundreds of titles, among which selectedmonographs, periodicals, series,government documents, catalogues ofIndian manuscripts, missionary archives,newspapers and photograph collections.• Available now

East Asia: General CatalogueChinese and Japanese serials andmonographs, serials and monographs inWestern languages, serials and monographson natural sciences, herbaria, missionaryarchives, Taiwan’s oppositional magazines.Bibliotheca Asiatica, etc.• Available now

Missionary Archives on AsiaIDC Publishers have now very usefullyarranged the fiche of nine majormissionary archives according to area andsubject specifications. These selections aresignificantly enriched by making themaccessible, via extensive indexes, bymissionary name, author, and title ofprinted material.• Available now

Historical Statistics on ChinaCentral Bureau of Statistics, theNetherlandsThis collection offers a diverse, butappealing, mix of statistical sourceinformation on various chapters in China's

| economic history. The information ismainly of a historical nature, the oldeststatistics date from 1868, the most recentstatistics date from 1993.• Scope: 50 titles• Approx. 2,800 microfiche• Available: First half 2000

The Carl Whiting Bishop CollectionFreer Gallery of Art and Arthur M.Sackler Gallery Archives / SmithsonianInstitution, Washington, D.C.Carl Whiting Bishop (1881-1942) was anarchaeologist and anthropologist,specializing in the field of East Asianstudies. He traveled extensively in Chinaduring 1923-1927 and 1929-1934. Hiscollection of professional papers,photographs and official records wasretained at the Freer Gallery of Art afterhis death.• 1 manuscript and c. 4,000 photographs• 42 microfiche• Available now

Colonial-Period KoreaRare Sources from the C.V. Starr EastAsian Library, Columbia University,New YorkThis collection brings together threedistinct groups of publications from thecolonial period. It includes Japanesepublications on Korea, Western (mostlyEnglish) early impressions of Korea, andKorean colonial-period literature. All arehighly valuable (primary) sources forscholars of Korea and things Korean.• Scope: 304 titles• Number of fiche: Approx. 1,000 microfiche• Available: Mid 2000

Indian Political Intelligence (IPI)Files, c. 1916-1947British Library, Oriental and IndiaOffice CollectionsThese only recently declassified filesprovide unique primary sources for thestudy of “subversive” movements in theBritish colonial situation during anespecially volatile period in Indian history.• 774 IPI files• Approx. 1,500 microfiche• Available: First half 2000

Selections from Despatches to theGovernment of IndiaSecretary of State for India in Council,1858-1936After the abolition of the East IndiaCompany, a ministerial officeadministering the colony was instituted onSeptember 1, 1858, known as the Secretaryof State for India in Council. Thedespatches in this microfiche collection arefrom that date. They cover the ‘high noon’of British rule in India as well as the startof its decline.• Years 1858-1936• 3,380 microfiche• Available now

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F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 0 • i i as n e w s l e t t e r N?2 i • 3 9

NE W P U B L I C A T I O N S I N A S I A N S T U D I E S

Sri Lanka Studies SeriesThe international series ‘Sri Lanka Studies in the Hum anitiesand Social Sciences’, published by VU University Press Amster­dam was established to provide a quick avenue for publishingthe results o f theoretically informed and empirically well-grounded research on Sri Lanka. A board o f editors guaranteesthe quality o f the series (on this board are Leslie Gunawardena,Peradeniya; Peter Kloos, Amsterdam; Eric Meyer, Paris;Gananath Obeyesekera, Princeton; Jonathan Spencer, Edin­burgh). The series is in English but all volumes contain sum ­maries in Sinhala as well as in Tamil.

■ By P E T E R K L O O S

f | f he first volume,I published in 1993,

JL is by a Sri Lankaneconomist, Sirimal Abey-ratne. His book, Anti-ex­port bias in the ‘export-ori­

ented’ economy of Sri Lanka, dealswith the fact that despite the politi-

j cal rhetoric, the m anufacturing sec­tor in Sri Lanka is far from being ex­port-oriented. In reality the exportsector is effectively ‘disprotected’.The frequent trade liberalization at­tempts have been based on either ex-aggerated or biased policy recom­mendations, and have not eliminat­ed anti-export bias in the manufac­turing trade. Abeyratne argues for afair level o f protection, between im­port substitution and export promo­tion, which eliminates policy dis­crimination against potential trade-ables.

The second volume is a Dutch PhDthesis by Josine van der Horst: Who ishe, what is he dairy? Religious Rhetoricand Performances during R. Premadasa'sPresidency, 1989-1993 (1995). The title istaken from a cartoon depicting the latePremadasa, blindfolded, bearing aflower-laden tray in his right handand a burning tyre in his left. Pre­madasa became president in 1988,when Sri Lanka was mired in a deeppolitical and moral crisis. While re­sponsible for a ruthless policy to reachhis own ends, Premadasa also soughtinspiration in the peaceful policies ofthe ancient Indian king, Asoka, who,after a long series of bloody wars, re­pented and turned his efforts towardscreating a righteous society. Likewise,Premadasa announced the dawning ofa new era of righteousness and peacein Sri Lanka. The study offers an analy­sis of Premadasa’s self-presentation, aswell as the religious rhetoric and per­formances he engaged in, and the

manner in which these presentationswere received by the public.

Volume 3 of the series is by a Danishscholar, Birgitte Sorensen. This booktoo is based on a PhD thesis, defendedat the University of Copenhagen: Relo­cated Lives: Displacement and Resettle­ment within the Mahaweli Project, SriLanka (1996). The Mahaweli River De­velopment Project is the largest riverbasin irrigation project in Asia. Amongother things it has resulted in thelarge-scale displacement of people.The study examines the social and cul­tural impact of displacement. It de­scribes how members of a settler com­munity and the neighbouring villageexperienced the relocation process andanalyses the creative strategies thatdifferent groups and individuals em­ployed in order to create new or restoreexisting identities. Sorensen arguesthat previous approaches to relocationhave largely failed to grasp this cre­ative and constructive aspect becauseof the conceptualization of relocationas a liminal phase and the predomi­nant use of stress models.

Volume 4 is again by a Sri Lankanscholar, Jagath Senaratne: Political Vio­lence in Sri Lanka, 1977-1990. Riots, Insur­rections, Counter Insurgencies, Foreign In­vention (1997). The book deals with theperiod of the rapid escalation of vio­lence in Sri Lanka after the election ofthe UNP government in 1977. These

years saw massive numbers of victimsand large-scale destruction of proper­ty. Violence peaked in the years 1987-1990. In this book the overall temporalpattern of the escalation of political vi­olence is carefully analysed.

Volume 5 is by an Austrian scholar,Marianne Niirnberger: Dance is theLanguage of the Gods. The Chitrasenaschool and the tradition roots of Sri Lankanstage dance (1998). It deals with what inSri Lanka is called ‘Kandean dancing’.Dance in Sri Lanka was placed right atthe heart of the rituals performed forthe welfare of the kingdom. In tradi­tional Sinhala society the occupationalgroup of dancers was integrated into afeudal system in which services to theking and to the Buddhist temples wererewarded by giving rights to cultivateland. In the 20th century, however,modern stage dancing emerged: theChitrasena school. This school brokeaway from caste barriers and genderroles, and accomplished the transfor­mation of traditional dancing to amodern indigenous form of art.

Volume 6 is by a Swiss psychothera­pist, Beatrice Vogt: Skill and Trust. TheTovil healing ntual of Sri Lanka as culture-specific psychotherapy (1998). Tovil is anindigenous healing ritual among theSinhala of Sri Lanka, where it is used asa treatment for mental illness. Duringthe ritual, which takes place at night,the patient embodies the demons whoare the cause of his or her psychicproblems. The ritual is a psychodrama,accompanied and induced by drum­ming, dancing, and singing. The em­phasis of this study is not on the pa­

tient but on the healer. Vogt, a psy­chotherapist by training, became apupil of a tovil healer in the KandyanHighlands of Sri Lanka, Upasena Gu-runnanse, during the years 1985-88and was taught his skills. Three de­tailed cases of tovil healing are used todemonstrate how the therapeuticpractice of the healer fits into the Sin­hala Buddhist view of the world.

Volume 7, by Sirimal Abeyratne,deals with Economic Change and PoliticalConflict in Developing Countries (1998).Abeyratne argues that economic devel­opment generates political conflictand uses Sri Lanka as a case study.

Volume 8 is by an American scholar,Mark Whitaker, Amiable Incoherence.Manipulating Histories and Modernitiesin a Batticaloa Hindu Temple (1999).Making use of Wittgensteinian con­cepts, Whitaker describes how thetemple elite of Mandur in eastern SriLanka invented a temple ideology thatengendered a strategic misunder­standing (an ‘amiable incoherence’)between temple and state historiesand policies in order to survive.

Volume 9 (to be published in 2000) isexpected to be a study by a Japanesescholar, Machiko Higuchi, about in­digenous, or ayurvedic, medical prac­tices. ■

The books can be ordered via any bookshopor directly from VU University Press,fax:+31-20-646 27/9.

The editor-in-charge of the series isPeter Kloos, fax: +31-20-444 6722, ore-mail p.kloos@scw.vu.nl.

Publication

A Nepali Language FeastThere is good reason to believe that the long-awaited and mostrecent addition to the Hodder & Stoughton ‘Teach Yourself se­ries will soon occupy an important place in the pedagogical liter­ature available to the ever-growing community o f Nepal schol­ars from all disciplines. Entitled ‘A Complete Course in Under­standing, Speaking, and Writing Nepali’, it was conceived, de­vised, written, and even recorded (there are accompanying cas­settes) by two o f the most prominent scholars o f the Nepali lan­guage and its literature: Abhi Subedi and Michael Hutt.

By M A R K T U R I N

IHHilH— n p he Nepali language■ H H I is more widely spo-

J L ken than is oftenimagined. Apart frombeing the national lan­guage within the King­

dom of Nepal itself, it functions as alingua franca for vast reaches of the cen­tral and eastern Himalaya, most no­tably throughout Sikkim and Darjeel­ing in India and even in many parts ofBhutan. The niche that the Nepali lan­guage has come to occupy is even moreintriguing given the socio-linguisticcomposition of the country whence itcame. Home to over eighty languageshailing from four different languagefamilies, Nepal has more need of acommon tongue than many othercountries twice its size. The success ofthe Nepali language in uniting an oth­erwise ethnically and linguisticallyheterogeneous country over the pasttwo hundred years must not be under­estimated, even if the result has beenat the expense of many of the minoritylanguages.

Abhi Subedi is professor of Englishat the Kirtipur campus ofNepal’s Trib-

huvan University as well as a promi­nent intellectual and poet. MichaelHutt, based at the School of Orientaland African Studies in London, isBritain’s most prolific writer on theliterature ofNepal and the language ingeneral. The success of the book bySubedi and H utt may well be attribut­able to two major factors, the firstbeing the joint nature of the enter­prise. In being a collaboration betweenan English scholar who is a non-na­tive, but fluent Nepali speaker and aNepali writer famed for his approach­able verse and prose, this book cap­tures the flavour of the languagewhich is sadly absent from otherphrasebooks and primers. The resultsof this co-authoring provide the sec­ond strength of the book as a whole.Teach Yourself Nepali has a human edge,from the user-friendly grammaticalexplanations to the real-life conversa­tions and dialogues that the reader en­counters in each chapter of the book.The danger of such an approach is, ofcourse, that what is gained in terms ofsimplicity of explanation is met with aconcomitant loss in precision. It is atribute to the authors that they care­fully avoid this trap, and in the process

have produced an excellent pedagogi­cal work which fills a genuine gap inthe market. Teach Yourself Nepali willbe read, studied, and used by acade­mics, development workers, moun­taineers, tourists, and linguists alike asit is simply the best book for learningmodern Nepali.

The book is divided into 24 chap­ters, each containing one or moretrue-to-life Nepali conversations.Whether it be a little gossip about thewealth of Jyoti’s father, the pros andcons of village versus urban life, orbartering with a shopkeeper at themarket, H utt and Subedi manage tocapture and crystallize the essence ofan archetypal Nepali discussion. Onoccasion, the authors include a side-bar on some social or cultural featureof Nepali life, such as an explanationof the concept of pollution (page 110),an aside on Nepali poets (page 133)and even an insightful overview of re­ligion in Nepal (page 205). These cul­tural observations are invariably in­teresting and well-written, and per­haps there could even have been a fewmore of them on topics such as casteor nationalism.

Whilst the introduction to the De-vanagan script and Nepali phonologyis concise and to the point, it is some­what surprisingly concluded withthree samples of quite terrible Nepalihandwriting. On account of the lowliteracy rate in Nepal, it is undoubted­ly the case that many people do nothave the most manicured handwrit­ing styles, but to present three equallyawful variations in a row does some-

th is pack

320-pagecaufsebook

2xB0.nii«atecassettes

t i*: a t if v o u r s i>: i . i*

a complete course In understanding

speaking

and writing

ep a lirwgal.1

far *v y

how give the impression that noNepali can master penmanship.

The single greatest shortcoming ofTeach YourselfNepali is one which sadlyaffects the book from start to finish.Whilst every care has been taken topresent the grammar of the languageboth simply and clearly, and with ex­cellent examples, one gets the impres­sion that the proof-reader and copy-editor were on holiday when the bookfinally went to press. It is literally rid­dled with simple misspellings, mis-transliterations, and typographicalhiccoughs. The ‘English-Nepali Glos­sary’, occupying the final seven pages,is a case in point. In a little over fivehundred entries, I counted five mis­takes of transliteration: the entries for‘bangle’, ‘cow’, ‘distant’, ‘sweets’, and‘woman’. There were also two furtherinconsistencies when spellings wereoffered in the main body of the text atvariance with the one in the glossary.Although not wanting to be pedanticabout small mistakes, and also fullyrecognizing that mistransliterationsslip into even the most learned ofbooks, the sheer number of mistakes is

worthy of note, particularly becausethe book is intended as a pedagogicalaid for those hoping to learn Nepalithrough self-study. Whilst mis­transliterations are dotted liberallythroughout the whole text, anotherconcentration of errors has afflictedthe ‘Key To Exercises’ section towardsthe end of the book. For example, in‘Exercise 54’ on page 183, the reader isasked to write Nepali sentences com­bining the information from twocolumns, but when one turns to page276 to check the sample sentences, theanswers are all back to front and haveno bearing on the questions asked. Fora pedagogical language book, suchmistakes, together with their frequen­cy, are surprising to say the least.

Overall though, Teach YourselfNepaliis a thoughtfully-written, carefully-explained, and all-round excellent lan­guage book for anyone wanting tolearn the language. One can only hopethat in the second edition, which mustsurely come given its success and pop­ularity, the nagging errors, and typo­graphical inconsistencies will havebeen weeded out. Only then will Huttand Subedi’s book be The CompleteCourse in Nepali that we have beenwaiting for. ■

- H u tt, M ichael and Abhi SubediNepali: A complete course in understand­ing, speaking, and writingLondon: Hodder & Stoughton,Teach Yourself Books, 1999,308 pp. + 2 cassettes,ISBN 0-340-71130-2

M ark Turin is a member o f the HimalayanLanguages Project in Leiden Universityand is completing his doctoral researchon the Thangmi language.E-mail: markturin@compuserve.com.

4 0 ■ has n e w s l e t t e r N ?2 i • February 2000

N E W P U B L I C A T I O N S I N A S I A N S T U D I E S

CATALOGUE OF MALAY,MINANGKABAU, ANDSOUTH SUMATRANMANUSCRIPTS

Short News

&T:he Netherlands

houses im portantcollections of In­

donesian manuscripts ina variety o f languagesfrom Batak to Balinese,

many o f which have been catalogued.We only have to th ink of the massivefour-volume catalogue o f Javanesem anuscripts in the Library o f Leiden

University and other collections inthe Netherlands, produced byTh.G.Th. Pigeaud (1967-1980), and thecatalogue on Malay manuscripts ac­quired by the Leiden University Li­brary up to the year 1896, which waspublished in 1998 by Edwin Wieringa.

However, despite all the catalogu­ing efforts no comprehensive cata­logue of all the Malay m anuscripts inthe Netherlands had been available sofar. Most Malay manuscripts in theNetherlands are kept in the Library ofLeiden University, b u t to my surprisethere are as many as fourteen otherrepositories as well, ranging from the

( A d v e r t i s e m e n t s )

A sample PDF-document maybe found at our website(www.inghist.nl/guide.htm)

In 1996 volume 20 of the documentary edition Officiëlebescheiden betreffende de Nederiands-lndonesischebetrekkingen i945-3950waspublished. A sequel to thisseries is currently in preparation with documents coveringthe years 1950-1963. In these documents the disputebetween Indonesia and the Netherlands on the future ofWestern New Guinea figures prominently. When completed,the core documents in the Dutch archives that focus on thedecolonization of Indonesia between 1945 and 1963 will beavailable in print format and as digital appendices. Asidefrom this, the archives in the Netherlands and many archivalsources outside the Netherlands contain vast amounts ofadditional information on this subject that are not includedin the documentary edition. It is therefore the purpose of thepresent publication to serve as a guide to all relevantarchives, both in the Netherlands and abroad. The Guide isdivided into seven chapters, in which the official and semi­official archives in the Netherlands, Indonesia, the UnitedKingdom, Australia, u s a and Belgium and those of theUnited Nations in New York are discussed.

Guide to the archives on relations betweenthe Netherlands and Indonesia 1945-1963by P.j. Drooglever, M.J.B. Schouten and Mona LohandaISBN 90-5216-110-0,480 p., Dfl 45>~ / 20,42

This publication may be ordered through a bookdealer or directly from the publisher

Institute of Netherlands Historypo Box90755 • 2509 lt Hague, Netherlands • tel. +3170 3*56400fax +3170 3854098 • e-mail rgp@inghist.nl • Internet www.inghist.nl/

Royal Institute o f Linguistics and An­thropology (KITLV) in Leiden to theRoyal House Archives in Den Haag.After a long tim e and a complicatedhistory, the Catalogue of Malay, Mi-nangkabau, and South Sumatran Manu­scripts in the Netherlands has finallyseen the light. Having been started asearly as 1976 it has taken almost aquarter of a century to be published,and the history of this complicatedand tim e-consum ing project is re­vealed in the preface to the catalogue.

The catalogue lists 2028 m anu­scripts in Malay, Minangkabau, andother languages in South Sumatrasuch as Rencong. They are describedconcisely and titles, measurements,num ber of pages, eligibility, andother relevant inform ation such assecondary literature and editions areall noted. The catalogue is completedby extensive indexes on titles, au­thors, previous owners and collectors,geographical names, and watermarks.As such it is a welcome addition to thecatalogues o f Malay m anuscripts towhich we have had access so far, i f notdownright indispensable to scholarsof Malay.

Cataloguing has evolved from thecompilation o f a mere list o f titles andcorresponding shelf num bers to ex­tensive descriptions o f a variety ofother features found in the m anu­scripts. This catalogue falls into thecategory a b it o f an old-fashionedproduct. Even though this is the case,it is extremely useful if our aim is tostudy the texts o f the manuscripts,and not m anuscripts as such. The in­ternational scholarly world of MalayStudies can now finally learn what isavailable in the collections in Hol­land. N ot only do we now know what

has been acquired since the most re­cent preceding catalogue descriptionsin 1921 (Van Ronkel), bu t many of themistakes and omissions its predeces­sors contained have been corrected inthis catalogue.

This catalogue, in combinationwith the volume o f the catalogue byWieringa, will enable scholars ofMalay to work much more fruitfullyin their field o f study than was everpossible before. The fact that the m an­uscripts outside the collection o f Lei­den University Library are includedespecially makes this work a standard

work which will never be repeated.Thanks to the endurance of TeukuIskandar he has persevered in thiswork and he should duly be applaud­ed for hard work and enterprise. ■

- Iskandar, Teuku,Catalogue of Malay, Minangkabau,and South Sumatran Manuscriptsin the NetherlandsDocumentatiebureau Islam-Christendom, P.O. Box 9515,2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands,xiii + 1095 pp., 2 Vols,ISBN 90-71220-09-5

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE SERVICE OF THE SULTAN

Short News NJ - ^1 S

othing is morefascinating than

__ „ seeing pictures of1 people and places youI never thought ex­

isted. Javanesehistory is so often buried inscholarly works devoid ofpictures th a t we are wellinformed about personsw ithout having thefaintest idea o f w hat theylooked like.

The book Cephas, Yog-yakana: Photography in theservice of the Sultan is a wonder.Full o f photographs of a world nolonger there bu t able to be rediscov­ered in photographs most o f whichwere taken by the Javanese KassianCephas (1845-1912). The book offersmany o f his photos, showing royalpersonages o f the Central Javanesecourt ofYogyakarta, theatrical perfor­mances and photos taken o f theHindu Javanese antiquities in the en­

virons o f Yogyakarta such as theBorobudur and the Prambanan tem ­ples. Photos o f the town o f Yogyakartaare also included, allowing us to see

what a rural sleepy place it usedto be. It also contains a biog­

raphy o f Cephas and hisson, Sem Cephat (1870-1918). Many o f the photosform part o f the collec­tion o f the Royal Insti­tu te o f Linguistics andAnthropology (KITLV), in

Leiden. It is a welcome ini­tiative of the KITLV to open

up its collection to a widerpublic by publishing this sort o f

books. It is to be hoped tha t it willcontinue to do so in future. ■ (DvdM)

- Knaap, GerritCephas, Yogyakarta: Photographyin the service of the SultanLeiden: KITLV Press, viii + 136 pp.ISBN 90-6718-142-0more than 100 photographs

PUBLISH@CURZONPRESS.CO.UKINTRODUCING A MAJORNEW SERIESCol lected Writings of ModernWestern Scholars on Japa nEach volume in this important new seriescontains a substantial cross-section of thewritings of an outstanding scholar of Japa­nese Studies, thematically structured aroundessays, published and unpublished confer­ence papers, journal contributions, chaptersfrom multi-author volumes, translations andbook reviews, as well as newspaper andgeneral-interest articles and commentaries.

Carmen Blacker -Collected WritingsSpecial areas: religion, myth and folklore;and biographies.Collected Writings of Modern Western Scholars on

ls iw ' l V873410 92 I 480 pp Nov 1999 £95 00

Hugh Cortazzi -Collected WritingsSpecial areas: biographies; history; culturalexchange; arts; and business and foreignaffairs.Collected Writings o f Modem Western Scholars onJapan, volume 2ISBN 1 873410 93 X 4% pp Nov 1999 £95.00

Ben-Ami Shillony -Collected WritingsSpecial areas: modem history; crisis andculture; Japan, the Jews and Israel.Collected Writings o f Modem Western Scholars on

IsltN | V873410 99 9 432 pp Feb 2000 £95.00

Set of first 3 volumes ofCollected WritingsISBN 1 873410 96 4 Feb 2000 : £250.00

Early European Writingson Ainu Culture Travel­o g u es and DescriptionsEdited by Kirsten Refsing, University o fHong KongTHE AINU LIBRARY, Collection 3ISBN 0 7007 1155 4 : 5 vols : Feb 2000 £525.00

Ryukyu Studies to 1 854Western Encounter Part 1Edited by Patrick Beillevaire, Ecole desHaute Etudes en Sciences Sodales, ParisThis collection gathers all the primary texts,some hitherto unpublished, on the Ryukyukingdom by western visitors from the 16thto tne mid-20th century. This first set cov­ers the period up to the arrival of Commo­dore Perry in 1854. It is of interest to histo­rians and anthropologists, as well as toeveryone interested in Okinawa’s persist­ent distinctiveness and its complex relationswith the Japanese governments.Is&bPn rO O T M ^ 5 5 vols Apr 2000 £495 00

J a p a n ' s HiddenChrist ians 1549-1999Edited, with a fu l l Introduction byStephen Turnbull, University o f LeedsBy the author of the landmark study TheKakure Kirishitan o f Japan. These twovolumes bring together the most significantcontemporary wntings on Japan’s HiddenChristians, encompassing some 450 yearsof the Christian tradition in Japan. Remark­ably, the inheritors of this tradition remain■hidden’ at the dawn of the new millennium.In the introduction, Turnbull reviews key el­ements of the collection and takes the op­portunity to bring his own study up to date.Volume I: Open Christianity in Japan 1549-1639Volume II: Closed Christianity in Japan 1639-1999Japan Library Historic Documents SenesISBN 1 873410 51 4 2 vols Jan 2000 £200.00

K oreaA Cultural and HistoricalD ic t i o n a r yKeith Pratt, University o f Durham. &Richard Rutt .This unique reference work provides tac­tual information about Korean history, poli­tics, culture, and society from ancient timesto the present. It shows the uniqueness ofKorean culture, and the effect of the Her­mit Kingdom’s special relationship withChina and Japan over 2000 years. Approx.1,500 entries, name index,cross-references.Durham East Asia Senes r£n(V,ISBN 0 7007 0464 7 672 pp Hard Jun 99 £60 00ISBN 0 7007 0463 9 672 pp Paper Jun 99 £16 99

Asian FoodThe Globa l and the LocalEdited by Katarzyna J. Cwiertka withB C. A. Walraven. Leiden UniversityTransformations in the diets of Asian peo­ples over the past century show up the ten­sion between homogenisation and culturalheterogenisation which is so characteristicof today’s global interaction. This bookdemonstrates how local and global forcesnegotiate hybrid lifestyles, new commodi­ties become embedded in new cultures, andnew identities are embraced through newforms of consumption. Illustrated.ConsumAsiaN # 1 4ISBN 0 7007 13336 258 pp Hard May 2000 £40 00

Historical Atlas ofIn d o n es iaRobert Cribb, University o f QueenslandThis pioneering volume traces the historyof the region which became Indonesia inover 200 specially drawn full-colour mapswith a detailed accompanying text, bring­ing fresh life to the fascinating and tangledhistory of this immense archipelago. Con­tents: Landscape and Environment; Peo­ples; States andPolitics to 1800; The Neth­erlands Indies, 1800-1942; War, Revolutionand Political Transformation, 1942 to thePresent; Commerce and Communications;Sources; Bibliography; Index.ISBN 0 7007 0985 1 :240 pp Hard May 2000 £75.00

The Secret History ofthe MongolsThe Life and Times ofChinggis KhanTranslated & introduced by UrgungeOnon, Universities o f Leeds & CambridgeA scholarly edition of this great 13 th cen­tury historical epic, the only surviving Mon­gol source about the empire - the life, an­cestors and rise to power ofChinggis Khan.This fresh translation brings out the excite­ment of the epic with its wide:ranging com­mentaries on military and social conditions,religion and philosophy. The introductionsets the work in its cultural and historicalcontext Illustrated, with colour frontispiece.ISBN 07007 1335 2 :400 pp Hard . May 2000 £95.00

China's Economic ReformA Study with Doc umentsEdited by Christopher Howe, Y Y. Kueh& Robert AshA collection and analysis of original, trans­lated policy documents from a key periodof Chinese development, providing both acurrent and a retrospective analysis of eco­nomic reform efforts. Topics dealt with in­clude the evolution of economic strategy;economic planning and the spread of mar­ket mechanisms; technology transfer in in­dustry; evolution of an agricultural system;the development of population policy; andforeign economic relations.ISBN 0 7007 1355 7 320pp Hard Mar 2000 £45.00

New Fourth ArmyCo mmu nis t Resistance a longthe Yangtse and the Huai,1938-1941Gregor Benton, University o f LeedsLooks at the first three years of the NewFourth Army, its distinctive background inthe Three-Year War (1934-1937) of theCommunist guerillas left behind in the south,and the unique political, military, and socialenvironment that the army encountered inthe lower Yangtze region, where it firstjoined battle with the Japanese. With illus­trations and maps.lSBbfoC7007rl1071 X 960 pp Hard Jul 99 £75 00

Shinto in HistoryWays of the KamiEdited by John Breen, SOAS & MarlTeeuwen, University o f WalesA critical study of Shinto from early timesto the modem era. Essays highlight thedynamic nature of Shinto and shrinefristotythrough the three-way relationship betweerlocal shrines, Shinto Agendas and BuddhismTopics include Shinto and Daoism in earl)Japan, Shinto and state ritual in early JapanShinto and Buddhism in medieval Japanand Shinto and the modem state.Curzon Studies in Asian ReligionISBN 07007 11708 320 pp Hard Mar 2000 £45.00ISBN 07007 1172 4 320 pp Paper Mar 2000 £1499

Religious Violence inC on tem pora ry J apanThe Ca se of Aum ShinrikyIan Reader, Nordic lnstititute o f AsiarStudies/University o f StirlingLooks at Aunt’s claims about itself and askfwhy a religious movement ostensibly fo­cused on yoga, meditation, asceticism ancthe pursuit of enlightenment became in­volved in violent activities. Reader exam­ines Aum’s stance as a miilennialist move-

The Bolsheviks and theChinese Revolution1919-1927Alexander Pantsov, Capital UniversityBased mainly on previously unobtainableRussian archival sources, this book analy­ses the Bolshevik concepts of the Chineserevolution and their reception in China. Is­sues include the role of the three Bolshe­vik leaders, Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky in try­ing to lead the Chinese Communists tovictory, the real nature of the Trotsky-Stalinsplit in the Comintern, and a dramatic his­tory of the Chinese Oppositioni st movementin Soviet Russia.ISBLk T7007^ US87 2 320 pp Hard Feb 2000 £45 00

i prophecies of disaster, and dis­cusses why tnis shift to an increasingly criti­cal view of the world occurred.ISBN 0 ^ 3 ^ 1 ) 8 2* 200 pp Hard Sep 99 £40«ISBN 0 7007 1109 0 : 200 pp Paper Sep 99 £14 9*

Muslim TurkistanKazak Religion andCollect ive MemoryBruce G. Privratsky, Yasawi UniversityReconstructs collective memory theorystripping it of its postmodernist baggage, ancproposing a place for it in a general theoryof religion. This ethnography of MuslirrKazak life describes the sacralisation of laneand ethnic identity, local understanding olIslamic purity, the ancestor cult and its do­mestic spirituality, pilgrimage at the tomb;of Sufi saints, and folk therapies shaped b>traditional Islamic medicine and Inner Asiarshamanism. With illustrations and maps.ISBN 0 7007 1297 6 336pp. Hard Mar 2000 £45.0(

Curzon P ress Ltd., 15 The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey Tw9 1BP, England.Tel +44 (0) 20 8948 4660, fax +44 (O) 20 8332 6735, e-mail publish@ curzonpress.co.uk, w eb w w w .curzonpress.co.uk

February 2000 • iias n e w s l e t t e r N?2i • 4 1

N E W P U B L I C A T I O N S I N A S I A N S T U D I E S

WisdomLeadership

'Mission-Doers'in MadagascarRamambason’s well-written and fascinating monograph ‘M is­siology: Its Subject-Matter and M ethod. A study o f ‘m ission-doers in Madagascar has two sides. The first side is an assess­m ent o f m issiology as an academic discipline in a non-Westerncontext. The second side is a case study o f a still fairly unex­plored^ period in the history o f Madagascar, namely the so-called ‘Gorbatchev transition’ (1985-15)95).

P u b lica tio na well-known au-

JL thor on manage­ment ethics and valuesfrom an Indian perspec­tive. The author has ar­

gued in many previous books thatthe Indian ethos as epitomized infigures like Swami Vivekananda, Ra­bindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo,and Mahatma Gandhi, can also be anas yet little tapped source of ethicalempowerment and good manage­ment. The practical application ofthis ethos, Chakraborty had devel­oped in course of numerous trainingworkshops held for Indian privateand public sector organizations. Thebook entitled W isdom Leadership: D ia­logues and Reflections is the latest fruitof this endeavour.

The first part of the book containsedited notes which Chakrabortytook during interviews he had con­ducted with CEO’s of major Indiancompanies and banks. These inter­views make for fascinating reading.They summarise at times quite pri­vate thoughts of CEO’s and Manag­ing Directors about themselves,their working life and the state ofethical behaviour in their organisa­tions. The second part of the book of­fers a choice of Chakraborty’s essays

on differents aspects of Indian cul­ture, ethics, politics and quality ofleadership. Although the book doesnot prescribe quick fixes for in­creased managerial effectiveness, itdoes address managerial practiceand behaviour in a most fundamen­tal manner and does this in a veryreadable manner. All points of ethics jare illustrated through examples ofethical practice or neglect. These ex­amples are taken from real life situa­tions. The fact that the setting of thebook is Indian does not restrict itsvalue to Indian readers only. Theethics the book sets forth can be ap­plied with success in many othercultural settings. Also this fact,Chakraborty illustrates through ex­amples. The book invites the readerto reflect seriously on the funda­mentals of human existence. ■

- Chakraborty, S.K.Wisdom Leadership:Dialogues and ReflectionsNew Delhi: Wheeler Publishing.1999- pp X+214,ISBN 81-7544-177-1

Dr Victor A. van Bijlert, Universiteit Leiden,

E-mail: vavanbijlert@hotmail.com

m By MARC R. SPINDLER

r Ramambason isI 1 not unknown at

I S the HAS: he at­tended the internationalcongress on Madagascarin Leiden in 1994 and his

contribution on ‘The Merina/Sakala-va Encounter in the Region ofAnalalava’ was published in the pro­ceedings of the congress (Cultures o fMadagascar. Ebb and Flow o f Influences/Civilisations de Madagascar: Flux et re­

f lu x des influences, edited by SandraEvers & Marc Spindler. Leiden: IIAS,1995. Working Papers Series, 2, 193-219). For several years he has been ateacher at the Protestant TheologicalFaculty of Antananarivo where he cre­ated a Department ofMission Studies.Since 1998 he has served as Secretaryfor Mission Development and Educa­tion with the Council for World Mis­sion in London. The enhancement ofmission studies is part of his profes­sional duty.

The present reviewer presumes thatreaders of the HAS Newsletter will bemore at home in the second part ofRamambason’s book Missiology: ItsSubject-M atter and M ethod than spe­cialists in the science of missions ormissiology. But a one-sided reading ofthe book would be misleading. Thedouble-track approach of this book isprecisely what makes the book fasci­nating.

Ramambason’s point of departureis the conviction that, even in a non-Westem context, the science of mis­sions must be a field of research andteaching. This is not only because themissionary factor’ (Roland Oliver)has historically been very importantin many countries, and not the leastin Madagascar, but because presentdevelopments cannot be understoodwithout taking into account the per­manent reality of this factor. In otherwords, ‘missions’ are not (only) a fac­tor of the past, and they are definitelynot the affair of expatriates or a for­eign interference in national matters.Ramambason takes the case of Mada­gascar very seriously because in thiscountry missions have been an affairof Malagasy people since the estab­lishment of Christianity as an officialreligion in 1869. This does not implyan immaculate record, on the con­trary. Ramambason is very critical ofthe nationalist bias of Malagasy‘home’ missions in the period ofMeri-na monarchy in the 19th century. Aslong as national unity is not realizedin depth, as long as ethnicity remainsa strong factor in peoples's attitudesand relations, Malagasy missionariesamong other Malagasy should takethese factors into account, amongmany others.

What, then, is the subject-matter ofmissiology? Instead of a theoreticaldefinition of «missions», Ramamba­son analyses the reality of what Mala­gasy Christians are doing in mission.They are what he calls ‘mission-doers’. They are not applying a theoryfrom above or from abroad. In otherwords Ramambason develops a missi-ology ‘from below’, not a missiologyfrom top down’. His method is ‘in­

ductive’, not ‘deductive’. In this way,he discovers that the mam ‘mission­ary’ activities of the ProtestantChurch in Madagascar pertain to de­velopment and healing through spe­cialized departments which are moreor less independent from the clericalhierarchy.

The second side of the book is acase study of the ‘Gorbatchev transi­tion' in Madagascar in the period1985-1995. One wonders why a polit­ical development abroad, far awayfrom Madagascar, is seen as relevantto the study of this country. Is thisnot a return to the ‘deductivemethod’? Ramambason would an­swer that the collapse of commu­nism in the Soviet Union really hadan impact in Madagascar, becausethe communist model was at thattime operative in Madagascar, in theofficial policy of the government aswell as or in (part of) the opposition.The fading of the model cannot butparalyse the political will of the peo-

~ r aunched in 1996,I this is the first truly

h j international bi-an­nual journal devoted tothe developing world inthe emerging interdisci­

plinary fields of Science, Technology,and Society Studies (STSS). The rela­tionship between science, technologyand society is a complex one, particu­larly in developing countries. Thestudy of this relationship throughscholarly and multidisciplinary in­quiry is necessary if we are to under­stand the ways in which advances inscience and technology influence so­ciety, and vice versa. Science, Technolo­g y and Society invites research articlesand reports from scholars in naturaland social sciences working in one ofthe STSS areas of sociology of scienceand technology, economics of techni­cal change and innovation studies, so­cial history of science, philosophy ofscience, science policy studies, genderrelations in science and technology,development studies relating to sci­ence and technology issues, energyand environmental studies, research& development and technology man­agement studies, quantitative studies

pie and lead to political apathy. Theother impact, in Madagascar of thecollapse of communism abroad wasthe shift of priorities of all foreignpowers. Madagascar was no longeran interesting asset on the geopoliti­cal scene. Neither the West nor theEast wanted to invest financially orpolitically in Malagasy affairs. Thefield was open to marginal politicaloperators of the Indian Ocean rim,which had never been serious histor­ical partners of the Malagasy. Theonly solid partner abroad remains,not France, the former colonialpower, but the International Mone­tary Fund and the World Bank. Ra­mambason laments over these devel­opments which amount to economicstrangulation of Madagascar. Thedreams of independence and libera­tion are not realized and, says Ra­mambason, must be revived. ‘Mis­sion-doers’, to use his words, cannotstay idle, and indeed may providethe country with new incentives andconcrete benefits.

Ramambason’s approach could bedefined as a sophisticated kind of‘lib­eration theology’ giving full weightto the contribution of the social sci­ences to the construction of reality.After all, in spite of his vindication ofan inductive method’, starting frombelow, he cannot escape the method-ological imperative of every scientificapproach, namely the necessity ofhaving a plausible starting point atthe top of one’s mind. ■

- Ramambason, Laurent W.Missiology: Its Subject-Matter andMethod: A study o f ‘mission-doers’in MadagascarFrankfurt am Main: Peter Lang,Studies in the Intercultural Historyof Christianity, Vol. 116,1999, 208 pp.

M a rc R. Spindler, is Emeritus Professor

o f Missiology and Ecumenics,

Universiteit Leiden.

E-mail: marc.spindler@wanadoo.fr

in science and technology etc. Science,Technology and Socieiy is a peer-re-viewed journal which endeavours tocombine a scholarly perspective withpolicy relevant issues drawn from theabove fields. It is published in Marchand September. The editors are V.V.Krishna, CSSP/SSS, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi and RolandWaast, Institut de recherche pour ledevelopment, Paris. Authors shouldprovide four hard copies of their re­search contribution. Articles shouldbe between 6000 to 8000 words. ■

All contributions should be sent to:

The Editorial Office, STS Journal

d o D r V.V. Krishna

Centre for Studies in Science Policy

(Room N0.232), School o f Social Sciences

Jawaharlal Nehru University

New Delhi 11006 7, India

For further information:

wk@ jnuniv.ernetin

For subscriptions and requests for sample

copies, contact the publisher at:

SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd

32 M-Block Market, Greater Kailash I

New Delhi 110048, India

( A d v e r t i s e m e n t )

S hort N ew s

&

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY

4 2 . • has n e w s l e t t e r N?2i • February 2000

A S I A N ART

The Collection of IndianArt at the HermitageThe main landmarks of its formation

By OLGA DESHPANDE

A sian Art I

Although India had been ‘discovered’ in Russia as early as 1466,there were only individual Russian-Indian contacts for somefour centuries. Russian collectors were seldom interested inIndian art and culture. This is why the Hermitage Indian artcollection only began to be formed in the 1950s. Since then ithas been enriched by various official and private gifts-

vate collections and the re-organisa­tion of museums, Indian items(bronze statuettes, miniatures, ap­plied art) gradually began to trickleinto the Hermitage.

The separation of the Indian artobjects into an independent collec­tion began after World War II andthis marked the beginning of theproper Indian art collection. As be­fore, it still consisted mainly ofminiatures and applied art, with theexception of a small group of stuccostatues from Hadda, the Afganianpart of Gandhara. These twentyitems in total (mainly fragments ofshattered figurines of the Buddha),were discovered by the DelegationArchéologique Franchise en Afgha­nistan in the late 1920s. They werepresented to the Hermitage byMusée Guimet in 1936 on the occa-

ndia, a land of mira­cles and fabulouswealth, long ago at­

tracted medieval Russia.India was discoveredhere earlier than in Eu­

rope: in 1466 Afanasij Nikitin, a Tver’merchant had already reached Indiavia the Volga River, the Caspian Sea,Persian, and Arabian Seas and spentsix years there. His ‘Notes aboutRoaming beyond Three Seas’ (Niki­tin 1948) are considered to be one ofthe best sources on medieval India.Notwithstanding the constant at­tempts to establish trade relationswith India (‘foreign guest markets’in Astrakhan and Moscow and theseventeenth-century Semion Littleembassy to Shah Aurangzeb’s court,1695-1702), there were only inciden­tal one-to-one Russian-Indian con­tacts during the eighteenth andnineteenth centruries. AlthoughRussian indology began to unfold bythe middle of the nineteenth centu­ry, Russian collectors (nobility andintellectuals) were traditionally farmore interested in Ancient Egyptand Antiquity; or the Near or FarEast, ‘omitting’ India. The few ob­jects brought to Russia were concen­trated mainly in the Museum of An­thropology and Ethnography, theoldest Russian ethnographic muse-

| um.Having been collected according

to the tastes and interests of theRussian tsars, the Hermitage collec­tions had contained practically noexamples of Indian art till the end of

I the nineteenth century (with the ex­ception of a group of Mughal orna-

| ments captured by Nadir-Shah inDelhi in 1736 and sent as his person­al gift to the Empress Anna Ioanov-na. Until the 1960s they were gener­ally registered as ‘Persian’ in the Mu­seum inventories.

The first large collection of Indianart objects - silk textiles and Cash­mere shawls, metalwork and ceram­ics, miniatures on ivory - came tothe Hermitage after the grand tourof the Orient in 1890-1891 by the heirto the throne, Nikolaj Aleksan-drovitch. Later most of them weretransferred to the aforesaid Museumof Anthropology and Ethnographyat various times.

This situation persisted up to theBolshevik revolution - those sepa­rate items of Indian art (miniaturesand applied art) that arrived at theHermitage were usually registeredas ‘Persian’. After the revolution, inthe course of the confiscation of pri-

B lli1....... .... — ..

Female head. India, 5-6 c.Red andstone, h. 48 sm.

sion of the International Iraniancongress timed to coincide with themillennium of Firdowsi’s birth.

Additions to the ancient and me­dieval parts of the Indian collectiononly came very slowly - such objectshad been virtually absent from theprivate Russian collections, and themuseum itself was unable to acquirethings abroad because of the specificposition in which of the Soviet mu­seums found themselves. In 1957 theOriental Department was enrichedby a precious gift presented by theAfganian king, Muhammad Zadir-shah, after he had made the acquain­tance of the Hermitage collections,especially that of the Oriental De­partment. He donated a schist headof a Bodhisattva from Bagram, AD200, and a stucco Buddha head fromHadda, AD 500.

The most generous gifts to theHermitage were then still to come.

In May 1966 a group of ancient andmedieval works of art - stone sculp­tures, from third to tenth centuries,South Indian bronze statuettes,twelfth to fifteenth century, minia­tures - was presented to the Her­mitage as a gift of the Indian govern­ment by the Indian ambassador, Mr.Triloki Nath Kaul. The permanentIndian exhibition was thereby con­siderably enriched by some valuableexhibits: a relief of the Mathuraschool, mottled red sandstone, thirdcentury AD, showing Durga Mahis-hasuramandinï, a representation oflovers-mithuna, light sandstone,tenth century, dating from the timeof the Pratihara dynasty; a friezefrom the Hoisalesvara temple inHalebide, near Mysore, representingGanesa and eight goddesses, con­sorts of the main Indian gods; a gra­cious bronze sculptural compositionUma-Mahesvarimurti - a seatedShiva and his spouse, Uma; a sheet ofa Jain manuscript with a miniatureof the Western Indian school, four­teenth to fifteenth century; a Kangraschool miniature showing ‘Shivaand his family’, fifteen items intotal. A sculptural group ‘Yaksha Go-mukha and his beloved Chakresvari’,made of highly polished light sand­stone, eighth century, has become areal adornment of the museum exhi­bition (fig. 1) - it is characterized bythe strength, restraint, and a certainmonumentality of the sculptedform. Its consummate modelling re­veals perfectly p ram, one of the mainrequirements, of Indian aesthetics,reproducing ‘vital breath, fillingone’s body.

During the next few decades, onlyapplied art objects of the Mughal pe­riod were added to the collection.Then in September 1999 a new, high­ly significant gift was made by a pri­vate person, Mme Krishna Riboud.Mine Krishna Riboud is widelyknown as an eminent public figureand a scholar, an esteemed author onFar Eastern textiles, a chevalier of theLegion of Honour, president of Asso­ciation d’Etude et Documentation deTextiles d’Asie (AEDTA) founded byherself. Mme Riboud, who is Indianborn herself, belongs to a family ofremarkable Indian cultural and pub­lic figures of the late nineteenth -early twentieth centuries, being aclose relative of the most prominentIndian enlightener of those days -Rabindranath Tagore. An old friendof the Hermitage, as early as 1966Mine Riboud had given three rareminiatures (Bihar school, fifteenth -seventeenth century) representingscenes from the ancient ‘Ramayana’epic as her personal gift to our Muse­um.

Her new gift consists of four beau­tiful items of ancient and medievalIndian art. A female head, (fifth -sixth century) of exquisite work­manship (fig. 2) is a real gem among

ms

Yaksha Gomukha and his beloved chakresvari. India, 8 c.light coloured sandstone, h. 22 cm.

them. In Russia ancient and me­dieval Indian art is represented onlyat the Hermitage; even here classicalGupta art (fourth - sixth century)had been absent so far - thus one canimagine the significance of such agift, not only for the Hermitage butfor the nation as a whole.

Besides this masterpiece she hasgiven two heads of Mathura school,Kushan period, a Buddha (?) head,first - second century AD, and a Bod­hisattva head, second - third centuryAD, both of red mottled sandstone,together with a big red sandstonefragment presenting a Shiviteteacher or saint from MadhyaPradesh, tenth - twelfth century.

Thus during the half a centurysince its formation, the HermitageIndian collection has been enrichedby several very interesting itemseach enabling museum visitors tocomprehend Indian art and culturein more depth. ■

Nikitin, AfanasiyKhotdtetrie za tri motya Afanasiy aNikitina 1466-1472(Notes about Walking Beyond Three Seasby Afanasiy Nikitin 1466-1472)Moskow-Leningrad, 1948, Grekov,B.D. and V.P. Adrianiva-Peretz (eds)

D r Olga P. D eshpande, PhD (Art history),

Senior Curator, Indian, Siamese, and Indonesian

collections, Head o f the Far Eastern Section,

Oriental Department The State Hermitage;

art and culture o f Southeast Asia

( A d v e r t i s e m e n t )

RIJKSAKADEMIE VAN BEELDENDE KUNSTEN

m mmbefore 31 Mar<

ions for the period Jan - Dec 2001

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Th e N eth erlan dsF +31 (0)20 5270301info@rijksakademie.nlhttp://www.rijksakademie.nl

February 2000 • iias n e w s l e t t e r N?2 i • 4 3

A S I A N A R T I9 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 9 9 ► 2 6 J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0Q U E E N S L A N D A R T G A L L E R Y , A U S T R A L I A

Presaging the FutureThe Third Asia-Pacific Triennial o f Contemporary Art opened atthe Q ueensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia, on September9, 1999. Included in the exhibition were the works o f 77 artistsfrom tw enty countries in Asia and the Pacific. On Septem ber 10 aremarkable performance by Indonesian artist Dadang Christan-to served as a sym bol for the entire Triennial project. Entitled‘Api di bulan M ei 1998’ (Fire in May 1998), Christanto’s work,com prising 47 life-size papier maché hum an figures, was setalight in a m oving ceremony related to the recent tragedy o fhundreds burned to death in riots and revolution in Indonesia.Christanto also referred to the events in East Timor. The im m e­diacy o f this work reinforces the Triennial’s purpose o f under­standing through an inform ed dialogue w ith artists in Asia andthe Pacific. It is not that the Australian, Asian, and Pacific cura­tors set ou t to present political art, but they do seek ou t art thatengages w ith issues reflecting the dynam ic and changing natureo f art and society in the Asia-Pacific region today.

■ By C A ROL I NE T URN E R

A s ia n A rt There are otherequally powerfulstatements within

this Triennial: HiroshiSugimoto’s extraordinaryphotographs of a Japanese

temple built to prepare for the Bud­dhist millennium centuries ago chal­lenges Western notions of time, Kat-sushige Nakahashi’s life-size replicaof a crashed World War Two JapaneseZero fighter which will be burned atthe end of the exhibition in a Bud­dhist ceremony reminds us the nextcentury may be as full o f human con­flict as previous centuries; Cai GuoQiang’s bridge to the future is aboutthe meeting of cultures and the diffi­culties of such engagements - thosecrossing the bridge must passthrough a shower of water at its cen­tre; Tribal Indian artist Sonabai’s claysculptures remind the viewer of thecontinuing, rich folk traditions dat­ing back thousands of years contrast­ing with Ravinder Reddy’s sculptureof a gilded fibreglass goddess, itself amixture of ancient tradition andstreet exotica in today’s India.

From the Pacific there are works ofspectacular creativity such as the col­laboration between Samoan MichelTufFery and Futuna Islander PatriceKaikilekofe involving communities ofIslander Australians in a performanceutilizing bulls made of bully (i.e.corned) beef tins - a commentary onhow Pacific lifestyles changed with

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Ah Xian, Busts(from ‘China. China’series), 1998,

porcelain body-cast with handpainted underglaze blue decoration.

the coming of Europeans since theeighteenth century. Perhaps most im­pressive of all are the new works by se­nior Australian Aboriginal artist andelder, Michael Nelson Jagamara,which are an explosion of ancientsigns on canvas done in ways whichrecall the force and mastery of Chi­nese calligraphy. Representing a newAustralia in this exhibition are theworks of Australian artists Guan Weiand Ah Xian, both of whom came tothis country ten years ago after theevents of Tiananmen Square. AhXian's ceramic heads are decoratedwith traditional Ming dynasty de­signs and the artist is currently the re­cipient of an Australia Council grantto return to China for further studyon the decorative motifs of ImperialChinese porcelain.

Genuine dialogueInaugurated by the Queensland Art

Gallery nearly ten years ago, the Tri­ennial project includes exhibitions,publications, and conferences, an ex­tensive library research collection ofcatalogues, and more recently a com­mitment to forming a collection ofthe contemporary art of the region.An innovation for this Third Trienni­al is the Virtual Triennial and associ­ated website (http://www. apt3.c0m).The Third Triennial also has a chil­dren’s event for age groups three totwelve and a strong youth and educa­tion emphasis. The educational as­pects o f the project underpin its ori­gins in a belief that Australians need­ed to know more about the region inwhich we live. An important principleof the Triennial has been that Aus­tralian curators are not attempting todominate debates but that Aus­tralians should listen very carefully towhat our colleagues in the region aresaying about art and social and politi­cal issues. One major concern of somecritics has been the lack of one overallunified viewpoint. In fact, this diver­sity has been the project’s strength,allowing challenges to West-centricmethodologies and genuine dialoguebased on mutual respect.

Contemporary art in this region isthe product of centuries of traditioncombined with the more recent en­gagements with the West as well asthe social, political, and technologicalchanges which have pushed the worldto a global society. The art in the Asia-Pacific Triennials, however, reinforces

Mellajaarsma, Hi Inlander(Hello Native), performance 9

September 1999.

knowledge of the survival of cultures,demonstrates how the art emergesfrom diverse cultural traditions aswell as reflecting contemporary is­sues, confronts and refutes the notionof a global sameness and opens up realchallenges for Western art historiansin terms of future directions and de­velopments. The theme of the ThirdAsia-Pacific Triennial was ‘Beyond theFuture’ but it is clear that, whateverthe future of art in this region, it willnot be dominated by Western per­spectives and Western ‘influence’ maywell come to seem insignificant to thehistorians of the future.

The 1993 exhibition was the first inthe world to bring together contem­porary Asian and Pacific art. This rawmixture has also given the projectsome unique features and allowedthe exploration of complex questionsregarding the continuation of tradi­tions, the significance of folk art andpopular culture to contemporary ex­pression, and the contemporaneousnature of indigenous art from the Pa­

cific. This entire project has had a re­markable impact in Australia withaudiences at the three exhibitionsheld this decade reaching 350,000 -close to two per cent of Australia’spopulation. In the process the Trien­nial has gained an international pro­file, not only within the Asia-Pacificregion, where it is now accepted asone of the major forums for the dis­cussion of contemporary art, butwith increasing interest from NorthAmerica and Europe. After the 1996Triennial Judith Stein wrote in Art inAmerica that ‘... it is clear that theQueensland Art Gallery’s Asia-PacificTriennial series is affecting the globaldiscourse of contemporary art.’ If thisis the case it is because the until re­cently neglected contemporary art ofthe Asia-Pacific region has an impor­tant message for artists and audi­ences internationally.

The ConferenceCoinciding with the Third Asia-Pa­

cific Triennial of Contemporary Artan international conference was heldin Brisbane, Australia, from 10 to 12September 1999. Seven hundred dele­gates attended from every continent,making this the largest art confer­ence ever held in Australia. Ninetyspeakers, many of them artists,looked at developments in art in Asiaand the Pacific over the decade. The

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conference was organized by theQueensland Art Gallery, Griffith Uni­versity, and the Australian NationalUniversity. Speakers stressed the ne­cessity of exploring the contexts inwhich the art is produced and theneed for a more sophisticated under­standing of diverse cultural tradi­tions, the renewal and evolution ofthose traditions, the long histories inthe region of cultural engagementover the centuries, and the complexi­ty of the intermarriage of ancient tra­dition with more recent encounterswith the West. The relevance of theconcepts of post-colonialism andpost-modernism to this region werechallenged as was the idea of an expe­rience of modernity giving way topost-modernism, especially in Asia aswell as the idea of ownership of theseconcepts by the West. Speakers agreedon the need for a new language of artcriticism but rejected the concept o f ameganarrative.

The globally mobile nature of arttoday has raised new questions. Eco­nomic and political crises have con­tinued to affect the work of artists inthe region, many of whom are direct­ly involved with their communitiesin raising awareness of issues such aspoverty, civil war (as in Sri Lanka), theplace of women within Asian and Pa­cific societies, ethnicity, rapid urbandevelopment, environmental degra­dation, and social dislocation. Speak­ers pointed to the need for ethnic andcultural understanding, and to thecontinuing importance of communi­ty, family, religion, and spirituality.Paris-based Chinese artist ChenZhen, for example, in his dramaticwork ‘Invocation of Washing Fire’seeks to confront the ‘fever’ o f Asiancapitalism and economic ‘greed’ iron­ically by evoking ancient spiritual

Michael Nelsonjagamara,Wildyam, 1998.

cleansing through a medical-alchem­ical fire in a furnace constructed ofthousands of abacus beads, Chinesewooden chamber pots, and brokencomputers. Dutch-born Indonesianartist Mella Jaarsma asked audiencesto consider racial and ethnic ques­tions through a work where onecould imagine wearing another’s‘skin’. Her costumes in the exhibitionare constructed from chickens, frogs,fish, and kangaroo. Several artistsdealt with communication throughlanguage, including Xu Bing’s newEnglish calligraphy, (English writtenin Chinese characters), ShigeakiIwai’s dialogue project where partici­pants speaking different languagesgive the illusion of understandingone another, and Vong Phaophanit’sfragmented Laotian script construct­ed in neon which defies translation inits focus on materials and light ratherthan the meaning of language.

Sessions on screen culture, newtechnology, and web art were held inconjunction with MAAP99 (Multime­dia Art Asia Pacific). Sessions werealso held in Chinese, Bahasa Indone­sia, and Japanese. An indigenous wel­come was delivered to the conferenceby Aboriginal artist and elder, LiliaWatson, representing the traditionalowners of the land, and there were anumber of sessions devoted to in­digenous issues in Australia and thePacific. Delegates also called for sup­port for the people of East Timor. Theconference unfolded against the tur­moil and bloodshed of the referen­dum aftermath, reminding all whoattended of the volatile and unpre­dictable contexts in which the art inthe exhibition is produced. ■

Caroline Turner, Deputy Director

Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia,

and Project Director for the Asia-Pacific

Triennial series, 1993, 1996, 1999, wrote this

report while the APT3 was taking place.

Asia-Pacific Triennial o f Contemporary Art,

Queensland Art Gallery

P.0. Box 3686

South Brisbane QLD 4 10 1, Australia

Tel.:+ 61-7-3840 7298Fax:+61-7-3844 8865

Http:llwww.apt3.net

4 4 ‘ IIAS n e w s l e t t e r N821 • February 2000

A S I A N A R TTHE GATE F O U N D A T I O N ' S AN I NTERNATI ONAL ART

F OUNDAT I ON DEVOTED TO P R OMOTI NG

I NTERCULTURAL EXCHANGE OF CONT E MP ORARY ART.

THE GATE F OUNDAT I ON AIMS TO STIMULATE

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERS TANDI NG OF

CONT E MP ORARY ART AND ARTI STS, EMPHASI ZI NG

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g I eF o u n d a t i o n

THE GATE FOUNDATIONKeizersgracht 6131017 DS AmsterdamThe NetherlandsP.O. Box 814xooo AV AmsterdamTel: +31-20-620 80 57Fax: +31-20-6390762E-mail: info@gatefoundation.nlWebsite: http://www.gatefoundation.nl

^ _ "ICreating Spaces or FreedomThe 1 999Prince Claus Award

On 8 December 1999 the Prince Claus Fund for Culture andDevelopment announced the winners o f the 1999 Prince ClausAwards. Since r997 the Prince Claus Awards have been present­ed to people and organizations in recognition o f and to en­courage their exceptional achievements in the field o f cultureand developm ent in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and theCaribbean. Among the ten laureates who received the Awardswere Tsai Chih Chung, cartoonist (1948. Taiwan) and KennethYeang, architect (1948, Malaysia). The journalist and author KuPi-lin g (Taiwan) and the architect Charles Yencks (1939» U n it­ed States) have each written an enlightening piece on theworks o f Tsai Chih Chung and Kenneth Yeang respectively.

Ken Yeang:The Reinvention o f the SkyscraperBy CHARLES JENCKS

A sia n Art T T en Yeang (1948,1 Penang, Malaysia)

came onto the,— ] scene of international ar-X-_X I chitecture with the Roof-

Roof House, constructedor himself in 1984. This curious-;ounding structure, built as an envi-onmen,tal experiment in the hot andtum id climate of Kuala Lumpur, doesndeed feature the roof. It has a gigan-:ic sunshade, a curved white pergola:hat leaps over the roof below in theElat arc of a projectile, a white comettearing down through the blue sky in1 staccato burst oflight and shadow. Aporous sunshade on top of a coveringfor the rain; that is, a Roof+Roof, a po­etic and pop architecture created byclimatic necessities. In Malaysia theprevailing temperature is 30 degrees,the humidity 70 per cent, and foreign­ers who fly in never forget the firstimpression of this equatorial sauna.Since constructing this tour de force insparkling white concrete (now a bitgreen with moss), Yeang has devel­oped an ecological architecture forlarger building types and it is this,which has made him one of the forcesto be reckoned with internationally.

Actually, he first developed the ap­proach while studying in the early1970s: at the Architectural Associationin London and at Cambridge Univer­sity, where he wrote his thesis in 1972entitled ‘Design with Nature: The eco­logical basis/or design. Here, he also dida thesis on ersatz culture and the sim­ulacrum, under my direction. Ab­stract thinking and research are es­sential to his work. By the year 2000 hewill have eight books to his credit andseveral key papers that analyse the tallbuilding, climatically considered. If Iam right in predicting his impor­tance, then Yeang will have about thesame century of influence, for, how­ever questionable the skyscraper is as

the most assertive of urban forms, it isgoing to continue to dominate citiesand therefore it will have to berethought environmentally and inother ways.

One should also mention the cul­tural nature of this research, for thatis also a rarity, both in this buildingtype and this part of the world, whereresources are directed elsewhere. AsKen Yeang has written: ‘The fight forIndependence (in Malaysia) must bematched by a fight for an indepen­dent architecture based on indepen­dent thought.’ Most architecturalcultures remain provincial backwa­ters and to open them up they needthe inspiration and free thinking of acreative leader. Regional architecturecan challenge the global forces ofcommerce and culture only wherenew knowledge is being produced byindividuals who can translate it into acreative art.

It no longer grows from withinlocal practice and local materials.Globalization is much too powerfulfor the old determinants of form. Ba­sically, in the last hundred years,there have been three types of tallbuilding: the flat slab or ‘sky-scraper’,the point tower or ‘sky-pricker’, andthe spread-out cluster or ‘sky city’.Ken Yeang has challenged the boringhomogeneity with what he has chris­tened the Bioclimatic Skyscraper. Theecological imperative has made his

structures lively not dull, muscularinstead of flat-chested and with aninviting, gregarious face rather thanthe blank stare of a Mafioso behinddark glasses.

Sty courtsYeang’s concoctions are cheerful;

they open out a different face on everyside partly because the climate is dif­ferent on every side. Beyond theseconsiderable aesthetic and symbolicqualities, they have provided severalenvironmental innovations that areequivalent to traditional and moderntechniques. For instance, whereas lowbuildings had such climatic filters asverandas, trelliswork, and louvres, heputs them high above ground; whereLe Corbusier introduced the roof gar­den and concrete brise soleil, he com­bines these elements with atria toproduce ‘sky courts’ shaded by reflec­tive aluminium louvres, without LeCorbusier’s problem of re-radiatingthe blocked heat back into the houseevery night.

Yeang’s work is empirically drivenand systematic in addressing ecologi­cal concerns. While its main pointscan be gleaned from his ‘The Sky­scraper Bioclimatically Considered’(1996), its most striking embodimentis the fifteen-storey tower near KualaLumpur Airport. Instead of an au­thoritarian and introverted state­ment of a multinational corporation,the IBM Tower is a robust and pic­turesque expression of an emergingtechnology. Most notable of his ener­gy-saving devices are the two spiralsof green sky courts that twist up thebuilding and provide shade and visu­al contrast with the steel and alu­minium surfaces, The reinforced con­crete frame is further punctuated bytwo types of sun screens and a glassand steel curtain wall, which, alongwith the sloping base and metalcrown, make the essentially high-techimage much more organic - whatcould be called ‘organitech’, a synthe­sis of opposites.

I see the IBM Tower and his idealversion of the eco-skyscraper theTokyo Nara Tower (1992) as essential­ly post-modern. They play the doublecoding in a dramatic way: the verticalcolumns are strongly opposed by thesliding horizontal sunshades, the spi­ral of gardens and planting are juxta­posed with the flat glazing. A greenhill leaps over a car park nature over-coming the machine while solidfights against void, the rooftop spikes,

meant to hold solar cells, play offagainst curves and a sensuous pool.

Ken Yeang can enter a field, a specu­lative development, in an explodingcivilisation, and still think environ­mentally. Contemplate the contradic­tions. It has led to many tall buildingsthat are flashy, to be sure, and in thelarger sense unecological, becausethey are huge and high tech. But eachone is a pragmatic testing of a greenidea, however small, and a step in hisconstruction of a new paradigm. As aresult we are beginning to see the newskyscraper emerge with what he calls‘valves’, movable parts (includingwindows that open!), filters such asexterior louvres, lift and service coreslocated on the sides where it is hot,sky courts and vegetation used tocool, contrasts between sunshadesand clearglass. All this leads to a new,articulate, and dynamic body. It leadsto a new theory that, like Le Cor­

busier’s Five Points, has been summa­rized and replicated around theworld.

If the skyscraper becomes as re­sponsive to its environment as ani­mals and plants have to theirs, thenwe can look forward to its having thevariety of the natural world. Everyface, and every individual, slightlydifferent. If it does evolve towards thisecological diversity, then Ken Yeang isto be thanked. The result would be analternative to the reigning mode ofcorporate architecture and a new syn­thesis responding to the climate of aparticular place, finding inspirationfor a new architectural language inforces that are ultimately cosmic. ■

Charles Jencks is the author of the best­

selling The Language o f Post-ModernArchitecture’, ‘Architecture Today’, and‘The Architecture o f the Jumping Universe’.

Ken Yeaiig, Menara Mesinia^a,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1989-92

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February 2000 • i ias n e w s l e t t e r N?2i • 4 5

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A S I A N A R T

PLEASE REFER TOTHE HAS NEWSLETTER

WEBSITE( h ttp : //w w w .n a s .n l/ )

FOR MORE DETAILEDINFORMATION ABOUTMUSEUMS WITH ASIAN

ART COLLECTIONS.

AGENDAF E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 0 > M A Y 2 0 0 0

AUSTRALIA

A r t G allery of N ew SouthW ales

Art Gallery RoadThe DomainSydney 2000Tel.:+ 6 1-2-9225 1744Fax:+61-2-9221 6226

6 May 2000 >- 2 July 2000Chinese Bird and Flower PaintingFlowers and birds are ubiquitous motifsin Chinese art.The endurance andresonance of these motifs arise notonly from their natural beauty, but alsotheir cultural associations.Thisexhibition comprises over 100 of thesesuperb paintings, dating from the 15thto early 20th centuries.

I I N ovem ber 2000► 30 January 2 0 0 1

Masks o f Mystery: Chinese bronzes fromthe sacrificial pits o f SanxingduiThe remarkable 1986 discovery inSichuan province in southwest Chinaof two large pits containing bronzes inthe shape of human heads, fragmentsof gold, jades, and a large number ofelephant tuskes, revealed a sophisticat­ed society previously unrecorded.Thebronzes represent the rich creativityof the peoples living in southwestChina in the second millennium BCE.A standing figure measuring 262cm andweighing 180 kg is regarded as the sin­gle most remarkable Chinese archaeo­logical find of the last decade.

AUSTRIA

SchloBmuseumTummelplatz 10, A4020 LinzTel.: +43-732-7744 19Fax:+43-732-7744 8266

U ntil 27 February 2000Indonesia, Art pictures o f the world -world viewsThe exhibition shows a selection ofclassical bronzes, figures of wayangpuppets from Java, wrought iron andmetalwork and impressive textiles fromSouth Sumatra.The more than 500objects come mainly from thecollection of the Viennese EthnologicalMuseum and from private collectors.

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Goldgoblct decorated with bulls,Northwest Iran, i2 th- n clt c. BC,

Ritual and Splendour,Rtjksmuseum van Oudheden.

GE RM A N Y

Museum für KunsthandwerkSchaumainkai I 760594 Frankfurt am MainTel.:+49-69-212 34037Fax:+49-69-212 30703

I 7 February >■ 24 A pril 2000Monsters, Monks and Maidens:JapanesePaintings, Illustrated manuscripts andWoodblock Prints from the 16th to the18th CenturyForming the basis of the collection are25 Nara ehon (coloured illustratedmanuscripts) recounting popularlegends and stories relating to courtlylife, episodes from the world ofcraftsmen and merchants, templemyths, and tales of spirits and demons.

H erzog August B ibliothekW o lfen b iitte l

Lessingplatz I38304 WolfenbüttelTel.:+49-5331-808 0213

7 ► 28 May 2000East Asian manuscripts from St. PetersburgManuscripts from the Silk Road,the Lotus Sutra and its world.

JAPAN

S etag ayaA rt Museum1-2, Kinuta-koen Setagaya-kuTokyo 157Tel.:+81-3-3415 6O ilFax:+81-3-3415 6413

22 February > 9 A pril 2000Japanese-style Printing:Works by artistsfrom the Setagaya city

T h e W a ta r i Museum ofC o n tem p o rary A r t

3-7-6 Jingumae Shiuya-kuTokyo 150-0001Tel.:+81-3-3402 3001Fax:+81-3-3405 7714

U ntil end March 2000Game Over

Kyoto N ational Museum527 ChayamachiHigashiyama-kuKyoto 605

U ntil 5 March 2000Chinese Painting and Calligraphy fromthe Ueno Collection

U ntil 26 March 2000Japanese Dolls

T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

RijksmuseumHobbemastraat 19PO Box 748881070 DN AmsterdamTel.:+31-20-673 2121Fax:+31-20-679 8146

The south wing of the museum pre­sents a new permanent exhibition ofAsiatic art. The choice has been madenot to categorize according geo­graphical area - China, Japan, India, In­donesia but to divide the collection intosculpture, paintings, and decorative art.

U ntil I I A pril 2000Miniature Paintings from IndiaThe Rijksmuseum has a notable collec­

tion of Indian miniatures which canrarely be shown to the public becauseof their sensitivity to light.This smallexhibition w ill show fifty examples ofminiatures produced at the court ofthe famous Great Mogul, Akbar. in thelate sixteenth century, miniatures paint­ed later and elsewhere in India understrong Mogul influence and miniaturesmade specially fo r the Dutch market inthe seventeenth century.

U ntil I I March 2000Royer's Chinese CabinetDespite the flourishing trade withChina in the seventeenth andeighteenth centuries, little was knownabout the country and its people at thisperiod.The Hague lawyer JeanTheodore Royer (1737-1807) was tochange all that. He assembled a largecollection of popular and unfamiliarChinese artefacts: porcelain,lacquerware, everyday objects, clothing,gouaches, and books. Selected itemsfrom the Royer collection w ill be ondisplay, presenting a fascinating pictureof this many-sided amateur scholar.

Foundation for Indian A rtistsFokke Simonszstraat 10I0 I7TG AmsterdamTel./ Fax:+31-20-623 1547

U ntil 16 March 2000Indian paintings and drawings from thecollection of Albert Heyn

Rijksmuseum van O udhedenRapenburg 28P.0 Box 111142301 EC LeidenTel.:+31-71-516 3163Fax:+31-71-514 9941

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Silver drinking horn withgilding with the protome of a

desert lynx catching a fowl, Iranor Central Asia, znA- i st c. BC,

Ritual and Splendour,Museum van Oudheden.

U ntil 19 March 2000Ritual and Splendour, Masterpieces ofancient art from the Miho Museum,Japan

Rijksmuseum voorVolkenkunde

Steenstraat I, LeidenTel.:+31-71-516 8800Fax:+ 3 1-71-5 12 8437Http:/lwww.rmv.nl

U ntil 24 A pril 2000Cephas.Yogyakarta, Photography inthe service o f the Sultan 1845-1912During the nineteenth century, photo­graphy in Indonesia was chiefly aEuropean pastime. However, theIndonesians also began taking their ownphotographs.The Javanese KassianCephas (1845-1912) was a pioneer inthis field. From 1870. Cephas, appointedroyal photographer to the court of theSultan in Yogyakarta, was responsiblefor taking portraits of members of theroyal family, especially during the reignof Sultan Hamengkubuwono VII. Cephasalso photographed performances andceremonies at the court, and Hindu-Javanese monuments in the Yogyakartaregion, such as the Prambanan and theCandi Borobudur.

U ntil 30 A pril 2000Bhutan: Land o f the Roaring DragonBhutan has the magical sound of afaraway land, but few people knowmuch about the country. Its othername, Shangri-La (meaning Paradise),has reinforced this fairytale image.‘Bhutan: Land of the Roaring Dragon'

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In sight of the monster, Sayohime sings the Lotus Sutra,Monsters, Monks and Maidens, Museum fü r Kunsthandwerk

is the largest exhibition about thecountry ever to be shown outside ofBhutan itself.The exhibition visitedAustria, Switzerland, and Spain beforecoming to the Netherlands. It exploresthe fascinating history of the country, itsreligion, its monarchy, and the everydaylife of its people. Beautiful objects willbe on display, including the famousRaven Crown, intricately paintedthankas (religious scroll paintings),statues of Buddha, and artisticallyembroidered pieces of clothing.

16 June >- 17 Septem ber 2000Holland, Japan, and LoveTo commemorate the 400 years ofDutch-Japanese relations a specialexhibition features a wide spectrum ofJapanese art from around 1600, rangingfrom ceramics and lacquerware tofolding screens, landscape paintings, andcalligraphy. Like the Netherlands, Japanexperienced a Golden Century in the17th century. During this period, thefoundation was laid fo r a sense ofbeauty, composition, and sense of spacenow recognized as being typicallyJapanese.The tea ceremony assumed itsform and tea masters formulated therules of aesthetics. Dutch presence onDeshima had an important effect onJapanese culture. It eventually led to theintroduction of the concept of beingtrue to nature and the application ofWestern perspective in painting.

SIN G AP O RE

G eneral in form ationNational Heritage Board93 Stamford Road, Singapore 178897Tel.: +65-332 3573Fax: +65-334 3054

Singapore A r t Museum71 Bras Basah RoadSingapore 189555Tel.:+65-332 3215Fax:+65-224 7919

U ntil 28 March 2000Rose CrossingAn exhibition comprising Australianartists of both Asian and Westernbackgrounds. Artists in the exhibitioninclude Guan Wei, John Young, FeliciaKan, John Wolseley.

I 7 February 2000 ► 28 May 2000How to Authenticate Chinese PaintingThe exhibition shows authentictraditional Chinese ink scrolls and theircopies completed during Ming Dynastyand later. Copying is something verypeculiar to the Chinese history of art,encouraged and approved as a meansof learning.The paintings on display aredrawn from the Liaoning ProvincialMuseum which includes works in theformer Imperial Collection. For mediaenquiries, call 332 3215. Imagesavailable in December 1999.

8 A pril 2000 >• 9 July 2000FEAST! Food in ArtContemporary visual artists employfood in their art or refer to its consump­tion and diverse symbolisms in their

work. Among the artists are Tang Da Wu,Matthew Ngui, and Vincent Leow.

8 June 2000 >• 29 August 2000Southeast Asian PaintingsPart o f the millennium celebration, theSingapore A r t Museum is collaboratingwith Christie’s Singapore to present anexhibition of rare paintings, featuringimportant examples of artworks fromthe 19th and 20th centuries, from In­donesia, the Philippines, Singapore,Malaysia.Thailand, and Vietnam.Thepaintings w ill be presented chronologi­cally, demonstrating the development ofmodern art in the region.These workshave been carefully sourced and select­ed from private and institutional collec­tions, many of which have never beenpublicly exhibited before. For media en­quiries, call 332 3215.

U ntil 29 O ctober 2000Imagining the Century: Singapore ArtMuseum Collection Exhibition seriesThe exhibition provides a particularview of colonial rule, war andrevolution, independence and socialchanges in Southeast Asia through theartist’s world. Featuring key pieces fromthe Museum's permanent collection,this exhibition surveys Southeast Asianmodern and contemporary worksproduced since the 1930s.

Singapore H is to ry Museum93 Stamford RoadSingapore 178897

U ntil 7 March 2000Changing World, Changing HopesThis exhibition presents an insight intothe lives of the children growing up inan ever-changing world.

U ntil 31 D ecem ber 2000The Dioramas - A Visual History ofSingaporeTwenty dioramas visually trace thehistory and development of Singaporefrom a fishing village to a modernnation state.

Asian Civilisations Museum39 Armenian StreetSingapore 179941Tel :+65-332 3015Fax:+65-883 0732

U ntil 19 March 2000Prized Possessions:Jewellery fromThailand, Malaysia, and IndonesiaThe exhibition brings together over300 pieces of jewellery and relatedobjects fo r personal adornment fromthe diverse cultures ofThailand,Malaysia, and Indonesia.

U ntil 31 March 2000The Dating Game - Calendars and Timein AsiaThe exhibition explores a variety ofAsian calendars.

U ntil 31 D ecem ber 2000Chinese paintings from the Yeo Khee LimCollectionFeaturing landscape and bird and flowerpaintings from the Ming and Qingdynasties.__________________________

4 6 ■ HAS n e w s l e t t e r N921 • February 2 0 0 0

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Persian adaptation o f a Hindu story on the^jod Vishnu, Mughal, Akbar,c. 15 86, Body colour andg old on paper, Miniature Paintings from India

Rtjksmuseum Amsterdam

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S W IT Z E R LA N D

Baur Collection8 Rue Munier-Romilly1206 GenevaTel.:+ 4 1-22-346 1729Fax: +41-22-789 1845

Tem porary exhibitionJapanese Jewellery and Chinese Costumes

TAIWAN

The N ational Palace Museum2 2 1 Chih-shan Rd., Sec.2Wai-shuang-hsi, TaipeiTel.:+886-2-2881 2021Fax:+886-2-2882 1440Http://www.npm.gov.tw

U ntil 25 Decem ber 2000Han Dynasty Narratives in Paintingand CalligraphyThe paintings and calligraphy in thisexhibition all draw upon Han dynastynarratives for the ir inspiration.Thefamous narratives can help lead toa better understanding of Confuciansocial ideals, the quest fo r long life,and many of the other features thatdefined and shaped Han society.

U N I T E D K I N G D O M

British Museum and Museumof Mankind

Great RusselstreetLondon WC 18 3DGTel.: +44-1 71-412 7111Fax:+44-171-323 8614 1 8480

U ntil 20 February 2000Gilded Dragons: Buried treasures from

China's Golden AgesA loan exhibition from China focusingon the Tang Dynasty, a cosmopolitanperiod in Chinese history, rich inprecious gold and silver treasures.

A pril - Septem ber 2000Japanese Clocks, Zodiac and Calendar

Prints

6 A pril - 13 August 2000Visions from the Golden Land: Burma and

the Art o f Lacquer

Pi disc with inscription‘Perpetual Happiness’,Eastern Han Ttynasry,

Chm-hua-t'ang Collection,The National Palace Museum

U ntil 10 A pril 2000/ 999 Collectors’ Exhibition o f ArchaicChinese JadesThe jade carvings on display are pri­marily from the ‘classical age’, and in­clude several pi disks of great beautyand significance, that were all probablyused in ancient rituals to assist in com­munication with supernatural forces.

T H A I L A N D

G allery of Fine artsSilpakorn UniversityKIan Gwan House I I , 19th floor14011 Wireless RoadBangkok 10330Tel.:+66-2-255 9100 ext. 2 0 1Fax:+66-2-255 9113 14

Opened I FebruaryAlter-EgoThe exhibition aims to develop a closerrelationship between Thailand and Eu­rope and to enhance cross-cultural dia­logues. European artists w ill be workingin Thailand as artists in residence.

Brunei G allerySOAS, University o f LondonThornhaugh StreetRussell SquareLondon, W C IH 0XGTel :+ 4 4 -1 71-323 6230Fax:+44-171-323 6010E-mail: g allery@soas.ac.uk

I 2 April 2000 - I 8 June 2000Pakistan: Another VisionA comprehensive survey of painting inPakistan during the fifty years ofindependence. Approximately onehundred works represent every aspectof contemporary painting.

C heltenham G allery andMuseum

Clarence StreetCheltenham GL50 3JTTel.:+44-1242-237 431

U ntil 26 March 2000Chinese Papercuts by Wang Yan ChangA combination of large and smallpaper-cuts. Wang Yan Chang wasawarded the title o f ‘First-class FolkA rtis t’ by UNESCO and the ChineseFolk A rtis t Association in 1995.

V ic to ria and A lb e rt MuseumCromwell roadSouth KensingtonLondon SW7 2RLTel.:+ 4 4 -1 71-938 8264

U ntil 23 A pril 2000Mao: From Icon to Irony, the history o f thecult o f Mao Zedong from the mid-1940s

to the 1990s

U N I T E D STATESOF AMERICA

Honolulu Academ y of A rts900 S. Beretania StreetHonolulu, Hawaii 9 6 8 14-1495Tel.:+ 1-808-532 8700Fax: + 1-808-532 8787

Continuing exhibitionTaisho chicMany of the early 20th century artmovements, which originated in theWest, such as Impressionism, A rtNouveau, and A r t Deco, also affectedthe modern Japanese artist.Thisexhibition highlights Japanese works ofart and everyday items, which showmodern design elements of the Taishoperiod (1912-1926).

Chinese C o ntem p oraryG allery

2 / Dering Street, London W l R 9 AATel.:+44-1 71-498 898

March 2000Shen Fan

A pril - May 2000Yue Minjun

Percival David Foundationof Chinese A r t

School o f Oriental and African Studies53 Gordon SquareLondon WC IH 0PDTel.:+44-1 71-387 3909Fax:+44-171-383 5163

The Percival David Foundation housesa fine collection of Chinese ceramicsand a library of East Asian and Westernbooks relating to Chinese art andculture.The Foundation exists topromote the appreciation, study, andteaching of the art and culture of Chinaand the surrounding regions.

T h e M etropo litan Museumof A r t

5th Avenue at 82 nd StreetNew York NY 10028Tel.:+ 1-212-879 5500Fax: + 1-212-570 3879

Opened 9 JuneArts o f KoreaThe installation showcases 100 of thefinest examples of Korean art in allmajor media - ceramics, metalwork,lacquerware, sculpture and paintings —from the Neolithic period through tothe eve of modern times.Theselections are drawn from public andprivate collections in Korea, Japan, andthe United States.

Continuing exhibitionChinese Galleries ReinstallationOn show in the Douglas DillonGalleries and the Frances Young Tanggallery will be 8th to 20th-centurypaintings.The Herbert and FlorenceIrving Galleries fo r Chinese DecorativeArts will house jades, lacquers, textiles,metalwork, and other objects from the12th to 18th centuries.

G rey A r t G alleryNew York University100 Washington Square EastNew York

23 February - 22 A pril 2000Sheer Realities: Clothing and Power inNineteenth-Century PhilippinesThe exhibition displays the nineteenthand early twentieth-century clothingand accessories of the elite Mestizosjuxtaposed with those of the people ofthe archipelago.

Pacific Asia Museum46 North Los Robles AvenuePasadenaCalifornia 91101Tel.:+ 1-818-449 2742Fax: + 1-818-449 2754

An exhibition of ceramics from thepermanent collection, including objectsfrom the Lydman, Snukal and O ttoCollections, which includes ceramicsfrom the Han,Tang, Song.Yuna, Ming,and Qing Dynasties.

The hunt fo r glow-worms, fragment of a summer scene,Monsters, Monks and Maidens, Museum j i i r Kunsthandwerk

Asian A r t MuseumSan Francisco

Golden Gate ParkSan FranciscoCalifornia 94118Tel.:+ 1 -415-379 8801

U ntil 19 March 2000Jade: Stone o f HeavenThis exhibition explores the technicalaspects of jade production and theChinese love for the material from theNeolithic period to the twentiethcentury.

U ntil 17 A pril 2000The Yangzhou Baguai, or The Eccentrics o fYangzhouThe sixteen scrolls on view were creat­ed by a loosely associated group of indi­vidualistic artists who found themselvesdrawn to Yangzhou during the 1700s.

U ntil 30 A pril 2000Alienation and Assimilation: ContemporaryImages and Installations from the Republic

o f KoreaThese photography and multimedia artfrom Korea reflects the dramaticchanges that have occurred in recentyears in Korea.

U ntil 7 May 2000Bamboo Masterworks:Japanese Basketsfrom the Lloyd Cotsen CollectionThis exhibition of more than 100 worksoffers an opportunity to view thebeauty, craftsmanship, and historic andcultural importance of this art form.

The Museum ofFine A rts Houston

Caroline Wiess Lwa Building1001 Bisson net, TX 77005 HoustonTel.:+ 1-713-639 7300Fax: + 1-713-639 75 9 7

U ntil 7 May 2000The Golden Age o f Archaeology: CelebratedArchaeological Finds from the People'sRepublic o f ChinaSeveral hundreds objects gathered fromall over China cover the broad chrono­logy from the Neolithic Period throughto the Han Dynasty.The exhibition pre­sents new perspectives on early Chi­nese civilization and art, and documentsthe most recent excavations and ideasin the field of Chinese archaeology.

S eattle Asian A r t Museum1400 £ Prospect,Volunteer ParkSeattle, Washington 98122-9700Tel.:+ 1-206-654 3100

U ntil 2 A pril 2000Eleven Heads are Better Than One: Sixth-Graders Connect with SAMUsing art from SAM’s collection,students compared Asian W orks o f artto works from other cultures,exploring the ways that artists expresssimilar ideas, such as prayer, wisdom,and fashion, in their different cultures.

U ntil 2 A pril 2000Woven Symbols: Chinese Garments and

TextilesW itty and fantastic images endowedwith auspicious meanings are the focusof this exhibition of Chinese garmentsand textiles drawn from the collectionof the Seattle Asian A r t Museum.

U ntil 2 A pril 2000Worlds o f Fantasy - Chinese ShadowPuppetsThe exhibition showcases the distinctregional carving and decorative stylescreated to portray the heroes, demonsand deities in Chinese folk legends andpopular stories.

The Asian Art section isproduced by The Gate

Foundation in Amsterdam, theNetherlands. Please send all

information about activities andevents relating to Asian art and

culture to:

THE GATE FOUNDATIONK E IZE R S G R A C H T 613

1017 DS A M STER D A M

THE N E T H E R LA N D S

T E L.: +3 I -2 0 -6 2 0 80 57

FAX: + 3 1 - 2 0 - 6 3 9 07 62

E- MAI L: G A T E @ B A S E . N L

W W W . B A S E . N L / G A T E

F eb rua ry 2 0 0 0 • has n e w s l e t t e r N 8 2 1 • 47

I N D E X H A S N E W S L E T T E R 21

FORUM

(General News)- Some Reflections on the Formation o f the Buddha Image 3

(Special theme: South Asian Literature)- Variations on Modernity:

The many faces of South Asian literatures........................... 7

(Southeast Asia)- Global Flop, Local Mess:

Indonesia betrayed by East Timor and the West................21

(East Asia)- The Legacy of Macau............................................................ 31

PEOPLE

(Editorial page)- Co-editor for this issue’s theme ‘South Asian Literature’:

Thomas de Bruijn................................................................2

(South Asia)- South Asia Editor Netty Bonouvrié..................................... 16- Professor Chakraborty Visits the Netherlands................... 20

(IIAS News)- Cultures of Mainland Southeast Asia, IIAS Extraordinary

Chair: Interview with Barend jan Terwiel.........................52- A Philosopher of Leisure: Vincent Shen.............................. 53

INSTITUTIONAL NEWS

(Southeast Asia)- Collecting Alms as a Character of Burmese life:

Photographic prints at the Kern Institute Leiden

(East Asia)- Written Sources on Yao Religion

in the Bavarian State Library..............................

(IIAS News)- Staff and Research at the IIAS..............................- IIAS Research Partners..........................................

(ESE Asia Committee News)- ESF Asia Committee N ew s...................................- ESF Asia Committee Fellows................................- ESF Asia Committee Members..............................- European Associations for Asian Studies..............

24

3 2

5050

5 6565757

(Southeast Asia)- Traditional Malay Literature............- Riau in the Reformation Era..............- Repossessing a Shrine in R iau..........- Popular Culture and Decolonization:

Mimicry or counter-discourse?.........

I (East Asia)- The Myth of Labour Relations

in Overseas Chinese Enterprises- The Korean Model of Coup.......

(CLARA News)- The garment industry in Australia,

Indonesia and Malaysia..................

REPORTS

282 627

25

2933

54

(General News)I - Asian Religion.................................................................

- Entrepreneurship and Education in Tourism................- Evaluating Visual Ethnography.....................................- Between Culture and Religion: Muslim women’s rights

4456

(South Asia)- The Madison South Asia Conference 1999...........................16- Tracing Thoughts through Things:

Seventh Gonda Lecture by Professor Janice Stargardt.......18- Himalayan Languages........................................................ 19

(Southeast Asia)- The Democracy Movement in Burma Since 1962............... 22- Burma Update Conference...................................................22- ‘Hinduism’ in Modern Indonesia........................................ 23- ‘Hinduism’ in Modern Indonesia (2)...................................23- EUROVIETIV........................................................................ 24- Biak in N ijm egen................................................................. 28- Continuity and Crists in the Indonesian Economy............27

(East Asia)- Turning Points in Historical Thinking.............................. 30- Fifth CHIME Conference:

Music in cities, music in villages.......................................... 30- Literature & Theory, China & Japan.....................................32

(New Publications on Asian Studies)- Publishing Models............................................................... 35

VACANCIES

(CLARA News)- Visiting Fellowship: CLARA Programme..............

(Other Vacancies)- Sardami Kuljit Kaur Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies

55

55

INTERNET

(General News)- The Asia-Pacific-Forum........................................................ 6

(Special theme: South Asian Literature)- The Internet: A virtual public sphere..................................13

AGENDA

(Asian Art)- Art Agenda........................................................................46-47

(IIAS News)- IIAS Agenda........................................................................... 51

(ESF Asia Committee News)- ESF Asia Committee Agenda.................................................57

- International Conference Agenda...................................62-63

SHORT NEWS

(General News)- Towards the Millenium Round:

Asia, The European Union, and Larin America

(SoutheastAsia)- The Role ofTimor Lorosae................................................... 21

(IIAS News)- Asia and European Union’s Common Foreign

and Security Policy: A One-day conference in Brusselsat the European Parliament.................................................49

(CLARA News)- Labour in Pakistan............................................................... 54- Subcontract Labour in Asia...................................................55

(New Publications on Asian Studies)- Catalogue of Malay, Minangkabau, and

South Sumatran Manuscripts............................................41- Photography in the Service of the Sultan.......................... 41- Science, Technology, and Society........................................ 42

(IIAS News)- 2nd International Convention of Asia Scholars..................57

(Other institutes)- EU-China Academic Network............................................ 59- Seminar for Languages and Cultures of Central Asia.........60- The Institute of International Relations............................ 60- The North American Taiwan Studies Association

(NATSA)................................................................................61

RESEARCH PROJECTS

(Special theme: South Asian Literature)! - New Literary Histories for Nineteenth Century In d ia .......8

- ‘Modernity’ in Kannada Literature.......................................8- ‘Balanced Action’ in Modern Hindi Literature................... 9

j - Modern Hindi: Language, nation, and popular cu lture__ 9- Hindi and Urdu Short Stories:

Exploring the borders between Hindi and U rd u .............. 10- Some Unexplored Areas in the History of Urdu Fiction . . . 10- Bengal’s Modernity and Nationalism 1880-19x0:

From regional cultural politics to international impact .. 11- The Role ofTamil Folkore in Modern Literature.............. 11- Narrative Traditions of Rajasthan..................................... 12- Modernity in Hindi Poetry................................................. 12- Hindi, Brajbhasa, and Bengali Poetry of the 19th Century.. 13

(Central Asia)- The Samantabhadra Archives:

The Nyingma Tantras Research Project............................ 14- Political Reforms in Mongolia............................................ 15

(South Asia)j - An Indian Fieldworker in the Netherlands:

Reverse anthropology?.......................................................... 17- Relics or Sacred Burials?........................................................ 18- Urbanization in Medieval O rissa........................................ 18- Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole verses.......................................19

(ESF Asia Committee News)- Chinese Transnational Enterprises and

Entrepreneurship: South China and Southeast Asiaduring the Twentieth Century.......................................... 58

PUBLICATIONS

(General News)- Pal Nyfri... 6

(Centra! Asia)- A Voice for Tibet.................................................

(South Asia)- The Rebirth of Tagore in Latvia.........................

(New Publications on Asian Studies)- New IIAS Book Series.........................................- Precious Metals in Early South East Asia...........- Early Chinese Medical Literature.....................- Sri Lanka Studies Series.....................................- A Nepali Language Feast...................................- Wisdom Leadership............................................- 'Mission-Doers’ in Madagascar.........................

ASIAN ART

(Asian Art)- The Collection of Indian Art at the Hermitage:

The main landmarks of its formation............- Presaging the F uture.......................................- Creating Spaces of Freedom:

The 1999 Prince Claus aw ard ............ .............

14

LIST OF ADVERTISERS

- The University of Melbourne................................................. 540 - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies........................................ 3440 - Great Britain China Centre...................................................35.2 - John Benjamins Publishing Company................................. 3542 - CNWS Publications............................................................... 36

- Brill Academic Publishers.....................................................37- The Old Bookroom............................................................... 38- Rodopi...................................................................................38- Asian Rare Books...................................................................38- Institut Monumenta Serica................................................. 39- IDC Publishers...................................................................... 39- Institute of Netherlands H istory........................................ 41- Curzon Press..........................................................................41- Hotei Publishing...................................................................42

43 - Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten............................... 4344 - Hotel Wilhelmina................................................................. 59

- King Hotel............................................................................. 5945

- Notes and Queries.................................................................64- Advertisement Information................................................. 64

4 8 ■ h a s n e w s l e t t e r N?2 1 • February 2000

MA S N E W S L E T T E R 21

Pink Pci^es I N S T I T U T I O N A L N E W S

HAS P-49 / CLARA P 54 / ESF Asia Committee P 5^ / Institutes in the Limelight P-59 /

International Conference Agenda p62/Products & Services P*4

MAS N E WS

I n t e r n a t i o n a l

I n s t i t u t e

f o r A s i a n

S t u d i e s

he one-day Con­ference was de­signed to provide

succinct, topical infor­mation and analysis toMembers of the Euro­

pean Parliament, their staff, andother interested parties on econom­ic, political, social, and security de­velopments in Asia and their possi­ble significance and implications forthe European Union. The meetingreviewed these issues from a multi­disciplinary perspective and broughta set of Asia experts and analystsfrom across the European Union tothe European Parliament. Given therelatively large amount of attentionpaid to CSFP issues, it was seen as apositive signal that contemporary is­sues regarding Asia are on the agen­da. There were strong hopes that thisconference could stimulate researchand education within the frame­work of the Asia-Europe Meetingsfor which a special programme[PEARL) has been set up.

The conference programme con­sisted of three parts, covering thestate of the CFSP, an examination ofdevelopments within, Asia and ananalysis of the challenges whichthese may pose for Europe. The firstsession devoted most of its time to‘Political, Economic, and Security In­terests in Asia’. Simon Manley, Headof the Southeast Asia Desk, externalrelations division, presented theCFSP in general and the perceptionof Asia in this policy framework. TheEU has gradually but consistentlystrengthened its CFSP, in particularthrough the Maastricht and Amster­dam treaties.

Paul Lim of the EIAS focused onthe opportunities and constraintswhich the CFSP offers for the futuredevelopment of relations betweenEurope and Asia. He asked what theEU has in common, especially in asituation in which the national gov­ernments of the member countriesstill determine the foreign policyagenda, while they are inescapablyinfluenced by Washington. A com­mon CFSP is still in the making. Inthe process the EU should work onproject driven-policies, instead ofissue-driven policies.

Francois Godement of the InstitutFrancais des Relations Interna­tionales concentrated on the role ofChina in Asia and especially on therole of the Chinese People’s Army interritorial conflicts like Taiwan,where US and Japanese interests areinvolved as well. The over-archingrelationship is not between Chinaand the US, as many people think,but between China and Japan. In re­spect to China’s policy towards the

HASHAS MAI N OFFI CE LEI DEN

f o r A 5 '

Visiting address:Nonnensteeg 1-3, leiden

Postal Address:P.O. Box 95152300 RA LEIDENTHE NETHERLANDS

Telephone: +31-71-527 22 27Telefax: +31-71-527 41 62E-mail: HAS@RULLET.LeidenUniv.NL

Newsletter contributions:HASNews@RULLET.LeidenUniv.NL

http ://w w w .iias .n l

2 4 N O V E M B E R 1 9 9 9B R U S S E L S , B E L G I U M

One-day conference at the European Parliament

Asia and the EuropeanUnion's Common

Foreign and SecurityPolicy

South China Sea, Beijing hasacquiesced in the mutuallyaccepted task of making surethat the sea is not the exclu­sive arena of one border state.He concluded that China isinvolved in an ongoing dia­logue with Asian govern­ments, but that the Euro­pean Union should be alertto where a new model in in­ternational relations is need­ed.

Stein Tonneson (Universityof Oslo) gave an overview ofco-operation in Asia with afocus on Eastern Asia or Pa­cific Asia. In ten challengingpoints he sketched the differ­ent scenarios for multilateral ------relations and pointed to aperceived ambivalence in the Euro­pean approach to the region which islinked to the fact that some of itsgoals and interests are difficult toreconcile. A scenario in which APECplays a dominant role is not in Eu­rope’s interest. If APEC dominates,then the EU will need to bolsterASEM as an Euro-Asian alternative,but ASEM will never be able tomatch APEC in importance. Europeshould formulate a strategy for en­hancing the influence of Asian na­tions in global, multilateral institu­tions, while leaving room for in­creased regional co-operation in Asiaitself. Such a strategy must, however,be combined with a principled de-

A full one-day conference on Asia andthe common foreign and security policy(CFSP) o f the European Union was heldon Wednesday 24 November 1999 at theEuropean Parliament in Brussels. More

than 150 Members o f the EuropeanParliament, representatives o f foreign

embassies and missions, as well asvarious specialists and employees ofthe European Commission attended.

The conference was hosted by theStrategic Alliance in close co-operation

with the Brussels-based EuropeanInstitute for Asian Studies. The Strategic

Alliance consists o f the Institute furAsienkunde, Hamburg, the International

Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden /Amsterdam and the Nordic Institute

o f Asian Studies, Copenhagen. Its openstructure enabled other European

institutes to join as was demonstratedby this conference.

By J O H N KLEI NEN

fence of European social and democ­ratic values.

During the initial discussion ses­sion, a lively exchange of questionsand answers provided the essentialclarifications and pertinent detailswhich necessarily had to be omittedfrom the short presentations of themain speakers. Clarification was es­pecially asked for the role of the USand Russia, both countries whichseemed to be underplayed in the pre­sentations for different reasons.Other questions asked about thelevel at which regional co-operationcan be reached by Europe in Asia andfor the specific interests of membercountries in issues regarding Asia.

There was felt to be a generalagreement that Europe canact like a block, or perhapsbetter, like a co-operationforum, but in Asia ‘blocks’are not clearly defined.ASEAN has played an impor­tant role in the co-operationbetween the EU and Asia, butin the future we shall see thata common strategy towardsChina has not yet been de­vised.

The second part of themorning was devoted to theprospects for EU-Asia Trade,Finance, and Investment. Itstarted with a challenginganalysis by Ari Kokko, AboAcademic University in Fin­land, of the signs of economic

recovery in Southeast Asia with afocus on Malaysia, Thailand, andVietnam, and with an emphasis onthe importance of Japanese econom­ic policies to regenerate growthacross the region. Kokko’s most im­portant conclusion was that Singa­pore, Thailand, the Philippines, andMalaysia are reporting a reasonablegood economic performance afterthe financial crisis of 1997, but eachcountry has achieved this in its ownway. Malaysia e.g. pursued a differ­ent crisis management policy to thatof Thailand, which unwillingly sub­scribed to the IMF-sponsored re­form. Severe problems, however, re­mained in countries like Indonesia

HAS BRANCH OFFI CE A MS T E R DAM

Spinhuis, rooms 214, 215, and 216Oudezijds Achterburgwal 1851012 DK Amsterdam, The NetherlandsTelephone:+31-20-525 36 57Telefax: +31-20-525 36 58E-mail: HAS@pscw.uva.NL

and Vietnam. In both countries nottechnical, but strategic policies haveto be implemented to escape a fur­ther slump. In addition to this,Willem van der Geest, Director of theEIAS, drew some lessons from thecrisis, especially that which revolvesaround the issues of transparency,anti-corruption policies, and the ne­cessity to espouse in good gover­nance. Of particular interest to theEU is that the crisis has accelerateddemands for democratization, espe­cially in Indonesia. Whether themiddle class is the only vehicle forpolitical reform remains to be seen.In the case of Indonesia, the middleclass had accepted fast growth with­out making concomitant politicaldemands. That is, however, not ageneral pattern.

Several discussants joined in ask­ing for further details about e.g. theexpected Chinese currency devalua­tion and its effects on the crisis; theproblems economists face when theywant to solve the effects of the crisisat different levels; and the purposeand further effects of the Miyasawaaid package of 80 billion US dollars tothe region. Speakers agreed that themoney has not had the effect expect­ed, but Japan should be commendedfor having participated in the solu­tion of the crisis.

Two other sessions followed in theafternoon: the first one was about‘Political Stability and Social Cohe­sion in Asia’, examining in-depthpolitical and social developments inAsia and analysing some of theirmanifestations (regionalism, na­tionalism, and sub-nationalism) aswell as their determinants - ethnic,religious, and economic. A seconddealt with Asia’s challenges for theEuropean Union.

Dr David Camroux, Director of theAsia-Europe Programme at the Insti­tut d’Etudes Politiques, reviewed thestate of regional co-operation, takinginto account the economic crisis inSoutheast Asia and the political andsecurity tensions. Doubts wereraised about the central position ofASEAN in the future and aboutASEAN’s attempt to reconcile thedifferent strands of political regimesof its membership states. Europecould represent a model, or a coun­ter-model, for an effective regionalconstruction.

Dr Frans Hiisken, Professor at theUniversity of Nijmegen and Chair­man of the Board HAS and Dr Riidi-ger Machetzki, Senior ResearcherIFA, Hamburg commented on vari­ous demands for succession and na-

Continued on page 51 jF

February 2000 • i ias n e w s l e t t e r N?2i • 4 9

STAFF15 FEBRUARY 2000

STAFFProf.W.A.L. Stokhof (Director)Drs S.A.M. Kuypers (Deputy Director)

J. Balassis (Database Assistant)M. Boer (Secretary)Drs M.T. te Booij (Staff Member)Drs M.E. Brandt (Staff Member)J. Bruinsma (Secretary)Drs A.J.M. Doek (WWW)E.F.P. Haneveld (Automation Officer)Drs E.A.T. van der Hoek (Editor)I. Hoogenboom (Database Assistant)Drs H.M. van der Minne

(Secretary Branch Office Amsterdam)M. Rozing (Trainee)Dr M.A.F. Rutten

(Co-ordinator Branch Office Amsterdam)J. Stremmelaar (Trainee)Drs C.B.W.Veenkamp

(Executive Manager)

BOARD

Prof. F.A.M. Hiisken - Chairman(Nijmegen University)

Prof. J.L. Blussé van Oud Alblas(Universiteit Leiden)

Prof. H.W. Bodewitz(Universiteit Leiden)

Prof. J.C. Breman(University of Amsterdam)

Prof. A.J.M.W. Hagendoorn(Utrecht University)

ACADEMIC COMMITTEE

Dr E.B.Vermeer - Chairman(Universiteit Leiden)

Prof. B. Arps (Universiteit Leiden)Dr I.S.A. Baud

(Universiteit van Amsterdam)Dr G.K. Lieten

(Universiteit of Amsterdam)Dr P.J.M. Nas (Universiteit Leiden)Prof. C.l. Risseeuw (Universiteit Leiden)Dr R.A. Rutten

(Universiteit of Amsterdam)Dr E.Touwen-Bouwsma

(NIOD, Amsterdam)

MAS EXTRAORDINARY CHAIRS

Prof. Hein Steinhauer (the Netherlands)Extraordinary Chair at NijmegenUniversity,'Ethnolinguistics with a focuson Southeast Asia'I September 1998- I September 2001

Prof. Barend Terwiel(the Netherlands/Cermany)Extraordinary chair at the UniversiteitLeiden,‘Cultures of Mainland SoutheastAsia’/ September 1999- I September 2002

Prof. Henk Schulte Nordholt(the Netherlands)Extraordinary chair at the ErasmusUniversity Rotterdam,'Asian History’I October 1999 - I October 2003

INTERNATIONALREPRESENTATIVES

Prof. J.G. Vredenbregt(Jakarta, Indonesia)-,

Dr W.G.J. Remmelink.Japan-Netherlands Institute(Tokyo, Japan).

RESEARCH PROGRAMMESAND PROJECTS

- CLARA:‘Changing Labour Relationsin Asia’The International Institute of SocialHistory - Amsterdam acts as theexecuting body; Programme Co-ordinator;Dr R. Saptari

- ‘International Social Organisation inEast and Southeast Asia: QiaoxiangTiesin the Twentieth Century’(Programme Directors: Dr LM. Douw andDr EN. Pieke)

- PAATI:‘Performing Arts of AsiaTra-dition and lnnovation:The expressionof identity in a changing world’(Programme Director: Dr W. van Zanten)

- ABIA-Project: Key to South andSoutheast Asian A rt and ArchaeologyIndex (Project Co-ordinator: Prof. K.R. vanKooij; Editors: Dr E.M. Raven and Drs H.l.Lasschuijt)

I I AS N E W S

MAS RESEARCH15 FEBRUARY 2000 > 15 JUNE 2000

One of the most important policies ofthe HAS is to share scholarly expertise byoffering universities and other researchinstitutes the opportunity to benefit fromthe knowledge of resident fellows. HASfellows can be invited to lecture, participatein seminars, co-operate on research projectsetc. The HAS is most willing to mediate inestablishing contacts. Both national andinternational integration of Asian Studiesare very important objectives.

In 2000 the HAS wants to stress this co-op­eration between foreign researchers and theDutch field. With regard to the affiliated fel­lowships, the HAS therefore offers to medi­ate in fading external Dutch funding, shouldthe scholar have not yet found ways of fi­nancing his/her visit to the Netherlands. Formore information please see the HAS fellow­ship application form.

At the moment, HAS fellowship applicationscan be sent in for affiliated fellowships only(no application deadline). I f any other fellow­ships will become available, it will be an­nounced in the HAS Newsletter and on theInternet. For news about HAS fellowships,please see our website: http://www.iias.nl

The HAS distinguishes between nine cate­gories of fellows:

1. RESEARCH FELLOWS(POST PhD)

a. Individualb. attached to a programme, i.e.- ‘International Social Organization in

East and Southeast Asia: QiaoxiangTies in the Twentieth Century’

- ‘Performing Arts of Asia:Tradition andinnovation; the expression of identityin a changing world’ (PAATI)

- ‘Changing Labour Relations in Asia’(CLARA), in collaboration with IISHAmsterdamResearch fellows are attached tothe International Institute for AsianStudies for maximum 3 years,carrying out independent researchand fieldwork, and organizing an inter­national seminar.

2. SENIOR V IS IT ING FELLOWSThe HAS offers senior scholars thepossibility to engage in research workin the Netherlands.The period canvary from I to 3 months.

3. PROFESSORIAL FELLOWSThe HAS assists in mediating betweenuniversities in the Netherlands and re­search institutes in Asia, inviting estab­lished scholars (minimum requirement:assistant professor level) to sharetheir expertise with Dutch scholars,by being affiliated to Dutch universi­ties for a period of one to two years,

4 . V IS IT ING EXCHANGE FELLOWSThe HAS has signed several Memoran­da of Understanding (MoU) with for­eign research institutes, thus providingscholars with an opportunity to par­ticipate in international exchanges.

The Nordic Institute for Asian Studies(NIAS) in Copenhagen, the ShanghaiAcademy of Social Sciences (SASS),the Australian National University(ANU), and the Universitat Wienregularly send scholars to the Nether­lands to do research for a period fromI to 6 months. Contacts with manyother institutes promise to developinto a more regular exchange in thenear future.

5 . AFFILIATED FELLOWSThe HAS can offer office facilities tofellows who have found their own fi­nancial support and who would like todo research in the Netherlands for aparticular period.The HAS also offersto mediate in finding external Dutchfunding, should the scholar have notyet found ways of financing his/hervisit to the Netherlands.

6 ESF/ALLIANCE FELLOWSSelected by the Asia Committee ofthe European Science Foundation(ESF-AC), ESF/Alliance fellows are at­tached to the HAS, partly withinthe framework of and financed bythe Strategic Alliance (IIAS-NIAS-IFA).

7 . DUTCH SENIORSMaximum two Dutch seniors per yearcan apply for this position of maxi­mum 6 months each at the HAS.A Dutch senior should have obtaineda PhD degree more than five yearsago, and be academically very produc­tive.The stay at HAS (not abroad!) canbe used for further research. Fundsare made available to finance the tem­porary replacement for teaching activ­ities of a senior at his/her home uni­versity.

8. NORDIC-NETHER LANDSRESEARCH FELLOWSNordic-Netherlands research fellowsare selected by the Strategic Alliance.The duration of the fellowship is I or2 years maximum.

9. GONDA FELLOWSGonda fellows are selected bythe Stichting J. Gonda Fund and are af­filiated to the HAS.The period mayvary from 1-3 months.

Hereunder you will find, ordered byregion of specialty and in alphabeticalorder, the names and research topicsof all fellows working at the Inter­national Institute for Asian Studies.Mentioned are further: country of ori­gin, period of affiliation, kind of fellow­ship, and, in case of an affiliated fellow­ship, funding

GENERAL

Dr Kamala Ganesh (India)The Impact of a Changing Social Wel­fare System on Relations within Mar­riage, Family, and Social Networks inthe Netherlands and the Public De­bate on this Process’, affiliated fellow(IDPAD)/ April 1999-1 March 2000

Dr Rajni Palriwala (India)‘The Impact of a Changing Social Wel­fare System on Relations within Mar­riage, Family, and Social Networks inthe Netherlands and the Public De­bate on this Process’, affiliated fellow(IDPAD)/ May 2000 - I December 2000

Dr Yuan Bingling(People’s Republic of China/the Netherlands)’Chinese Society in Beijing and in In­donesia during the Eighteenth andNineteenth Centuries: a comparison',affiliated fellow6 January 2000 - 31 December 2000

CENTRAL ASIA

D r Henk Blezer (the Netherlands)T h e ’Bon’-Origin of Tibetan BuddhistSpeculations Regarding a Post-MortemState Called 'Reality as It Is” , individualresearch fellowUntil I August 2000

D r Alex Mckay (New Zealand)The History ofTibet and the IndianHimalayas', affiliated fellow8 June 2000 - 8 September 2000

Prof.Yang Enhong(People’s Republic of China)

The study ofTibetology and KingGesar Epic', affiliated fellow (CASS)15 April 2 0 0 0 - 15 July 2000

SOUTH ASIA

Dr Thomas de Bruijn (the Netherlands)’Nayi Kahani: New stories and newpositions in the literary field of Hindiliterature after 1947’, affiliated fellow(NWO)IS June 1998 - IS June 2001

Dr Hanne de Bruin (the Netherlands),stationed in Leiden and at the AmsterdamBranch Office

'Kattaikkuttu and Natakam: South Indi­an theatre traditions in regional per­spective’, research fellow within theprogramme’Performing Arts of Asia:Tradition and Innovation’ (PAATI)Until IS July 2001

Dr Prabhu Mohapatra (India), sta­tioned in New Delhi

'Industrialisation and Work Culture:Steel workers in Jamshedpur:1950-1990s’, research fellow withinthe framework of the CLARA re­search programmeI February 1999 - 31 January 2002

Dr A. Satyanarayana (India), stationedat the International Institute for Social His­tory in Amsterdam

’Emigration of South Indian LabourCommunities to South-East Asia:Burma (Myanmar) and Malaysia,1871 - 1982’, senior visiting fellowwithin the framework of the CLARAresearch programmeI December I 999 - I March 2000

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Dr Han-Pi Chang (Taiwan, ROC)‘Separatism and Reconstructing of theNation in Indonesia', affiliated fellow20 December 1999 - I March 2000

Dr Matthew Cohen (USA)The Shadow Puppet Theater of Gege-sik, North West Java, Indonesia: Memo­ry, tradition, and community', researchfellow within the framework of theprogramme ‘Performing Arts of Asia:Tradition and Innovation’ (PAATI)I January 1998 - I January 2001

Dr Freek Colombijn (the Netherlands),stationed in Leiden and at the AmsterdamBranch Office

The Road to Development:Access tonatural resources along the transportaxes of Riau Daratan (Indonesia),1950-2000', individual research fellowUntil I January 2002

Dr Michael Ewing (Australia/USA)’The Clause in Cirebon Javanese Con­versation’, affiliated fellow/ February 2000 - 30 June 2000

Dr Michael Jacobsen (Denmark)’Ethnic Identity, Nation Building andHuman Rights in a Globalizing World’,Nordic-Netherlands research fellowI August 1999 - I August 2000

Prof. Dan Lev (USA)‘Political Organization, Social Change,and Legal Evolution in Southeast Asia’,senior visiting fellowI April 2000 - I July 2000

Dr Rajindra Puri (USA)‘Deadly Dances in the Bornean RainForest: learning to hunt with thePenan’, affiliated fellowI February 2000 - I June 2000

Dr Martin Ramstedt (Germany)‘Hindu Dharma Indonesia -TheHindu-movement in present-day In­donesia and its influence in relation tothe development of the indigenousculture of theToraja (AlukTodolo) inSouth Sulawesi’, ESF/Alliance fellowI December 1997 — 30 November 2000

Dr Benoït deTréglodé (France), sta­tioned at the Amsterdam Branch Ofpce

'New Hero’ and ‘Emulation Fighter’ inthe Democratic Republic ofVietnam’,affiliated fellow1-28 February 2000

Dr Reed Wadley (USA)The Ethnohistory of a BorderlandPeople:The Iban in West Kalimantan,Indonesia’, individual research fellowI August 1998 - I August 2001

EAST ASIA

Dr Karpchon Kim (Korea)‘An Authentic Record of theYi Dy­nasty’, visiting exchange fellow (KoreaResearch Foundation)I August 1999 - I August 2000

Prof. Chen-Kuo Lin (Taiwan, ROC)‘Chinese Buddhism’, third Chair-holderof the European Chair for ChineseStudies, professorial fellowI September 1999 - I September 2000

Dr Evelyne Micollier (France),stationed at the Amsterdam Branch Office

‘Practices and Representations ofHealth and Illness in the Context ofChinese Culture. Interactions with so­cial facts (illness prevention andHuman reality of AIDS)’, ESF/AlliancefellowI July 1998- 1 July 2000

DrYuri Sadoi (Japan)The Problems of the Japanese Auto­mobile Production System in the Dif­ferent Cultural Setting: the case of theNetherlands’, affiliated fellow (Mit­subishi Motors Corporation)I September 1999- I September 2000

Dr Hae-Kyung Um(Korea/United Kingdom)

‘Performing Arts in Korea and the Ko­rean Communities in China, the For­mer Soviet Union and Japan’, researchfellow within the framework of theprogramme ‘Performing Arts of Asia:Tradition and Innovation’ (PAATI)I January 1998 - I January 2001

Dr Jeroen W iedenhof (the Nether­lands)

’A Grammar of Mandarin’, Dutch se­nior fellow/ February 2000 - I August 2000

PARTNERSMAS RESEARCH

The HAS signs Memoranda ofUnderstanding (MoUs) with researchinstitutes in the field of Asia Studies allover the world, in order to stimulatefurther co-operation in this field, and toimprove the mobility of scholars throughthe exchange of research fellows at apost-Ph.D. level.The HAS mediates inestablishing contacts with the Institute’sMoU partners.

The HAS has signed MoUs with thefollowing institutions:

1. Nordic Institute for Asian Studies(NIAS), Copenhagen, Denmark

2. East-West Center in Hawai’i (EWC),USA

3. Research School of Pacific and AsianStudies of the Australian NationalUniversity (RSPAS-ANU), Canberra,Australia

4. Division of Social Sciences andHumanities, Indonesian Institute ofSciences (LIPI), Jakarta,Indonesia

5. Institut für Kultur undGeistesgeschichte Asiens derÖsterreichischen Akademie derWissenschaften, Vienna, Austria

6. Institute of Oriental Studies (IOS) ofthe Russian Academy of Sciences,Moscow, Russia

7. Vietnam National University Hanoi(VNU), Hanoi,Vietnam

8. University Grants Commission(UGC)/Ministry of Education ofPakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan

9. Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences(SASS), Shanghai, P.R. China

10. l’École Francaise d’Extrême-Orient(EFEO), Paris, France

I I. Academia Sinica,Taiwan, ROC12. Korea Research Foundation (KRF),

Seoul, Korea13. National Science Council,Taipei,

Taiwan, ROC14. Mongolian Academy of Sciences,

Mongolia15. Institut de Recherche sur le Sud-Est

Asiatique, Aix-en-Provence, France16. Bureau of International Cultural &

Educational Relations, Ministry ofEducation,Taipei,Taiwan, ROC

17. Centre d'Études et de RecherchesInternationales, Paris, France

5 O • h a s n e w s l e t t e r N?2 1 • February 2000

H A S N E WS

Continued jrotn page 49ASIA AND THE EUROPEANUNION'S COMMONFOREIGN AND SECURITYPOLICYJohn Kleinen

tion-state status across Asia andpointed to a series o f ethnic, reli­gious, and economic determ inantsof tensions in Asia. Indonesia wastaken as the m ost vivid example todem onstrate how nation-statescould be menaced by regionalismand ethnic conflict. Here we arefaced w ith a paradox th a t dem ocrati­zation has a flip-side because it gen­erates less peace and order than ex­isted in the past under au thoritarianrule. But Indonesia is also an excep­tion, as M achetzki stressed, when welook at Asia’s performance in gener­al: the Asian miracle was neither am yth nor a mirage. O ther conflictsare m ost marked by a state to statedim ension rather than religious orethnic, as e.g. Kashmir shows, whichcould carry very explosive elementsfor South Asia.

Another case study from SouthAsia was presented by Dr Christophejaffrelot, Senior Research FellowCERI, Fondation Nationale de Sci­ences Politiques, who dealt w ith theBJP and India’s 13th General Elec­tions as an example o f religious na­tionalism. A short section was devot­ed to the im plications which thismay have for social stability in theSouth Asian region.

Stim ulated by the m any vivid ex­amples the speakers had presented,several discussants felt the urge tochallenge them . The rem ark wasmade th a t the EU stressed the diver­sity o f ASEAN bu t objected to thesuggestion th a t the region could beviewed as the Balkans o f Asia. Thelack o f awareness am ong the bureau­cracies does no t reflect w hat is feltam ong the various populations inSoutheast Asia. Even developmentsin Indonesia should not taken as apresentim ent o f paraplegic empireswhich will break up because theywere artificially created by colonial­ist policies. Even in the case o f Aceh,the people feel th a t they have partic­ipated in the revolution and they arenot w illing to give up th a t dream.O ther reactions dw elt on the exam­ples o f Aceh and Brunei, or asked forclarification about the true nature o fthe BJP.

The Third Session on ‘Asia’s Chal­lenges for the European U nion’ tookas its focus the possible EU responsesto developments in Asia, including adiscussion of the instrum ents forstructu ring these relations, such asregistration and licensing o f armsexports, regimes for nuclear non­proliferation, codes o f conducts fortransnational corporations, and DrIan Anthony, SIPRI, Stockholm, dealtw ith the nuclear and non-nucleararm s proliferation as an EU foreignpolicy challenge. In his contribution,he reviewed the proposals for them onitoring and licensing o f the ex­port o f conventional arms, as well asdem ands made on Asian govern­m ents (ranging from Iraq to N orthKorea) to sign the Common Treatyon Banning Atomic Tests (CTBT) andNon-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),which have been advocated by the

European Parliam ent. Will such dem ands adequately address the globalsecurity questions which arms pro­liferation inevitably poses? Accord­ing to Ian Anthony, serious progresswill be slow in the com ing years, b u tarms control objectives and the pu r­su it o f treaties to reduce nuclearweapons is som ething th a t shouldnot be left only to the US and Russia.He pointed to the India-Pakistanconfrontation or to a (maybe unreal­istically to a US-China clash on Tai­wan) in which the EU can or couldplay a m ediating role and find a w in­dow o f opportunity. Prof. FrancisSnyder, Law D epartm ent EuropeanUniversity Institu te, Florence, con­sidered economic globalization to bean urge for public policy responsesacross a num ber o f sectors in the EU,including a labour m arket policy, afiscal and m onetary policy, as well asa regional and trade policy. Usingthe well-known example as the Bar­bie doll which its m anufacturerM atell m anufactures and marketsaround the globe (in 142 countries),Snyder posed the question ofwhether and how labour laws or in ­ternational safety standards can con­trol this type o f fragm ented labourmarkets linked to a huge intra-firmtrade. Global legal pluralism isprevalent. The second part o f his talkconcentrated on the curren t chal­lenge to the present EU legal frame­work to develop adequate an­tidum ping actions in trade w ithChina, in the context o f economicoperations and customs procedureswhich involve international produc­tion networks and intra-form trade.

D uring the open discussion whichconcluded the one-day conference,P rof Stein Tonneson took the oppor­tun ity to propose a follow-up confer­ence on the legal and environm entalaspects o f the alarm ing develop­m ents in the South China Sea. Thisconference should be an initiative ofthe European Council/Union, whichshould ask m em ber states aroundthe Baltic Sea or around the M editer­ranean Sea to host their Asian coun­terparts. Mrs Caroline Lucas, whom oderated the afternoon session,called it an ingenious proposalwhich received a sym pathetic re­sponse am ong these attending. Sucha conference on the Law o f the Seashould, however, take politics intoconsideration. Here the EuropeanUnion could play a constructive role,as M r Selvarajah, the SingaporeanAmbassador to the EU underlined.Implicitly referring to the openingdiscussion about the CFSP, he andothers rem arked th a t European poli­cy in Asia is still too general or stilltoo reactive. It is about tim e to startw ith a pro-active Asian strategy, notonly by the preserve o f groups of ex­perts, b u t by the EU as a whole, im ­plem enting all comers o f the in s titu ­tion and speaking th rough onechannel. ■

BIASSecretariat o f the European Institute

for Asian Studies at Brussels

Rue des Deux Eg/ises 351000 Brussels, Belgium

Fax: +32-2-230 230 5402A conference organised by

EIAS, HAS, IFA and NIAS

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0

9 - 1 6 J a n u a r y 200 0

IndiaFourth ABIA Workshop

H ttp://w w w .iias.nl/host/abia/

M A R C H 2 0 0 0

9- 11 M a r c h 2000Leiden, The Netherlands

Workshop

'The Indian Character o f Indian literature’Convenors: Dr Thomas de Bruijn (HAS)

and Dr Theo Damsteegt (Kern Institute).Contact address:

International Institute for Asian Studies,P.O. Box 9515,2300 RA, Leiden,

The NetherlandsTel.: +31-71-527 2227Fax: +31-71-527 4162

E-mail:tbruijn@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

or: damsteegt@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

9 - 1 2 M a r c h 200 0

San Diego,United States o f America

52ntl MS Annual MeetingAssociation for Asian Studies, Inc.,

1021 East Huron Street,Ann Arbor,

Michigan 4S104,United States of America

Tel.: +1-734-665 2490Fax: +1-734-665 3801

Http://www.aasianst.org/

A P R I L 2 0 0 0

7 - 9 A p r i l 2 0 0 0Copenhagen, Denmark

Seventh Nordic-European Workshopin Advanced Asian Studies (NEWAS)

Convenor:Prof. Per Ronnas

Contact address for Nordic PhD students:NIAS, att.: NEWAS, Erik Skaaning,

Leifsgade 33, DK-2300 Copenhagen S,Denmark

Tel.: +45-32-54 88 44Fax: +45-32-96 25 30

E-mail: etik@nias.ku.dkFor Dutch PhD students:

IIAS, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden,The Netherlands

Tel.:+31-71-527 2227Fax:+31-71-5274162

E-mail: iias@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

27- 29 Ap r i l 2000Amsterdam, The NetherlandsFourth Euro-Japanese International

Symposium on Mainland Southeast AsianHistoiy: ‘MainlandSoutheast Asian

Responses to the Stimuli o f Foreign MaterialCulture and Practical Knowledge

(14* - mid 19'*1 century)’Convenor: Dr John Kleinen (HAS)

Contact address:HAS Branch Office Amsterdam,

Spinhuis, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 185,1012 DK Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Tel.: +31-20-525 3657Fax:+31-20-525 3658

E-mail: HAS@pscw.uva.nl

Agenda

AgendAMore information about IIAS

Seminars and Workshops is available onthe Internet:

http://ww.iias.nl/iias/agenda.html.Alsorefer to the Agenda Asia, a database ofAsian Studies conferences, workshops

and seminars:http://www.iias.nl/gateway/

newslagasialindex.html.Unless otherwise mentioned,

the contact addressfor conferences organized

by the IIAS is:

IIASP. O. Box 95 I 5

2 3 0 0 RA Le i d e nT h e N e t h e r l a n d s

Tel . : +3 1 - 7 1 - 5 2 7 2 2 2 7Fax: + 3 1 - 7 1 - 5 2 7 4 1 6 2

E-mai l :I I A S @ r u l l e t . l e i d e n u n i v . n l

M A Y 2 0 0 0

1 8 - 2 0 M ay 20 00

Avignon, FranceI1AS/CERINS/INALCO workshop,

‘Slave Systems in Asia and the Indian Ocean;

Their structure and change

in the 19th and 20th centuries’

Convenor:Dr Gwyn Campbell, CERINS,

University d’Avignon, Case N 19,

74 rue Louis Pasteur, 84029 Avignon,Cedex 1, France

Tel.: +33-4-90162718

Fax: +33-4-9016 2719E-mail: gcampb3195@aoI.com

J U N E 2 0 0 0

8 - 9 J u n e 200 0

Leiden, The NetherlandsHAS seminar ‘Yogacara Buddhism in China’

Convenor: Prof Chen-kuo Lin

Contact address:

International Institute for Asian Studies,

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

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31-71-527 2227

Fax: +31-71-5274162

E-mail: iias@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

24- 30 J u n e 2000Leiden, The Netherlands

Ninth Seminar o f the InternationalAssociation o/Tibetan Studies (IATS)

Convenor: Henk Blezer (HAS)Contact address:

International Institute for Asian Studies,P.O. Box 9515,2300 RA, Leiden,

The NetherlandsTel.: +31-71-5272227Fax: +31-71-5274162

E-mail: iats@rullet.Ieidenuniv.nlHttp://www.iias.nl/iias/agenda/iats/

J U L Y 2 0 0 0

6 - 7 J u l y 200 0Amsterdam, The NetherlandsIIAS Seminar ‘Health, Sexuality and

Civil Society in East Asia’Contact Dr Evelyne Micollier for

scientific contents and Heleen van derMinne for practical matters,

HAS Branch Office Amsterdam,Spinhuis, 02. Achterburgwal 185,

1012 DK Amsterdam, The NetherlandsTel.: +31-20-525 3657Fax: +31-20-525 3658

E-mail: Sexsem@pscw.uva.nlA limited number of Dutch speakersand a limited number of observers

are still welcome.

A U G U S T 2 0 0 0

i o - i i A u g u s t 2 0 0 0Leiden, The Netherlands

HAS Seminar ‘Environmental Change inNative and Colonial Histories o f Borneo:

Lessons/rom the past, prospects fo rthe/uturc’

Convenor: Dr Reed L. WadleyContact address:

International Institute for Asian Studies,P.O. Box 9515,2300 RA, Leiden,

The NetherlandsTel: +31-71-527 2227Fax: +31-71-527 4162

E-mail: iias@mllet.leidenuniv.nlHttp://www. iias. nl/ lias/ research/wadley/

2 3 - 2 8 A u g u s t 2000Leiden, The Netherlands

IIA5/CHIME Conference‘Audiences, Patrons and Per/ormers

in the Performing Arts o f Asia'Convenors:

Dr Wim van Zanten (IIAS-PMTI)and Frank Kouwenhoven (CHIME)

For more information:Http://www.iias.nl/oideion/general/

audiences.html, or:Http://www.iias.nl/iias/agenda.html

You m ay also contact:Dr Wim van Zanten (chair)

Institute of Cultural and Social StudiesLeiden University

P.O. Box 95552300 RB Leiden

The NetherlandsTel.: +31-71-527 3465 / 74 / 69

Fax: +31-71-5273619E-mail: zanten@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

or:Frank Kouwenhoven, CHIME

P.O. Box 110922301 EB Leiden

The NetherlandsTel.: +31-71-513 3974/ 5U 3123

Fax:+31-71-5123183E-mail: chime@wxs.nl

February z o o 0 • iias n e w s l e t t e r "NS21 • % 1

I I AS N E WS

An HAS Extraordinary ChairCultures of MainlandSoutheast AsiaIs it true what Americans say, that the first impression weighsas much as the sum of subsequent impressions? At least Iwould say that this was the case in my interview with BarendJan Terwiel. The first handshake was warm and sincere, the en­tire meeting was sympathetic and open. I had e-mailed himthree basic questions in advance: the interview would be abouthis past activities, his motivations, and his plans for the newChair. As a well-prepared informant, he took the initiative bytelling me the story o f his academic life and about his plans,and his dreams. Playing the part o f an ethnographer in thefield, I listened and I wrote. Whenever he stopped talking, Isimply waited and repeated his last sentence. Then he pickedup his story again. The twenty-five supporting questions that Ihad prepared from reading his biography were nearly all an-wered by the sequence o f his story:

■ By ALFRED DANI ELS

-r was returning fromI the Dutch mini-war

M. in West New Gui­nea,’ he started. ‘I was arecruit and we werebeing evacuated in 1962.

j When they called our names toboard the plane there were twoyoung men with the name of Ter­wiel who stepped forward, but therewas only one seat booked. I chose towait for the next plane. It took us toBangkok first and we waited thereseveral days before we could flyhome. So I looked around and I metthis lovely student girl.

When I left, she remained in mythoughts and occasionally I wrote herletters. I went to Utrecht to study andgraduated in Cultural Anthropology.I specialized on Thailand by takingminors in the History of Buddhism

J and in the Pali language. ProfessorRobert van Gulik gave me a Thai lan­guage course: a book together with acollection of vinyl 78 records. I lis­tened to them on an old gramophone.After graduation I won a scholarshipto the Australian National University(ANU) in Canberra and I was giventhe opportunity to do fieldwork inThailand.

I met the girl again and I went tolive in a village with her aunt (myThai ‘grandmother’). I could read theBuddhist scriptures in Pali and tookup the role of a Buddhist monk: withshaven head and an orange robe. Aftersix months I gave up the monk’s lifeand I took on that of a peasant. For an­other six months I worked the land

J and continued my fieldwork beforereturning to Australia.

A year later I went back to Thailandfor another four months of research.This time I worked with a research as­sistent to complete my data and totest my conclusions. In return, Itaught him how to take photographs.He became a professional photogra­pher. I remained in contact with theThai girl throughout her life. She diedabout ten years ago.’

‘Didn’t you think about settlingthere permanently?’ I asked him.

‘It was not easy for a ‘farang’, astranger, to live in Thailand. When

the people knew that .you spoke thelanguage they would keep demand­ing your attention consistantlythroughout the day. They would fol­low you everywhere and shoutedquestions at you even from a dis­tance. No, I went back to Australia. Imarried an Australian there andeventually we had four children.

My first promotor at the ANU wasProfessor Barnes. He would allowyour research to go its own way,with a minimum of steering. Butthen he left for Cambridge and thedepartment was mainly populatedby functionalists. I was interested ina different approach to religion. Ithink it pervades all aspects of life.Even aspects as ‘rational’ as econom­ics have a religious aspect. Ritual andreligion is what interested me mostat the time, an interest that contin­ues.

Basham, the famous historian ofIndian sophy, then took me underhis wing. He aroused a greater his­torical awareness in me.

After my PhD I went back to theNetherlands, as I had no job yet inAustralia. It is not such a good coun­try for intellectuals. The people are

‘In the Netherlands

there is a certain

deficiency in knowledge

on Thailand because

o f the colonial past’

very practical and don’t respect acad­emic intellectuals very much. Ifound a job in Amsterdam as head ofa training programme for volunteersin development projects at the RoyalTropical Institute. One day in theweek I would teach Ethnology atLouvain in Belgium, to remain incontact with academic thinking.

In 1572 I was appointed to a lec­tureship at the ANU and I went backto Canberra. I worked very hard onmy first book and it was publishedthree months later: Monks and Magic.In the following years I taught theHistory of Mainland Southeast Asia,became a senior lecturer, a reader,and eventually associate professorthere.

In the late 1970s I saw the collec­tion of data on Thai culture and pol­itics that had been collected by theUS intelligence services during theVietnam War. I nearly lost my inter­est in the Thai. They had collectedabout a hundred thousand entries intheir archives. For a time I thoughtabout quitting this topic and focus­ing on symbolism in man by study­ing the Aboriginals in Australia andabout delving into comparativestudies. Professor Basham talked meout of that plan and soon a differentperspective opened up.

During a conference in Orissa in1979, I met a Buddhist monk whocame from a community in Assam,who did not speak a Tai languagebut claimed to be an ethnic Tai. Forone month I walked with himthrough Assam from village to vil­lage to explore the ethnic Tai com­munities there.

In 1980 I was awarded a grant bythe Alexander von HumboldtStiftung to study the history of thedispersion of ethnic Tai over conti­nental Southeast Asia. By comparingthe rituals I could easily see the dif­ferences and similarities betweenthese communities and the Tai inThailand. They must have been sep­arated 600-700 years ago. It turns outthat substantial numbers of ethnicTai live in Yunnan, Vietnam, Laos,Burma, and Assam. I collected a vastamount of data on this topic and Ifocused on the dispersion of the Taiover Southeast Asia: their history,even their archaeological record. Iwork on this topic in close co-opera­tion with a group of specialists onChinese, Burmese, and Vietnamese.

Then I went to Munich in t99i tobecome a Professor in Ethnology. Myfamily remained in Australia andeventually the marriage broke up. Bythe end of 1992, 1 became a Professorin the Languages and Cultures ofThailand and Laos, at the Faculty ofOriental Studies in Hamburg. Thusmy interest developed from religionto history to ethnology to literature,all on the region of continental

Interview with Barendjan Terwiel

Southeast Asia and on the Tai in par­ticular.’

‘I counted thirteen books and fifty-five articles in your biography. Doyou write easily? How do you orga­nize your writing?’

‘I write with regularity: one or twohours every day, not less than twopages at a time. Of course, I spendmore time pondering, puzzling, andsearching.’

‘For the next five years you havebeen appointed as ExtraordinaryChair at HAS, a 0.2 Professorate. Howare you going to plan this?’

'I write one or

two hours every day,

but spend more time

pondering, puzzling,

and searching

‘In Hamburg everything contin­ues as it is. So I plan to spend mytime at Leiden in the German Uni­versity vacations. Those in Germanyonly partly overlap with those inHolland. In February I shall be inLeiden the whole month. My Inau­gural Lecture will be delivered on 15February. In September-October Ihope to be in Leiden again.

I have plans at three levels. First,an intensive course of preparationsfollowed by an evaluation. Secondlyto help relevant postgraduate stu­dents individually. And then I havethe option of organizing a sympo­sium once every two years.

The overall aim is to widen thehorizon in Leiden drawing it away

from its focus on Indonesia more to­wards continental Southeast Asia.There is a certain deficiency inknowledge on Thailand in this partof Europe because of the colonialpast.

I shall begin my work by giving acourse that should lead to a deepen­ing of the understanding of how totreat primary sources. The topic ofthe first intensive course, from 28January to i t February is: The Econ­omy of Thailand 1800-1850. For thistopic we can use sources that werewritten in English or that have al­ready been translated into English.By taking this step we shall makethis course accessible to a wider au­dience.’

‘What do you want the students tolearn?’

‘I want them to learn how to readscientifically. That is the strength ofproperly trained academical people.How to select information from aseemingly overwhelming amount ofsources, and how to judge it. I wantto teach people how to handle infor­mation in a sovereign way.’

When the interview was over, wewalked to the railway station togeth­er. We strolled along taking longstrides. He was wearing black jeans,a sportsjacket, and carried a smallrucksack. We chatted casually and hecompleted some of the gaps in myinformation. He was going to staywith his brother that weekend. InHamburg he found a new life com­panion, she is a German professor.Would he ever go on a fieldworkagain? He says he hasn't thoughtabout it. Would I join his course?Yes, I would like to. Would I sendhim the concept of this interview forreview? That is a promise. ■

Professor Barend jan Terwielwill hold the HAS Special chair ‘Cultures o f

Mainland Southeast Asia’ at the Universiteit

Leiden between I September 1999 -/ September 2002

Alfred Daniels is an anthropologist.

E-mail: culturalanthropology.org@planet.nl

5 2. • has n e w s l e t t e r N?2i • February 2000

H A S N E WS

A Philosopher o f LeisureProfessorVincent ShenThe second occupant o f the European Chair o f Chinese Stud­ies, Professor Vincent Shen, decided to come to the Nether­lands only at the very last moment. His position as Presidento f the International Association o f Chinese Philosophy initial­ly forced him to decline the offer o f the Taiwanese Ministry ofEducation and the International Institute for Asian Studies.However, the intelligent approach adopted by the organizers,together with a sense o f obligation towards his cultural back­ground finally convinced him o f the chair’s importance:China’s traditional ‘Three Religions’, Confucianism, Bud­dhism, and Taoism, would be represented in the persons ofthe first three occupants o f the chair (the third occupant beingLin Chen-kuo, an expert in the field o f Buddhism). He ex­plained the importance o f individual freedom in Taoism, andillustrated his affinity with Taoism by inviting me for a beer.

By M AR K MEUL ENBELD

t is quite unusual fora scholar from Tai-

i wan to hang aroundin such immoral placesas Dutch pubs where al­cohol and tobacco are

consumed in more than modestquantities. But Shen Tsing-song (hisoriginal Chinese name) is nostranger to The European way of life.After finishing his master’s degree(comparative philosophy concerningtranscendental values in the phil­osophies of China and the West) atFu Jen Catholic University in Tai­wan, he studied philosophy at theCatholic University of Leuven in Bel­gium, where he obtained his PhD in1977. When I asked him what thereasons were behind his choice forLeuven, he assured me that it is nec­essary to know more about his overaleducational history in Taiwan, andhe began to expound on this.

T was born in 1949, the year thatthe communist regime in China wasestablished. I grew up in a villagewhere all the inhabitants bore thesurname Shen, and where the soleancestor temple in Taiwan that wasdedicated to the clan of Shen is locat­ed. My family has lived on Taiwanfor more than three hundred years -I might be called an authentic Tai­wanese. But by the time I was born,Taiwan had been flooded with na­tionalist immigrants from mainlandChina. They instigated an immedi­ate change in the Taiwanese educa­tional system, one that was adaptedto the needs of the nationalistregime and did not necessarily stressthe regional identity of the Tai­wanese: the nationalists still hopedto beat the communists on themainland and make a glorious re­turn to Beijing.

During my time in primaryschool, both of my parents were con­verted to the Roman Catholic faith,and I was raised with Christian val­ues. So, although my excellentgrades in high school would have al­lowed me to enrol at National Tai­wan University where most Tai­wanese students hope to go, I choseto study philosophy at Fu JenCatholic University. It was not only

the Christian background though,the more international orientationof Fu Jen also appealed to me. In theend this actually turned out to be de­cisive for my future because myteacher at Fu Jen was a Belgian pro­fessor from Leuven, who encouragedme to pursue my academic career inBelgium. And I thought that themost appropriate way to study West­ern philosophy would indeed be tostudy it in Europe, in a place withphilosophical traditions going backover six hundred years.

He described how it has become acustom for most young Taiwanesescholars to go abroad for study andcarry out research on Chinese topicsoutside of Taiwan. So, he com­plained, many Taiwanese study Chi­nese philosophy or literature in theUnited States. This development isnot to Shen’s liking at all. ‘They aremaking a mistake. In my opinion, ifyou go to a foreign country, youshould occupy yourself with indige­nous problems, and take advantage

'Never go againstyour

own nature is a piece

o f advice that sounds

as relevant today as

it must have been more

than zoooyears ago

of the local traditions. That’s reallyone of my principles. So when I wentto Leuven, it was clear to me that Iwas going to work in the Husserlarchives, and that I would have tostudy phenomenology and herme­neutics. I became acquainted withthe ideas of Blondel and Whitehead,philosophers who are hardly read inAsia. And as I occupy myself with thephilosophy of science, I belong to anabsolute minority in that respect.’

Shen believes that his combina­tion of foreign experience togetherwith a Roman Catholic backgrounddistinguishes him from most of hiscolleagues. T think this helps me un­derstand the peculiarities of a West­ern discourse more easily. Let’s notforget that many aspects of your cul­ture are related to Christianity insome way or another. The RomanCatholic church in Taiwan is not thesame as that in Holland or Belgium,but it still constitutes a great sourceof knowledge for me. It just helps,you know.’

Taoist EnvironmentalistsUpon returning to Taiwan in 1980,

he realized that time had come totake up the study of his own philo­sophical traditions and he devotedhimself to the study of Taoism andConfucianism. ‘There is an obviouscontinuity between my Belgianstudies of Whitehead, and my Tai­wanese studies on Chinese thought.There are a lot of striking similari­ties between the two. Reflections oncreativity, cosmology, and logic canbe found in either one of them. Tao­ism actually is quite scientificallyorientated in that it also takes na­ture and natural processes as thepoint of departure for all reasoning.

In Taiwan, we have seen some­thing of a Taoist revival. The envi­ronmentalists have discovered Tao­ism as a solid ideological foundationfor their movement, and the way inwhich they promote the Taoistphilosophical heritage almost makesthem a kind of neo-Taoists. In thatrespect, Taiwan is a very fascinatingcountry. I use to regard it as a suc­cessful advanced laboratory of tradi­tional Chinese culture in a moderncontext. In contemporary Taiwanesesociety there are many influencesfrom Taoism. I do not mean reli­gious Taoism, because that is obvi­ous, but rather philosophical Tao­ism. Traditionally, Chinese society ispatterned on Confucianist examples.Social intercourse, family relations,and ethical evaluations in generalcan be called Confucianist. Theystrongly emphasize social regula­tions and moral order, but in a mod­ernizing world, this started to be­come a burden. And with the tech­nological innovations of the 70s and80s, people felt a strong sense ofalienation in their more traditional-

ly orientated society. So many ofthem adopted ideas that may becalled Taoist: on the one hand therewas a tendency towards naturalism,and the natural order of things thatis so crucial to Taoism. On the other,in keeping with classic Taoist tradi­tions, more and more voices becameheard that were critical of govern­mental policies. Lao Zi, the leg­endary founder of Taoism, is famedfor his critique of rulership. But notonly the natural way of the world isrediscovered by modern Taiwanese,Taoism also has well-developed aes­thetics. One side effect of a booming

‘ifyou go to a foreign

country,you should

occupy yourself with

indigenous problems,

and take advantage o f

the local traditions’

in complete accordance with Shen’sown view of the world, as they bothadvocate a natural course of life.'Never go against your own nature’is a piece of advice that sounds asrelevant today as it must have beenmore than two thousand years ago.The first chapter of Zhuang Zi’sbook is called ‘Wandering Leisurelyand Free’, and according to Shen, ahuman being can only reach such ablissful state of freedom if he fol­lows his own nature.

To a man as pragmatic as VincentShen, it is clear that his stay in theNetherlands does not mean a Chi­nese monologue directed towardsthe Dutch. ‘The Dutch have madetheir contributions to Taiwan aswell, starting in the period that Tai­wan was still called Formosa. Theyoccupied Taiwan for many years,and for their missionary work theyneeded to study the language inorder to translate the Bible in Chi­nese. The earliest example of a ro-manization system for the Chineselanguage was developed by theDutch. And at present some featuresof the Dutch public transport sys-

I tern have been adopted by the city ofI Taipei. I have come to the Nether-I lands also to learn from you.’

Shen praises Dutch philosophersI such as the native-born ErasmusI and the adopted Spinoza. The latter

especially has interesting ideas onnature, that, according to Shen,have some similarities with Taoism.‘But in the Netherlands there hasnever been the need to develop ideasof visionary grandeur. Practitionersof Dutch philosophy and Dutch sci­ence have occupied themselves with

j meticulous discussions about par­ticular details, and they have donethat very well. But in Hollandeverything is very small, even sci-

economy is that people are findingthe money and the time to attachvalue to the beauty of things, theydemand an aesthetic evaluation ofthings. Taoism has a lot to offer inthat respect, as Chinese art is perme­ated with Taoist elements.’

Freedom and LeisureAmong students of sinology in

Leiden, Vincent Shen is best knownfrom his lectures on the structuresof meaning and logics in the writ­ings of the famous Taoist fourth-century BC philosopher Zhuang Zi.The ideas of Zhuang Zi seem to be

ence.

Professor Vincent Shen held theEuropean Chair o f Chinese Studiesa t the IIAS between 1 September 1998and 1 September 1999.

Professor Vincent Shen held the EuropeanChair for Chinese Studies at the IIASbetween I September 1998 andI September 1999.

Mark Meulenbeld studies religious

literature in the vernacular languageof late-Ming China.E-mail: Meulenbeld@hotmail.com

February zooo • iias n e w s l e t t e r >l?2i • 5 3

C L A R A N E W S2 6 ► 2 8 D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 9K A R A C H I , P A K I S T A N

RESEARCH PROGRAMME

' C H AN GI N GLABOUR

RELATIONSIN ASIA'

CLARA Programme Co-ordinator:

DR RATNA SAPTARIdo International Instituteof Social History (IISH)Cruquiusweg 3 I10 19 AT AmsterdamThe NetherlandsTel.:+ 3 1-20-668 5866Fax:+31-20-665 4181E-mail: chlia@iisg.nlhttp://www.iisg.nl/asia

CLARA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE- Prof.jan Breman (CASA-ASSR)

- Prof. Marcel van der Linden (IISH)

• Chair

- Prof.jan Lucassen (IISH)

- Dr Ratna Saptari (HAS / IISH)

• Secretary

- Prof. Willem van Schendel(University o f Amsterdam / IISH)

- Prof.Thommy Svensson (NIAS)

Conference on Labour in PakistanThe conference, the first o f its kind in Pakistan, had the forma­tive agenda o f initiating a dialogue and discussion betweentrade union activists and academics on Pakistani labour histo­ry on the changing labour relations in late twentieth century.

factory-based organized workers. Amajority of workers are employed ascasual or contract labourers and/orin the informal sector with female,home-based production processesand child labour becoming domi­nant forms of labour relations. Thespeaker argued that in light of thesechanges, Pakistani trade union poli­tics cannot be divorced from thelarger struggle for democratic normsand social justice in the country.Moreover, there is an urgent need torethink traditional forms of tradeunion politics and strategies for or­ganizing labour. Hence it is neces­sary to link the process of labourrights to the struggle for citizens’civil rights and the subsequent con­struction of a viable civil society.

The following three days of pre­sentations were divided into sessionson labour history, the constructionof class and community, the legal as­pects of labour problems, the historyof left-wing parties, and the contem­porary changes in labour relations.The discussions and responses im-

By K A M R A N ASDAR ALI

I he introductory ses­sion was marked byits emphasis on cre­

ating a central archive oftrade union politics. Ageneral appeal was made

to the participating trade union lead­ers and activist to donate relevant ma­terial consisting of reports, meetingmemoranda, pamphlets, posters,photographs, newsletters, correspon­dence, etc. Participants were also re­quested to give an interview either ontape or on camera in order to consoli­date, alongside a print archive, a col­lection of audio-visual resources atone primary site.

The first session, in the shape ofthe keynote address given by theconvenor of the Human RightsCommission of Pakistan, spelled outthe other major themes that becamethe central discussion agenda for thefollowing three days. The speakerstressed how the process of global­ization has reduced the number of

bued the arguments put forward inthe opening session with further nu­ances and subtleties. Papers, for ex­ample, demonstrated the historical­ly diverse and fragmented nature ofthe working class. Presenters em­phasized that labour organizationalefforts needed to take into accountthe fundamental role ethnic/cultur­al difference and religion play in thecreating of working class aspira­tions, consciousness, and politics.

A major contribution to the con­ference was the analysis of non-fac­tory based work processes and thelevel of union formation in thesesectors. Detailed examination waspresented on the working conditionsand plight of mineworkers, of rurallabour, of white collar bank employ­ees, of bonded labourers in brickmanufacturing, of child labour andof home-based, female labour in thegarment and other industries. Thesepresentations served to strengthen aset of pivotal papers on the decliningnumbers of factory-based workersand the expansion of non-formalsector which was increasingly ab­sorbing the majority of the workingpopulation in Pakistan. Argumentswere also presented criticizing thenarrowly focused trade union poli-

The garment industryin Australia, Indonesia,and Malaysia

By JAN E L L IO T T

R esearchProject I

Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia appear to have been ‘as­signed’ different roles within the ‘world system’ o f garmentproduction subcontracting. Or, more precisely, as part o f thevicissitudes o f the nature o f world trade, each country has em­barked on differing strategies for survival and success in worldmarkets.

have changed to a process of subcon­tracting referred to as ‘backyard in­dustry’. These changes in the con­temporary Malaysian garment in­dustry are part of a global process ingarment manufacturing in whichthe high level of competition meansemployers seek ways to find a supplyof cheap labour. Within Australia, forexample, a 1996 Senate Inquiry intothe restructuring of the garment in­dustry found that outworking andother subcontracting methods hadbecome so prevalent in the industrythat the entire industry had been re­structured around them.

In comparing the garment indus­tries in Australia, Indonesia, andMalaysia, this study aims to contex­tualize the industry in the threecountries within, and of, the ‘worldsystem’ of subcontracting. That is, toproduce an ethnography of the inter­relationship of the production pro­cess between the countries and its ef­fect on workers within the industry.

ndonesia’s role isone of articulation.Niche, export mar­

ket-focused cottage in­dustries are located inCentral Java and Bali,

while the modern textile and gar­ment industry is heavily concentrat­ed in Greater Jakarta and the provinceof West Java. The availability of plen­tiful, cheap labour in Bali (and geo­graphical proximity) means that Aus­tralian entrepreneurs and/or manu­facturers prefer that base to subcon­tract the making of garments for theAustralian domestic market andoverseas. In Malaysia, regional differ­ences and strategies are the factorsdriving the mix of factory and homeproduction. In the last two to threeyears, with the shifting of large facto­ries to the less developed states inMalaysia, the traditional manufac­turing states of Selangor and Penang

Whilst labour price has been a majorconcern, it is not the only factor insubcontracting. Other factors affect­ing production relate to skills and lo­calization of speciality. That is, thereare values attached to producing cer­tain items in specific places. Overall,the industry context is one of a mix­ture of high-tech and cheap labourwith seemingly no middle ground ascountries compete for markets andseek to protect their home industry.

The Asia Pacific Economic Co-oper­ation (APEC), the primary regionaleconomic body, which includesamong its member nations Australia,Indonesia, and Malaysia, espouses the‘ultimate goal’ of free trade in theAsia Pacific. However, this goal has tobe negotiated within a complex webof individual country aims and de­mands, and concerns about the effectof the neo-liberal ideology of ‘freetrade’ and an ‘equal playing field’ onthe economic and social lives of theircitizens.

Within the overall aim of the pro­ject - to produce an ethnography ofthe industry in the three countries -the study will examine whether theWTO (World Trade Organization)rules are as positive for the clothing(garment) industry as the world body

assumes. It will then analyse the pos-itive/negative impacts on the indus­try with regard to workers and labourorganizations within the countries.Within this framework the studylooks at the global issues and pres­sures affecting the industry, howglobal pressures impact on each ofthe countries, and current union andworker responses to industry changeswithin the respective countries. It ishoped a comparative analysis, whichcuts across the developed/developingdivide, will elicit the issues of mostimportance for labour policy makersin a constantly changing industrylandscape.

Research for this project is beingfunded by the Centre for Asia PacificSocial Transformation Studies (CAP-STRANS) and the Institute of SocialChange and Critical Inquiry (ISCCI) ofthe University of Wollongong, Aus­tralia. ■

Researchers- Associate-Professor Adrian Vickers,

ISCCI (History and Politics Program),Co-ordinator Labour Program,CAPSTRANS

- Dr Jan Elliott, Research FellowLabour Program, CAPSTRANS

- Ms Vicki Crinis, PhD Candidate,ISCCI (History and Politics Program)

- Ms Michele Ford, PhD Candidate,ISCCI (History and Politics Program)

Contact Person:

Dr Jan ElliottE-mail: jan_elliott@uow.edu.au.

tics of plant-based unions and col­lective bargaining agents, whichhelps to undermine labour bargain­ing power in the ever- shrinking for­mal sector. Suggestions were put for­ward to organize labour in the infor­mal sector and also to pay attentionto industry-wide trade unions.

Finally legal and political prob­lems that would hinder the processof labour organization in the infor­mal sector were finally addressed byre-emphasizing the political processitself The discussion crystallizedaround the issue of how labour poli­tics has to address the diverse formsof prevalent working conditions andthe experiences lived within work­ing-class communities. A larger so­cial movement on democratic re­form and on a rights based agendawas thought to be the major form inwhich working men, women, andchildren in Pakistan would acquiretheir legitimate place in society. Thisprocess would help create a new andinclusive meaning of citizenshipwithin the context of Pakistani poli­tics.

Workshop participants committedthemselves to further co-operationand continuing dialogue. Proposalswere made for regional co-operationand sharing of experiences with re­searchers from South Asian and Mid­dle Eastern countries. In this regarda timetable was tentatively proposedto organize a comparative regionallabour workshop at the end of thecoming two years. Concrete under­takings were also given by all thetrade union activists and leaders forproviding resource material for thearchives. They were persuaded toidentify key individuals who couldbe a part of a proposed oral historyproject on Pakistani labour history.A consensus also developed on long-term and short-term research agen­da which would incorporate histori­cal and contemporary situations. Fi­nally, a commitment was made to asocial action based research enablinga close association among the partic­ipating academics and labour ac­tivists. ■

The conference was organized by the

Pakistan Institute o f Labour Education and

Research (PILER) with partial support from

the Changing Labour Relations in Asia

(CLARA).

Speakers: I.A. Rehman, Khizer Humayun

Ansari, KaramatAli and Christopher

Candland, Sarah Ansari, Kamran AsdarAli,

Usman Baloch, Riffat Hussain, Fasihuddin

Salar, Allana Hingoro, Hasan Karrar, Ahmad

Saleem, Abdul Aziz Memon, Ehsan Azeem

Siddiqi, Saleem Raza.Ali Amjad, Nabi Ahmad,

M uhammad Waseem.Jaffar Ahmad, Hamza

Ali,Yunas Samad, I fikhar Ahmad, Asad Sayeed,

Mir ZulfiqarAli, Umer Abbas, Farhat Parveen.

5 4 • IIAS n e w s l e t t e r n ?21 • February 2000

C L A R A N E WS

2 2 > 2 4 N O V E M B E R 1 9 9 9B A N G K O K , T H A I L A N D

Subcontract Labour in AsiaBy RATNA SAPTARI

ubcontracting arran­gements, where pro­duction is decentral­

ized and conducted out­side the formal work­place, or labour is ob­

tained and controlled through inter­mediaries, have been familiar fea­tures in the history of labour. Thesearrangements whether driven bylabour shortage or by labour surplussituations, by fluctuating consumermarkets or by the strengthening de­mands of organized labour, are notonly characteristic of developingeconomies in the contemporary peri­od but also of the Western industrial­ized countries both in the past andpresent. Therefore one cannot de­scribe the development of work orga­nization and labour relations as fol-

a stage of decentralized labour rela­tions to a more centralized one, asvarious descriptions regarding theindustrialization process have tendedto do in describing industrializationin the West. The logical question isthat, if we cannot use a linear frame-work to describe the development ofwork organization in Asia, and if wetake into account the diversities oflabour arrangements which are em­bedded in different institutionalframeworks, how can comparativeand historical studies help us to ex­amine and explain these diversities?And what are the similarities andcontinuities that can be identified?

These broad questions became theterms of reference for the papers ofthe workshop which covered a di­verse range of sectors, different levelsof analysis, different historical peri­ods, and geographical areas. The gen­eral situation of subcontracting

showing the way in which produc­tion is organized in a decentralizedmanner utilizing a combination offamily/household labour and wagelabour and often deploying ‘tradi­tional’ recruiting institutions cover­ing the industrial, service and agri­cultural sectors was shown in themany case studies from India, Philip­pines, Thailand, Korea, Indonesia,Vietnam, Malaysia. In periods oflabour shortage extra-economicmethods (sanctions, physical punish­ment) were used to obtain labour incombination with economic mea­sures (bonuses, higher wages, or thecreation of dual markets). However,in periods of labour surplus and withthe stronger role of capital, the rela­tively low cost of labour, the weakrole ofunions and the lack of employ­ment opportunities such measureswere no longer needed. The latter sit­uation is reflects the contemporary

situation in most parts of Asia, whichone speaker has termed a ‘buyer-dri­ven’ situation, which he distinguish­es from a ‘producer-driven situation,characterized by a need for special­ized knowledge rather than cheaplabour. The various papers also dis­cussed the different categories oflabour (based on gender, ethnicity,and age-group) and the different def­initions of skill which emerged out ofthese subcontracting arrangements.Although most of the empirical stud­ies did not look into the consequencesof subcontracting arrangements forlocal politics and community life,community organizers from Thai­land involved with homeworkers indifferent parts of their countrybrought up the problems of organiz­ing homeworkers particularly in rela­tion to trade unions. It was recog­nized that in looking at the nature oflabour relations in subcontractingarrangements and the consequencesthese have on workers in the work­place and outside the workplace, anunderstanding of such processes can­not be achieved without looking atthe broader picture and the historicaldimension in which these relationsare situated.

The conference ‘Subcontract Labourin Asia’ was jointly organized byCLARA (Changing Labour Relations inAsia) / CUSRI (Chulalongkorn Univer­sity Social Research Institute) andHOMENET, Thailand.

Speakers were: Frederic Deyo, AlecGordon, Ravi Ahuja, Irene Norlund,Jan Lucassen, Sietze Vellema, NapatSirisambhand, Isabelle Vagneron,Insoo Jeong, Roli Talampas, ErwanPurwanto, Neetha N. Pillai, RatnaSaptari, Indrasari Tjandraningsih andErnawati, Rajeev Sharma, RakawinLeechanavanichpan, Adrian Vickers,and Jan Elliott. ■

Applications may be sent to:Search Committee Visiting FellowshipCLARA (Dr Ratna Saptari IProf. Marcel v.d. Linden)International Institute o f Social History

Cruquiusweg 3 11019 AT AmsterdamTel.:+31-20-668 5866Fax:+31-20-665 4181E-mail: rsa@iisg.nl

lowing a linear process starting from

( A d v e r t i s e m e n t )

VISITINGFELLOWSHIPCLARAPROGRAMME

NEW POSITION

T he Changing La­bour Relations inAsia (CLARA) Pro­

gramme, which is a col­laboration between theInternational Institute

for Asian Studies (HAS) in Leiden-/Amsterdam and the InternationalInstitute of Social History (IISH) inAmsterdam, invites applications fora CLARA Visiting Fellowship whichwill be based at the IISH.

Requiremenrs/Qualificadons:a. A doctorate (PhD based on

research in the humanities orsocial sciences);

b. Already conducting ongoingresearch, focusing squarely onlabour issues in Asia;

c. Candidate must be Asia-based;d. The research should be

comparatively and historicallyinclined;

e. A high quality and original articlemust be produced at the end ofthe fellowship.

Information aboutthefellowship/applicationprocedures:

a. Applications must be submittedbefore 31 May 2000;

b. Applications include a researchproposal/topic, a list ofpublications, and two referees;

c. The fellowship must be taken upin 2000;

d. Duration of the fellowship isthree months;

e. The work will be carried out at theIISH in Amsterdam;

f. The visiting fellow will be offeredhousing, an allowance and theinternational travel expenses.

Sardarni KuljitBindra Chairin Sikk Studies

H O F S T R A U N I V E R S I T Y announces the establishment of

Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies. The Department ofPhilosophy and Religious Studies invites applications for a tenure-track positionin the field of Sikh Studies with broad preparation in South Asian Religions.Applicants should have familiarity with classical texts in their original languages,and field experience in South Asia. Demonstrated interdisciplinary interests aredesirable. Teaching responsibilities include Introduction to Eastern Religions,

upper-level courses in South Asian Religions and Sikh Studies.

The chair holder will also be expected to play a leadership role in the development ofSikhStudies. The endowment of the Chair will include support for scholarly conferences atHofstra and travel for research purposes. Requirements: Ph.D. or expectation of Ph.D.by August 2000. Some undergraduate teaching experience is preferred. Applications will

be received through March 30,2000 or until the position is filled.

Hofstra University is a comprehensive educational institution enrolling 8000 full timeundergraduates and 5000 graduate and part time students in all areas of the Liberal Artsand Sciences as well as in Business, Communication, Education, Engineering and Law.Our 238 acre residential campus is located in suburban Long Island, just 25 miles fromManhattan. AA/EO Send complete dossier (including letter of application, writing sample,three letters of reference and evidence of teaching proficiency) to Search Committee A,Department ofPhilosophy and Religious Studies, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549.

February 2000 • has n e w s l e t t e r NS21 • 5 5

T H E ESF A S I A C O M M I T T E E N E WS ■Asi a Commit tee

E U R O P E A N S C I E N C E F O U N D A T I O N

ESF OFFICEI quai Lezay-Marnésia67080 Strasbourg CedexFranceTel.:+33-388 76 71 51Fax:+33-388 37 05 32http://www.esf.org

By SABINE A.M. KUYPERS

WorkshopsA rising from the

decisions takena A by the Asia Com­mittee in July 1999, a ‘callfor workshops to take

place in 2001’ was issued in Novem­ber 1999. This call was also publishedin the HAS Newsletter 20. The dead­line for the submission of workshopproposals was 1 February 2000; a dateatj^hich this Newsletter was already

THE ESFIN A NUTSHELL

The European Science Foundation(ESF) acts as a catalyst for thedevelopment of science by bringingtogether leading scientists andfunding agencies to debate, plan andimplement pan-European scientificand science policy initiatives.

The ESF is an association of morethan sixty major national fundingagencies devoted to basic scientificresearch in over twenty countries.It represents all scientific disciplines:physical and engineering sciences, lifeand environmental sciences, medicalsciences, humanities and socialsciences.The Foundation assists itsMember Organisations in two mainways: by bringing scientists togetherin its scientific programmes, networksand European research conferences,to work on topics of commonconcern; and through the joint studyof issues of strategic importance inEuropean science policy.

The ESF maintains close relationswith other scientific institutionswithin and outside Europe. By itsactivities, the Foundation adds valueby co-operation and co-ordinationacross national frontiers andendeavours, offers expert scientificadvice on strategic issues, andprovides the European forum forfundamental science.

ESF OFFICEMrs Marianne Yagoubi orMs Madelise BlumenroederI quai Lezay-Marnésia67080 Strasbourg Cedex, FranceTel.:+33 388 767151Fax: +33 388 370532E-mail: mblumenroeder@esf.orgHttp://www.esf.org

SECRETARIAT OFTHE ESF ASIA COMMITTEE

International Institute for Asian Studiesatt. of: Drs Sabine A.M. Kuypersor Drs Marieke te BooijRO.Box 9515,2300 RA LeidenThe NetherlandsTel.:+31-71-527 22 27Fax:+31-71-527 4 1 62http://www.iias.nl/esfac

ESF AsiaCommitteeNewsin print. The proposals will be sentto external referees for evaluation(February/March). On the basis ofthese evaluators’ reports, the AsiaCommittee will make a final selec­tion during its annual meeting inMadrid in June 2000.

Some of the workshops that wereselected during the 1999 meeting forAsia Committee’s support have al­ready taken place. On 26-27 August1999, in Hong Kong, PR China, theworkshop Chinese Transnational En­terprises and Entrepreneurship in Pros­perity and Adversity: South China andSoutheast Asia during the twentieth Cen­tury, took place. The workshop Preser­vation of Dunhuang Manuscripts andCentral Asian Collections was held on7-12 September 1999, in St Peters­burg, Russia [see report in IIASNewsletter 20). A third ESF AsiaCommittee workshop was organizedin Copenhagen, Denmark from 28-30October 1999: Mongolians from Coun­try to City: Floating Boundaries, Pas-toralism, and City Life in the MongolLands during the 20th Century.

Reports of the meetings 1 and 3may be found in this section of theNewsletter.

P ublica tion G ran ts &Program m e DevelopmentThe Asia Committee 1999-2001 de­

cided not only to support work­shops, but also to award small grantsfor possible publications derivingfrom the selected workshops. Someorganizers have applied for suchgrants. At the moment, the organiz­ers of the workshop Chinese Transna­tional Enterprises and Entrepreneurshipin Prosperity and Adversity: South Chinaand Southeast Asia during the twentiethCentury are preparing a publicationbased on the workshop’s results.This publication is expected in au­tumn 2000.

In the framework of ‘Programmedevelopment’, it was decided to con­tinue support for two research pro­grammes that had been set up dur­ing the Asia Committee’s first man­date period [1994-1997J and that hadobtained earlier support from theAsia Committee: ij ‘East-West Envi­ronmental Linkages Network’ [EWEL],and 2) ‘Changing Labour Relations inAsia’ (CLARA). Both programmes willreceive support for their publica­tions planned for 2000. A state of theart of EWEL, partly supported by theAsia Committee, is printed in this

newsletter. For more information onthe CLARA programme, please seethe CLARA section in this Newslet­ter, pp. 54-55.

Decisions on supporting the de­velopment of new research pro­grammes, will be taken by the fullAsia Committee, probably only afterthe workshops that were selected in1999, have taken place.

FellowsIn 1998, on the basis of earlier ex­

periences and an international re­viewers’ report (December 1997), itwas decided that the Asia Committeeshould continue a long-term fellow­ship scheme and that this should besupplemented by a short-term grantscheme allowing young researchersto help create institutional co-opera­tion such as joint research pro­grammes. Because of the limited fi­nances that are available, it will notbe possible to attract new long-termfellows in the near future. On thebasis of workshop results and deci­sions to be taken with regard to pro­gramme development, in futureshort-term grants may be awardedwithin the framework of pro­gramme development.

In 1997 the ESF Asia Committeewas able to select three research fel­lows with the assitance of financialaid of the IIAS/Strategic Alliance: DrGiovanni Vitiello; Dr Martin Ramst-edt; and Dr Evelyne Micollier. DrRamstedt and Dr Micollier, sta­tioned at the HAS in Leiden and Ams­terdam respectively, are still con­ducting research, working on‘Hindu Dharma Indonesia - theHindu-movement in present-dayIndonesia and its influence in rela­tion to the development of the in­digenous culture of the Toraja (AlukTodolo) in South Sulawesi’ (until 30November 2000) and on ‘Practicesand Representations of Health andIllness in the Context of Chinese

Culture. Interactions with socialfacts (illness prevention and Humanreality of AIDS)’ (until 1 July 2000).Dr Cecilia Milwertz, stationed at theUniversity of Oxford, finished herterm as ESF fellowship in AugustL999-

MeetingsThe full Committee, as stated

above, will convene in Madrid on 15-16 June 2000. In the mean time, anAsia Committee working group,called the ‘Executive Group’ (seeIIASN 20), met in Leiden, on 4 No­vember 1999. It will hold anothermeeting in Lisbon in April 2000. TheExecutive Group meetings serve todiscuss the implementation of deci­sions taken by the full Committee inmore depth, or to prepare its meet­ings. Members of the ExecutiveGroup are: Prof. Thommy Svensson(Asia Committee’s Chairman); Prof.Jean-Luc Domenach (Vice-Chair­man); Prof Wim Stokhof (Secretary);Prof Klaus Antoni; Prof. Terry King;and Prof. Rosa Maria Perez.

E stab lish m en t o f theConference o f the Presidentso f th e ~fo e E uropean A ssociationsor A sian Studies

On 5 November 1999, Leiden, theExecutive Group met the chief exec­utives of the six European associa­tions for Asian Studies: the Associa­tion for Korean Studies in Europe(AKSE); the European Association forChinese Studies (EACS); the Euro­pean Association for Japanese Stud­ies (EAJS); the European Associationfor South Asian Studies (EASAS); theEuropean Society for Central AsianStudies (ESCAS); and the EuropeanAssociation for South East AsianStudies (EUROSEAS). The associa­tions were represented by: Dr T.Atabaki (President ESCAS); Dr P.Boomgaard (Secretary EUROSEAS);Prof G. Dudbridge (President EACS);Dr P. Kornicki (President EAJS); ProfD. Kolff (Secretary EASAS); and ProfW. Sasse (President AKSE).

During the meeting it was decidedto set up a Conference of the Presidentsof the European Associations for AsianStudies. The aim of the Conferenceshall be to provide a forum of dia­logue all about the field of AsianStudies and to make joint efforts tosecure and enlarge this field of studyand research at a European level.

The Conference will consist of thePresidents (or their representatives)of the six European associations forAsian Studies, and of the ESF Asia

ESF ASI A C O M MI T T E E FELLOWS

Dr Evelyne Micollier (Aix-en-Provence)Stationed at: IIAS, Leiden, the NetherlandsTopic: ‘Practices and Representations of

Health and Illness in the Context ofChinese Culture. Interactions withsocial facts (Illness prevention andHuman reality of AIDS)’

Period: July 1998 - July 2000

Dr Martin Ramstedt (München)Stationed at: IIAS, Leiden, the NetherlandsTopic: Hindu Dharma Indonesia -The Hin-

du-Movement in Present-Day Indonesiaand its Influence in Relation to the De­velopment of the Indigenous Culture ofthe Toraja (Aluk Todolo) in South Sulawesi

Period: December 1997 - December 2000

Committee’s Chairman, Vice-Chair­man, and Secretary. The Conferencewill meet annually and will be fund­ed and administered by the ESF AsiaCommittee. Chairmanship will beon a rotating basis.

In tern a tion a l Conventiono f Asia Scholars z (I CAS z],Berlin zo o 1The first International Conven­

tion of Asia Scholars (ICAS 1) tookplace in Noordwijkerhout in June1998. It was organized by the HAS, inconjunction with the Association forAsian Studies (AAS), Ann Arbor, USA,and the European Science Founda­tion Asia Committee. Approximately800 people from the United States,Europe and, to a lesser extent, fromAsia and Australia attended. The Eu­ropean associations for Asian Studiesparticipated actively in the confer­ence. A second ICAS (ICAS 2) isplanned for Berlin, Germany, in2001.

ICAS 2 will be organized by theFreie Universitat Berlin, the AAS,and the ESF Asia Committee. Plansare being made for the greater in­volvement of Australian and Asianparticipants c.q. institutions. As forICAS 1, the Asia Committee will sup­port ICAS 2 as ‘patron’ (but no finan­cial contribution can be made). Dur­ing the November meeting with theEuropean associations for AsianStudies (see above), the organizer ofICAS 2, Prof E. Sandschneider (FreieUniversitat Berlin), gave a presenta­tion on the plans for ICAS 2. All sixEuropean associations consented toco-operate in ICAS 2. They agreed tonominate scholars to become mem­bers of the 'programme committee',which is to make a selection of pan­els and presentations.

M em bersh ipProf Jan Breman, member of both

the ESF Asia Committee and theAcademia Europea, consented to be­come an observer of the AcademiaEuropea at the Asia Committee.

BrochurefResearch prospectusThe ESF Asia Committee 1999-2001

Research Prospectus is to be printedin February 2000. Copies may be ob­tained from the Asia Committee’s Sec­retariat at the address below. The textis also available on www.iias.nl/esfac.General data, news about the AsiaCommittee; workshop and fellowshipproposals and reports may be foundin this section of each HAS newsletterand on the Internet address as givenabove. ■

For general ESF Asia Committee informationand for information on workshops you maycontact the ESF Asia Committee Secretariator the ESF Office at the addresses mentionedin the side-bar on this page.

5 6 ■ I I AS N E W S L E T T E R “N? 2 1 • February 2000

ESF A S I A C O M M I T T E E N E WS

A U G U S T 1 9 9 9

2 6 - 2 7 A U G U S T 1 9 9 9

Hong Kong, PR ChinaChinese Transnational Enterprises and

Entrepreneurship in Prosperity andAdversity: South China and Southeast Asia

during the twentieth century.For more information please visit

the conference website:www.iias.nl/iias/research/qiaoxiangor

contact Dr Cen Huang or Dr Leo Douw atE-mail: cenhuang@hotmail.com or

douwl@let.vu.nl.

S E P T E M B E R 1999

7 - 1 2 S E P T E M B E R 1 9 9 9

St Petersburg, RussiaPreservation o fD m huang and

Central Asian CollectionsProfessor Yu A Petrosyan,

Head of the Manuscript Fund ofthe St. Petersburg Branch o f the Institute

of Oriental Study, Russian Academyof Sciences

or Dr M.I. Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya,Supervisor o f the Manuscript Fund

E-mail: orient@ieos.spb.su ororient@thesa.ru

O C T O B E R 1 9 9 9

2 8 - 3 0 O C T O B E R 1999Copenhagen, Denmark

Mongolians jrom Country to City:floating boundaries, pastoralism,and city life in the Mongol lands

during the 20* centuryConvenors: Dr Li Narangoa

(contact person) and Dr Ole BruunE-mail: nara@nias.ku.dk

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 0

1 9 - 2 0 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 0

Coventry, Great BritainMigration, Urban Development

and Demographic Change in Punjab1890s-1990s

Dr Ian Talbot, Centre for South AsianStudies, School o f International Studies

and Law, Coventry University,Priory Street, CVi 5FB Coventry,

United KingdomE-mail: 106432.1724@compuserve.com

M A R C H 2 0 0 0

1 - 3 M A R C H 2 0 0 0

Seoul, KoreaGood Government, Eastern and Western

Perspectives: 4^ EPCReN WorkshopDr Geir Helgesen, Nordic Institute of

Asian Studies, Leifsgade 33,2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark

Fax: +45-32-96 25 30E-maih geir@nias.ku.dk

1 5 - 1 7 m a r c h 2 0 0 0

London, Great BritainInterpreting Asian Cultures in Museums:

displays, activities, strategiesDr Brian Durrans, Department ofEthnography, British Museum,

6 Burlington Gardens, London W1X 2EX,Great Britain

Tel.: +44-207-323 8027Fax: +44-207-323 8013

E-mail:bdurrans@ british-m useum .ac.uk

1 6 - 1 7 m a r c h 2 0 0 0

Bonn, GermanyDemographic Developments and Value

Change in Contemporary Modem Societies -East Asian and Western societies in

comparative perspectiveDr Axel Klein, Forschungsstelle

Modemes japan, Regina-Pacis-Weg 7,0-53113 Bonn

Tel.: +49-228-737023Fax:+49-228-735054

A g en d a

AgendaThe Committee selected 15 workshops(from a total o f some 75 applications)

which will enjoy itssupport/or1999/2000. T he fo llo w in g proposals re­

ceived ESF AC fin a n c in g . For contact ad­dresses, please refer to the International

Con/erence Agenda.

A P R I L 2 0 0 0

7 -9 APRIL 2000Uppsala, Sweden

Indigenous People: the trajectory o fa contemporary concept in India

Dr B. G. Karls son, The Seminar forDevelopment Studies, Uppsala

University, Övre Slottsgatan i,S-753 10Uppsala, Sweden

Tel: +46-18-471 6852Fax:+46-18-120832

E-mail: beppe.karlsson@uland.uu.se

2 7 - 2 9 A P R I L 2 0 0 0

Louvain-la-Neuve, BelgiumBuilding the Social Safety Net for Asian

Societies in TransitionProfessor Ronald Anderson, IRES,University catholique de Louvain,

Place Montesquieu 3,B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Tel:+32-10-47 4146

Fax: +32-10-473945E-mail: anderson@ires.ucl.ac.be

M A Y 2 0 0 0

8 - 1 0 M A Y 2 0 0 0

Amsterdam, the NetherlandsBrokers o f Capital and Knowledge:

producer services and social mobilityin Provincial Asia

Dr Heidi Dahles, Centre for Asian StudiesAmsterdam (CASA), Het Spinhuis,

Oudezijds Achterburgwal 185,1012 DK Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Fax: +31-20-444 6722E-mail: brokers@pscw.uva.nl

2 3 - 2 4 m a y 2 0 0 0

Amsterdam, the NetherlandsGender and the Transmission o f Values

Systems and Cultural Heritagefs) inSouth and Southeast Asia

Professor S. Leydesdorffor Dr FrancesGouda, Belle van Zuylen Instituut,

Universiteit van Amsterdam, Rokin 84-90,1012 KX Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Fax:+31-20-525 22 19E-mail: leydesdorff@pscw.uva.nl or

fgouda@aol.com

2 5 - 2 6 m a y 200 0Budapest, Hungary

The Last Decade o fMigrationjromthe People's Republic o f China to Europe

and AsiaDr Pal D. Nyiri at both

nyirip@mail.matav.hu andnyirip@yahoo.com.

2nd InternationalConvention ofAsia Scholars

EUROPEAN A S S O C I A T I O N SFOR

ASI AN STUDI ES

In the autumn o f zooi, the German Association of Asian Stud­ies (DGA) will organize the Second International Conventionof Asia Scholars (ICAS z) in Berlin,

S hort N ew s ICAS 2 w ill be orga­nized in co-operation

__ w ith ‘A rbeitsstelleI P o litik C hinas u n d Os-

%3ÊL I tas ien s’ (C enter for C hi­nese and East Asian Poli­

tics), Free U niversity o f Berlin, theAssociation for Asian Studies (AnnArbor), th e ESF Asia C om m ittee andsix E uropean associations for AsianStudies (AKSE, EACS, EAJS, EASAS,ESCAS, and EUROSEAS).

The p rogram m e will be discussedand d e te rm in ed by a p rog ram m ecom m ittee w h ich consists o f repre­sen tatives o f all sponso ring and su p ­p o rtin g associations. The procedurew ill follow th e experiences o f ICAS 1,

w hich took place in June 1998 in N o-ordw ijkerhou t, th e N etherlands,and w hich was organ ized by th e HAS.It is hoped th a t the P rogram m eC om m ittee o f ICAS 2 w ill have itsfirs t m ee tin g in June 2000 in Berlin.

M ore in fo rm a tio n an d new devel­opm en ts w ith regards to ICAS 2 w illbe pub lished in fu tu re issues o f th isN ew sletter. ■

ICAS 2 organizing unit:Prof. Dr Eberhard SandschneiderArbeitsstelle Politik Chinas und Ostasiens,

Freie Universitat Berlin

Ihnestr. 2 2 . D - /4 I9 S Berlin, Germany

E-mail: sandschn@zedat.fu-berlin.de

ASSOCIATION FOR KOREANSTUDIES IN EUROPE, AKSE

Prof. Werner Sasse (President)E-mail:

or5a007@rrz.uni-hamburg.deSecretariat:

d o DrYoung-sook PakE-mail:

Yp@soas.ac.ukhttp://www.dur.ac.uk/~dmuOrcp/aksepage.htm

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OFCHINESE STUDIES, EACS

Prof. Glen Dudbridge (President)

E-mail:glen.dudbridge@orinst.ox.ac.uk

Secretariat:d o Prof. Christian Henriot

E-mail:chenriot@ish-lyon.cnrs.frhttp://www.soas.ac.uk/eacs

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FORJAPANESE STUDIES, EAJS

Dr Peter Kornicki (President)

E-mail:pk 104@hermes.cam.ac.uk

Secretariat:d o Prof. Werner Pascha

E-mail:eajs@uni-duisburg.dehttp://www.eajs.org/

EUROPEAN SOCIETY FORCENTRAL ASIA STUDIES, ESCAS

Dr Turaj Atabaki (President)E-mail:

Turaj.Atabaki@let.uu.nlSecretariat:

d o Dr Gabriele Rasuly-PaleczekE-mail:

gabriele.rasuly@univie.ac.athttp://www.let.uu.nl/~escas/

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FORSOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES,EUROSEAS

Prof.Thommy Svensson (President)

E-mail:thommy.svensson@smvk.se

Secretariat:d o Prof. Peter Boomgaard

E-mail:EUROSEAS@rullet.leidenuniv.nlhttp://www.iias.nl/institutes/kitlv/euroseas.html

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FORSOUTH ASIAN STUDIES, EASAS

Prof. Dr Dieter Rothermund (President)

E-mail:agS@vm.urz.uni-heidelberg.de

Secretariat:d o Prof. Dirk Kolff

E-mail:Kolff@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

J U N E 2 0 0 0

2 - 4 J U N E 2 0 0 0

Oslo, NorwayHuman and Regional Security

around the South China SeaMr Johan Henrik Nossum,

Centre for Development andthe Environment, P.0 . Box 1116 Blindern,

N-0317 Oslo, NorwayTel. +47-22-85 89 00Fax: +47-22-85 89 20

E-mail: j.h.nossum@sum.uio.nohttp://www.sum.uio.no/southchinasea/

2 1 - 2 3 J U N E 2 0 0 0

Paris, FranceMedicine in China. Health techniques

and social historyDr Frederic Obringer, Centre d’Etudes

sur la Chine Moderne et Contemporaine,54, boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris France

Fax: +33-1-4954 2078E-mail: obtinger@ehess.fr

7 - 8 J U L Y 2 0 0 0

[ p r o v i s i o n a l ]SOAS, London, Great Britain

Centre and Periphery in Southeast AsiaProfessor Anne Booth, Department of

Economics, SOAS, University o f London,Russell Square, London WCIHOXG,

Great BritainFax: +44-171-323 6277

E-mail: abio@soas.ac.uk

ESF ASIACO MMI T T E E

MEMBERS

The Asia Com mittee consists of thefollowing members nominated by theirrespective National Research Councils:

- Prof. Klaus Antoni (Germany)- Prof. Alessandro Avanzini (Italy)- Prof. Jan Breman (the Netherlands)- Prof. Jean-Luc D o m en ach

(France)- Prof. Jan Fagerberg (Norway)- Prof. Marc Gaborieau (France)- Prof. Carl le Grand (Sweden)- Prof.Terry King (Great Britain)- Prof. Reijo Luostarinen (Finland)- Prof. Wolfgang Marschall

(Switzerland)- Prof. John Martinussen (Denmark)- Prof. Rosa Maria Perez (Portugal)- Prof. Nicolas Standaert (Belgium)- Prof. Ernst Steinkellner (Austria)- Prof. Wim Stokhof (the Netherlands)

(secretary)- Prof. Thommy Svensson (Sweden)

(chairman)- Prof. Rudolf Wagner (Germany)

Observers are:- Prof.Taciana Fisac (Spain)- Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for

International Scholarly Exchange(Taiwan ROC)Association for Asian Studies(USA)

- Academia Europaea,Prof. Jan Breman (the Netherlands)

February 2000 • has n e w s l e t t e r n ?21 • 5 7

ESF A S I A C O M M I T T E E N E WS2 6 ► 2 7 A U G U S T 1 9 9 9H O N G K O N G

South China and Southeast Asia during the Twentieth Century

Chinese Transnational Enterprisesand Entrepreneurship

The ESF-sponsored conference, entitled ‘Chinese Transnation­al Enterprises and Entrepreneurship in Prosperity and Adver­sity: South China and Southeast Asia during the TwentiethCentury’ was the final one in the series o f international work-shops/conferences organized by the ‘Qiaoxiang Ties’ Pro­gramme o f the HAS. It was also an international collaborationbetween European scientific institutions and their Asian re­search counterparts.

■ By LEO DOUW,CEN HUANG, ANDELIZABETH SINN

he conference wassuccessfully held atthe University of

Hong Kong on 26-27 Au­gust 1999. Thirty scholarspresented twenty-three

papers at the two-day conference.The scholars came from 11 differentcountries and areas. Among themsix were from Australia, two fromCanada, six from China, three fromGermany, four from Hong Kong,one from Japan, one from SouthKorea, three from the Netherlands,two from Singapore, one from Tai­wan, and one from the United King­dom.

Professor Wong Siu-lun, the Vice-President of the University of HongKong, and also a well-known scholarof Chinese family business studies,delivered the opening speech andconcluding remarks on behalf of thehost institute. He had words of highpraise for the conference as an effortto establish academic co-operationbetween European and Asian schol­ars, and spoke out strongly infavour of further collaborationbetween the University of HongKong and the European ScienceFoundation.

The conference was considereda great success. It brought to­gether scholars from differentacademic disciplines and fromdifferent country and culturalbackgrounds to document anddissect the central dynamics ofChinese transnational enterpris­es in South China and SoutheastAsia. It examined how Chinesetransnational enterprises havebeen operated and managedacross borders, and how transna­tional entrepreneurship has af­fected industrial relations andmanagement styles in both re­gions in the twentieth century Italso investigated the relationshipbetween the current Asian crisis andChinese transnational enterprisesand their coping strategies. The con­ference achieved its goal in bringingEuropean and Asian scholars togeth­er to exchange research findings onthe research topic and to plan futureresearch co-operation. The researchfindings and discussions which

evolved during the conference areexpected to make significant contri­butions to the field of Chinesetransnational business studies, notonly on the basis of the empiricalfindings but also in the building upof a theoretical framework for the in­vestigation of Chinese transnationalenterprises.

Discussions were extremely livelyand comprehensively covered on theresearch themes outlined in the con­ference programme. Many issueswere raised and discussed among thescholars. The following is a briefsummary of the discussions. Overthe past century many Chinesetransnational enterprises have es­tablished a strong presence in SouthChina and Southeast Asia. Many oftheir successes have become subjectsof numerous academic investiga-tio'ns. Some attribute their successesto the cultural affinity they sharewith their homeland as well as theelaborate networks of qiaoxiang (Chi­nese hometown diaspora] ties theyhave set up and operated. Othersclaim that their operation and pres­ence is indicative of the gradualemergence of a unique form of dias-

‘Dicuporic appeals

are particu larly useful a t

the in itia tin g s tage o f

fo re ig n investment in

countries like C h in a ’

pora Chinese capitalism, networkcapitalism, or entrepreneurial capi­talism which is characterized byflexibility, invisibility, and familyorientation. However, such dis­courses are not unambiguous and donot pass uncontested. It was arguedthat transnational entrepreneurshipinvolves more than the utilization ofcultural and constructed social tiesto the homeland. It also requires

careful manoeuvering of values, atti­tudes, and behaviour across nationalboundaries and socio-cultural sys­tems as well as strategic responses tosudden and unanticipated changingpolitical and economic conditionsimposed by national governmentpolicies and international constella­tions. As South China and SoutheastAsia become integrated regionallyunder the forces of globalization dri­ving them through times of botheconomic prosperity and adversity,as evidenced by the rapid growth inthe 1980s and the current persistentfinancial crisis, an understanding ofthese ambiguities is both urgent andtimely. In addition, the scholars alsopaid close attention to the concepts,theories, and histories in the dis­course on Chinese transnational en­terprises, as well as to the documen­tation of the recent transformationof Chinese transnational enterprisesin terms of business structures,modes of operation, style of manage­ment, and crisis management strate­gies.

The following points and ques­tions evolved from presentationsand discussions at the conference:

l.The role o f culture inthe operation and in stitu tio n ­a lisa tion o f Chinese trans­nation a l firm s:The first major publication of the

Qiaoxiang Ties programme mappedout the 20th century history of Chi­nese efforts to build up a diaspora

which could support transna­tional trade and investment, anddescribed and discussed its insti­tutionalization and uses fortransnational business (Douw,Huang, and Godley 1999). One ofthe book’s conclusions is that di-asporic appeals are particularlyuseful at the initiating stage offoreign investment in countrieslike China, where claims of cul­tural affinity help bridge the gapbetween the situation in Chinaand that of the countries whereoverseas business people of Chi­nese descent reside. For manyreasons, the institutionalizationof the diasporic link appeared tobe weak, however, whichbrought up the question how, ifnot in the diasporic form, Chi­

nese transnational business enter­prise would otherwise be institu­tionalized.

Most of the papers at the work­shop confirmed that cultural dis­tinction is not the main factor influ­encing the operational mode of Chi­nese firms. For example, the profitsmade by firms of Hong Kongese, Tai­wanese, US, and Canadian back­ground in Tianjin’s Special Develop­

ment Zone apparently accord withvariations in firm size, type of prod­uct, and other non-cultural variables(Li and Zong]. The papers on Germanfirms active in China and on Ger-man-Sino joint-ventures confirmedthis finding, also emphasizing theimportance of non-cultural factorsin the field of human resource man­agement (Munder; Krieg, andNagels]. The prototypically ‘Chinese’patterns of family divisiveness werebroken through by the Eu Yang Sengpharmaceutics firm, first by a fortu­nate co-ordination of ownership andmanagement, and second, in theearly 1990s, by the soundly perceivedprospect of new market opportuni­ties in South China (Yeung]. Duringthe current Asian crisis the Chinesecharacteristics of transnationalfirms were apparently beneficial totheir survival, but at the same timethe incidence of market opportuni­ties was probably more decisive, so itwas found that Taiwanese high-techmultinationals generally did betterthan their Hong Kong real estatecounterparts (Ip, Tracy, Lever-Tracy].

z.L abou r m an agem en t inlabour-intensive industriesin South China.This issue evoked particularly in­

tense debate and is important be­cause it pertains to the institutionalgrounding of industrial relations inChina. The indictment of Taiwanesemanagers for imposing harshregimes on their workers was madein a paper which stressed the inci­dence of corporal punishment in thefactories concerned by giving de­tailed quantitative findings (Chan];these findings were contradicted andcomplemented by other statements,which emphasized the irrationalityof treating workers badly (SchakJ, orpointed out the workings of the pre­sent-day liberalized markets to thebenefit or the detriment of both em­ployers and workers, the latter usu­ally migrants (Huang].

3. M eth odo log ica l andtheoretical issues.Since this workshop was meant to

be a fact-finding exercise, it devoteda fair amount of time and energy tomethodological questions, mainlyregarding the obtainability and usesof reliable data. As to the more ex­plicitly theoretically oriented pa­pers, Siu-lun Wong’s discussion ofan ideal-typical centre of Chinesepower and culture dispersed over thepast century as a background to thepresent-day diffusion of economicpolicy decision making elicited astrenuous debate, and seemed aneloquent framework of reference forthe major themes of the workshop to

most participants. Douw’s paperraised the question of how politicalpower could be directed towards theestablishment of just economic in­stitutions.

P ublica tion plansThe outcome of the conference is

planned to be published as an editedvolume in 2000. It will be the secondbook in the series of the HAS ‘Qiaoxi­ang’ Ties Programme. The first bookentitled ‘Qiaoxiang Ties Interdisci­plinary Approaches to Cultural Capi­talism in South China’ was pub­lished in August 1999 (Douw,Huang, and Godley 1999, Kegan PaulInternational).

Proposed contentso f the volume:

1. Clarification of the concepts, theo­ries, and work in progress that arecurrently being contested and car­ried out in the discourse on Chi­nese transnational enterprises;

2. Illustrations of how overseas Chi­nese entrepreneurs historicallyhave restored and used their busi­ness ties and networks to organizetheir capital and labour to createnew business opportunities forgrowth and to restructure theirenterprises to adapt to and over­come problematic economic andsocio-political conditions.

3. Documentation of the recenttransformation of Chinese trans­national enterprises in terms ofbusiness structures, modes of op­eration, style of management, andcrisis management strategies inthe face of increasing internation­alization and globalization.

4. Investigation of the relationshipbetween the current Asian crisisand Chinese transnational enter­prises and their coping strategies.

5. Contribution to the continuedtheorizing about Chinese transna­tional enterprises. This includes adiscourse on the institutionaliza­tion of ties, networks, and Chinesetransnational enterprises and theexploration of the theory of decen­tring - the rise of entrepreneurialnetworks in Chinese society.

Future research p lanA web page for the above confer­

ence has been set up. It will be usedto connect interested scholars for fu­ture research co-operation. ■

The web-page address:www.iias.nl/research/qiaoxiang.

Leo Douw, Amsterdam UniversityCen Huang, International Institutefor Asian Studies

Elizabeth Sinn, University o f Hong Kong

5 8 • I I AS N E W S L E T T E R > « 2 1 • February 2000

I N S T I T U T E S I N T HE L I M E L I G H T

EU-ChinaAcademicNetworkRelations between China and European Union Member Stateshave expanded rapidly in recent years. The European Commis­sion’s announcement in 1995, o f a major policy initiative inthe form o f its ‘China Communication’, highlighted tile in­creasing significance o f China in Europe’s future external rela­tions. The establishment o f the EU-China Academic Networkis not unrelated to this initiative and to subsequent relateddevelopments that have flowed from it.

■ By ROBERT ASH

immu a s relations be-ZA tween China and

L J t EU Member Statesexpand, so Europeangovernments, industriesand service sectors are

having to confront a wide range ofissues relating to China. Althoughacademic and professional researchcommunities in Europe are uniquelyplaced to address these issues, fewformal institutional frameworkshave existed in the past to bring suchcommunities together. Through theinstitution of a programme of meet­ings - formal and informal - and

publications, the Network was es­tablished in order to provide aframework in which European spe­cialists can share their knowledge,discuss on-going research and ex­change views with government poli­cy-makers and representatives ofcorporate business mid other profes­sional bodies.

Such is tile background to the es­tablishment, in 1997, of the EU-China Academic Network (ECAN).Its primary purpose is to bring to­gether, physically and intellectually,the diverse community of specialistson contemporary China working inEU Member States. Among the broadgoals which ECAN seeks to fulfil are

( A d v e r t i s e m e n t s )

UatelWi£Ae£mina

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1075 CN AMSTERDAM

T h e N e t h e r l a n d s

t e l .: +31-20-662 54-67 / 664 0594

Fax: +31-20-679 2296

E - m a i l : w i l h l h t l @e u r o n e t . n l

King,Ucdel

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1017 P N A m s t e r d a m

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TEL.: +31-20-624 9603 / 627 6101

FAX: +31-20-620 7277

the following: to foster a communityamong EU specialists on contempo­rary China in universities and re­search institutions; to share researchfindings on China’s current and fu­ture development and to seek waysof stimulating collaborative re­search, to promote links betweenacademic experts and European poli­cymakers - and to promote links andcollaboration between Europeanspecialists on contemporary Chinaand their counterparts, in NorthAmerica, Australia and Asia.

ECAN also administers the EU-China Research Fellowship Fund(ECRFF). This Fund offers fundingsupport for European specialists onContemporary China to visit main­land China, Hong Kong, and Taiwanin order to undertake fieldwork orpursue archival research. ECRFFawards are made to outstandingpostgraduate students nearing com­pletion of their PhD research or topost-doctoral candidates at an earlystage in their academic or academic-related careers. The research propos­als of the candidates are expected toreflect work in a social science withspecial relevance to some aspect ofcontemporary development inChina. ECAN makes available up totwelve awards each year.

ECAN is managed from the Schoolof Oriental and African Studies of theUniversity of London. Its co-ordina­tor is Professor Robert Ash who over­sees the day-to-day work of ECANwith the support of an ExecutiveCommittee comprising ‘node’ insti­tutions of Chinese Studies s in sixother EU Member States. These are:Asien-instituttet (University ofCopenhagen, Denmark), Center forPacific Asia Studies (University ofStockholm, Sweden), Centre d etudessur la Chinese moderne et contem­poraine (Paris, France), Centro de Es-tudios de Asia Oriental, UniversidadAutónoma de Madrid (Spain), Insti-tut für Asienkunde, (Hamburg, Ger­many), and Sinological Institute(Universiteit Leiden, The Nether­lands).

In addition to these founding col­laborative institutions, InstitutionalMembership has recently been ex­tended to institutions Belgium, Fin­land, Greece, and Portugal. As well asthe core institutions mentionedabove, in any given country, otherinstitutions may join ECAN as Asso­ciate Members.

W orkshopsIn pursuit of its stated goals,

ECAN organizes two small-scale Pol­icy Workshops each year. Participa­tion in these Workshops is by invita­tion and comprises academic special­ists, as well as policy-makers frontindividual governments of EU Mem­ber States and die European Com­mission, and other professional rep­resentatives with an active involve­ment in China. ‘Me meetings are de­signed to establish closer links be­tween EU specialists on Contempo­rary China, while also making themost recent research and work-in-progress more readily available toEuropean policy makers. The fiveWorkshops that have so far beenheld have addressed a wide range ofpolitical, social, legal, economic, andenvironmental developments inChina. The most recent meeting washeld in Stockholm in May 1999. It

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was hosted by Prof Thomas Hart ofthe Center for Pacific-Asia Studies(University of Stockholm) and itstitle was Assessing the Interface BetweenEconomics and Politics in China. In ad­dition to Thomas Hart, speakers atthe Workshop included Dr Kjeld-Erik Brodsgaard (University ofCopenhagen), Dr Cyril Lin (St Antho­ny’s College, Oxford University),Prof. Thomas Scharping (Universityof Cologne), Dr Margot Schüller (In-stitut für Asienkunde) and Prof.Robert Ash (SOAS).

ECAN also holds an annual inter­national conference, which is hostedby an ECAN Member Institution andfield at a different location withinthe EU. In 1998 and 1999, these meet­ings were held in London andMadrid, in each case, they broughttogether senior academics and otherfigures from the United States, HongKong, China and Taiwan, as well asfrom within Europe. Speakers frommajor international organizations,such as the World Bank, Food andAgriculture Organization and Inter­national Energy Agency, have alsotaken part in ECAN Annual Confer­ences. At the time of writing, prepa­rations are well advanced for ECAN’sThird ECAN Conference, which willbe held in Copenhagen during 10-11February 2000 and co-hosted by theAsien-instituttet (University ofCopenhagen) and the Research Insti­tute of the Danish Foreign Ministry(DU PI). The Conference will addressquestions relating to China’s rela­tions with bordering countries andregions, as well as its changing glob­al role in the context of Post-Kosovogeo-politics.

Preparations are also under wayfor a Policy Workshop on China’s In­formation Revolution, with particularReference to the Telecommunications In-d us try, which will take place inHelsinki in May and be hosted bythe University of Turku.

It has been agreed that die pro­ceedings of each ECAN Annual Con­ference will be published and the

first two conference volumes are cur­rently in production with CurzonPress. Where circumstances permit,the proceedings of Policy Workshopswill also be made available in bookform. To date, one such volume hasbeen published under the title,China’s Economic Security (edited byWerner Draguhn ands Robert Ash)(Curzon Press, 1999). ■

ECAN is always pleased to receive

suggestions about future meetings and topics

for discussion. It also welcomes proposals

for collaborative research projects across EU

Member States, especially those involving

a Sino-EU or Sino-European dimensions.

These and any other enquiries (for example,

relating to membership o f ECAN) should

be addressed to Robert Ash or Liselot

Hertel at the following address:

ECANSOAS, University o f London

Thornhaugh Street

Russell Square

London,WC I H OXC

United Kingdom

Tel.:+44-171-637 6130

Fax:+44-1 71-6913422 /

+44-171-323 6277

E-mail: ecan@soas.ac.uk

February 2000 • has n e w s l e t t e r NC2 i • 5 9

I N S T I T U T E S IN T HE L I M E L I G H T

Seminar for Languages &Cultures of Central AsiaIt was Otto Spies (1901-81}, holder from 1951 o f the Chair o fthe Oriental Seminar in Bonn, with its concentration on re­search and teaching in the fields o f Semitic and Islamic Stud­ies, who, in the years 1958 and 1959, expanded his seminar bythe addition o f a Sinological Department and a MongolianDepartment alongside that for Japanology. Professor WaltherHeissig (1913-} was invited to come from Gottingen to becomeHead ofthe Mongolian Department. In 1964 the MongolianDivision was converted into an independent seminar, theSeminar for the Study o f the Languages and Cultures o f Cen­tral Asia, with Walther Heissig as director.

By VERONI KA VEIT

InstitutionalNews The newly estab­

lished Seminar forthe Study of the

Languages and Culturesof Central Asia devotedthe first years of its exis­

tence especially to the formation of amicrofilm library, and a xerox li­brary drawn from these microfilms.As time went on, this librarybrought together in facsimile formin one place all the manuscriptsfrom the relevant European libraries(Paris, London, Copenhagen, Stock­holm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Mos­cow, Leiden, Oslo, and so on) andfrom libraries in Asia, which were ofimportance to the Seminar. At first itwas manuscripts in the Mongolianand Tibetan languages which weremade accessible as facsimiles in theSeminar, but soon these were joinedby materials in the Manchu lan­guage, which were proving evermore indispensable. With its micro­film and xerox library, which nowfacilitated the study in their originalform and in a single place of widelyscattered manuscript materials, theSeminar laid the foundation-stonefor its international relations, whichhave become increasingly numerousat this library level over the years.

As the Central Asian areas whichbelonged, or which still belong, tothe national territories of the USSRand the People’s Republic of Chinaremained to all intents and purposesclosed during the sixties and seven­ties, the international relations ofthe Seminar first took the form of re­lations with Western, i.e. non-social­ist countries: France, Italy, England,the Benelux countries, Scandinavia(Denmark and Sweden in particular),as well as with the USA, Japan, andTaiwan, and their centres for thestudy of Central Asia (Institutes orOriental Schools, or Schools of Ori­ental and African Studies, for exam­ple In Paris, Venice, Rome, London,Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki,Bloomington, Seattle, Tokyo, Kyoto,Taipei). Students from the USA,Japan, and Canada studied at theBonn Seminar, and scholars fromthese countries worked by invitationin the Seminar library.

Research expeditions to Iran andAfghanistan at the end of the sixtiesand the beginning of the seventiestemporarily led to close academiccontacts between the Seminar and,for instance, the University of Kabuland its Anthropological ResearchDepartment (these were unfortu­

nately broken off because of the warsituation). Research visits by col­leagues and members of the Seminarwith Tibetological interests toNorth India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan,and Ladakh, which began in the sev­enties, and which, within the frame­work of various research pro­grammes and projects, continue upto the present, were reflected andstill are reflected in research visitsand guest professorships at the BonnSeminar on the part of Indian col­leagues.

The slow opening up of the SovietUnion and China, and also the estab­lishment of diplomatic relations be­tween the then Mongolian People’sRepublic and the Federal Republic ofGermany, expanded the contacts ofthe Seminar over the years in a bigway, as it were. Since the middle ofthe eighties Mongolian studentsfrom China, mostly from the InnerMongolian Autonomous Region,time and again have studied at theBonn Seminar, while research visitsby younger Mongolian colleaguesfrom the present-day Mongolian Re­public or from Inner Mongolia, fi­nanced through the German Acade­mic Exchange Service (DAAD), theHumboldt Foundation or the Ger­man Research Council (DFG), arenow likewise commonplace at theSeminar, and the same is true of thepresence of Chinese students fromthe People’s Republic of China andTaiwan, who pursue their doctoralstudies alongside each other in theBonn Seminar.

Through visiting professorships Iand research visits on the part of col­leagues from Russia, Poland, and |Hungary the opening up of Eastern jEurope has facilitated contacts with !relevant institutes of universities in |those countries (St. Petersburg,Moscow, Warsaw, Budapest), and hasalso provided improved possibilitiesof making use of archives there,which are still not easily accessible.As far as archives are concerned, inthe People’s Republic of China(Peking), colleagues in the Seminarhave quite recently, and against allexpectations, even been accorded thereal possibility of filming historicalmanuscript material which has longbeen hidden away or has remainedunknown up till now, and to developcollaboration with, for instance, the‘First Historical Archive of China inPeking’ or with archives in Shenyang(Mukden, in Manchuria). Signifi­cantly, collaboration with scholarsin St Petersburg in the field of re­search into Palaeo-Asiatic languages

has led to a situation in which theSeminar now counts as the most im­portant centre for research intoPalaeo-Asiatic languages outsideRussia.

The achievement of independenceby former member republics of theUSSR at the beginning of thenineties - the present-day indepen­dent Central Asian states of Kaza­khstan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, andTurkmenistan - has brought stu­dents from these states to Germany.Some of these students have takentheir doctorates at the Seminar.Through these students it has be­come possible to establish contactswith institutions within variousuniversities in the countries con­cerned, and also to plan or to initiatecollaboration within their researchprogrammes. The same is true ofthose republics within Russia, suchas the Republic of Buryatia, whichtoday enjoy quasi-independence.Collaboration with university insti­tutes with an interest in Mongolisticor Manchu-Tungusic Studies isbeing embarked upon here.

D ialect atlasFor years now, through the medi­

um of annually organized surveys,the Institute for the Mongolian Lan­guage ofthe Inner Mongolia Univer­sity in Hohhot has been workingwith the Bonn Seminar, on a dialectatlas of the Mongolian language ofInner Mongolia. The dialect materialwhich has so far been recovered, andthat within a relatively strict schemeof reference, originates from an areawhich corresponds roughly to thesize of Western Europe.

The establishment of an interdis­ciplinary Special Research Field (Son-derforschungsbereich, SFD) ‘Orien­

tal Studies with Special Reference toCentral Asia’ in 1969 proved to be ofdomestic significance. This institu­tion was based in the Seminar for fif­teen years, and in many respects itinfluenced the direction in whichthe Seminar was to develop. The fi­nancial resources of the Special Re­search Field has made possible thepromotion of the expansion of the li­braries of the participating Seminarsand the considerable intensificationof international academic collabora­tion and so on within the frameworkof co-operative work and of sym­posia. One of the main focuses of re­search within the SFB has been itsvery diversified Epic Research Pro­ject, which led to an equally diversi­fied interdisciplinary and interna­tional research programme, which isstill active producing materials.

Prof Walther Heissig retired in1980 and was succeeded by his pupil,Prof. Klaus Sagaster. Special atten­tion was paid to Tibetan lamaismduring this stage ofthe developmentof the Seminar. Prof Michael Weierstook over the leadership of the Semi­nar in 1990. The establishment of adiploma course: ‘Regional StudiesCentral / Middle Asia’ at the Seminarand a sweeping change in the situa­tion with regard to sources for Cen­tral Asia as many important Archiveshad become accessible were decisivein making it possible in recent yearsto come to grips, with support fromthe Philosophical Faculty, with Cen­tral Asian Turkology and Manchu-Tungusology, which are indispens­able to Central Asian studies.

The subject of the study of the lan­guages and cultures of Central Asiais to be seen, against the backgroundof this fact, both as philology and asdirected towards a type of studywhich depends upon field research.In its methodology the subjectadapts itself, according to speciality,to the linguistic, historical, religiousand geo-sciences, and also to pre andearly history and ethnology, themethods of which are to be modifiedas aspects of Central Asian Studiesmay require. Embracing a geograph­

ical area from the China Sea as far asregions to the west of the CaspianSea, and from the high mountainranges of Inner Asia as far as NorthSiberia, the subject finds itself con­figured internally in the subsectionsManchu-Tungusology, Mongolistics,Tibetology, Central Asian Turkology,with Palaeoasiatic Studies as a fringearea. Ideally, all the sub-sectionsshould be dealt with in the light oftheir historical and modern signifi­cance, but this will only be possiblewith the provision of adequate sup­port.

In this conception, this subject isrepresented in the whole of Europeonly in Bonn, and it views its centreof gravity, as far as research is con­cerned, as residing in basic research,that is, in rendering accessible writ­ten and recovered source materialand data from the regions of CentralAsia which are relevant to the sub­ject, and in the exploitation of thesame in respect of matters of histori­cal, current affairs, geographical,ethnographical, linguistic, literary,and religious scholarship. Withinthe framework of the various sub­sections everywhere there are directlinks with complexes o f ' problemsin subjects such as Japanology,Sinology, Indology, Uralic Studies,Islamic Studies, Byzantine Studies,Slavistics, East European Studies,Historical Geography, ComparativeReligious Studies, and General Lin­guistics, the investigation and adap­tation of which as teaching materialwill require close collaboration ineach case. ■

Professor Veronika VeitSeminar fur Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft

Zentralasiens

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms UniversitatBonn

Regina-Pacis-Weg 7

S 3 113 Bonn, Germany

Tel.: +49-228-73 7465

Fax:+49-228-73 7458

E-mail: upp 700@uni-bonn.de

The Instituteof InternationalRelationsThe Institute o f International Relations was originally found­ed on April 1, 1953, as the Association for International Rela­tions. Its chief purpose was to carry out analyses o f Chinesecommunist and international affairs for submission to thegovernment.

n 1961, the Associa­tion’s title waschanged to the Insti­

tute of International Re­lations of the Republic ofChina. Under the new

name, the IIR began to expand anddevelop contacts and exchange rela­tions with other academic institu­tions overseas. Since July 1, 1975, theIER has been affiliated with the Na­tional Chengchi University under the

shortened title the Institute of Inter­national Relations. On August 1,1996, the IIR was fully integrated intothe university, with academic re­search as the institution’s foremostpriority.

O rganizationThere are sixty-five full-time Re­

search Fellows at the IIR under theleadership of the Director Ho Szu-yin and Deputy-Directors Wu Jaush-

ieh Joseph and Lee Kuo-hsiung. TheResearch Fellows and their researchactivities are divided into four divi­sions, with each division directed bya Chairman. The first division focus­es on America and Europe; the sec­ond on the Asia-Pacific region; thethird on the political, diplomatic,and military affairs of the PRC; andthe fourth on social and economicaffairs of the PRC.

PublicationsThe Institute regularly publishes

periodicals in Chinese, which in­clude: M a in la n d C hina Studies(monthly); America and Europe (quar­terly); and Issues & Studies (month­ly), as well as in English: Issues &Studies (bimonthly). As of 1999, theIIR has also published 127 books inChinese and 48 in English.

Co-operation and ExchangeThe IIR has signed formal co-oper­

ation and exchange agreements withtwenty noted academic institutionsin the United States and other partsof the world, and has also developedexchanges with counterpart institu­tions in the PRC. Through frequent ^

h a s n e w s l e t t e r N?2 i • F e b r ua r y 2000

I N S T I T U T E S IN T HE L I M E L I G H T

The North AmericanTaiwan StudiesAssociation (NATSA}With Taiwan’s rapid political, economic, social, and culturaltransformation in recent years, Taiwan Studies have become afield that is attracting growing academic interest from bothTaiwanese and Western scholars. Coupled with this growinginterest was a greater demand for a substantial scholarly ex­change channel that could serve to facilitate the comm unica­tion between Taiwanese and Western scholars so as to enrichgerm inating Taiwan Studies with a comparative and interdis­ciplinary perspective. It was for this reason that 47 Taiwanesegraduate students and scholars from 20 US universities in itiat­ed the establishm ent o f a ‘Preparatory Council for the H oldingo f the First North America Taiwan Studies Conference’ inApril 1994.

By S T E P H A NE C OR C UF F

'NATSA s papers

focus prim arily

on contemporary

Taiw an Studies’

Ho Szy-yln, Director

Jaushieh Joseph Wu, Dep. Dir.

The Institute o f International Relations

National Chengchi University

64 Wan Shou Road, Wen Shan, 116 Taipei,

Taiwan, Republic o f China

Tel.: +886-2-2939 4 9 2 1Fax:+886-2-2938 2133 1 2 234 4914

E-mail: iir@nccu.edu.tw

Http:/lwww.nccu.edu.tw

academic conferences and otherscholarly activities in co-operationwith overseas institutions, the HRhas become an internationally-rec­ognized research institute. The In­stitute has five guestrooms, eachwith its own bathroom, to house ex­change scholars from abroad. The li­brary of the HR has very rich Chi­nese, English, and Russian resources,and has carrels available. ■

e aim to pro­mote TaiwanStudies, en­

hance interaction be­tween the academia ofTaiwan and the North

America (with hopes of increasingcontacts with Europe) and facilitatecommunication among graduatestudents and scholars concerned byTaiwan Studies. Our primary objec­tives are holding an annual NorthAmerican Taiwan Studies Confer­ence and publishing the research pa­pers collected from the annual con­ferences. The Constitution of thePreparatory Council of the AnnualNorth America Taiwan Studies Con­ference (NATSC) was passed on June4, 1995, and in 1999, the PreparatoryCouncil was reorganized as theNorth American Taiwan Studies As­sociation (NATSA), a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.

The First and Second Annual Con­ferences were held at Yale Universityon June 2-4, 1995 and at MichiganState University on May 24-26', 1996,respectively. The Third and FourthAnnual Conferences were held atUniversity of California at Berkeleyon May 29 - June 1, 1997 and at theUniversity of Texas, Austin on May29 - June 1, 1998. The Fifth AnnualConference took place at the Univer­sity of Wisconsin, Madison on June 4- June 7,1999. So far, 171 papers havebeen presented and approximately700 people have participated in thefirst five conferences, whose fields ofspecialty have included history, soci-ology, political science, economics,law, public policy, anthropology,cultural studies, religious studies,literature, education, etc. This inter­disciplinary forum has featured suchprominent speakers as Dr ThomasGold, Dr Edward Friedman, and DrRobert Marsh.

A content analysis of the 126 se­lected papers of the first four years ofconferences has revealed the follow­ing primary focus of contemporaryacademic interest in Taiwan studies.- Taiwanese history: 7 articles cover

Taiwan’s political, social, reli­gious, military and cultural histo­ry, from the years of the Ching Dy­nasty, the Japanese colonization,to the post-war period.

- Ethnicity and nationalism: 22 arti­cles focus on ethnic identity of

Mainlanders, Taiwanese, and over­seas Formosans; social elites, polit­ical leadership, and national iden­tity; the 2-28 Incident, collectivememory, and nation-building; so­cial classes and ethnic conflicts;democratization, stateness, andnationalism; civic nationalism vs.ethnic nationalism, Taiwanese na­tionalism vs. Chinese nationalism;baseball and national identity; na­tional imagination in global era.Taiwanese Aborigines: 3 articlesdiscuss politics of coalition andconfrontation between the Abo­rigines and the Han immigrants;construction and deconstructionof Aboriginal origins; Presbyterianrepresentations of Taiwanese Abo-riginality.Language and culture: 7 articlesare related to characteristics of theTaiwanese language; the gender-marked pronoun ‘Lang’ in Tai­wanese; language and nationalidentity; language policy and po­litical control; the influence ofHanji on people’s linguistic per­ception; Vietnam, Korea, andJapan’s experience in abolishingHanji; indigenization of Tai­wanese culture; the developmentof Chinese painting in Taiwan.

- Social structure and social move­ments: 9 articles are related tostate corporatism and the labourmovement; gender and labour ssocial history; married women’sworking patterns; physicians andthe civil society; social classes andpolitical liberalization; genera­tions of Taiwanese; the operationof independent unions; environ­mental movements; and activistsof overseas Taiwan independencemovement.

- Gender and woman studies: 10 arti­cles discuss woman’s place in poli­tics; gender in Taiwan’s industrial­ization; married women’s workingpatterns; Taiwan’s women writers;gender roles and housing arrange­ments; critique of Taiwan’s femi­nism; the non-obliteration of Tai­wanese women’s names; feministurban research and housing stud­ies; the concept of slenderness; thebody images of female students;study of modernized homosexual­ity.

- Political institutions and politicalorganizations: 11 articles concen­trate on electoral systems, partynomination, and local factional­ism; social cleavages and partycompetition; political elite and de­mocratization; economic develop­ment and regime change; consti­tutional design and democraticconsolidation; equity and democ­ratization; founding elections andparty realignment.

- Regime, state, and development: 6articles cover the nature of theKMT regime and the authoritari­an state; applicability of the bu­

reaucratic authoritarian modeland the developmental statemodel; the state and the profes­sional power of medicine; the stateand central-local relations; state-business relations.

- Welfare state and social policies:6 articles focus on state transfor­mation and the system of nationalhealth insurance policy; democra­tic transition and old-age welfareprogramme; non-profit organiza­tions and child welfare policy; his­torical origin and political processof welfare policies in Taiwan; na­tional identity formation and wel­fare state making.

- Economy and society: 12 articlesare related to transformation ofthe export industry; dynamicanalysis of the industrial struc­ture; technology, social networks,and governance structures; for­eign workers and labour practicein Taiwan; cultural formation ofdirect sales in Taiwan; women andindustrial development; economicorganizations in global capital­ism; population growth, industri­al structure, and economic devel­opment; moral discourse in eco­nomic restructuring.

- Religion and folklore: 7 articlescover the development of Bud­dhism in Taiwan; Yiguan Dao andTaiwan’s capitalism; and For­mosan Christians and Taiwaneseself-determination; religious ritu­als and social life; social psycholo­gy of fortune-telling; institution­alization of the Tzu-Chi Associa­tion.

- Education: 3 articles focus on Tai­wan's elementary school text­books; effects of goal setting onchildren’s self-efficacy and skills;task value and self-efficacy on Tai­wanese college students’ effortand achievement.

- Literature and cinema: to articlescover Yeh Shi-tao’s literary dis­course and Taiwanese conscious­ness; comparison of the works ofWu Cho-liu and Dong Fang Pai;anti-Communist literature in the1950s; history of Taiwanese litera­ture in the 1950s; Japanese andBritish Motifs in Taiwanese andQuebecois Fiction; contemporaryliterature of the 1990s; ChangHsiao-Feng’s essays; the position­ing of Taiwan in contemporarycinema; films of Lee Ang.Environmental polices and poli­tics: 6 articles are on environmen­tal movements and environmen­tal protection; environmental reg­ulation; participation of environ­mental interest groups; politicalinstitutions and environmentalpolicy formation; environmentaldiscourse; environmentalism andthe state.

- Public policies: 8 articles focus onindustrial policy; intercity trans­portation system and TaipeiUrban Commuters; nationalparks; banking policy transforma­tion; policy and politics of com­munity-making; water transfer­ring policy.

- Taiwan-China relations and for­eign relations: to articles discussTaiwan Strait crisis in the 1950s;the three Taiwan Strait crises; Tai­wan’s defence policy and nationalsecurity; Taiwan’s pragmatic di­plomacy and China policy; the Tai­wan Relations Act; Taiwan’s

‘Name card’ diplomacy at the UN;Taiwan’s sovereignty in interna­tional law; economic interdepen­dence; political confrontation be­tween Taiwan and China.

- Resources for Taiwan Studies: 3 ar­ticles examine the role of academiclibraries in Taiwan’s continueddevelopment, the need for coreand comprehensive bibliographiesof Taiwan Studies; disputes of so­cial science indigenization.The NATSA has over 150 active

members. We keep an up-to-datehomepage, http://www.natsc.org. Wecan be reached through e-mail atboard@natsc.org. Current NATSA of­ficers are: MrTze-Luen LIN, President(tllin@udel.edu), of the University ofDelaware, Ms Chien-Juh GU, VicePresident (guchienj@pilot.msu.edu),of Michigan Sate University, MrStephane CORCUFF, Secretary(kaokf@aol.com), of Paris Institute ofPolitical Science and Ms Li-FangYANG, treasurer (lyang@ssc.wisc.edu)of the University of Wisconsin-Madi-son. The NATSA has five executivecommittes, and you may want to con­tact their respective chairpersons di­rectly: human resources (Mr KeelungHONG, keelung@itsa.ucsf.edu, of theUniversity of California at San Fran­cisco), publication (Mr Wei-Der SHU,ShuWeider@aol.com, ofSyracuse Uni­versity), funding (Mr Chia-Lung LIN,poll@ccunix.ccu.edu.tw, of Chun-cheng University in Taiwan), elec­tronic newsletter (Ms Huei-YingKUO, hueiying@hotmail.com, of theState University of New York at Bing­hamton), and database management(Mr Wen-Hua KUO, whkuo@mit.eduof the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology).

The sixth North American TaiwanStudies Conference will be held atHarvard University on June 16 - 19,2000. We encourage papers in the fol­lowing areas: 1. Political and socialchanges: democratization, electoralpolitics, nationalism, state and soci­ety relations, social movements,class relations, identity, ethnicityand ethnic relations; 2. Literature,history, and cultural studies: lan­guages, literature, collective memo­ries, cultural and religious beliefsand practices; 3. Economic develop­ment and environmental studies:economic restructuring, global chal­lenges, urban and rural develop­ment, environmental policy and pol­itics; 4. Aboriginal studies: Aborigi­nal languages and cultural heritagepreservation, public policies towardAborigines, Aboriginal heritage andnational identity questions; 5. Gen­der and Sexuality Studies; 6. Educa­tion; 7. International Relations: na­tional security, Taiwan-China rela­tions, and Taiwan-U.S. relations. ■

To follow regular updates on this year’s

conference at Harvard, please visit our web

page at http://www.natsc.org and should you

have any questions, feel free to write to the

NATSA officers.

For more information:

Stephane CorcuffNATSA Secretary

E-mail: kaokf@aol.com

February 2000 • i ias n e w s l e t t e r Tsi?2i •

I N T E R N A T ! O N A L C O N F E R E N C E A G E N D A2000

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 0

3 - 5 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 0Amsterdam, The NetherlandsWhat is to be Done? Global economic

disorder and policiesfor a new financia larchitecture in the m illennium

Convenor: Dr Geoffrey R.D. Underhill,Conference secretariat at the ICPEI

(Universiteit van Amsterdam),The Netherlands

Tel.:+31-20-525 6075Fax: +31-20-525 2898

E-mail: icpei@bdu.uva.nlH ttp :// www.icpei.uva.nl/witb

1 8 - 2 0 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 0

Bangalore, IndiaThe Human Sciences

and the Asian ExperienceDr Vivek Dhareshwat, Centre for

the Study of Culture and Society, 1192,35th B Cross, 4th T Block, Jayanagar,

Bangalore 560 041, IndiaFax: +91-080-663 6229

E-mail: admin@cscsban.orgHttp://www.cscsban.org

1 9 - 2 0 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 0Coventry, United KingdomMigration, Urban Development,

and D emographic Change in Punjab1890s-1990s

Dr Ian Talbot, Centre for South AsianStudies, School o f International Studies

and Law, Coventry University,Priory Street, CVi 5FB Coventry,

United KingdomE-mail: 106432.1724@compuserve.com

2 0 - 21 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 0North India

Approaching Asia fro m Asia:Joumeys,Displacements, Themes

Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Pacificand Asian History, RSPAS, Australian

National UniversityTel.: +61-2-6249 2277Fax: +61-2-62549050

E-mail: tms@coombs.anu.edu.au

m a r c h 2 0 0 0

1 - 3 M A R C H 2 0 0 0Seoul, Korea

Good Government, Eastern and WesternPerspectives: Fourth EPCReN WorkshopDr Geir Helgesen, Nordic Institute of

Asian Studies, Leifsgade 33,2300Copenhagen S, Denmark

Fax: +45-32-96 25 30E-mail: geir@nias.ku.dk

2 -3 m a r c h 2 0 0 0 .Lisbon, Portugal

The Shifting Challenges o f the Pacific Southand the Issue o f T im or Lorosae

Organisation: Luso-Asian Forum withthe sponsorship of the United Nations

Centre in LisbonContact address: Rua Alfredo Roque

Gameiro, n. 18-1 Esq, 1600-006 Lisbon,Portugal

Fax: + 35-1-21797 5445E-mail:

arnaldogoncalves@mail.telepac.ptwww.terravista.pt/ilhadomel/23 20

7 - 9 M A r c H 2 0 0 0

Leiden, The NetherlandsThe Indian Character o f Indian LiteratureConvenors: Dr Thomas de Bruijn (HAS),

Dr Theo Damsteegt (Kern Institute)Contact address: International Institute

for Asian Studies, P.0 . Box 9515,2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

Tel:+31-71-527 2227Fax: +31-71-5274162

E-mail: tbruijn@rullet.leidenuniv.nlor: damsteegt@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

8 - 1 0 m a r c h 2 0 0 0Singapore

Second International Conference on Qualityo f Life in Cities - 21st Century QOL

(ICQOLC2000)Conference Secretariat (ICQOLC 2000),

School o f Building and Real EstateNational University ofSingapore,

10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260Tel.: +65-772 3440Fax: +65-7755502

E-mail: qolnet@nus.edu.sgHttp://www.qolnet.nus.edu.sg/

conf2/main.html

9 - 1 2 M A R C H 2 0 0 0San Diego CA,

United States o f America52nd AAS A nnual Meeting

Association for Asian Studies,Inc., 1021 East Huron Street, Ann Arbor,

Michigan 48104, United States o f AmericaTel.: +1-734-665 2490Fax: +1-734-665 3801

Http://www.aasianst.org/

A gen d a

AP RI L 2 0 0 0

9 - 1 2 M A R C H 2 0 0 0San Diego,

United States o f America2000 A nnual Meeting

o f the M ongolia Soc ietyThe Mongolia Society Office,

322 Goodbody Hall, Indiana University,Bloomington, IN 47405-7550,

United States of AmericaE-mail: monsoc@indiana.edu

Http://www.aasianst.org/

1 6 - 1 8 m a r c h 200 0New Delhi, India

Association o f Indian Labour Historians,Second Conference

Dr Prabhu P. Mohapatra,Archives of Indian Labour,

W Giri National Labour Institute,Sector24, NOIDA, Gautam Budha Nagar,

UttarPradesh, India 201301Fax: +91-118-532974

E-mail: shram@nd£vsnl.net.in

1 5 - 1 7 M A R C H 2 0 0 0London, United Kingdom

Interpreting Asian Cultures in Museums:Displays, activities, strategies

Dr Brian Durrans, Department ofEthnography, British Museum,

6 Burlington Gardens, London WiX 2EX,United Kingdom

Tel.: +44-207-323 8027Fax: +44-207-323 8013

E-mail: bdurrans@british-museum.ac.uk

1 6 - 1 7 m a r c h 2 0 0 0Bonn, Germany

Demographic Developments and ValueChange in Contemporary Modern Societies -

Fast Asian and Western societies incomparative perspective

Dr Axel Klein, ForschungsstelleModernes japan, Regina-Pacis-Weg7,

D-53113 Bonn, GermanyTel.: +49-228-737023Fax: +49-228-735054

2 0 - 2 1 M A R C H 2 0 0 0Leiden, The Netherlands

Towards the Millenium Round: Asia,The European Union, and Latin AmericaDr Marianne L. Wiesebron, Faculty of

Arts, Department Languages andCultures o f Latin America, P.0 . Box 9515,

2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

2 4 - 2 5 M A R C H 200 0Athens, Ohio,

United States o f AmericaInternational Conference o f Institutes and

Libraries/or Overseas Chinese StudiesContact persons: Liren Zheng,

122B Alden Library, Ohio University,Athens, Ohio 45701,

United States of AmericaTel.: +1-740-597 2530Fax: +1-740-593 0138

E-mail: zheng@ohiou.eduLian The-Mulliner, 120 B Alden Library,

Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701,United States ofAmerica

Tel.: +1-740-593 2657Fax: +1-740-593 2959

E-mail: the-muIl@ohiou.edu

3 -8 A P R I L 200 0Turin, Italy

Xlth World Sanskrit ConferenceOscar Botto, President CESMEO,

International Institute for AdvancedAsian Studies, Via Cavour 17,

1-10123 Torino, ItalyFax: +39-011-545 031

7 - 9 A P R I L 2 0 0 0

Copenhagen. DenmarkSeventh Nordic-European Workshopin Advanced Asian Studies (NEWAS]

Convenor: Prof Per RonnasFor Nordic PhD students: NIAS, att.:NEWAS, Erik Skaaning, Leifsgade 33,

DK-2300 Copenhagen S, DenmarkTel.: +45-32-54 88 44Fax: +45-32-96 25 30

E-mail: erik@nias.ku.dkFor Dutch PhD students:

IIAS, P.0 . Box 9515,2300 RA Leiden,The Netherlands

Tel.: +31-71-527 2227Fax:+31-71-5274162

E-mail: iias@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

7 - 9 A P R I L 2 0 0 0

Uppsala, SwedenIndigenous People: The trajectory o f

a contemporary concept in IndiaDr B. G. Karlsson, The Seminar for

Development Studies, UppsalaUniversity, Övre Slottsgatan 1,

S-753 10 Uppsala, SwedenTel.: +46-18-471 6852Fax: +46-18-12 0832

E-mail: beppe.karlsson@uland.uu.se

1 3 - 1 5 A P R I L 200 0Manoa, Hawai’i

Seventh Annual South AsiaSpring Symposium

Convenor: Sankaran Krishna,Center for South Asian Studies,

School o f Hawaiian, Asian and PacificStudies, University o f Hawai’i, Moore 411,1890 East-West Road, Honolulu HI 96822,

United States o f AmericaTel.: +1-808-956 2677Fax: +1-808-956 2682

E-mail: csas@hawaii.edu

1 3 - 1 5 A P R I L 2 0 0 0

Columbia University, NYASN Fifth Annual World Convention:Identiy and the state, nationalism and

sovereignty in a changing worldDominique Arel, ASN ConventionProgram Chair, Watson Institute,

Brown University, Box 1831,130 Hope St.,Providence, RI02912,

United States o f AmericaTel: +1-401-863 9296Fax:+1-401-863 2192

E-mail: dareI@brown.edu

1 4 A P R I L 2 0 0 0

Southampton, United KingdomMemory o f Catastrophe

Dr Kendrick Oliver, Department ofHistory, University ofSouthampton,Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ,

United KingdomTel.:+44-1703-592 243Fax:+44-1703-593 458

E-mail: ko@soton.ac.uk

2 7 - 2 9 A P R I L 2 0 0 0

Louvain-la-Neuve, BelgiumBuilding the Social Safety N e t fo r Asian

Societies in TransitionProfessor Ronald Anderson, IRES,Université catholique de Louvain,

Place Montesquieu 3,B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Tel.: +32-10-47 4146Fax: +32-10-473945

E-mail: anderson@ires.ucl.ac.be

2 7 - 2 9 A P R I L 2 0 0 0

Leiden, The NetherlandsFourth Euro-Japanese International

Symposium on Mainland Southeast AsianHistory: Mainland Southeast Asian

responses to the stimuli o f foreign materialculture and practical knowledge

(14* - mid 19th century)Dr John Kleinen, HAS Branch OfficeAmsterdam, Spinhuis, Oudezijds

Achterburgwal 185,1012 DK Amsterdam,The Netherlands

Tel: +31-20-525 3657Fax:+31-20-5253658

E-mail: HAS@pscw.uva.nl

MAY 2 0 0 0

4 - 5 M A Y 2 0 0 0

Limerick, IrelandTechnology Trade and Technology Transfer

between the EU and AsiaMs Barbara Merigeault, I.A.E.,

20 Rue Guillaume VII Le Troubadour,B.P. 639,86022 Poitiers Cedex, France

Tel.: +33-5-49454489Fax: +33-5-4945 4490

E-mail: eurosasie@iae.univ-poitiers.fr orbmerigeault@iae.univ-poitiers.fr

6 - 8 m a y 2 0 0 0

Rosslyn, VA,United States o f America

Third A nnual Conference o f the NationalCouncil o f O rganizations o f Less Commonly

Taught LanguagesScott McGinnis, Senior Associate forProjects, National Foreign Language

Center, 1619 Massachusetts Avenue NW,#400, Washington, DC 20036,

United States o f AmericaTel.: +1-202-667 8100 ext 15

Fax: +1-202-667 6907

8 - 1 0 M A Y 2 0 0 0

Amsterdam, The NetherlandsBrokers o f Capital and Knowledge:

Producer services and social mobilityin provincial Asia

Dr Heidi Dahles, Centre for Asian StudiesAmsterdam (CASA), Het Spinhuis,

Oudezijds Achterburgwal 185,1012 DK Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Fax: +31-20-444 6722E-mail: brokers@pscw.uva.nl

8 - 1 1 m a y 2 0 0 0

Briihl (Köln), GermanyZweiten Briihler T agung junger Ostasien-

Experten: Globalisierung, Regionalisierung,Eragmentierung. N eue Kontexte/iirPolitik,

W irtschaft und Geselbchaft in Ost- undSiidostasien.

Gudrun Wacker, BlOst,Lindenbornstrasse 22, 50823 Köln,

GermanyTel.: +49-221-5747150

Fax: +49-221-5747110

E-mail: gudrun. wacker@koeln.netsurfde

1 4 - 1 6 m a y 2 0 0 0

Oslo, NorwaySixth Workshop o f the European Network o fBangladesh Studies: Bangladesh, changing

identities and economic transform ationMark Ellison, ENBS, Department of

Economics and InternationalDevelopment, University of Bath, Bath

BA2 7AY, United KingdomFax:+44-1225-323 423

E-mail: m.a.ellison@bath.ac.ukHttp://www.bath.ac.uk/Centres/CDS/

enbs.htm

1 8 - 2 0 m a y 2000Avignon, France

IIAS/CERINS/INALCO workshop:Slave Systems in Asia and the Indian Ocean:

Their structure and changein the 19th and 20th centuries

Convenor: Dr Gwyn Campbell, CERINS,Université d’Avignon, Case N 19,

74 rue Louis Pasteur, 84029 Avignon,Cedex 1, France

Tel.:+33-4-90162718Fax: +33-4-90162719

E-mail: gcampb3195@aol.com

1 8 - 2 1 m a y 2 0 0 0

Tübingen, GermanyPoet, Scholar, Patriot: Internationalsymposium in honour o f Wen Yiduo’s

one-hundredth anniversaryDr Peter Hoffmann, Seminar für Sinolgieund Koreanistik, Universitat Tübingen,

Wilhelmstrasse 133,72074 Tübingen,Germany

Tel: +49-7071-29 72711 (05)Fax: +49-7071-29 57 33

E-mail:Peter.H0ffmann2@uni-tuebingen.de

23 - 24 m a y 2000Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Gender and the Transmission o f ValuesSystems and Cultural Hcritage(s)

in South and Southeast AsiaProfessor S. Leydesdorff or Dr Frances

Gouda, Belle van Zuylen Instituut,Universiteit van Amsterdam,

Rokin 84-90,1012 KX Amsterdam,The Netherlands

Fax: +31-20-5252219E-mail: leydesdorff@pscw.uva.nl or

fgouda@aoI.com

2 5 - 2 6 m a y 20 00Budapest, Hungary

The Last Decade o f M igra tion fromthe People’s Republic o f China to Europe

and AsiaDr Pal D. Nyi'ri at both

nyirip@mail.matav.hu andnyirip@yahoo.com.

2 5 - 2 8 m a y 2000Lund, Sweden

Ethnicity, Politics, and Cross-BorderCultures in Southwest China:

Past and presentOrganizers: Michael Schoenhals(Lund University), Xiaolin Guo

(Aarhus University), John E. Herman(Virginia Commonwealth University)

Southwest Conference Secretariat,Centre for East and Southeast Asian

Studies, Lund University, P. O. Box 792,SE-220 07 Lund, Sweden

Fax: +46-46-222 30 41E-mail: southwest.conference@ace.lu.se

28 M A Y 2000Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Art, Literature, and TravelProfessor Chung Ling, College of LiberalArts, National Sun Yat-sen University,

Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan ROCTel.: +886-7-5252000 ext. 3002

E-mail: wenchai@mail.nsysu.edu. tw

6 2 • h a s n e w s l e t t e r N S 2 1 • February 2000

I N T E R N A T I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E A G E N D AJ U N E 2 0 0 0

J U N E 2 0 0 0

London, United KingdomThe Politics and Practice o f Asceticism inAsian Religions (preliminary workshop,

full conference in 2001JOrganizers: Dr Rupert Cox, Research

Fellow, Royal Asiatic Society,60 Queen’s Gardens, London W2 3AF,

United KingdomTel.: +44-171-7244741Fax: +44-171-706 4008

E-mail: 106207.2000@compuserve.c0mDr Gustaaf Houtman, Editorial

Consultant, Anthropology Today, RoyalAnthropological Institute

Tel.: +44-171-394 6927E-mail: ghoutman@tesco.net

2 - 4 J U N E 2 0 0 0Oslo, Norway

Human and Regional Security aroundthe South China Sea

Mr Johan Henrik Nossum,Centre for Development and

the Environment, P.0 . Box in6B lindern,N-0317 Oslo, Norway

Tel. +47-22-85 89 00Fax: +47-22-85 89 20

E-mail: j .h.nossum@sum.uio.noH ttp://www.sum.uio.no/southchinasea/

8 - 9 J U N E 2 0 0 0Leiden, The Netherlands

HAS seminar Yogacara Buddhism in ChinaConvenor: Pro£ Chen-kuo Lin

Contact address: International Institutefor Asian Studies, P.0 . Box 9515,

2300 RA Leiden, The NetherlandsTel.:+31-71-527 2227Fax: +31-71-5274162

E-mail: iias@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

1 6 - 1 9 J U N E 20 00Massachusetts,

United States o f AmericaThe 2000 North American Taiwan

Studies ConferenceTze-Luen Lin, NATSA President,

Harvard UniversityStephane CorcufF, NATSA Secretary,ISUGA, Europe-Asia ManagementInstitute, Creac’h gwen, F-29000

Quimper, FranceTel: +33-2-9810 1616Fax: +33-2-98101600

E-mails: tllin@udel.edu,stephane.corcuff@isuga.fr (information),

board@natsc.org (abstracts)Http://www.natsc.org

Deadline abstracts: 1 December 1999Deadline papers: 1 March 2000

2 1 - 2 3 J U N E 20 00Paris, France

Medicine in China:Health techniques and social history

Dr Frederic Obringer, Centre d'Etudessur la Chine Moderne et Contemporaine,54, boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris France

Fax: +33-1-4954 2078E-mail: obringer@ehess.fr

2 4 - 3 0 J U N E 20 00Leiden, The Netherlands

Ninth Seminar o f the InternationalAssociation ofTibetan Studies (IATS)

Convenor: Dr Henk Blezer,International Institute for Asian Studies,

P.0 . Box 9515,2300 RA, Leiden,The Netherlands

Tel.: +31-71-5272227Fax: +31-71-527 4162

E-mail: iats@rullet.leidenuniv.nlHttp://www.iias.nl/iias/agenda/iats/

J ULY 2 0 0 0

3 -5 J U L Y 2 0 0 0Berlin, Germany

Conflict and Violence in IndonesiaGeorgia Wimhoefer or Elisabeth Schulze,

Institute of Southeast Asian Studies,Dept, o f Asian and African Studies,

Humboldt-University Luisenstr. 54/55,10117 Berlin, Germany

Tel.: +49-30-2093 6635 / 6630Fax: +49-30-2093 6666

E-mail:georgia.wimhoefer@rz.hu-berlin.deelisabeth.schulze@rz.hu-berlin.de

3-5 JULY 2000Melbourne, Australia

13th Biennial Asian Studies Association o fAustralia Conference: 'Whose Millennium?’Melbourne Institute o f Asian Languages

and Societies (MIALS), Fifth Floor,John Medley Building, East and WestTowers, The University of Melbourne,

Parkville Victoria 3052, AustraliaTel: +61-3-9344 5555 / 5554 / 0160

Fax: +61-3-9349 4870Http://www.asaa2000.unimelb.edu.au

6 - 7 JULY 2000Amsterdam, The Netherlands

HAS Seminar Health, Sexuality,and Civil Society in East Asia

Contact Dr Evelyne Micollier forscientific contents and Heleen van der

Minne for practical matters, IIAS BranchOffice Amsterdam, Spinhuis, O.Z.

Achterburgwal 185,1012 DK Amsterdam,The Netherlands

Tel: +31-20-525 3657Fax: +31-20-525 3658

E-mail: Sexsem@pscw.uva.nlA limited number of Dutch speakers

and a limited number o f observersare still welcome.

7 - 8 J U L Y 200 0( p r o v i s i o n a l )

SOAS, London, United KingdomCentre and Periphery in Southeast Asia

Professor Anne Booth, Department ofEconomics, SOAS, University o f London,

Russell Square, London WCIHOXG,United Kingdom

Fax: +44-171-323 6277E-mail: abio@soas.ac.uk

10- 14 JULY 2000Kuching, Sarawak

Sixth Biennial Conference o f the BorneoResearch Council, Borneo 2000

Professor Michael Leigh, Director, IEAS,UNIMAS, 94300 Kota Samarahan,

Sarawak, MalaysiaTel: +60-82-671000 / 672191

Fax: +60-82-672 095E-mail: michael@ieas.unimas.my

Deadline abstracts: 29 February 2000Deadline full papers: 31 May 2000

1 0 - 1 4 J U L Y 200 0Manila, Philippines

Sixth International PhilippineStudies Conference

‘Turns o f the Centuries:The Philippines in 1900 and 200o’

Philippine Studies Conference 2000,Technical Services and Information

Section, Philippine Social Science Council,P. O. Box 205, UP Post Office, Diliman,

Quezon City, PhilippinesTel: +63-929-2671, +63-922-9621 local 305

Fax: + 6 ^2 4 -4 8 7 1E-mail: tsis.section@skyinet.net,

pssc@skyinet.net, cidslib@cids.org.ph,cids@cids.upd.edu.ph

Agenda

1 3 - 1 6 J U L Y 200 0Prague, Czech Republic

The Twelfth International Conference onKorean Linguistics

ICKL 2000, c/o Prof Nam-Kil Kim,Korean Studies Institute, University of

Southern California, THH 226G,Los Angeles, CA 90089-0357,

United States of AmericaE-mail: nkim@usc.edu or:

ICKL 2000, c/o Prof Hee-Don Ahn,Department of English, KonkukUniversity, Seoul 143-701, Korea

E-mail: hdahn@kkucc.konkuk.ac.kr

1 5 - 1 7 J U L Y 2 0 0 0Lhasa, Tibet, China

2000 International AcademicConference on Tibetan Medicine

Yang Su, Dolmacho, China MedicalAssociation of Minorities, No. 11 Bei San

Huan Dong Lu, Chaoyang District,Beijing, 100029, P.R. China

Tel.: +86-10-6422 0890, +86-10-6428 6597Fax: +86-10-6428 7404

E-mail: cinmbucm@bj.col.com.cnDeadline papers: 31 December 1999Deadline registration: 14 July 2000

J U L Y 1 8 - 2 2 , 2000Xiamen, P.R. China

The International AnthropologicalConference on the Existence and

Development o f the Human Beingin the 21st century

Convenor: Deng Xiao Hua, AnthropologyInstitute ofXiamen University, Xiamen,

361005, Fujian Province, P.R. ChinaTel: +86-592-218 7473Fax: +86-592-208 6116

E-mail: anthro@j ingxian.xmu.edu.cn

2 7 - 3 1 J U L Y 200 0Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

The Sixteenth Conference o fthe International Associationo f Historians ofA sia (IAHA)

16th IAHA Conference Secretariat,Center for the Promotion o f Knowledge

and Language Learning,Universiti Malaysia Sabah,

Locked Bag 2073,88999 Kota Kinabalu,Sabah, Malaysia

Tel.: +60-88-438 440 ext. 5294,+60-88-435706 (DL)Fax: +60-88-435 708

E-mail: pejppib@ums.edu.my orahmatadm@ums.edu.my

A U G U S T 2 0 0 0

1 - 4 A U G U S T , 2 0 0 0Calcutta, India

Language, Thought and Reality:Science, religion and philosophy

Dr Chandana Chakrabarti, Elon CollegeCampus Box 2336, Elon College,

N.C. 27244, United States o f AmericaTel: +1-336-538 2705Fax: +1-336-538 2627

E-mail: chakraba@numen.elon.eduHttp://www.elon.edu/ chakraba

5 A U G U S T 2000Durban, South Africa

The History o f Religions: Origins and visions18th Quinquennial Congress o f

the International Association/orthe History o f Religions

Rosalind I.J. Hackett, Program Chair,D ept o f Religious Studies, University of

Tennessee, Knoxville,United States of America

Tel.: +1-423-974 2466Fax: +1-423-974 0965

E-mail: rhackett@utk.eduHttp://www.udw.ac.za/iahr

1 0 - 1 1 A U G U S T 2 0 0 0Leiden, The Netherlands

HAS Seminar Environmental Change inNative and Colonial Histories of Borneo:

Lessons fro m the past, prospects/or the fu tu reConvenor: Dr Reed L. Wadley:

International Institute for Asian Studies,P.0 . Box 9515,2300 RA, Leiden,

The NetherlandsTel.:+31-71-527 2227Fax: +31-71-5274162

E-mail: iias@rullet.leidenuniv.nlHttp://www.iias.nl/iias/research/wadley/

2 2 - 26 a u g u s t 2000Lahti, Finland

EAJS Conference 2000Secretariat EAJS, Prof Dr Werner Pascha,

Duisberg University, East AsianEconomic Studies, 0-47048 Duisburg,

GermanyTel./Fax: +49-203-379 2002

E-mail: eajs@uni-duisburg.de

2 3 - 2 6 A U G U S T 2 0 0 0Leuven, Belgium

The Eighth Conference on Early Literaturein New Indo-Aryan Languages

(‘Bhakti Conference’')winand.callewaert@arts.kuleuven.ac.be

2 3 - 2 8 A U G U S T 2000Leiden, The Netherlands

Audiences, Patrons, and Performers inthe Performing Arts o f Asia

Convenors: Dr Wim van Zanten (chair),PAATI (IIAS), and Institute o f Culturaland Social Studies, Leiden University,

P.0 . Box 9555,2300 RB Leiden,The Netherlands

Tel: +31-71-527 3465 / 74 / 69Fax: +31-71-5273619

E-mail: zanten@fsw.leidenuniv.nland Frank Kouwenhoven, CHIME,

P.0 . Box 11092,2301 EB Leiden,The Netherlands

Tel.:+31-71-513 3974/513 3iz3Fax:+31-71-5123183

E-mail: chime@wxs.nlHttp://www.iias.nl/oideion/general/

audiences.html, or:Http://www.iias.nl/iias/agenda.html

Deadline paper proposals: 1 March 2000

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 0

6 - 8 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 0Fife, United KingdomHistory qfTibet Conference

John Billington (conference organizer),Brook House, Llandyssil, Montgomery,

Powys, SY15 6LN, United KingdomTel.: +44-1686-668 619

5 -9 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 0

Edinburgh, United KingdomSixteenth European Conferenceon Modem South Asian Studies

Centre for South Asian Studies,Department o f Sociology, The University

of Edinburgh, 18 Buccleuch Place,Edinburgh EH8 9LN, United Kingdom

E-mail: saconf@afbi.ssc.ed.ac.ukH ttp:// www.ed.ac.uk/ sociol/ sas/

1 4 - 1 6 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 0Nishinomiya, Japan

Fourth Conference o f the Asia PacificSociological Association

Asia Pacific Sociological Association(APSA)

Prof Kenji Kosaka, APSA President,Kwansei Gakuin University,

Nishinomiyashi, Japan 662-8501E-mail: kkosaka@kwansei.ac.jp

or: Dr Pauline Kent, Secretary, RyukokuUniversity, Shiga, Otsu, Seta, Oecho,

Yokotani 1-5, Japan 520-2194E-mail: pauline@world.ryukoku.ac.jp

Deadline abstracts: 31 March 2000Deadline full papers (3-4000 words):

15 July 2000

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 0

2 - 6 O C T O B E R 2 0 0 0Sarteno (Tuscany), Italy

Eighth International Conference o fEuropean Association o f Southeast Asian

ArchaeologistsPatrizia Zolese, Fondazione Ing. C.M.Lerici, Via V. Veneto 108,00187 Roma,

ItalyTel.: +39-06-488 0083Fax: +39-06-482 7085

E-mail: folerici@tin.it

4 O C T O B E R -5 N O V E M B E R 2000

Dakar, SenegalExtended Workshop fo r Young Historians

Madame Ndéye Sokhna Guéye,Programme Sephis/Codesria, Extended

workshop for young historians,CODESRIA, B.P. 3304, Dakar, Senegal

Tel: +221-825 98 22 / 23Fax:+221-824 1289

E-mail: codesria@telecomplus.sn

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 0

3 -5 N O V E M B E R 2000Vancouver, BC, Canada

‘Women’s Studies: Asian Connections’Centre for Research in Women’s Studies

and Gender Relations, UBC,1896 East Mall, Vancouver,

B.C. V6T 1Z1 CanadaTel.: +1-604-822-9171Fax: +1-604-822-9169

E-mail: litton@interchange.ubc.caDeadline initial response:

30 November 1999Deadline papers: 29 February 2000

D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 0

1 2 - 1 4 D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 0Bangkok, Thailand

International Conference Chao PhrayaDelta: Historical development, dynamics

and challenges o f Thailand’s rice bowlThe conference is jointly organised byKasetsart University, Chulalongkorn

University, L’Institut de Recherche pourle Developpemcnt (France) and Kyoto

University (Japan)E-mail: odoras@ku.ac.th or

cusri@chula.ac.thHttp://std.cpc.ku.ac.th/delta/deltacp/eve

nts/Conference—CP.htmDeadline abstracts: 15 June 2000

2001A U T U M N 200 1Berlin, Germany

Second International Convention o f AsiaScholars (ICAS 2)

ICAS 2 organizing unit:Prof Dr Eberhard Sandschneider,Arbeitsstelle Politik Chinas und

Ostasiens, Freie Universitat Berlin,Ihnestr. 22, D-14195 Berlin, GermanyE-mail: sandschn@zedat.fu-berlin.de

F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 0 • h a s n e w s l e t t e r W 2 1 • 6 3

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2 columns: w. 105 x h. 180 mm: US$ 270• Standard E:

2 columns: w. 105 x h. 100 mm: US$ 150

ADVERTISEMENT GUIDELINES• Material: Positive film (emulsion down)

or positive on paper.• Photographs and shaded areas must

be pre-screened.■ Not-camera ready:Text on disc, clear

logo’s or digital, including print-out.• Screen number 40 l/cm (= 100 l/inch)

Minimum point 10%Maximum point 85%

CIRCULATIONThe MAS Newsletter has a circulationof 22,000 copies world-wide andis published 3 times a year.

ADVERTORIALSArticle of maximum 1,200 words incombination with an advertisement ofminimum St. D size. Reservation: 8 weeksprior to release date. Note: Copy subject toapproval, advertorial texts will be edited.

VACANCIESFor advertising jobs and fellowships inthe HAS Newsletter we offer specialrates. Information on request.

6 4 • has newsletter N?2 i • February 2000

INSERTSAll addresses, incl. institutes, specialists,and non-specialists, world-wide, orselected countries. Price (includingpostage): Up to 45 grams: US$ 3000, every25 grams over 45 grams: US$ 500,

MAILING LABEL RENTALIt is possible to order addresses from theHAS Database of Asia specialists for directmail use. US$ 250 per search; US$ 0.50per address, on self-adhesive labels.

INFORMATIONFor further information contactMr S. Sand or the Managing Editorat the HAS.

Pkaducti.6c

tfe A J u ic e A

INFORMATIONCARRIERS

Asian Rare Books175 W. 93rd Street

Suite 16-DNew York, NY I002S-9344

United States of AmericaTel.:+ 1-212-316 5334Fax: + 1-212-316 3408

E-mail: arbs@erols.com

Http.'//www.erols.com/arbs/

C harbo’s AntiquariaatKoninginneweg 79

1075 CJ Amsterdam

The NetherlandsTel.:+ 3 1-20-676 1229

Fax:+31-20-676-1726E-mail: mail@charbo.nl

Http://www.cha rbo.nl

China Information:A Journal

on C ontem poraryChina Studies

Please visit our website:

http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/tcc/iournalo r contact the Chief Editor:

D r Woei Lien ChongSinological Institute

Leiden UniversityArsenaalstraat I

P.O. Box 95152300 RA Leiden

The NetherlandsTel.:+3 1-71-527 2516Fax:+31-71-527 2526

E-mail: docchin@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

Fine Books Oriental38 Museum Street

London W C IA ILPUnited Kingdom

Tel.:+44-171-242 5288Fax: +44-171-242 5344

Http:// www.finebooks.demon.co.uk

H otel W ilhelm inaKoninginneweg 167-169

1075 CN Amsterdam

The NetherlandsTel.: +31-20-662 5467 / 664 0594

Fax:+31-20-679 2296

E-mail: wilhlhtl@euronet.nl

King H otelLeidsekade 86-86

1017 PN Amsterdam

The NetherlandsTel.:+ 3 1-20-624 9603 /6 2 7 6101

Fax:+31-20-620 7277

MMF PublicationsP.O. Box 287

2 160 AG Lisse

The Netherlands

Tel.:+31-252-432 121Fax:+31-252-418 658

E-mail: microformat@compuserve.com

Southeast Asian StudiesSum m er Institute

(intensive sum m er languageprogram )

C enter for Southeast AsianStudies

University ofWisconsin-MadisonRoom 207, 1155 Observatory

Dr MadisonWisconsin 53706 USATel.:+ 1-608-263 1755

Fax: + 1-608-263 3735E-mail: mjstuden@facstaff.wisc.edu

Http://www. wisc.edu/seassi

Tamarind BooksBooks about Southeast Asia

P.O.Box 49217

GreensboroNC 27419

United States of AmericaTel.:+33-6-852 1905Fax: +33-6-852 0750

E-mail: tamarind@greensboro.com

Http://www.abebooks.com/home/tamarind/

The Old BookroomO ut of print and antiquarian books on

AsiaUnit 1,54/60 Weedon Close

Belconnen

ACT 2617Australia

Tel.:+61-2-6251 5191 (24 hours)

Fax:+61-2-6251 5536E-mail: books@OldBookroom.com

Http://www.OldBookroom.com

Tri JayaTour & TravelMedan-lndonesia

For individual tours all over Indonesia,

adventure travel, cultural holidays,architectural/historical tours, beach

holidays, jungle trekking.

Fax: +62-61-786 3324E-mail: trijaya@ibm.net

Http://www.trijaya-travel.com

A dvertise now in th e Prod­ucts and Services!

3 placements (I year) for only US$ 100Please contact the Editor

Elzeline van der HoekP.O. Box 9515

2300 RA Leiden

The NetherlandsTel.:+ 31 71 527 2227

Fax:+ 31-7 1 527 4162

E-mail: iiasnews@rullet.leidenuniv.nl