Introduction - International Institute for Asian Studies

Frank Dikötter

guest ed i tor

M ichel Foucault has written of a ‘great confinement’ ofthe poor that peaked between 1650 and 1789, as pun-

ishment of the body was replaced by a regime of surveillancein the prison. Yet even a cursory look at modes of punishmentbeyond the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ shows that the 20th cen-tury, rather than the 18th, was marked by the incarceration ofvast masses of people, to such an extent that Alain Besançonhas characterised the period as ‘the century of concentrationcamps’. Foucault’s vision of herding paupers and vagrants intocountless new hospitals and prisons not only confused intend-ed policies with actual practices, thereby overstating the extentof incarceration in France before 1789 – the philosopher

seemed to miss the world around him. Over the course of the20th century, confinement spread across the world to becomethe only recognised form of punishment alongside fines andthe death sentence; countries differing widely in political ide-ology and social background replaced existing modes of pun-ishment – from exile and servitude to the pillory and the gal-lows – with the custodial sentence. Prisons now span theglobe, from communist China to democratic Britain, as ever-larger proportions of humanity find themselves locked behindbars, doing time for crime. Rates of incarceration have variedover the past century, but the trend is upwards, as new pris-ons continue to be built and prison populations swell in theAmericas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 6 >

A global history of the prison

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I IAS Newsletter 39 | December 2005 | f ree of charge | publ ished by I IAS | P.O. Box 9515 | 2300 RA Leiden | The Nether lands | T +31-71-527 2227 | F +31-71-527 4162 | i ias@let . le idenuniv.nl | www.i ias .nl

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IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:47 Pagina 1

I I A S N e w s l e t t e r | # 3 9 | D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 52

The International Institute for Asian

Studies is a postdoctoral research cen-

tre based in Leiden and Amsterdam, the

Netherlands. Our main objective is to

encourage the interdisciplinary and

comparative study of Asia and to pro-

mote national and international coop-

eration in the field. The institute focus-

es on the humanities and social

sciences and their interaction with other

sciences.

IIAS values dynamism and versatility in its research programmes. Post-doctoral

research fellows are temporarily employed by or affiliated to IIAS, either within the

framework of a collaborative research programme or on an individual basis. In its

aim to disseminate broad, in-depth knowledge of Asia, the institute organizes

seminars, workshops and conferences, and publishes the IIAS Newsletter with a cir-

culation of 25,000.

IIAS runs a database for Asian Studies with information on researchers and

research-related institutes worldwide. As an international mediator and a clearing-

house for knowledge and information, IIAS is active in creating international net-

works and launching international cooperative projects and research programmes.

In this way, the institute functions as a window on Europe for non-European schol-

ars and contributes to the cultural rapprochement between Asia and Europe.

IIAS also administers the secretariat of the European Alliance for Asian Studies

(Asia Alliance: www.asia-alliance.org) and the Secretariat General of the

International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS: www.icassecretariat.org).

Updates on the activities of the Asia Alliance and ICAS are published in this

newsletter. <

Contents #39Cultures of confinement: a global history of the prison1&4 Introduction: cultures of confinement / Frank Dikötter

5 Colonial Burma’s prison: continuity with its pre-colonial past? / Thet Thet Wintin

and Ian Brown

6 India: the prisoners’ revolt / David Arnold

7 In her aunt’s house: women in prison in the Middle East / Anthony Gorman

8 Blurring the boundaries: prisons and settler society in Hokkaido / Pia Vogler

Poetry9 Pulau di atas pulau & In-communicado / Sitor Situmorang

9 kembara jauh & wayang i / Mohamad Haji Salleh

Research10 The prose of the world: the field speaks for itself / Saskia Kersenboom

11 Ancient Chinese ritual dances / Nicolas Standaert

12-13 The Great Fifth / Samten G. Karmay

14 Black Fever and British medical policy in India / Achintya Kumar Dutta

15 Urban elections in the People’s Republic / Thomas Heberer

16 Rendering history through the Sinhala novel / Manouri K. Jayasinghe

17 In the footsteps of Hayam Wuruk / Amrit Gomperts

18 Asians in Africa: images, histories and portraits / Gijsbert Oonk

19 The virtual second generation: negotiating ethnicity on the internet / Urmila Goel

Rem Koolhaas IIAS annual lecture20-21 Warchitecture / Rick Dolphijn

Reviews22 Women of the kakawin world / Dick van der Meij

23 Caring for Japan’s elderly / Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill

24 Museums, material culture and performance in Southeast Asia / Sandra Dudley

25 Bringing Indonesian media history to life / David T. Hill

26 Language and politics in Mao’s China / Manfred B. Sellner

27 Globalization and local development in India / Hans Schenk

28 Books received

International Institute for Asian Studies29 IIAS fellows

30 Hosting major international sports events: comparing Asia and Europe /

Wolfram Manzenreiter and John Horne

31 European Alliance for Asian Studies

32 IIAS research

33-34 Announcements

35 A tale of two museums. Indonesia: The Discovery of the Past / Pieter ter Keurs

36-37 International arts agenda / Carol Brash

38-39 International conference agenda

Direc

tor’s

note

www.

iias.n

l

East-West meeting spaceS ingapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong delivered the keynote speech at the

November 2005 East-West Dialogue in Barcelona*. ‘After Amman: Uniting toDefeat Terrorism’ saw Goh address what he considers to be the greatest threat tohumankind today.

One of the main feeding grounds for terrorism is racial and religious tension.Following the 1960s racial riots in Singapore, the government of the multi-religious,multi-racial society adopted an ‘overlapping circles’ – in contrast to a ‘melting-pot’– approach to foster racial and religious harmony, where each community can beseen as a circle with its own values, beliefs and culture. ‘Where the circles overlapis the common space where we interact freely. We try to expand and maximize thisspace. The space which does not overlap is the community’s own space where theyare free to speak their own language, practice their own religion and have their ownway of life. This way, each community retains its separate identity and yet is bond-ed to each other through common national values.’

Against the backdrop of the recent riots in France, Goh’s words have become morepertinent in the context of East-West dialogue. After all, it was the same Goh ChokTong who more than ten years ago as prime minister of Singapore developed theidea of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to improve dialogue between Asia andEurope, at a low ebb since decolonization. He pleaded for cultural rapprochement,for which he delineated three stages.

In the first, networking phase, gaps in knowledge of each other’s cultures need tobe filled. Although this is a never-ending process, the past decade has witnesseddeepening in our knowledge of each other’s cultures. We are now passing throughthe second phase, that of constructive dialogue, where common concerns take cen-ter stage in discussions on issues like terrorism, racial tensions, natural disasters,SARS, AIDS and avian flu – phenomena that underline our ever-growing interde-pendence. Focusing on common concerns help erase xenophobic notions of eachother’s cultures, so counter-productive to shaping our common future.

We as Asia scholars can facilitate this process by further strengthening academiccooperation between Europe and Asia in the form of joint research projects and stu-dent exchanges. These pave the way for the third or consensus-building phase whereshared values develop – which, in the long run, will enlarge our ‘common space’within the East-West encounter. <

Wim Stokhof

Director, IIAS

* The second East-West Dialogue was organized by Casa Asia, the Asia Europe Foun-dation, the Club of Madrid, UNESCO, and the Forum Foundation, and held inBarcelona, 16-17 November 2005.

is for authors from around the world to share commentary and opinion; short research essays; book,

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conferences with colleagues in academia and beyond. We welcome contributions from our readers.

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IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:49 Pagina 2

I I A S N e w s l e t t e r | # 3 9 | D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 5 3

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> Cultures of confinement: a global history of the prison

While the prison has become ever more entrenched on aglobal scale, it also represents an incontrovertible failure, intheory and in practice. While their proposed missions havevaried – from retribution and incapacitation to deterrence andrehabilitation – prisons from the very beginning resisted theirsupporters’ intended purposes, generating wretched institu-tional conditions where humanitarian goals were heralded.The road to hell is paved with good intentions and the greatexpectations placed on prisons to perform often-contradicto-ry goals (how is punishment compatible with reform?) standin stark contrast to the climate of violence within its walls. Achasm separates proclaimed intentions from actual practices:monuments of order on paper turned into squalid places ofhuman suffering confined by walls of bricks and mortar. Envis-aged as a haven for repentance – ‘a machine to grind rogueshonest’ according to Jeremy Bentham – prison is often nomore than an enclave of violence, producing caged misery atworst, enforced lethargy at best. Contrary to the workhouse orthe lunatic asylum, the prison is a failed invention of moder-nity that has yet to be dismantled. Prisons do not reform crim-inals, do not reduce re-offending rates, and do not address thesocial problems conducive to crime; if anything, incarcerationproduces violence and generates crime by meeting harm withharm. In the meantime, the prison has become all the moreinsidious as it has become firmly established, rarely challengedby political elites and ordinary people alike.

It is precisely the singular resilience of this failed institutionthat makes a history of the prison so urgent. It is not justanother trendy topic of cultural history claiming a globaldimension, nor one more unremarkable aspect of a staid his-tory of state institutions, but an inquiry into the formation ofan incarcerating society in which we all live. A first steptowards a global history of the prison is to recognise that elitesaround the world were generally fascinated by the peniten-tiary ideal and eager to embrace it, rather than compelled bythe dark forces of imperialism to adopt it. The prison epito-mised the dreams of state officials and local authorities in LatinAmerica, while confinement was praised as a viable alterna-tive to banishment by the first Qing envoys to Europe who vis-ited Pentonville Prison in the 1860s. In colonial contexts, pris-ons were part and parcel of the ‘civilising mission’ of colonisersas existing penal practices, often based on physical punish-ment, were viewed as ‘barbaric’ and ‘uncivilised’. Yet post-colo-nial regimes more often than not consolidated rather than dis-mantled the prison for their own purposes.

The transfer of penal discourse and penitentiary institutionswas not a one-way process. Diversity rather than uniformitycharacterised the use of the custodial sentence as prisons bothchanged and adapted to existing notions of crime and punish-ment. In the case of Burma, as Thet Thet Wintin and Ian Brownshow (p. 5), the colonial imposition of a penitentiary schemeresonated with earlier forms of punishment, as various formsof confinement, in contrast to most parts of India, existed in

pre-colonial Burma. As ideas moved across borders, they wereappropriated by modernising elites and transformed by distinctlocal political, economic, social and cultural conditions. Under-neath an overarching rationale based on the idea of humanepunishment, the prison was multivalent, capable of being adopt-ed in a variety of mutually incompatible environments, fromthe bagne in Vietnam and the cellular prison in China to theconcentration camps of South Africa. Confinement, in short,acquired specific cultural and social dimensions which help toexplain its extraordinary resilience across the globe.

Foucault deserves credit for having transformed the historyof the prison from an obscure field of institutional history intoa thriving and exciting area of cultural studies. But too many

of his followers have taken on board his vision of the prisonas the perfect realisation of the modern state. Archival evi-dence – which allows us to move away from official rhetoricand lofty ideals towards the messy realities of incarceration –on the contrary, highlights the very limits of the state. As Car-los Aguirre has pointed out in a recent book on the prisonersof Lima, the constant lack of financial resources, poor strate-gies of personnel recruitment, lack of control over prisonguards and corruption inside the penal system meant that theauthorities who operated the prisons had great discretion indealing with prisoners and often did not support the maingoals of prison reform. Entirely absent from ambitiousexplanatory schemes about the panopticon are the prisonersthemselves. Just as the continued use of violence by prisonguards created penal realities that had little to do with granddesigns on paper, prisoners were never the passive victims ofa great ‘disciplinary project’.

A comparative history of confinement that puts prison lifeback into the picture not only tells us much about the agencyof ordinary people supposed to be captives, but also illustrateshow and why prison fails to be redemptive. As David Arnoldnotes in his paper (p. 6), prisoners were seldom entirely com-pliant; in the long history of the colonial prison, there weremany ways for prisoners to evade or resist the restrictionsprison authorities sought to impose upon them. ÉmileDurkheim observed long ago that the core problem of theprison as a form of discipline resides in the lack of inclinationamong the majority of prisoners to participate in the processof ‘reformation’. In other institutional situations such as theschool or the factory, the individual must to some extent sharethe goals of the disciplinary process for discipline to be effec-tive. By robbing prisoners of self-respect – so central to self-discipline – the prison did not produce ‘disciplined subjects’,but hardened recidivists.

If prisoner experiences are central to understanding the actu-al workings of the penitentiary project, the question of gen-

der is also important, even if the prison was generally for malecaptives. Tony Gorman (p. 7) captures the many ways in whichwomen in the Middle East suffered greater social stigma frombeing viewed as criminal deviants. Created and controlled bymen, the prison system was not isolated from the larger soci-ety outside, but permeated by its political and social relations.This is true too of work: most prisons emphasised industrialwork as a chance for redemption and reformation, thus shap-ing the prison as a male-centred institution. Prison work onJapan’s northern frontier is the topic of Pia Vogler’s contri-bution (p. 8), where she focuses on the prison’s permeability.In Hokkaido even the children of guards were instructed inclassrooms behind prison walls until 1886.

Most historians have written about the prison in society, butas these articles point out, we need a history of society inprison. Moving away from the serene panopticon we find thatthe boundaries of most prisons were porous as guards col-luded with prisoners, ideas and objects (drugs or books) movedin and out of confinement, and, more generally, religious,social, ethnic and gender hierarchies were replicated insidethe prison, undermining the very notion of equality amongprisoners to create social exclusion. Society colonised theprison and undermined discipline to a much greater extentthan discipline ever managed to move out of the prison toorder society. And where states did succeed – against all odds– to build more centralised and better policed prisons, it hasgenerally been to maintain social inequalities and political-ly repressive regimes rather than to reform the alleged crim-inal. Hard questions raised by the global prison need to befaced, lest we unwittingly contribute to the legitimacy of aninstitution which most penal specialists, including prisondirectors themselves, wisely see as a failing sanction of lastresort only. <

References

- Aguirre, Carlos. 2005. The Criminals of Lima and Their Worlds: The

Prison Experience, 1850-1935. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

- Dikötter, Frank. 2002. Crime, Punishment and the Prison in Modern

China. New York: Columbia University Press.

- Morris, Norvak and David J. Rothman, eds. 1995. The Oxford History

of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society. Oxford

and New York: Oxford University Press.

- Salvatore, Ricardo D. and Carlos Aguirre, eds. 1996. The Birth of the

Penitentiary in Latin America: Essays on Criminology, Prison Reform,

and Social Control, 1830-1940. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Frank Dikötter is Professor of the Modern History of China at the

School of Oriental and African History, University of London, on leave

as Chair of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong. He has pub-

lished a series of micro-studies on the history of modern China, includ-

ing Crime, Punishment and the Prison in Modern China (2002,

Columbia University Press) and Things Modern: Material Culture

and Everyday Life in China (Hurst, in press).

Cultures of Confinement: The History of the Prison in Global Perspective, edited by Frank Dikötter and Ian Brown, will be published by Hurst. The

volume, the end result of a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, brings together specialists of the history of

the prison in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America and highlights the complex cultural negotiations which took place in encounters

between Europe and the rest of the world, pointing out the acts of resistance and appropriation which actively transformed the cultural mean-

ings and social practices associated with confinement.

Foreign Section of the

Ward Road Gaol in

Shanghai

Work with bamboo

and cane in Jiangxi

Number One Prison

archival evidence allows us to move away from official rhetoric and lofty ideals towards

the messy realities of incarceration

> c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1

All photographs from Frank Dikötter, Crime, Punishment and Prison in Modern China

(2002, Columbia University Press). http://homepage.mac.com/dikotter/

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:50 Pagina 4



The practice of confining convicted criminals in prison for a stipulated period of time – to punish or reform – is a modern westerninnovation. Pentonville in north London, opened in 1842 and said to be the first modern prison, had four wings radiating from acentral hub from which guards could observe every cell, each holding a single prisoner. The ‘modern’ prison then became one ofmany western innovations (including the railway, scientific medicine and the filing cabinet) transported to the colonial world fromthe mid-19th century.

Colonial Burma’s prison: continuity with its pre-colonial past?

Thet Thet Wint in and Ian Brown

The Pentonville model, most dramatically the Pentonvillearchitecture, could soon be found across the world, and not

just in the colonial world. Aerial photographs of the RangoonCentral Jail (now demolished) and Insein Prison clearly showthe central hub, from which radiate, like spokes of a wheel, thelong prison wings in which the convicts were held and observed.As the ‘modern’ prison was transported to the colonial world,it was transformed, or modified, partly by local circumstances,including colonial attitudes to the potential for reforming thecharacter of ‘native’ peoples. But innovation had to take accountof existing indigenous practices of punishment, and in manycases had to adjust substantially to them.

Breaking with the pastAt first sight, there appears to be the clearest contrast betweenthe punishment regimes imposed by Burma’s kings beforeBritish conquest and the prisons and practices constructed bythe colonial rulers. Convicted criminals in pre-colonial Burmawere most commonly punished by flogging, execution or exile;alternatively, they were tattooed, often on the face, to indicatetheir crime – ‘murderer’, ‘rapist’ – or had their bodies muti-lated. At some point in the judicial process, individuals wouldbe held in confinement while their alleged crimes were inves-tigated or during trial. They could also be held in order to betortured to secure an admission of guilt, and if guilty, wereheld until the sentence was carried out. Thus the pre-colonialprison was a site in which important stages of the judicialprocess took place; confinement in a prison was not, howev-er, in itself one of the punishments imposed by the pre-colo-nial state. In sharp contrast, by far the most common pun-ishment imposed in a modern judicial system is confinementfor a stipulated period.

There was also the sharpest contrast in the physical structuresof the pre-colonial and colonial prison. The former had rela-tively flimsy outer walls, essentially bamboo fences. The mainbuilding was a single block, housing all the inmates, who werefettered to prevent escape. The colonial prison was the famil-iar structure of thick, high, stone walls and double gates; thecentral hub and radiating wings; and within the prison com-pound, separate buildings and dividing barriers to ensure theseparation of different categories of prisoner and the differ-ent aspects of prison life.

ContinuitiesOn closer reflection, the contrast between the prisons of pre-colonial Burma and the prisons and prison system construct-ed by the British is less sharp. Important aspects of the prisonunder the Burmese kings were carried over into the Britishperiod and are still present, while some of the ‘innovations’introduced by the British had pre-colonial antecedents.

Both the Burmese kings and the British colonial regime madeconsiderable use of convict labour outside the prison. Thekings would put convicts to work building irrigation canalsand cultivating rice fields. The colonial regime used convictlabour to construct roads and, again, irrigation works. In Jan-uary 1918, the 148th (Burma) Jail Labour Corps, made up of1,523 convicts, left Rangoon for service in Mesopotamia. Inthe late 1920s, camp jails were established in two government-owned stone quarries in distant parts of the province. Underthe Burmese kings many convicted criminals were exiled farfrom the capital; the colonial regime also sent large numbersinto exile, the vast majority to the penal settlement in theAndaman Islands.

There was also striking continuity in the use of convicts asjailors. In pre-colonial Burma, few individuals freely soughtwork in prison, particularly in the lowest grades or for positionsinvolving the most gruesome tasks. It was therefore commonfor convicts, indeed the most violent and degraded, to be par-doned in return for performing the duties of prison execution-er, flogger, or interrogator. Clearly they were men of consider-able power in the pre-colonial prison. Similarly, convict staff –long-serving and trusted inmates who were appointed nightwatchmen, overseers, or convict warders – were essential in therunning of colonial Burma’s prisons. Indeed the position ofconvict officers was pivotal. Since senior staff in the prison,from the superintendents down to the warders, was exclusive-ly either European or Indian, Burmese convict officers were theonly ones able to communicate easily with the mass of inmates.It was a position they could use to protect fellow inmates, butperhaps also to exploit and abuse them.

There may also have been continuity in the use of the prison topunish. As noted earlier, the prison in pre-colonial Burma wasa site to hold the accused – a place for torture, interrogation,and execution – but not for the confinement of convicts whohad received custodial sentences. But in practice, individualswere often held for long periods – the remainder of their natu-ral lives – in effect as a punishment, perhaps also as a deter-rent. Monks claiming supernatural powers and disturbing thesocial order could be confined, for the king would be reluctant

to challenge those powers by executing or exiling the allegedoffender. Political opponents, dishonest officials and debtorscould also find themselves put away for a long time.

There is one final continuity of particular importance for thehistorian seeking to understand the daily conditions andadministration of Burma’s pre-colonial and colonial prisons.The sources for the pre-colonial and colonial prison are strik-ingly different, but both tend towards what might be termed‘an exaggeration of authority’. For the pre-colonial prison, themost vivid descriptions are provided by European residentswho experienced it first hand. A particularly fine example isHenry Gouger’s Narrative of a Two Years’ Imprisonment inBurmah, first published in 1860 and reprinted in 2002, anaccount of the author’s incarceration in Ava’s death prison Letma yoon between 1824 and 1826 during the first Anglo-Burmese war on suspicion of being a British spy. In words andstriking line drawings, Gouger conveys the stark horror of theplace – the fierce brutality of the jailors, the pitiful conditionof the inmates, the dirt and smell:

Putrid remains of cast-away animal and vegetable stuff.... the stalefumes from thousands of tobacco-pipes.... the scattered ejections ofthe pulp and liquid from their everlasting betel, and other name-less abominations, still more disgusting.... the exudation from thebodies of a crowd of never-washed convicts, encouraged by the ther-mometer at 100 degrees, in a den almost without ventilation – isit possible to say what it smelt like?

In using such contemporary western descriptions, someallowance must be made for cultural positioning. But perhapsmore importantly, and as a close reading of Gouger’s ownaccount makes clear, it was common for those unfortunatesheld in the prisons of pre-colonial Burma to avoid or lessenthe most brutal conditions by paying off the jailors. Horrorssurely took place, but in day-to-day existence, the brutal author-ity of the prison regime was often exaggerated.

A comparable exaggeration, although for quite different rea-sons, can be seen in the material on the colonial prison. Per-haps the most striking feature of this material is its sheer vol-ume and obsessive detail. The annual reports on the prisonadministration of British Burma each run to 50 pages or more,come laden with statistical appendices, and are supplementedwith reports by India-wide jail commissions, jail riot enquiries,and special investigations. The number of inmates who con-tracted malaria in the Rangoon Central Jail in 1908, the num-ber flogged at Mandalay in 1920, the details of diet and deathare all recorded. This detail, in particular its sheer volume, givesthe impression of a colonial prison administration withimmense control and authority, with extraordinary capacity andreach. But the day-to-day dynamics of colonial Burma’s prisonsmay well have been very different. As indicated earlier, author-ity within the prison lay less with the European superintend-ents or the Indian warders, but with the Burmese convict staff.Physically, culturally, and linguistically close to the mass ofinmates, they were decisive in the running of the jails, and oftenused their position for personal gain, but in ways that eased theharshness of the prison regime.

Both the pre-colonial and colonial prison in Burma can eas-ily be portrayed as immensely powerful institutions – theformer with a frightening capacity for horrific brutality, thelatter, for harsh regimentation. In reality, that power was anexaggeration, undermined and weakened by the pivotal posi-tion occupied by the jailor staff and by the inmates them-selves. <

Thet Thet Wintin is a doctoral student in history at the School of

Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Ian Brown is Professor in the Economic History of South East Asia at

SOAS.

The interior of

Let-Ma-Yoon prison

at Ava

From Henry Gouger,

Narrative of a Two Years’

Imprisonment in Burmah

from Frank G. Carpenter,

Prisoners in Rangoon,

1910-1920, Library of

Congress

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:51 Pagina 5



British India operated one of the largest prison systems in the world. During the 1860s the inmate population averaged 70,000,rising to 100,000 by the 1900s and 130,000 by the 1930s. Two to three times those numbers passed through the prisons in a singleyear owing to short-term sentences, numbers matched or exceeded only by the United States and Russia. The prison – an institutionlacking extensive pre-colonial precedents – exemplified the British determination to control India.

India: the prisoners’ revolt

David Arno ld

In Britain and North America in the early 19th century thenew penitentiary system had sought to disaggregate prison

populations, favouring solitary confinement and reducing pris-oners to virtual silence. Owing to colonial parsimony and dis-trust of subordinate Indian officials, little of this happened inIndia. Though less than 0.2% of India’s total population wasin jail at any one time, the British relied on the spectre ofprison to discourage crime and combat insurrection. Duringthe 19th century the British experimented with transportation,developed an extensive internal network of district and cen-tral jails, formed several prison reform committees, and com-piled elaborate prison regulation manuals. But prisoners wereseldom entirely compliant, ‘docile bodies’, to use a Fou-cauldian phrase. Solitary confinement was rare and instead ofsilence Indian prisoners were ‘as a rule noisy and talkative,listless and slow in obeying orders’. During the long historyof the colonial prison, from the 1790s to the 1940s, there weremany ways in which prisoners evaded or resisted the restric-tions the prison system sought to impose upon them.

Evasion and non-compliance were widespread. Feigning ill-ness or insanity was one way of avoiding work, while beingsent to the prison hospital afforded the opportunity of findingan escape route from the jail. Similarly, when prisoners wereparaded and dosed with quinine as a prophylactic againstmalaria, many spat out the medicine as soon as the doctor’sback was turned, regarding the bitter drug as little better thanpoison. Conversely, contraband, including tobacco, opium andbhang, were smuggled into the jail and entered its internaleconomy. Indeed, much of the effective authority in prisonslay not in the hands of British officials and medical officersbut the warders who controlled the day-to-day operations ofthe jail. For while the British did not trust subordinate Indianofficialdom, they did use convicts as warders: prisoners(amounting to 10% of the entire prison population by the1900s) who were promoted to positions of authority over otherprisoners and enjoyed a privileged status within the jail. Crit-ics saw convict warders as a major source of the corruptionand violence that occurred within India’s jails, and it was oftenagainst their exploitation that other prisoners had to defendthemselves.

EscapeRight from the start, prisoners exploited opportunities toescape. Early jails were often buildings converted from otheruses and relatively insecure; prisoners could escape by brib-ing or overpowering their guards, by setting fire to the jail andfleeing in the ensuing confusion, or by smuggling in chiselsand files to break locks and fetters. The use of convicts to repairroads far from the jails and with lax or inadequate supervisioncreated further opportunities. In Bengal alone in the mid-1830s, there were 80 escapes from road-gangs, aided by ‘fel-low feeling’ between convicts and guards or by communica-tion between prisoners and their ‘unfettered comrades’. Innorthern India between 1838 and 1843, 923 prisoners escaped,only 260 of whom were recaptured.

Even when they failed to escape, prisoners from time to timeoverwhelmed their guards and seized temporary control ofthe prison. Bringing prisoners together in a single place, par-ticularly when they shared some common identity or feltemboldened by their own exploits and numbers, posed par-ticular dangers for jail authorities. In 1834 prisoners at Cal-cutta’s Alipur jail, which held more than 1,000 ‘hardened’criminals awaiting transfer, seized control, murdered the localmagistrate and severely wounded the chief jailor. Althoughdiscipline was tightened thereafter, jail takeovers occurredperiodically throughout the colonial period, such as at Fate-hgarh in 1910, where convicts armed themselves with knivesfrom the jail workshop, and at Palayamkottai in 1925, whereMapillas, imprisoned after the Malabar Rebellion four yearsearlier, took over the jail. But escape was not driven by inter-nal forces alone. In a raid on Agra jail in December 1846, 50to 60 armed men scaled the walls, drove off the sentries, andreleased 192 prisoners. Most were recaptured, but of the 51prisoners who fled, 15 were killed and 12 wounded.

Partly in response to such defiant episodes, from the mid-19thcentury the colonial authorities embarked on a jail construc-tion programme modeled on Pentonville prison in London.Extramural labour was scaled down and emphasis giveninstead to the creation of jail industries that would ensure amore disciplined labour regime while helping to meet thecosts of jail administration. These changes reduced but didnot eliminate prisoners’ opportunities for escape. In fact, jailindustries gave rise to new forms of resistance. In the 1840sprisoners at Agra and elsewhere in the northwestern provincesobjected to being made to work in flour mills. In a carceral ver-sion of ‘everyday resistance’ (to echo James C. Scott), they ‘con-tinued wilfully to injure the machinery, and to throw them outof gear, and themselves out of work for 4 to 5 days at a time’.Since the machines cost Rs 1,000 to 1,500 apiece, the provin-cial Inspector of Prisons was hardly pleased by this ‘spirit ofresistance’. When prisoners in the 1860s and 70s refused sim-ilar tasks, they were put on a reduced diet, but this merelyseemed to make them determined to ‘resist even more obsti-nately than before’. They were flogged in an attempt to reducethem to submission.

Messing with casteThe colonial authorities attempted another reform in the1840s: replacing money doles given to prisoners to buy andcook their own food with a system of common messing. TheBritish hoped this would decrease costs, but they also believedthat caste ‘privileges’ were incompatible with the functions ofa modern prison system. At Chapra jail in Bihar, in June 1842,the 620 prisoners were divided into 52 messes, each with itsown prisoner cook. The cooks, however, were the first to rebel,as common messing violated caste hierarchies by forcinghigher and lower castes together. Ten cooks were whipped fordisobedience, but then the prisoners revolted en masse;though unable to break out of the jail, some 3,000 to 4,000townspeople gathered in their support. Peace was restoredonly when the magistrate, believing force could not prevailagainst such strongly held ‘prejudices’, suspended commonmessing.

Further messing-related disturbances resulted in the deathsof 22 prisoners at Allahabad and Patna jails in 1846. By theend of that year, the messing system had been introduced,wholly or partly, into 25 of the 40 jails in the northwesternprovinces, but many officials continued to believe that it wasunenforceable. Although high-caste prisoners – Brahminsand Rajputs, whose caste status seemed most at risk fromcommon messing - led these protests, the authorities admit-ted that ‘the prisoners one and all are opposed to it’. It was pos-sible to see prisoners’ invocation of caste as something of acontrivance. One official remarked how, when common mess-ing was first introduced, ‘it was a matter of great surprise howmany [caste] subdivisions arose, which nobody had heard ofbefore’. Some, he thought, were ‘got up by the prisoners them-selves in order to throw obstacles in the way of the scheme’.Nonetheless, the Bengal and NWP governments felt obligedto proceed with caution and without ‘doing violence to the prej-udices or the feelings of the people’. The accommodation ofcaste within the prison ensured that the social hierarchy out-side the prison was replicated within it: low castes were obligedto work leather or act as scavengers; those of high caste, orwho had the wealth to bribe warders, lived a more comfort-able existence and gained exemption from some of prison’smore arduous and degrading tasks.

The co-ordinated responses of north Indian prisoners to themessing system and other grievances showed how much com-munication existed between prisoners in different jails andhow ready they were to complain about what they saw as unfairor discriminatory treatment. It worried the British that pris-oners enjoyed support from Indians outside the jail, whobelieved the administration was deliberately using prison reg-ulations to break caste and impose Christianity. Further, manyof the rebellious prisoners came from precisely those castes -Brahmins and Rajputs – that the British recruited into theBengal Army: indeed, many of the prisoners’ grievancesechoed those of the sepoys. Unsurprisingly, opposition with-in the jails, and public support for it, carried over into the

Mutiny and Rebellion in 1857, when a number of prisons wereattacked and their inmates liberated. The prison had come tosymbolize the alien, intrusive and oppressive nature of colo-nial rule.

Prison as resistanceThe rise of nationalism and other political movements bred anew type of prisoner. Although their separate status was notfully recognized by prison authorities until the 1930s, thesepolitical, generally middle-class prisoners, while tending todistance themselves from those they looked down on as com-mon criminals, brought a new spirit of resistance to the prison.Their methods included hunger strikes to force the authori-ties to make concessions over diet, dress, access to newspa-pers and visitors, and the performance of religious and polit-ical observances. Nationalist prisoners also enjoyed widesupport among the Indian public, their grievances publicizedto a degree unmatched in the 19th century by newspapers,debates in the legislatures and formal petitions and resolu-tions. The harshest treatment was meted out to left-wing rev-olutionaries, some of whom were force-fed or otherwise bru-tally treated. The fatal fast of the revolutionary JatindranathDas in 1929 obliged the British to concede separate status forpolitical prisoners.1

Do these acts of evasion, protest and occasional outright resist-ance matter? They did not bring about the overthrow of thecolonial prison system or even modify the brutality and degra-dation that characterized much of its operation. Nevertheless,this aspect of prison history is noteworthy for several reasons.First, it shows the importance of the prison to wider historiesof Indian resistance, the relative permeability of the prison tooutside influences, the continuing connectedness – throughrumour and riot – between the jail and society at large, andhow an oppressive social hierarchy could be replicated with-in jail. Second, although many prisoners were abused, floggedor half-starved for their defiance, prison resistance and revoltdid have some impact on the colonial authorities in India,prompting them – for pragmatic rather than humanitarianreasons – to investigate prison conditions (as, for instance, inthe wake of the Alipur jail riot in 1834). Protests did not leadto the abandonment of common messing in the 1840s and50s, but they did delay its implementation and impressed onthe British the need to accommodate what they saw as pris-oners’ caste ‘prejudices’. Third, a circularity or symbiosis devel-oped between the opposition the prison helped to arouse andthe operations of the colonial regime. Just as prisons were con-demned as ‘schools’ for the very crimes and vices they wereintended to suppress, so they helped to generate (and to sym-bolize) resistance to colonial rule. But even with the mutineersand rebels of 1857-8, and the ‘jail-going’ Gandhians of the1920s and 30s, the British saw little alternative to using theprison as one of the principal tools of coercion and contain-ment. Their dependence on it to keep order guaranteed thecolonial prison system’s place as a battleground, and thus noless a tool, of the Indian resistance the system’s ‘evolution’ andefforts to stamp out actually fueled. <

Note

1. For the protests of political prisoners and the colonial response to

them, see Singh, Ujjwal Kumar. 1998. Political Prisoners in India.

New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

David Arnold is Professor of the History of South Asia at the School

of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His book The

Tropics and the Traveling Gaze: India, Landscape and Science,

1800-1856 will be published by University of Washington Press in

2006.

[email protected]

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:52 Pagina 6



According to an Arab saying, ‘Prison is for real men’ (al-sijn lil-jad’an). But it was also a place for women. The development offemale imprisonment sheds light not only on the cultural and social meanings of the prison in the Middle Eastern context, but onhow its acculturation intersected with indigenous attitudes towards women and crime.

In her aunt’s house: women in prison in the Middle East

Anthony Gorman

Imprisonment in the Middle Eastblossomed during the 19th century,

supplanting older practices of corporaland capital punishment and financialpenalties. The confinement of womenwas not a new phenomenon; previous-ly it had existed within families on a per-sonalized basis. While the traditionalwomen’s quarters, the harem, has longhad a grip on the western imagination,lesser known institutions such as theDar al-Thiqa (house of trust) – wherecouples were confined by order of themufti to work out marital difficulties –existed in Tunisia from the 16th centu-ry. Another customary practice, the DarJawad, a place for the confinement of adisobedient or rebellious woman, rep-resented a more openly repressiveinstrument of the patriarchal order. Bythe late 18th century, these practices hadextended to women’s prisons such asthe Dar ‘Adil (House of Justice), pre-sumably in response to the perceivedthreat of social deviance and greaterinsecurity among state authorities. Theiremergence marks the beginning of anew development even if the continueduse of the word dar (house) makes clearthe domestic lineage of the institution.

As western political power encroachedupon the Middle East, it sought to exertits ‘civilising’ influence on state insti-tutions and governance. Prisons wereparticularly targeted. In 1851 the Britishgovernment conducted a damning sur-vey of Ottoman prisons, but singled outthe separate imprisonment of womenas one of the few causes for praise,something which one official put downto ‘eastern delicacy’. The widespreadpractice of the time was to hold con-victed women in the house of their reli-gious leaders, whether imam, rabbi, orpriest, a married state official, the Baytal-wali (‘House of the Governor’) inEgypt, the guardian of prostitutes inJerusalem, or even the jailer’s familywhere women were required to per-

form domestic service for the term oftheir sentence.

Within prisons, the situation was farfrom uniform and segregation was notalways observed. While the prison atDamanhur in the Nile Delta boasted aseparate annex for women, others sim-ply confined women to a room in themen’s prison. Sometimes women wereimprisoned with men, as at Salonica; atAlexandretta, they were occasionallychained because of the lack of a properprison. Nevertheless, with the progres-sive consolidation of state institutions,larger scale women’s prisons became anincreasingly common feature, particu-larly in centres of the Ottoman Empire,such as the Zindan in Istanbul. InEgypt, new women’s prisons were builtin Bulaq and Shibin al-Kom in the1890s while at Cairo Prison they werehoused in a separate wing. In Algeria,the French administration converted theLazaret, the old hospital in Algiers, intothe main women’s prison with separatesections for long and short-term pris-oners, for those awaiting trial and youngdetainees.

Across the Middle East, women wereproportionally less prominent in pris-ons than, for example, in France. Fromthe early 20th century women repre-sented between 2 and 5% of all prison-ers in Egyptian prisons – a proportionthat stayed consistent over the followingdecades – compared to 12-18% in Frenchprisons during the last quarter of the19th century. (Elsewhere in the region,the figures seem comparable, althoughin Turkey the numbers approached 10%in the 1930s). The female prison popu-lation reflected the broad character offemale society outside: more than 90%Muslim, drawn from the poorer classes,almost entirely illiterate. Marriedwomen numbered less than half of allwomen prisoners though they weremore prominent in local than centralprisons, suggesting they were held forless serious offences. Prostitutes num-bered about a third of all prisoners incentral prisons.

Conditions and workPrison conditions for women variedwidely in the 19th century. There wasless corporal punishment and womensometimes enjoyed greater comforts: inAlgerian prisons, women slept on bedsinstead of mattresses. Abuses no doubtoccurred. Violation of inmates werereported in the women’s prison in Dam-ascus; in Beirut, jailers were accused ofattempting to convert women to Islam.Other prisons did not segregate thesexes – a great humiliation in a sexual-ly segregated society. In Egypt underBritish occupation, rights for femaleprisoners were enshrined in the prisonregulations of 1884, which stipulatedspecial consideration for pregnantwomen and those with young children,and that only female officers search

women prisoners. Women were laterexempted from whipping and being putin irons, or, if pregnant, from execution.As with male prisoners, women of high-er social status could receive better treat-ment than those of lower social stand-ing or prostitutes, but this was notroutine. By virtue of the Capitulations,foreign women enjoyed better prisonconditions; after the abolition of extra-territorial rights, new regulations in1949 instituted differential treatmentfor Egyptian women, categorized asclass A or B, depending on their socialclass.

Women were an integral part of theEgyptian penal labour system. From thelate 1820s convict labour became part ofthe programme of economic modern-ization pursued by Muhammad Ali andwomen, while not sent to convict pris-ons, were sentenced to hard labour. By1856 their numbers required a specialworkplace: a textile workshop (iplikhane)was established at Bulaq in the indus-trial centre of Cairo. In effect, theybecame the seamstresses of the prisonadministration, making clothes forprison guards and inmates. In theLazaret women were employed sewingor making matchboxes. Such work wassquarely within the traditional definitionof women’s activities. Education forwomen prisoners in Egypt in the 1940sincluded the teaching of housekeepingand embroidery.

Offending public orderThe offences for which women wereimprisoned tell us much about the socialposition of, and expectations placed onwomen. In Tunisia in the 1860s, womenwere imprisoned for debauchery and vio-lence, theft and debt in roughly equalproportion. Forty years later in Egypt, themain offences were assault, theft and awide range of minor violations. Thatwomen were found guilty of adultery outof proportion to their numbers is unsur-prising, but their conviction in a dispro-portionate number of defamation cases,an offence of the verbally strong butphysically weak, is intriguing. Theimprisonment of women for politicaloffences illuminates female participa-

tion in public life; with the developmentof mass politics, women were detainedas anti-colonial nationalists, communistsand Islamists. Women were imprisonednot only for offences they had commit-ted, but because of their association withthose who had. The principle of collec-tive punishment applied in Algeria bythe French, employed particularly indealing with so-called bandit tribes,meant women suffered internment,relocation and reclusion. Women werealso imprisoned when the authoritieswere unable to apprehend a male fami-ly member, or joined their husbands inprison because of economic depend-ence. Such cases underline the depend-ent status of women propagated by thejudicial system.

Women in prison were not only prison-ers. Female guards were widelyemployed as early as the mid-19th cen-tury even if some women’s prisons, suchas those in Iran in the late 1920s, pre-ferred elderly guards. As visitors toinmates, women provided social contactand sustenance, particularly before thestate provided food to prisoners. As themothers, wives and sisters of prisoners(and even, on occasion, of guards)women were at times vocal in demon-strating and protesting injustices of thesystem.

Uneven reformDespite authorities’ unanimity on theneed for gender segregation in prisons,women did not significantly figure indiscussions on prison reform, perhapsdue to their relatively small numbersand their marginality within the insti-tution. While a reformatory was set upfor male recidivists in Egypt in 1907, noequivalent institution was establishedfor women repeat offenders. Girls werethe exception: a reformatory at Giza tes-tified to the belief that youths were moremalleable than adult criminals. Publicconcern with prison conditions, partic-ularly as they affected women, had towait for women’s associations andorganizations to take them up. The Soci-ety to Stop Crime and Improve Prisonsset up in Beirut by Adalayd Rishani in1928 conducted prison inspections and

delivered clean clothes to inmates. Inthe 1940s the Iranian Women’s Partysought and received permission toinspect women in prison.

Little work has been done on the cultureof women’s prisons but, as with men’sprisons, it is clear that there were estab-lished hierarchies. Drug dealers, forexample, were at the top of the prisonerpecking order. Emotional and physicalrelationships between inmates moder-ated interactions in the prison. Tattoos,such as the name of a husband, wereused to emphasize a personal connec-tion, or a professional affiliation, withthe symbol of a woman with swordsbeing favoured by prostitutes. Womenprisoners made collective demands onauthorities who alternatively repressed,negotiated with and accommodatedthem.

The phenomenon of women in prisonin the Middle East offers many complexreadings. The prison memoirs ofactivists such as Nawal al-Sa’dawi andFarida al-Naqqash speak of the relation-ship between political and non-politicalprisoners, between women guards andprisoners, between literate political pris-oners and uneducated guards. Womenwere more marginal in prison than theirmale counterparts, and suffered greatersocial stigma. Political prisoners suf-fered a sense of reproach for ‘neglecting’their proper duty, their children. Creat-ed and controlled by men, the prisonsystem was not separate from societyoutside, but permeated by its politicaland social relations. Full of contradic-tions, it was an encompassing, all-embracing male institution that couldstill be conceived of in feminine terms:the ‘aunt’s house’ (dar khaltu) or the‘great vagina’ (bou daffa). <

Bibliography

- National Archives, Foreign Office (FO)

195/364 Letters relating to Prisons in

Turkey

- Booth, Marilyn. Nov-Dec 1987. ‘Prison,

Gender, Praxis’. Middle East Report. 35-41.

- Bouhdiba, Abdelwahab. 1965. Criminalité

et changements sociaux en Tunisie. Tunis:

University of Tunis.

- Larguèche, Abdelhamid. 1999. Les Ombres

de la Ville, Pauvres, marginaux et minori-

taires à Tunis (XVIIIème et XIXème siècles)

Manouba: Centre de Publication Universi-

taire.

- O’Brien, Patricia. 1982. The Promise of Pun-

ishment. Princeton NJ: Princeton UP.

- Tucker, Judith. 1985. Women in nineteenth-

century Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Anthony Gorman is a Research Associate in

the Department of History at the School of

Oriental and African Studies, University of

London. In addition to working on the histo-

ry of Middle Eastern prisons he is writing on

historical aspects of multiethnic society in the

modern Middle East.

[email protected]

Female Ward,

Central Prison Cairo

c. 1908 from Arnold

Wright, Twentieth

Century Impressions

of Egypt

Class A inmate in Cairo Prison, 1950s

Prisons Administration, Cairo Prison, Cairo, 1955

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:53 Pagina 7



During the second half of the 19th century five high security prisons were established on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. Whatimpact did they have on the settler communities in these northern territories? Close proximity between convicts and free citizensusually does not sit well among the latter, but the peculiar socio-economic aspects of confinement on Hokkaido spurred bothinmates and locals to permeate prison walls for mutual benefit.

Pia Vog ler

Hokkaido did not exist as a politicalentity before the Meiji period

(1868-1912). Only the southernmostpart of Ezo, as the Japanese called thesenorthern territories, was politicallyincorporated into the Tokugawa state.Against the backdrop of modern nation-building and fear of a Russian invasion,the incorporation of Ezo into the Japan-ese state became a priority for the earlyMeiji authorities. In 1869 Ezo wasrenamed Hokkaido and the colonizationof the island formally began. Recruit-ment of a labour force from mainlandJapan was an indispensable precondi-tion for the agricultural development ofthese vast and largely unsettled lands.Yet the initial recruitment of impover-ished peasants and former samuraifailed to meet politicians’ expectations;a larger work force was needed to accel-erate colonization.

While peasantry and former aristocracyengaged in modest settlement activitiesin northern Japan, southern Japan expe-rienced political unrest owing to localelites’ resistance to the new Meiji-gov-ernment’s political authority. The 1877Satsuma rebellion alone produced43,000 political arrests that resulted inthe sentencing of 27,000 individuals toimprisonment and forced labour. Theexisting system of town gaols wasunprepared for such a large number ofconvicts. Inspired by Western reformistideas on prisons and punishment, Meijiauthorities ordered the establishment ofJapan’s first modern prison in the north-ern prefecture of Miyagi. In 1879, a clus-ter of central prisons on Hokkaido wasalso suggested.

Hokkaido was seen as the perfect placefor prisons, as prison labour could accel-erate colonization. In addition, Hokkai-do was far away from the political hotspot of Kyushu and therefore perceivedas an ideal place for isolating ‘political-ly dangerous elements’ from mainlandJapan. A third incentive was the hopethat, once released, former inmateswould stay in Hokkaido and contributeto an increase in the population. Fiveprisons were thus established onHokkaido between 1881 and 1894. Kaba-to, Sorachi and Kushiro were the centralprisons; Abashiri and Tokachi served asbranch institutions. Each central prisonheld a particular inmate population:political convicts were mainly held inKabato, felons were sent to Sorachi, andprisoners originating from the militaryand police went to Kushiro.

Prison in society, society in prison The construction of prisons and other‘delicate’ institutions provokes ambiva-lent sentiments among residents ofneighbouring communities. A closerlook at the interaction of prisons withtheir environment often reveals complex

relationships between social spacesmeant to be separate. Indeed, the exam-ple of early modern Hokkaido illustrateshow the presence of prisons stimulatedfruitful socio-economic exchangebetween the local society and the prisonpopulation.

Immediately after their establishment,the prisons were actually running localpolitics. When the first two penal insti-tutions opened in 1881 and 1882, thedirectors of the Kabato prison in Tsuki-gata and the Sorachi prison in Ichik-ishiri (present-day Mikasa) exertedbroad political influence in theirregions. Tsukigata Kiyoshi, director ofthe Kabato prison, served as chief ofKabato, Uryt and Kamigawa counties,and from 1882 he was chief of the localpolice and postal service. Tsukigata’simportance was reflected in how thelocal population addressed him: tengoku-sama (Mr prison director) or tengokukakka (his excellency, the prison direc-tor). Thanks to its director’s variousposts the prison was equipped withunique communication technologiesand served as a regional hub for com-munication between Hokkaido andTokyo. Instructions from the Ministry ofthe Interior to the surrounding settlersociety, for example, were transmittedthrough the prison.

Almost 500 inmates were transferred toKabato two months after its inaugura-tion, followed by another 500 one yearlater. Kabato prison already employed140 people, but that would not beenough. A wave of political arrests inmainland Japan rapidly increasedinmate numbers during the followingyears, which brought new immigrants,especially from Northern Honshu, butalso from Kagoshima, in search ofemployment as prison personnel. Inaddition to employment, local villagersalso benefited from prison services. Inboth Kabato and Sorachi prisons doctorsreceived inmates in the morning andresidents of surrounding villages in theafternoon. In the absence of a primaryschool building, the children of prisonpersonnel were taught in ‘classrooms’within the prison until 1886.

As a local political personality, Sorachiprison director Watanabe Koreaki was

deeply involved in the region’s develop-ment. After the prison’s establishmentin 1882, drilling revealed the poor qual-ity of the local ground water. Watanabeimmediately contacted the Ministry ofthe Interior to request the constructionof a pipe to provide the village withpotable water. When the Ministry reject-ed his request, Watanabe himself initi-ated exploration and discovered an ade-quate source. The construction of thewater pipe was later approved, and in1888 Ichikishiri became the first placein Hokkaido and the second in Japan(after Yokohama) with a modern waterpipe (Shigematsu 1970:227). Prisonersthen constructed a dam and reservoir toirrigate the fields of neighbouring com-munities. By that time 2,832 peoplewere residing in Ichikishiri; 1,630 ofthem were inmates.

This development of local infrastructurethrough the prisons actually increasedthe attractiveness and economic poten-tial of the respective locations. Kushiroprison in Shibecha also attracted moderntechnology to eastern Hokkaido, whereU.S. agricultural methods enabled ricecultivation for the first time in that north-ern region. Because of its many agricul-tural activities, locals saw the prison as aplace for agricultural testing, and sinceconvicts were clearing land that wasimmediately sold to settler societies anddistributed to new settlers, the prisonsattracted still more newcomers.

The influx of immigrants increaseddemand for skilled craftsmen. Prison-ers were trained to fabricate furniturefor private households. As craftsmen,they were not confined to prison work-shops, but also worked in the houses oftheir clients. The prison labour force

was not only tapped by local residents.Local businessmen employed convictsin their factories, such as TsuchidaMasajirm, who, in 1889, took over a car-pentry workshop, a tailor studio, a vatfactory and a shoe factory previouslyowned by the Kabato prison. To keepproduction costs low, Tsuchida success-fully applied for permission to hire pris-oners (ASHK 1993: 389).

As a result of this mingling of convictsand locals, various goods and materialsfound their way into and out of the pris-ons. In 1882 the Kabato prison beganmaking soybean paste (miso) and soysauce in its brewery, eventually produc-ing enough to cover prison consump-tion and, in some years, to sell surplus-es to merchants in the surroundingregion or in the cities of Sapporo andOtaru. In addition to these official eco-nomic exchanges, prisoners also tradedwith community members workingalongside them. In the Horonai coalmines, for example, convicts secretlyproduced rice wine (sake) in their sub-terranean workplace.

Banning prisoners fromcommunity lifeAlthough welcomed in the beginning,the permeable character of Hokkaido’sprisons eventually became problematic,both on the macro and micro levels ofsociety. In 1886 policies shifted and pris-ons were largely stripped of their localautonomy. Moreover, it became eco-nomically possible to forego the supportof prisons in everyday settler life. It wastherefore easy to marginalize convictlabour and, from 1886 onwards, pris-oners were mainly employed in coal andsulphur mines and road construction.

The segregation of prisoners from every-day community life contributed to a grad-ual shift in the settler population’s per-ception of convicts. Newspaper editorseagerly picked up stories of (mostlyunsuccessful) escape attempts, con-structing an image of ‘dangerous roughs’who, once escaped from prison, wouldattack settlers. Influenced by such massmedia, settlers indeed became afraid ofprisoners. As the influx of mostly malejob-seeking immigrants was accompa-nied by the establishment of morallyambiguous recreational sites such as

bathing houses and sake bars, localsbegan to blame the prisons for ‘moraldecay’. Politicians and residents also wor-ried that the label ‘prison island’ createda general perception of Hokkaido thatwould deter immigration. Against thisbackdrop, popular campaigns achievedthe implementation of a regulation pro-hibiting released convicts from settlingon the island in 1894, marking the endof an era in relations between prisonsand surrounding settler communities.

Large-scale interaction of prisons andsociety on Hokkaido lasted for only fiveyears, but studying this sliver of Japan-ese prison history is insightful. Con-finement appears to have been a sec-ondary function of early Hokkaidoprisons; rather than being mere disci-plinary institutions, prisons served associo-economic hubs and linked metro-politan elites with settler societies on thenation’s periphery. Further, theexchange was not one-sided: both theprison populations and neighbouringcommunities took advantage of people,goods and knowledge permeatingprison walls. By blurring institutionalboundaries both groups shaped eachother’s environment. Tending to localeconomic needs, rather than trying toapply theoretical models throughnational policies, determined the struc-ture and function of the prisons and thesocieties that surrounded them. <

References

- Asahikawa shishi hensht kaigi, ed. 1993.

Shtjikan (kangokuho) shirym 6 [Historical

sources for the central prisons].

Asahikawa: Asahikawa shishi hensht.

- Hokkaidm kaitaku kinenkan, ed. 1989.

ShTjikan. Kaitaku to shTjinrMdM [Prisons. The

exploitation of land and convict labour]. Sap-

poro: Hokkaidm kaitaku kinenkan.

- Shigematsu Kazuyoshi. 1970. HokkaidM

gyMkeishi [Imprisonment as punishment in

the history of Hokkaido]. Tokyo: Zufu

shuppan.

Pia Vogler is pursuing postgraduate studies

at the University of Geneva, preparing an

anthropological thesis on another aspect of

confinement, the (nocturne) agency of young

Burmese refugees in Thai refugee camps.

[email protected]

Blurring the boundaries: prisons and settler society in Hokkaido

Hokkaido prisons Hokkaidm kaitaku kinenkan. 1989.

An accident in the Horonai coalmines

Hokkaidm kaitaku kinenkan. 1989.

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:53 Pagina 8


> Poetrytravelling farif you want to travel far

you must go alone

all roads are short

that end in the noisy valley

the villages are hounded by quarrels

or overgrown with rituals

if you want to scale mountains

you must follow the soul, bypassing cities and forests

hidden from the first eyes

or ordinary vague dreams.

there is no village to will

no company to ideas.

desolation is the prerequisite of ambition

dreams are programmers of reality.

wayang idi selembar daun kulit

terkampung isi cakerawala,

diatur seperti semula,

bentuk, warna, jenis

dinaungi pinggirnya.

pada daun

ada gunung.

pada gunung ada beringin

pada beringin ada hutan

pada hutan berkicau burung.

di hati hutan mengaum pertapaan

senyap dan jelas suara tafakur

di pinggir hutan riuh istana

di sekeliling istana gerak mencurahkan warna.

pada daun bersembunyi lambang

pada lambang terkias andaian.

lorong menuju ilmu,

ilmu membentang ujian.

pada hutan menimbun daun

pada daun tumbuh cakerawala

pada cakerawala ada hutan

pada hutan ada daun.

shadow play ion a leather leaf

a whole world is gathered,

arranged in its original state,

forms, colours, types

all sheltered by their borders.

in the leaf

there’s a mountain

on the mountain there’s a beringin

in the beringin there’s a forest

in the forest birds chirp.

in the heart of the forest roar silences

quiet and clear is the voice of meditation

on the edge of the forest in the din of the palace

around the palace movements pour their colours

in the leaf are hidden symbols

in the symbols is analogy’s shade.

all lanes lead to knowledge,

knowledge spreads its roots.

in the forest leaves are heaped high

in the leaves a universe grows

in the universe there’s a forest

in the forest is the leaf

Mohamad Haji Salleh was Artist in Residence at IIAS in 2005

Poetry by Sitor SitumorangFrom Bunga di atas batu (si anak hilang)

Penerbit pt gramedia, Jakarta, 1989

Translations from To love, to wander:

The Poetry of Sitor Situmorang

The Lontar Foundation, Jakarta, 1996

Pulau di atas pulauUntuk Tilhang dan Nahum

Antara dulu dan sekarang

terbentang peta perjalanan,

Pengalaman melimpah-ruah

dan pegunungan tinggi kesendirian

Antara Selat Malaka dan samudra Indonesia,

terbentang pulau Sumatra.

Bukit Barisan dari ujung ke ujungnya,

Di atasnya danau, di atasnya pulau

Samosir kesayangan.

Tersebut enam benua,

kujalani tujuh samudra.

Mana paling indah?

Jawab telah lama

tanpa perlu bertanya:

Negeri terindah,

ialah setiamu

Pangkal tolak kembara

di dasar samudra rindu.

Island on an Islandfor Tilhang and Nahum

Between then and now

this journey’s map unfolds

Experiences abound

Tall mountains stand alone

Between the Strait of Malacca and Indonesia’s ocean

stretches the island of Sumatra,

with the Barisan Range straddling it from end to end,

and on it a lake, and on the lake an island:

my beloved Samosir

Six continents,

the seven seas I’ve traveled

Which is the most beautiful?

The answer has long been known

with no need to ask:

The most beautiful country

is your loyalty

Where my journey once started

in the depths of the sea of longing.

In-communicado(Sandera)

Sel hitam pekat.

Perkuncian berderak

dari sela pintu-cahaya listrik

menusuk mata.

(di mesjid terdekat

azan magrib

baru lewat)

Informan sipil melongok,

lalu menggoreskan korek,

memeriksa

apakah tahanannya ada

(di luar bekecamuk perang saudara)

Ia menyalakan lilin

sisa semalam,

lalu tiba-tiba bertanya

“Kamu, ya, Sitorsitumorang?”

Aku memandang lilin

mambiasakan mata pada cahaya

dan nama itu mengiang

seperti nama satunya

di taman Firdaus

ketika Tuhan mencari

dan memanggil-manggil: Adam! Adam!

Di luar perang saudara

Sejarah menghitung korban

dan impian.

Antara informan dan saya

hanya cahaya lilin

dan jurang menganga

antara Tuhan

dan manusia pertama.

Incommunicado (Hostage)

The cell is solid black,

the locking-up proceeds

from cracks in the door electric lights

pierce the eyes.

(at the nearest mosque

the call to evening prayer

has just finished)

A civilian informant looks around

then strikes a match,

checking to see

that his prisoner is still there

(while outside civil war rages)

he lights a candle,

a stub from last night,

then suddenly asks:

“So you’re Sitorsitumorang?”

I stare at the candle

let my eyes grow accustomed to the light

and the buzz of that name

like the name of that one

in Eden

When God was looking,

and calling out: Adam! Adam!

Outside is civil war

History counts victims and dreams.

Between the informant and myself

is but the candle light

and a yawning gap

between God

and the first man.

Poetry by Mohamad Haji SallehFrom Beyond the Archipelago

Ohio University Center for

International Studies, Athens, 1995

kembara jauhjikalau kau mau kembara jauh

kau harus pergi sendiri

semua jalannya pendek

dan berakhir di lemah riuh

kampung dijerit masalah

atau dililit alat

jikalau kau mau mendaki gunung

ikut jalan hati, di belakang kota hutan

yang terlindung dari mata pertama

atau mimpi biasa yang kabur.

tiada kampung pada cita

tiada kawan pada gagasan.

sepi itu syarat cita

mimpi itu rancangan kenyataan

Sitor Situmorang and Mohamad Haji Salleh read their poetry at the IIAS Windows on the Malay

World Seminar on 20 and 21 October 2005. The seminar was organised by Prof. Md. Salleh

Yaapar, European Chair of Malay Studies.

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IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:53 Pagina 9


> Research

The procession advances slowly. The courtesans... perform obscene dances; ... the drums, trumpets, and all sorts of musicalinstruments give forth their discordant sounds. ... Those who have nothing else to do shriek and shout. ... To form a proper idea ofthe terrible uproar and confusion that reigns among this crowd of demoniacs one must witness such a scene. As for myself, I neversee a Hindu procession without being reminded of a picture of hell.

Sask ia Kersenboom

Thus reports a French missionary in South India at the endof the 18th century (Dubois 1978:604-5). Saskia Kersen-

boom and Thomas Voorter offer their own account of a Hinduprocession in their joint production of the DVD Eye to Eye withGoddess Kamakshi (2006). Dubois’s advice that such an eventshould be witnessed first-hand alludes to the experientialnature of understanding. ‘Being there’ reigns supreme; next,however, looms interpretation. Both his and our world oper-ate frames of reference that differ significantly from those thatunderlie an actual procession. To report, therefore, inevitablyinvolves such ‘framing’.

In contrast to the travelogue, the present authors investigatethe possibilities of interactive multimedia. They aim to simu-late the perspective of an ‘eye witness’ by inviting the user toaccess the DVD. This forms the grid of its design and famil-iarizes the user with frames of reference employed by Hindusin their devotional practices. Earlier and recent fieldworkamong daily and festival routines in South Indian templesimmersed the authors in liturgical practices of textual recita-tion, visual display and musical support (Kersenboom, 1984ff). This gradually led to a ‘logic of practice’ that informed thecollection of data, their analysis and, ultimately, the design fortheir multimedia representation.

Interactivity: ‘being there’The ingredients of real time and space are crucial to the per-spective of the eye witness. It is, however, not only the ‘eye’that is involved in this encounter. A ritual procession is per-formed physically and purposefully. The picture of hell thatlooms large to Dubois fuels a deeply satisfying experience forthe goddess’s devotees. They throw their bodies, senses andsouls into the procession, pulling the chariot by hand, feelingKamakshi’s eyes on them, beating their cheeks in submission,and, most important of all, uniting with her in an act of mutu-al ‘incorporation’. The goddess absorbs her devotees by accept-ing their gifts of flowers, food and red kumkumam powder,while she, in return, infuses herself into them through thesprinkling of holy water, by sharing the ‘leftovers’ of her foodand flowers touched by her presence, and ultimately by shar-ing and applying the red kumkumam worn on the forehead.Moreover, this powder can be taken home, abroad, anywhere– provided it is kept in a ritually ‘safe’ place – and thus liveinteraction with the goddess is possible anytime, anyplacethrough the simple act of applying the sanctified red dot.

This the DVD cannot do. What it can do is program a trajec-tory of information – nodes where ‘tacit knowledge’ can bearticulated. This type of ‘expertise’ is highly pragmatic: silent-

ly it inheres cultural practices. However, when it does articu-late itself it demands more media than the verbal alone: all thesenses are addressed in the encounter. This modern mediacan do, to some extent, through the interactive use of themedia of ‘word, sound and image’.

Frames: the prose of the worldTo report means to frame: to select a grid, media, their mate-riality and to design their accessibility. The ritual processionis the ‘raw’, physical mode of communication where bodiesmeet in real time, real space, mixing and mingling their sub-stances with the natural elements. Its logic is one of transfor-mation: the devotee leaves the temple in an altered, strongerpsychic/physical state than when he or she entered the sacredgrounds.

This the DVD cannot do either. The Digital Versatile Disc isan ultimate product of ‘literacy’. Unlike popular ideas thatDVD is primarily used for displaying video, it can equally con-tain word, sound and image files. In a way its design is simi-lar to effective dramaturgy. The magic of the proscenium the-atre, its dark auditorium and well-lit stage, the significant stageprops and costumes are all foreground to a compelling story,while at same time the actual performance guarantees phys-ical distance between actors and audience. In the DVD, thestage is the television or computer screen, and the actors per-form their roles in digital form. The user can no longer touchthe performers, nor is he touched by them in an act of ‘mutu-al incorporation’. The social dimension of seeing and beingseen that still survives in the theatre has been obliterated inthe digital world. Instead, the user enjoys it in private andexplores the flexible possibilities of the DVD. The loss of ‘prox-imity’ is creatively replaced by ‘autonomy’ over the process oflearning. This new, multimedia prose can be stopped, repeat-ed, fast-forwarded or paused. The digital procession turns alinear prose of the world into a non-linear, multi-layered, asso-ciative adventure. If the user craves to explore the unknown,he can travel at random and at leisure into underlying layersof information, stories, songs, dances, iconographies andmetaphysics stored under the objects that he encounters inthe digital procession. This circumambulation is a celebrationof conceptualisation, beckoning the viewer to experience forhimself, and confront the real world.

Design: from ‘thick description’ to richapplicationParticipant observation is the key to the entire process of datacollection, data analysis and their representation. Endlesshours of participation in Hindu temple rituals preceded theactual filming of the event in Kanchipuram on Friday, 31 Jan-uary 2003. Mutual sympathy, familiarity, and a natural com-petence to blend in with the proceedings were imperative forthe presence of the camera and the process of filming the pro-cession. Thomas Voorter was able to film its progression onlyafter acquiring the necessary ‘tacit expertise’ of what and whomake up the process and when, how and why the processionmoves the way it does. Its itinerary, tempo and highlightsempower Hindu devotion and had to be taken into account askeys to understanding it. The ‘terrible uproar’ heard by Duboisproved to be a very strategic use of musical instruments and

sound effects such as fireworks and gun shots. The sound fileforms the flow chart of the linear journey. In this application,the ‘shrieks and shouts’ do not come as a surprise: they high-light the ultimate lustration of the goddess in her cleansed,peaceful and sublime form, as she blesses her devotees afterher long journey through the night. In real life, incorporationimmediately follows.

Digital, interactive multimedia reset frames of reference thathave marked academic literacy for over three centuries. Field-work, data collection, interaction and co-authorship ofresearcher and informant as well as the physical categories oftime and space, sensory perception and the human body arecentral concerns in developing designs for interactive multi-media. Eye to Eye with Goddess Kamakshi invites an investiga-tion into the various aspects of the inspiration that draws hun-dreds of Hindus every Friday to share her presence again andagain. Its design is based on the cultural practices found inHindu temples and their Sanskrit and Tamil normative man-uals, offering a digital journey that branches out into an exten-sive database of verbal and printed discourse, of instrumen-tal and vocal music, and of audio-visual recordings,iconography and material culture. This investigation andexperimentation with multimedia representations as innova-tory methods for qualitative research seeks a new coherencein scholarly argumentation and communication: a prose ofthe world – a digital language that speaks for itself. <

- Saskia Kersenboom and Thomas Voorter. 2006. DVD Eye to Eye with

Goddess Kamakshi. Utrecht: Parampara Foundation.

www.parampara.nl

www.voorter.com

References

- Bourdieu, P. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cam-

bridge University Press.

- Dubois, A. 1978. Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies. Reprint.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

- Foucault, M. 1970. The Order of Things, An Archaeology for the

Human Sciences. New York: Pantheon Books.

- Geertz, C. 1973. Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.

- Kersenboom, S.C. 1984 ff. Nityasumangali, Devadasi Tradition in

South India. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

- ——————. 1995. Word, Sound, Image, the Life of the Tamil Text

with CD-i Bhairavi Varnam. Oxford: Berg Publishers.

- ——————. 1997. Devadasi Murai, Remembering Devadasis CD-

ROM. New Delhi: IGNCA/UNESCO

- ——————. 2005. ‘Song of Love, Images of Memory’. Hobart,

Angela and Bruce Kapferer, eds. Aesthetics of Performance. New York:

Berghahn Publishers. pp. 64-88.

- Voorter, T.J.H. 1999. Kyrgyz Heroes. Songs of Sanzhyra and Tales of

Batyrlar. http://www.voorter.com /.

- —————-. 2005. Darshanam DVD audio and visual record, sup-

plement to Kersenboom.

Saskia Kersenboom

Department of Theatre Studies

University of Amsterdam

The prose of the world: the field speaks for itself

Video still.

Darshanam:

mother and child

Thomas Voorter,

‘Darshanam’

DVD: temple ground

‘Eye to Eye with Goddess

Kamakshi’

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:54 Pagina 10

I I A S N e w s l e t t e r | # 3 9 | D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 5 1 1

> Research

From his arrival in China in 1750 as a young Jesuit missionary, Joseph-Marie Amiot took interest in ancient Chinese dances. In hiseyes, they were part of a civilization dating back to those distant centuries ‘when Europe and most of the other known regionsoffered only forests and ferocious animals as habitants’. But beyond his own writings and two brief articles written in the early 20thcentury, the topic hardly attracted the attention of European scholars.

Ancient Chinese ritual dances

Nico las Standaert

In 1761 the French periodical Journal Étranger published twoof Amiot’s articles and he sent two more manuscripts to

Paris in 1788 and 1789. Though they remained hidden inEuropean libraries, these manuscripts can truly be consideredforerunners to the field of ethnochoreography.

The dances that Amiot described were ‘ritual dances’ per-formed at state sacrifices: ritual celebrations during which theChinese emperor made offerings to important state divinitiessuch as Heaven, the Sun, the First Farmer and Confucius.Held every fortnight, these rituals were impressively orches-trated, and dances – usually performed by 64 professionals –accompanied the emperor’s oblations. The dances had a longhistory; the first descriptions provided by Chinese classicalscholars date back to before 300 B.C. Our present-day knowl-edge about their practice, however, is derived from texts dat-ing from the Ming dynasty (after 1368 A.D.) and from exten-sive choreographies printed since the sixteenth century. Thisis noteworthy, since one has to wait until the development ofphotography in the late 19th century for the reproduction ofsimilar choreographies in Europe.

In terms of dancing theory, the most important and creativescholar on whose work Amiot based his analysis was the lateMing scholar Zhu Zaiyu (1536-1611). As a young man, ZhuZaiyu devoted himself to study and took a keen interest in themathematical principles of music and of the calendar. He left28 writings and is known in music history for his discovery ofthe calculation of equal temperament (the formula 12�2).

Development of a dance theoryTwo specific contexts inform Zhu’s accomplishments. First,in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the Ming empire wasexperiencing an economic and institutional crisis; its causewas judged to be disrespect of ritual. Improvement of statesacrificial music was proposed as a means to revive the col-lapsing empire and, as a result, there was a renewed interestin music and dance theory. The second context was the move-ment labelled the ‘concrete or solid studies’ (shixue). As a reac-tion against the excessive intuitionalist tendencies of the WangYangming school of philosophy (named after one of the mostinfluential thinkers of the 16th century), scholars cultivated

an interest in philology and textual analysis, reflected in theirstudy of words and their meanings. Zhu Zaiyu’s treatises onmusic and dance belong to that movement. He saw his stud-ies as part of the effort to ‘know better the past so as to put itinto practice in the present’. He was interested in the searchfor ‘solidity and principles’, not ‘appearances and adornment’.It is important to underscore that scholars in the seventeenthcentury rarely limited their efforts to one domain. Mathe-matics, calendar studies, music, dance and rituals all cameunder Zhu Zaiyu’s scrutiny because they are all closely linkedto essential aspects of ritual. Mathematical sciences, for exam-ple, are essential to the ritualization of time (the calendar) andthe harmonization of sound (music); dance concerns the rit-ualization of space, or the geometry of ritual.

Comparison with other Ming era writings on dance, con-cerning both the sacrifice to Confucius and the proposals toreform the state sacrifices, reveals Zhu Zaiyu’s originality andcreativity. He is the first to have discussed, described anddesigned the dances in such detail (his writings contain over600 illustrations of dancing positions). He created a com-prehensive approach, establishing rules for combining danc-ing with vocal and instrumental music. In doing so, he alsocreated new choreographies based on descriptions of ancientdances. Every choreography was divided into four movementsand subdivided into eight positions. To each of these danceshe attached moral values, such as ‘benevolence’, ‘respect forthe ruler’ and ‘compliance to husband’. Thus, by attachingmoral values to the dances, Zhu Zaiyu created a spacializationof ethics. Moreover, he did not limit himself to an analysis ofthe body’s movements; he also investigated the positioning ofthe feet in minute detail, being unique among all dance illus-trators for his inclusion of precise feet positions. In design-ing choreographies, Zhu Zaiyu also coined a new dance vocab-ulary and presented the basic curriculum for the ‘study ofdance’.

The frozen momentComparing these choreographies to the dances that are stillperformed today in some of Confucius’s temples raises thequestion of whether these really are ‘dances’, which, by defi-nition, stress the movement of the body. Here the connectionbetween the visual and print representations of these dancesis crucial to understanding the specificity of Chinese ritual

dance. In print the visual representation of movement isindeed very difficult to achieve, since movement can rarely berepresented by a sole image. That is why dance representa-tions nearly always include multiple images that break thedance down into different stages of movement. In the case ofthese Chinese ritual dances, however, this is not a shortcom-ing because the illustrations correspond to a pause rather thanto a movement. During this pause, the dancer does not ‘move’,but remains static as long as the accompanying musical toneand chanting of the corresponding word of the poem last. Thissuccession of pauses can be compared to the concept of‘rhythm’ in early Greek texts. ‘Rhythmoi’ were originally the‘positions’ that the human body assumed in the course of adance. Pauses thus defined the very heart of the idea ofrhythm. It was the still stance that was significant; movementswere mere transitions. Therefore, one possible explanationfor the early development of printed choreographies in Chinais that the illustrations do not attempt to seize movement, butrather to fix on paper the ‘frozen moment’ in dance transfor-mation. They emphasize this moment of non-action as the keyto the transformation that takes place through ritual action.In Chinese ritual dance, then, stillness is the major step.

Toward the end of his life, Amiot felt even more compelledto introduce the ancient Chinese dances to Europeans. Tohim it was important to ‘assign to the events that tookplace in China the place that they deserve in world histo-ry’. This he did not achieve until the rediscovery of hismanuscripts in Madrid and Paris just before the turn ofthe 21st century. <

For further reading

- Lenoir, Yves and Nicolas Standaert, eds. 2005. Les danses rituelles

chinoises d’après Joseph-Marie Amiot. Brussels/Namur: Éditions Les-

sius/Presses Universitaires de Namur.

- Standaert, Nicolas. Forthcoming Spring 2006. ‘Ritual Dances and

Their Visual Representations in the Ming and the Qing’. The East

Asian Library Journal 12-1 (Princeton University).

Nicolas Standaert

Professor of Sinology

K.U. Leuven, Belgium

Dance positions

according to

Zhu Zaiyu

(c) The East Asian Library

and the Gest Collection,

Princeton University

First print of dances

in the West, 1790

(c) K.U. Leuven

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:55 Pagina 11


> Research

Samten G. Karmay

In Tibet, religious, political and economic power have alwaysbeen intertwined. Tibetan political theory is based on a con-

fluence of politics and religion in the form of Lamaism, find-ing its expression in choyon, a ‘preceptor-patron’ relationshipin which both parties are considered equal. The term was oftenused to designate the relationship between a Tibetan lama andthe leader of a foreign country, such as that of Phagpa LotroGyaltsen (1235-1280), the head of the Sakya Order, and KublaiKhan, the Mongol emperor, in the 13th century.

Turmoil in TibetIn 1548, the aristocrat Shingzhag Tsheten Dorje was appoint-ed governor of Tsang province by the ruler of Central Tibet, aRinpung lord. Shingzhag supported the Karma Kagyu Orderand took up residence in Samdruptse castle (also called Shi-gatse), near the Gelug monastery Trashilhunpo. Soon after, herebelled against the Rinpung lords and proclaimed himselfKing of Tsang. Together with his nine sons he graduallyexpanded his kingdom and established control over U andTsang, Central Tibet’s two main provinces.

The new government wanted to revive the institutions of theimperial period and to bring peace and prosperity to the coun-try through a five-point policy, the so-called ‘Five GreatActions’, supported by various religious orders including theSakya, the Jonang and the great Karmapa hierarchy. As thelegitimate representative of authority, Shingzhag also main-tained good relations with the Gelug abbots of Trashilhunpo,though the latter remained suspicious of the new dynasty’sintentions.

In 1577-78 the conversion to Buddhism of Altan Khan, theleader of the Tumed Mongols, and all his subjects by SonamGyatso (1543-1588), the Abbot of Drepung Monastery (whoreceived the title Dalai Lama from the Khan and was later rec-ognized as the Third Dalai Lama) was a spectacular successfor the Gelug Order. The secular government in Samdruptse,however, viewed the event as a politico-religious alliancebetween the Gelug and a foreign power.

In 1589, the conflict was exacerbated when the Gelug recog-nized a child born that year to a Mongol family as the rein-carnation of the Third Dalai Lama. The royal government tookthis as a clear indication of the Gelug Order’s intentions. Afterthe child was installed in the Ganden Palace in DrepungMonastery and enthroned as its abbot, Mongol interventionin the Gelug Order, and therefore in Tibetan affairs, increased.However, he died shortly thereafter, in 1616, and the royal gov-ernment forbade the search for his reincarnation.

Against this backdrop of turmoil, in 1617, a son was born tothe famous noble Zahor family. Since the 14th century thefamily had lived in the Tagtse castle, the Tibetan kings’ formerstronghold. Despite the king’s ban, however, officials of theGanden Palace in Drepung Monastery had not renounced thesearch for the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation. They had secretlyselected three children, drawn by lot before the holy image ofthe Radeng Monastery, as possible reincarnations of the DalaiLama. The child born to the Zahor family seemed the mostconvincing candidate. At least two other Buddhist orderssought to claim the child as the reincarnation of one of theirlamas who had also died in 1616. The family resisted theirdemands. In 1618, Dudul Rabten, the child’s father, wasinvolved in a plot against the royal government at about thesame time the Gelug secretly chose his son as the reincarna-tion of the Fourth Dalai Lama. Meanwhile, Panchen RinpocheLobzang Chogyen (1567-1662), abbot of the TrashilhunpoMonastery, persuaded the king to lift the ban on the reincar-nation quest. As relations between the king in Tsang, sup-ported by the Karmapa hierarchy, and the Gelug in U, sup-ported by the Mongols, were tense, the king ordered the Zahorfamily to leave their Tagtse castle and live at court in Sam-druptse, but the mother, suspicious of the king’s intentions,returned to her own family at the Nakartse castle in Yardrog.The child’s father, meanwhile, tried to escape to Eastern Tibetbut was caught by royal envoys, brought to Samdruptse and

remained under arrest until his death in 1626, without everseeing his son again. The ban on the quest for the reincarna-tion lifted, officials of the Ganden Palace in Drepung sent adelegation to request official recognition of the boy now liv-ing at Nakartse as the reincarnation of the Fourth Dalai Lama.

The coming of the FifthIn 1622 the boy was escorted from Nakartse and brought tothe Ganden Palace in Drepung Monastery. He was thenenthroned as the Fifth Dalai Lama and received the nameLobzang Gyatso from Panchen Rinpoche, one of his spiritualmasters. Owing to Panchen Rinpoche’s diplomacy, the kingand his government had ceased hostilities against the Gelug.However, the Gelug community in Tsang felt threatened bythe establishment of a large Karmapa Monastery near Trashil-hunpo. This increased the risk of Mongol intervention on thegrounds of protecting Tsang’s Gelug community.

The Fifth Dalai Lama retained bitter memories of his child-hood during which the philosophical and religious regardingreincarnation served political purposes. In his writings herecalls with irony the political manipulations of his own reli-gious order, which involved the Mongols in all its affairs. Hewrites in his autobiography: ‘The official Tsawa Kachu of theGanden Palace showed me statues and rosaries (that belongedto the Fourth Dalai Lama and other lamas), but I was unableto distinguish between them! When he left the room I heardhim tell the people outside that I had successfully passed thetests. Later, when he became my tutor, he would often admon-ish me and say: “You must work hard, since you were unableto recognize the objects!”

Sonam Chophel (1595-1657), treasurer of the Ganden Palace,was the prime architect of the Gelug’s rise to political power.Later he received the title Desi, meaning ‘Regent’, which hewould earn through his efforts to establish Gelugpa power. Hesought the support of the Dzungars of Western Mongolia andinspired them with a military strategy of attacking Mongoltribes sympathetic to the king of Tsang, then the easternTibetans of Kham, who were also partisans of the royal gov-ernment, and finally the king and his entourage in Tsang,resulting in Gelugpa political and religious supremacy.

Gushri Khan: king of Mongols, patron to the Dalai LamaThe Dzungars had indeed been actively supporting the Gelugin their own country. In 1636, one of their leaders, GushriKhan of the Qushot tribe, attacked the Mongol tribe ofChogthur, an ally of the king of Tsang. Originally fromKhalkha, Chogthur’s tribe had been expelled from CentralMongolia in 1634 and had settled in the Kokonor region in

Amdo, northeastern Tibet. In 1637, having defeated Chogth-ur and his 40,000 men in Kokonor, Gushri Khan settled thereand soon became leader of the region’s Mongols. He and sev-eral of his men traveled to Central Tibet that year disguised aspilgrims in order not to raise suspicion of other Mongol fac-tions. He received an audience with the Fifth Dalai Lama who,before the holy image of the Buddha in the Jokhang Templein Lhasa, bestowed on him the name of Tendzin Chogyal, theKing of Religion, the Holder of Doctrine, for having defend-ed Gelug interests in the Kokonor region. The meeting wouldhave far-reaching historical consequences.

In 1641, after a year of fighting in Kham, Gushri Khan defeat-ed the king of Beri, an ally of the king of Tsang and a Bon prac-titioner. Gushri Khan’s prestige as a warrior was now asunequalled among Tibetans as it was among Mongols. Dur-ing the campaign against Beri, the Fifth Dalai Lama and theDesi discussed whether Gushri Khan and his men shouldreturn to Kokonor from Kham. They decided to send an emis-sary to Kham to contact the Mongol chief. In the presence ofboth the Dalai Lama and the emissary, the Desi pretended toagree with the Dalai Lama that Gushri Khan should return toKokonor. But just as the emissary was about to leave, the Desiordered him to tell Gushri Khan to lead his army against theking of Tsang.

In early 1642, when news of Gushri Khan’s victory in easternTibet and his army’s advance against Tsang reached Lhasa,surprising the Dalai Lama, the Desi finally told him the truth:that he had issued this order in the Dalai Lama’s name! TheDalai Lama was dismayed and remarked that the Desi hadgone too far. However, it was now out of the question to turnback the Mongols. Shortly after, Gushri Khan’s army con-fronted the king’s troops in what was a long and bloody war.Towards the end of 1642, having resisted the Mongols and theGelug Tibetans for almost a year, the king and his two minis-ters finally surrendered.

Immediately, the Dalai Lama was invited to Samdruptse cas-tle, where he was enthroned as the temporal leader of Tibetand Gushri Khan offered him his conquests of central andeastern Tibet as a gift. For the first time in Tibetan history, aDalai Lama, previously merely the abbot of a monastery andleader of one religious order, became the country’s leader. Soonafter, the Desi took on the function of Regent, and becameresponsible for government affairs, while Gushri Khan, whonever claimed a political position, retained his role as the newgovernment’s defender, always ready with his army if the needarose. The Fifth Dalai Lama continued to address him as ‘king’because he was still the king of the Mongols of Kokonor (andnot because he was the ‘king of Tibet’ as has often beenclaimed). Thus the new state’s political structure took shape:the Dalai Lama, as head of state, was placed above the choyonstructure, the ‘preceptor-patron’ relationship. The Desiassumed the role of preceptor and Gushri Khan that of patroneven though he was not really considered a foreigner, since hehad established himself in the Tibetan region of Kokonor andplaced himself entirely at the service of the Dalai Lama.

The Ganden Palace in Drepung Monastery no longer befittedthe purposes of the new state, as the monastery could not beconsidered Tibet’s political capital. This was equally true ofGongkar castle, Gushri Khan’s residence. So Konchog Chophel(d.1646), one of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s spiritual masters, sug-gested Potala Hill as an ideal site for constructing a palace thatcould be used as the seat of government, as it was situatedbetween the monasteries of Drepung and Sera and the city ofLhasa. Construction of the Potala palace began in 1645 andthe Fifth Dalai Lama and his government moved into its east-ern section, the White Palace, in 1649.

The Dalai Lama as leader of TibetDuring this time a new power, the Manchus (who spoke Tun-gus), emerged in the east. They had conquered China andestablished their capital in Peking, but felt threatened by Mon-golia (today’s Outer Mongolia). The Fifth Dalai Lama had con-siderable religious and political influence not only in Mongo-lia, whose majority had converted to the Gelug Order, but also

The Great Fifth At the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s birth in 1617, Tibet was in a state of religious, social and political turmoil. Political power wasshared among various factions supported by different Buddhist religious orders who not only wished to propagate their teachings,but also to establish their economic power and political influence. The circumstances and strife surrounding the Fifth Dalai Lama’sbirth are crucial to understanding the decisive role this exceptional man played in Tibet’s reunification.

Miniature from the

secret visions of the

Fifth Dalai Lama.

(c) Musée national des

arts asiatiques Guimet,

Paris. Courtesy of the

Ethnographic Museum of

the University of Zurich.

www.musethno.unizh.ch

www.diedalailamas.ch

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:55 Pagina 12


> Research

in the Kokonor region. Thus he played an essential role in themaintenance of peace, which the Manchus, fearing Mongolattacks, desperately needed.

After receiving several invitations from the Manchu Emper-or Shun-chih to visit Peking, the Fifth Dalai Lama finallyaccepted in 1652. He set out with an entourage of 3,000 menand the journey lasted nine months. Near Peking, theManchus built the Yellow Palace specifically for the Dalai Lamato reside in during his visit, which lasted two months and wasmarked by two grand imperial receptions in his honour.

For having successfully completed this long and hazardousjourney, he was welcomed home by all of Lhasa. In return forthe Buddhist teachings he provided throughout his journeyto Amdo Tibetans, Mongols, Manchus and Chinese, he wasgiven thousands of horses, camels and precious objects.

In 1674, the Fifth Dalai Lama received the Karmapa ChoyingDorje (1604-1674) at the Potala Palace, a reconciliation wel-comed by both parties after the many conflicts and misun-derstandings between 1612 and 1642. But he was not solenient towards other religious orders, banishing the Jonangfrom Central Tibet to Amdo, and forcing some Bonpo monas-teries to convert to the Gelug tradition. But the new govern-ment’s attitude was actually determined by political ratherthan religious considerations.

Two other incidents during the Fifth Dalai Lama’s rule pro-vide insight into that era’s court intrigues and the link betweenreligion and politics and its effects, which are still felt today.Among the three candidates for the reincarnation of theFourth Dalai Lama was Dragpa Gyaltsen, recognized as thereincarnation of another important lama of DrepungMonastery. As a result, he was seen as a rival of the Fifth DalaiLama even though he invariably proclaimed himself to be hisdisciple. In 1654 he died under mysterious circumstances.Afterward, it was believed that his spirit had returned as a sortof ‘protector of the Buddhist religion’. This marked the begin-ning of his cult, by the Gelug Order, as a protective deitynamed Dorje Shugden. However, the cult has been contro-versial and was recently banned by the Fourteenth Dalai Lamain India.

In 1662 Panchen Rinpoche died at age 93 and the Fifth DalaiLama immediately established the tradition of recognizing thereincarnation of Panchen Rinpoche. He ordered monks of thegreat monasteries to recite a prayer, which he composed him-self, requesting the master ‘to return’. The reincarnation wasdiscovered in 1667 in the Dru family, one of the five great lin-eages of the Bon tradition, probably in a gesture of reconcili-ation with this religious tradition, which he later recognizedas one of Tibet’s official religions. Officially establishing thetradition of this particular reincarnation has not always beenfavourable to the political unity of the Gelug nor of Tibet as awhole. The lamas of this series of reincarnation becameknown as the Panchen Lamas and were often considered spir-itually eminent, but on the political level their relations withthe Dalai Lamas were often difficult despite the spiritual mas-

ter-disciple relationship they were supposed to maintain withone another. Moreover, the Panchen Lamas were often usedagainst the Dalai Lamas, first by the Manchu, then by theBritish in India, and by both the Kuomintang and Commu-nist Chinese.

The Fifth Dalai Lama’s ever increasing diplomatic activitiescovered not only the Tibetan world, Mongolia, Ladakh andBhutan, but extended as far as China. The danger of conflictwas ever present and the Dalai Lama not only had to ensurethe survival of his own government but also to act as media-tor between rising political powers threatening to disrupt theestablished order.

Under the Fifth Dalai Lama’s rule, as under the ancientTibetan empire, Kokonor in Amdo became one of the moststrategic regions. He was quick to realize this as he traveledthe region in 1652 and 1653. Eight of Gushri Khan’s ten sonsand their respective tribes had settled there in 1638, after theirarrival from western Mongolia, and constantly quarrelled overterritory. In 1656 and 1659, the Fifth Dalai Lama sent severalgovernors to Kokonor. Over time the region’s Mongols werecompletely Tibetanized but continued to enjoy prestige amongthe Tibetans as Gushri Khan’s descendants and played a sig-nificant role in the Gelug Order’s expansion in Amdo.

In 1647, the Desi launched a military campaign againstBhutan that ended in a humiliating defeat for the Gelug andtheir Mongol allies. But the campaign against Ladakh in 1679was successful, and the territories of Ngari, in Western Tibet,previously annexed by the kings of Ladakh, were regained.Thus under the Fifth Dalai Lama, Tibet – from Ngari in thewest to Dartsedo and Kham in the southeast to Kokonor inAmdo in the northeast – was unified for the first time sincethe Tibetan empire’s 9th century collapse.

A mystic, a humanist, a man of lettersFrom the age of six until he was 24, the Fifth Dalai Lama stud-ied traditional subjects such as Buddhist philosophy, Sanskritand poetry. He developed a keen interest in Buddhist philos-ophy and later composed a number of treatises on the subject.At the same time, he also performed his duty as abbot of themonastery. In 1633, he met Konchog Lhundrup, a master ofthe Nyingma Order, whose teachings the Gelug had not alwaysapproved. This meeting was a turning point in his life. Helearned about mystical practices and tantric rituals entirelyunknown to him and realized that his philosophical trainingat the monastery alone was not sufficient to attain spiritualenlightenment.

For despite his political achievements, the Fifth Dalai Lamawas more concerned with spiritual matters. He loved writ-ing, whether he was traveling or in retreat. In addition toa number of treatises on various subjects, he also wroteabout his visionary experiences, which he kept secret owingto the disapproval of such matters by his own religiousorder. His works fill 24 volumes, including a detailed his-tory of Tibet enthusiastically written at the request ofGushri Khan in 1643.

Using many local words, he wrote in a very free, personal stylethat allowed him to express his feelings and was at once frankand ironic. His autobiography is characterized by his spon-taneity, sarcasm and humorous remarks concerning his ownstatus as a reincarnation and the fundamentalist attitude ofhis own religious order. Often, unlike traditional Gelugauthors, he gives his own independent interpretation of Bud-dhist doctrines, which he never attempts to impose. Con-cerning two treatises he had read, he writes: ‘When I finishedthe Oral teachings of Manjushri (written in 1658), I had to leavethe ranks of the Gelug. Today, having completed the Oral teach-ings of the Knowledge-holders (written in 1674), I will probablyhave to withdraw from the Nyingma ranks as well!’ The sec-ond work concerns Dzogchen teachings and both texts areconsidered masterpieces by all Tibetan Buddhist orders. Thushis approach to the various religious and philosophical tradi-tions was indeed deeply universalist, his reign marked by greattolerance toward the religious orders. To take just one exam-ple, after overcoming difficulties at the beginning of his rule,the Bonpo, followers of the Bon religion, Tibet’s only non-Bud-dhist religion, became respected at both doctrinal and politi-cal levels.

His exceptional, complex and engaging personality madehim one of Tibetan history’s most important figures. Hislegacy had a profound effect on almost every aspect of thecountry’s culture, notably architecture, poetry, historiogra-phy, civil administration, painting and, of course, philoso-phy and meditation. He was remarkable as both statesmanand monk, embodying the Buddhist ideal of a ‘great being’;Tibetan tradition still venerates him as Ngapa Chenpo, the‘Great Fifth’. His strict monastic discipline concealed hisgreat interest in tantric, magical rituals, and his affinity formystical meditation, which provided him with visionaryexperiences throughout his life. These he revealed only inhis writings, largely unknown during his lifetime, whichshow his never ceasing concern for the welfare of his peo-ple and country. The Fifth Dalai Lama continued to writeuntil his death, in 1682, at age 65. <

For further reading

- Karmay, Samten Gyaltsen. 1988 (reprint 1998). Secret Visions of the

Fifth Dalai Lama. London: Serindia Publications.

- —————. 1998. ‘The Fifth Dalai Lama and his Reunification of

Tibet’. The Arrow and the Spindle, Studies in History, Myths, Rituals

and Beliefs in Tibet. Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point, pp. 504-517.

Samten G. Karmay, Directeur de Recherche émérite, Centre Nation-

al de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, was Numata Visiting

Professor at Leiden University and an IIAS visiting fellow from Feb-

ruary 15 until July 1 2005. The life of the Fifth Dalai Lama and his

work on Dzogchen meditation were the subject of two of his 15 lec-

tures while at IIAS.

India

Leh

Mt Kailash

Nepal

Bhutan

TsangKham

Amdo

Qinghai

Sichuan

Gansu

ShigatseGyantse

Lhatse

Namtso Lake

Lhasa

Chamdo

Golmud

XiningLanzhou

Labrang

KumBum

Gange

Indus

Brahmaputra

Tsangpo

Tsangpo

Ganden

Drepung

Khatmandu

Xinjiang

Mekong

Drichu

Zachu

Machu

Yangtse

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:56 Pagina 13


> Research

Achintya Kumar Dutta

Kala-azar is an infectious diseasecaused by a protozoan parasite

called Leishman-Donovan body, trans-mitted to humans by certain species ofsandfly, and characterised by sometimesacute fever of long duration, enlarge-ment of the spleen and frequently theliver, anaemia and progressive emacia-tion. It was first thought that outsiderscarried the disease to the region after theadvent of British rule; the Garos inAssam described it as sarkari bemari orBritish Government disease.

Medical knowledgeThe disease seemed to have beenbrought under near-control after 1920as diagnostic, curative and preventivemeasures were developed and imple-mented. Successful treatment startedwith the introduction of tarter emetic(the first effective antidote to kala-azar),which from 1919 was spread throughpropaganda campaigns, legal measuresand medical research. The number ofspecial kala-azar hospitals and dispen-saries increased thereafter in Assam andBengal. By the mid 1920s, more effica-cious drugs were found, the most suc-cessful being urea stibamine. Treatmentwith these drugs reduced mortality ratesand the government of Assam madetreatment compulsory under the revisedKala-azar regulations in 1920 under theEpidemic Diseases Act.

Research on the disease continueduntil the end of British rule under theIndian Research Fund Association(IRFA) at the kala-azar research wardsof the Pasteur Institute, Shillong andat the School of Tropical Medicine andHygiene, Calcutta (CSTM). Experi-ments were conducted on the vector’sbehaviour, while early diagnosis ofkala-azar used simple pathologicaltests and new drugs such as sodiumantimony gluconate (SAG). In 1942,

the sandfly was conclusively proven tobe the vector of kala-azar.

Thus all probable methods of conquestof kala-azar became known. It wasknown that treatment of all cases in anendemic area would lead to control if noteradication in that area. It was alsoknown that modern insecticides, suchas DDT and pyrethrum, were effectiveagainst the sandfly. But the diseasecould not be effectively controlled anderadicated even up to the 1940s becauseof inadequate funding and medicalinfrastructure, and because of thedeplorable environmental conditions inthe ‘coolie lines’ of tea gardens, villagesand towns in Assam, Bengal and Bihar.

Public health a low priorityIndia’s public health services laggedabysmally behind progress made in west-ern countries. Besides kala-azar, diseasessuch as malaria, cholera, and tuberculo-sis caused havoc among India’s ruralpopulation, even in the 1940s. Many ofthese diseases were rampant in Englandand other European countries up to themid-19th century, though the neocolonialliterature has portrayed India, in partic-ular, as a quagmire of lethal diseases andepidemics. Some recent writers havetaken a more critical view, arguing thatEuropean commercial and political pen-etration in the 19th century and the cre-ation of colonial infrastructure – roads,railways, plantations, and labour migra-tion – facilitated the dissemination of dis-eases (Arnold 1988: 5). Besides kala-azar,dysentery and cholera were associatedwith unsanitary conditions in the tea gar-dens. Planters were reluctant to spendmoney on sanitary improvements andIndians were blamed for their apathy andresistance to sanitary programmes.

The colossal investment in both sanitaryreform and research into prophylacticsmade a vast difference between the trop-ical and temperate zones. Cholera is a

case in point: it was rampant in Englandand India in the second half of the 19thcentury. While sanitary reform eradi-cated this waterborne disease in theWest, nothing similar was carried out inIndia. Only in Punjab were some meas-ures made after considerable bureau-cratic foot-dragging. It is difficult toascertain how much of the revenue col-lected in India was spent on health andsanitation, but it was certainly not morethan a fragment. It is undeniable thatlow priority was given to the health ofIndia’s rural population.

The Medical Department, perhaps morethan any other, felt the effect of financialstringency. Fund retrenchment in med-ical research occurred frequently andreduced the research activities of theIRFA (GoI 1928: proceedings 20-21). In1943 the expenditure per head on med-ical relief and public health for India wasbetween 3 and 4 annas per annum. Ofthis, only one-third went to preventivemedicine. In the UK Rs. 54/- per headper year was spent on medical reliefalone (Vaughan 1944: 7).

There was no dearth of co-operation fromthe people in combating kala-azar. InAssam the people co-operated withhealth officials in maintaining regula-tions under the Epidemic Diseases Actfor checking the progress of kala-azar.The villagers reported kala-azar andrequested medical assistance and attend-ed the anti-kalaazar campaign conduct-ed by the Health Department. The peo-ple of Assam, Bengal and Bihar were notopposed to western medicine and theywalked many miles to dispensaries toreceive treatment. But the government’shealth policy had limited coverage; itcould not bring the rural masses underthe purview of treatment facilities.

The majority of villagers were left out ofthe scope of the public health service.Only the barracks, plantations, mines,factories and administrative headquar-ters received adequate medical atten-tion. Conditions in most rural dispen-saries were deplorable; they lackedmedicine, qualified doctors and neces-sary infrastructure. An official estimateput the ratio of doctors to population inIndia in the 1930s at a very inadequate1:10,000 (Bradfield 1938:2). The dis-pensaries and hospitals in the 1940scould treat only a segment of the popu-lation. The bulk of medical relief forIndia’s 400m, more than 80% of whomlived in villages, was still provided bypractitioners of indigenous medical sys-tems (Grant 1943: 16, 19).

Deficient measuresThe public health service was only par-tially developed in India and conse-quently diseases were widespread. InBengal, the recorded incidence of kala-azar (probably a fraction of the actualincidence) had been steady from 1924

to 1943. After 1920, responsibility fortackling the disease was left to localauthorities, who had inadequateresources (Ray 1998: 71-72). Affected vil-lagers were often left to their fate anddied untreated; Arthur Dash, Secretaryto the government of Bengal in 1927depicts in his memoirs a dismal kala-azar dispensary in Bengal, staffed byunskilled medical practitioners. Thoughthe disease was showing signs of regres-sion in certain districts in West Bengalby 1944, the incidence was increasingin a number of districts in East Bengal,particularly Chittagong, Dacca, andFaridpur. Even in Calcutta, part of whichhad been a focal point of infection in1920-21, the disease was not only moreprevalent in 1947 in that area, but hadspread to other areas of the town as well(Sengupta 1947: 281-286).

Curative and preventive measures tocontrol the incidence were also meagrein Assam. There had been several kala-azar epidemics and the incidence therewas higher in the 1940s than in the pre-vious decade. Inadequate arrangementfor the treatment of diseases in ruralareas of Assam was reported in publichealth reports (1933, 1944). The num-ber of kala-azar patients at the CSTMbecame so large that the staff wereunable to cope.

Moreover, no effective means of pre-vention based on the epidemiology ofthe disease was devised. Medicalresearch had provided important cluespointing to the sandfly as the vector, buteven after 1942 when the transmissionagent was confirmed and the Director ofPublic Health in Assam advocated fur-ther preventive measures, means forcontrolling the vectors were not found.Continuous surveillance in key areascould have helped to prevent its spread.But thorough surveillance could not becarried out because of a paucity of doc-tors. Nothing was done to prevent thespread of disease by attacking the trans-mitting agent. There were neither short-term nor long-term projects for vectorcontrol, either by spraying insecticidesor by providing better sanitation, evenafter the War.

Improvement of sanitation in ruralareas and liberal use of lime wash mighthave been effective in making condi-tions unfavourable for the sandfly. Butsanitary conditions in most towns inAssam, Bengal and Bihar, as in otherparts of India, remained unsatisfactoryuntil the end of British rule. In ruralareas there was no conservancy systemor protected water supply. Though pol-lution of the water supply was not direct-ly connected with the prevalence of kala-azar, it is justifiable to suppose thatdefective conservancy might have beena determining environmental factor. In1943 the government appointed theHealth Survey and Development Com-

mittee (Bhore Committee), as part of thepost-War development plan, to report onhealth conditions in India and take nec-essary measures for improvement. Thereport portrayed a shameful picture andrecommended measures for controllinglethal diseases and improving publichealth.

Health policy changed following inde-pendence. Control of epidemic diseasesreceived priority and modern medicaltechnology was extensively used; bothpreventive and curative measures wereemphasised. Based on the Bhore Com-mittee’s recommendations, the govern-ment of India launched health pro-grammes and action plans for the controland eradication of major communicablediseases. The National Malaria ControlProgramme, launched in 1953, was oneof the earliest effective steps in combat-ing malaria. Because of the results itachieved and subsequent advice from theWorld Health Organization and othercountries, the government launched themassive National Malaria EradicationProgramme in 1958. Matching assistancefrom the central government, hithertounavailable for any other public healthprogramme, was given to assure thestates’ participation. Indoor residualspraying with DDT in appropriate sea-sons and fortnightly surveillance, fol-lowed by treatment of all detected cases,reduced the incidence of malaria from75m in 1947 to 0.1m cases annually by1965, and deaths due to it were almosteliminated (Swasth Hind 1998: 27). As acollateral benefit to extensive insecticidespraying since 1953, kala-azar transmis-sion also declined to negligible propor-tions and death due to it reached almostnil by the mid-1960s. <

References

- Arnold, David. 1988. Imperial Medicine and

Indigenous Societies. New York: Manches-

ter University Press.

- Bradfield, E W C. 1938. An Indian Medical

Review. Delhi: Government of India Press.

- Grant, John B. 1943. The Health of India.

London.

- Government of India (GoI). 1925 (May).

Education, Health and Land, Health

Branch, Proceedings No. 20-21.

- Ray, Kabita. 1998. History of Public Health

Colonial Bengal 1921-1947. Calcutta: K P

Bagchi & Co.

- Rogers, Leonard. 1928. Recent Advances in

Tropical Medicine. London.

- Sengupta, P C. 1947 (May). ‘History of

Kala-azar in India’. The Indian Medical

Gazette: 281-286. Calcutta: Thacker’s Press

& Directorate Ltd.

- Swasth Hind. 1998. Special Issue. New

Delhi: Central Health Education Bureau.

- Vaughan, Janet. 1944. Papers on Health

Survey Committee, India, Pt. I.

Achintya Kumar Dutta

Reader in History

The University of Burdwan, West Bengal

Black Fever, or kala-azar, was a major health problem in northeast India under British rule from the 1860s. It affected Assam, Bengaland Bihar, both epidemically and endemically, and was a major cause of mortality. The disease attacked all economic classes andsocial groups, although it was less frequent among British and Indian troops. It led to depopulation and desertion, and affected thecultivation of tea and other crops, plantation profits and government revenue.

Black Fever and British medical policy in India

Parasites of the tropical

diseases Kala-azar and

Oriental Sore. Colour

photomechanical

reproduction of a

drawing by A.J.E. Terzi,

ca 1921.

Wellcome Library, London

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:57 Pagina 14


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dates or to demand an account of theirwork. It is therefore too simple to arguethat elections are merely a way of legit-imizing authoritarian structures ormonitoring people, despite theirambiguous character.

In contrast to indirect elections, directelections allow people a greater degreeof participation. Voters have an oppor-tunity to participate in the selection ofcandidates and to discuss their pro-grammes. This increases the possibili-ty for the articulation of common inter-ests and for the nomination ofcandidates who will act in the interestsof the residents in negotiations with theStreet Office or the district government.The call for ‘democratic elections’ mayencourage people to put forwarddemands and to establish shared inter-ests. Moreover, achieving even minordemands (such as the improvement ormaintenance of housing conditions)reinforces residents’ sense of empow-erment, and thus fosters willingness toparticipate and a sense of community.

Most informants felt that electionswould be viewed positively: if thoseelected had a stronger sense of account-ability because they were elected, if peo-ple who did not represent the interestsof the residents would not be re-elected,and if residents were able to put forwardsuggestions and voice their opinions.Elections are a sign of political relax-ation, and can provide information ondissatisfaction among residents. Addi-tionally, they encourage the removal ofincompetent and unpopular officials,thus acting as a corrective to power. Theyare thus a stimulus for officials to act inthe interest of voters. In this way theycontribute to regime legitimacy and sta-bility. Moreover, elections contain thesymbolic message that there is no alter-native to the rule of the Party and thatparticipation will be confined to institu-tionalized channels.

In electoral theory, elections are seen asopportunities for citizens to influencepolitical leaders. Elections generate sup-port for a political regime. Theories ofdemocracy show a correlation betweenelection turnout and regime legitimacy;fair and regular elections create a senseof trust and empowerment and thereforeof regime legitimacy. That is why the Chi-nese leadership strives to learn from elec-toral processes: it intends to increase thestate’s capacity for governance. <

Thomas Heberer

Professor of Political Science and East Asian

Studies

Institute of East Asian Studies

University of Duisburg-Essen

From the 1950s onward, residents’ committees were established in China’s urban areas to ensure social and political control. Untilthe late 1990s, these committees consisted primarily of elderly women with little education. More recently, economic reform, socialchange and increased mobility have altered the structure of urban residential areas – the closure of state enterprises, the end oflifelong employment and social welfare, and an increasing floating population have necessitated new organizational structures.

Urban elections in the People’s Republic

Thomas Heberer

O ld residential areas based on affil-iation to state-owned economic or

administrative work units (danwei) arenow disintegrating. The decline of pre-viously privileged groups (e.g. urbanskilled workers), the rise of new elites(private entrepreneurs, professionals,new middle classes) and a growing float-ing population mean many neighbour-hoods today are divided into areas inhab-ited by groups of different status –members of still existing or former dan-weis, members of the local political andeconomic elite who have purchased newflats, migrants from rural areas or othercities, and others.

With the decline of the danwei, increasedunemployment, urban poverty, and theerosion of family structures and publicorder, traditional residents’ committeescould no longer maintain order andsecurity. Thus, at the end of the 1990s,residential areas were merged and reor-ganized into larger ‘neighbourhoodcommunities’ (shequ) headed by ‘neigh-bourhood residents’ committees’. Thepopulation of these neighbourhoodsranges from 3,000 to 16,000.

The 1989 Organizational Law of UrbanResidents’ Committees outlines theirtwo major tasks: to support the govern-ment in preserving social stability, andto provide inhabitants with services andsocial security benefits. Currently, theirresponsibilities include many previous-ly assumed by the state: birth control,social welfare, job creation, improvinghygiene, running leisure facilities, cul-tivating social discipline, and increasingresident participation. The Party leader-ship sees shequs as the basic units forcreating a ‘harmonious society’, the newsocial goal announced in September2004.

Elections in shequsChinese law states that residents’ com-mittee members must be elected. Since1999 elections in urban neighbour-hoods have been of two types. A minor-ity of shequs have direct elections, withall residents voting; in the majority,including those we studied, elections areindirect, via residents’ delegates. Vacantpositions on residents’ committees areadvertised and applicants are invited toregister for the nomination examinationwhich covers legal regulations, theorganization of neighbourhoods, andquestions of general political and socialconcern. The Street Office draws up thelist of candidates and assigns leadershiproles on the residents’ committee,ensuring that candidates are qualifiedand trustworthy. Committee membersare subject to re-election after threeyears: if they do a bad job, they will notbe re-elected.

In recent years the qualification require-ments for candidates have been raised.In Shenyang and Chongqing a collegeor university degree is required, and themaximum age for candidates is 45 for

leaders and 50 for ordinary members.Only Shenzhen has no age restriction,considering upper middle school edu-cation sufficient qualification. As thequalification requirements are higherthan the prestige and salaries associat-ed with these positions, there is a short-age of younger, qualified candidates.

The shequs we studied had only indirectelections, and many informantsdeclared that they knew little or nothingabout them. Opinions on the signifi-cance of residents’ committee electionswere divided, with fewer than half theinterviewees expressing unreservedapproval. This does not reflect a gener-al indifference towards voting, since aclear majority declared that elections tothe district People’s Congresses wereimportant. Many felt that the residents’committee had nothing to do with theireveryday lives. It was widely believed(particularly in Shenzhen) that candi-dates were nominated by the StreetOffice and that elections were merely arubber stamp.

Many voters thought that candidatesshould introduce themselves personal-ly and explain their programmes. Whilepreviously this was not a requirement,it is now stipulated in election regula-tions and demanded by voters. In mostcases elections are run fairly and aremonitored by higher authorities. Thisseriousness, the increasing will of vot-ers to participate in nominating candi-dates and secret ballots have an impacton voter awareness. For instance, manyresidents knew that in Shenyang’s Tiexidistrict a residents’ committee had beenremoved by residents when it failed toresolve the crucial issue of water supply.They were aware that such a procedurecould apply in their own neighbour-hoods too.

In Shenyang a number of informantsargued that paramount leaders weremore important to the development ofa neighbourhood than elections. Thisargument derives from traditional polit-ical culture in its notion that unelectedofficials who operate according to the‘principle of justice’ will be morerespected than elected ones who do not,and reflects long experience of pater-nalism. It also reflects the fact that theresidents’ committee is identified withthe government. As individuals can haveno influence on the state, they arereduced to hoping that their leaders willbe qualified persons who will act in theinterest of the people – hence the vitalimportance of a ‘benevolent leader’ atthe top.

Direct or indirect?Current voting procedures continue for-mer practices: the residents’ committeeselects, the Street Office monitors, anda group of hand-picked people votes –procedures that result in low voter inter-est. While many would prefer directelections, they support indirect voting,believing conditions for direct electionsdo not yet exist. Supporters of direct

elections argue they would better repre-sent the opinions of voters. More peoplewould understand the work of residents’committees and thus more peoplewould participate; direct elections wouldmake more explicit their responsibilityto voters .

Those who argued against direct elec-tions, particularly officials, said theywere too expensive. Chinese socialscientists have calculated direct electionsin a single shequ in Beijing would costabout 100,000 yuan in publicationexpenses, administration costs, remu-neration and gifts for polling assistants,etc. In Chongqing alone, a city with 1951shequs in 2003, this would total 195 mil-lion yuan. Neither cities nor neighbour-hoods can raise such amounts. Officialsalso fear they will be blamed for lowturnouts; they see little benefit flowingfrom the extra work and costs. The vot-ers interviewed saw things rather dif-ferently, with supporters of general anddirect elections predicting highturnouts.

Residents are unhappy with indirectelections. Moreover, indirect electionsare detrimental to the prestige of elec-tions and of residents’ committees. Asresidents have little influence on theselection of candidates, their interest invoting is low. Furthermore, they have theimpression that the authorities are notinterested in genuine voter participa-tion. Currently, the central governmentplans to popularize direct electionsthroughout the country. But there isstrong resistance among urban author-ities, who fear they will lose control overvoters and candidates, reinforcing con-

flicts between the population and localauthorities.

Residents’ committee elections are anew, developing phenomenon. As theycontinue, voters will identify with theprocess and become more involved. Thiswill increase citizens’ demand for infor-mation and participation, and candidateswill find themselves conducting moresubstantial campaigns to be elected orre-elected. The introduction of directelections would therefore support thedevelopment of trust and legitimacy.

The power of electionsIncreasing participation is a crucial ele-ment of political modernization. Even ifshequ elections are still a delegated formof voting we should not deny their par-ticipatory character. Admittedly, theparty-state selects the candidates and –in the case of indirect elections – deter-mines the composition of the electoralbodies. But even delegated political par-ticipation (such as the right to vote), therequirement that elections follow theregulations, and the possibility of votingout poorly performing officials may beinternalized and eventually lead to moreautonomous patterns of participation.Furthermore, delegated elections createopportunities for electors, for example,to make specific requirements of candi-

This article is based on the preliminary findings of the research project Participation, elections

and social stability in rural and urban areas in China conducted by Gunter Schubert (Universi-

ty of Tuebingen), focusing on rural areas, and the author, focusing on urban sites. The proj-

ect is funded by the German Research Community (DFG). Three surveys were conducted in

urban areas, based on interviews with residents and officials: in Shenyang in spring 2003, in

Chongqing in summer 2003, and in Shenzhen in spring 2004. The project examines the polit-

ical awareness of urban citizens and officials in terms of participation, elections and trust.

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IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:58 Pagina 15


> Research

Manour i K . Jayas inghe

According to K.M. De Silva, ‘in the first decade of the twen-tieth century there was a perceptible quickening in the

pace of political activity in the island after the near immobili-ty in formal politics in the last quarter of the nineteenth cen-tury.’1 The early 1920s saw unrest among skilled workers;encouraged by influential political leaders, they demandedbetter working conditions and higher remuneration. Marxismentered Sri Lankan politics around 1926 through the SuriyaMal movement and gained ground in the 30s, eventuallyresulting in the establishment of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party(LSSP) in 1936.

Although independence was gained through a peaceful elec-toral process in February 1948, the post-independence histo-ry of Sri Lanka is spattered with blood. The passing of the ‘Sin-hala Only’ Act in parliament in 1956 heightened tensionsbetween Tamils and Sinhalese. With the opening of the econ-omy in the 1960s, Sinhalese felt their jobs being threatenedas their knowledge of English was poor compared to Tamilswho had close contact with English missionaries. Unemploy-ment among Sinhala youth contributed to the birth of theJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which called for the lib-eration of the Sinhalese people from the shackles of post-colo-nialism and led to the youth insurrection of 1971.

Difference in political status, the rift between English and non-English speakers, and measures taken by the Sinhalese gov-erning party resulted in the formation of a separatist group inthe Tamil community. Evolving through mergers and splitsover 35 years and using guerrilla and terrorist attacks to achievetheir ends, this group is known today as the Liberation Tigersof Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the early 1980s the dormant con-flict over land flared up, and the late 80s saw a period of vir-tual anarchy with government forces combating Sinhaleseinsurgents in the south and separatist Tamil guerrillas in thenorth. After 20 years of guerrilla war, an uneasy peace nowprevails.

History and the novelIn examining how the Sinhala novel reflects Sri Lankan his-tory, I consider history as resulting from disequilibrium in anation’s cultural, political or economic life. These closely relat-ed aspects are in fragile equilibrium: any imbalance in onearea will give it prominence over the others, thereby creatingsocial events recorded as history. From its beginnings up tothe early post-independence period, the Sinhala novel depict-ed history mainly as the result of changes in cultural and polit-ical outlook; economic trends were given greater prominencefrom the 1960s. Some Sinhala novelists set their work againsta historical background, some treat events ahistorically, whileothers favour the symbolic representation of political eventswhich make up history.

Wasanawantha Pawula haa Kalakanni Pawula (The Fortunateand the Unfortunate Family, 1866) by Issac Silva (1844-1907)can be considered the forerunner of the Sinhala novel. Morea narrative than a novel, the tone is one of debate. In contrast,Silva’s contemporary Bentota Albert Silva (1866-1919), knownfor Vimala (1892) and Adara Hasuna (Love Letter, 1894),manipulates the imaginary to create atmosphere. Althoughworks of fiction, these authors’ writings cannot be classifiedas novels since they lack many features of the form. HenceMeena (1905), a simple love story by Simon Silva (1874-1920),is recognized as the first Sinhala novel – it focuses on the innerworkings of the heroine’s mind, revealing a gift for characterdevelopment, and bears other characteristics of the novel asgenre.2

Although secular prose works had been appearing for some25 years, the first writer to deal with history as a central themewas Piyadasa Sirisena (1875-1946), whose works reflect hiscommitment to safeguarding the values of traditional society

place in 1956. Piyadasa, the main character, is a rural migrantcaught up in the whirlwind, with no possibility of return. Thefourth novel Vankagiriya (The Labyrinth) deals with the 60s,when Piyadasa, now a disoriented, disillusioned youth, rebelsagainst accepted social norms and society in general. In YaliMaga Vetha (Back on the Path), Piyadasa mourns his lost ruralvalues; this novel is more inward-looking than outwardlyfocused. The recently published Dura Rataka Dukata Kiriya-ka (Suffering in a Far-off Land) describes Piyadasa’s sufferingduring higher education in England. A transformed man, hereturns to Sri Lanka, but not before the long-awaited victoryof the United Front in the 1970 general election has beenmarred by the insurrection staged by the JVP in April the fol-lowing year.

Another ahistorical work, Sarath Dharmasiri’s Sada Sulanga(The Violent Winds, 1991), deals with the wasteland reformsinitiated by the Colebrooke commission in the 1830s, theirimpact on the rural economy and the suffering of the ruralpeople which culminated in the uprising of 1848. PiyadasaWelikanna’s award-winning Sudu Sevanali (White Shadows,1986), acclaimed as a mirror of the cultural, economic andsocial spheres of mid-19th century, deals with the birth of theNational Liberation Movement around the hill country in 1848,its struggle against British colonization, its eventual defeatand the establishment of British rule in every corner of thecountry.

The last category of novels, which reveal tendencies in mod-ern Sri Lankan history but give no hint of the period, falls intotwo groups, either figuratively representing politics or specif-ically indicating their political references and thus their rela-tion to history. Miniwan P. Tilekaratne’s Thrushnaabharana(Bedecked in Jewels of Desire, 1991) is of the first type, andtakes a refreshingly new approach to political problems. Theprotagonist, realizing the ridiculousness of the governing sys-tem, attempts to undo it by using naivety to expose the idio-syncrasies of the rulers. This novel could refer to various polit-ical regimes of the last few decades. Sunanda Mahendra, inthe more politically explicit Unu Alu Palla (On BurningEmbers, 1993), depicts the thorny public and family life of aleftist school teacher who goes to all ends to stand up for hisconvictions. This protagonist could be representative of theleftists of the mid-thirties as well as their modern-day heirs.

With the centenary of the birth of the Sinhala novel falling thisyear, it is hoped that this paper can serve as a tribute to it, bytracing its evolution and the many ways the novel can and hasbeen used to illustrate modern Sri Lankan history. <

Notes

1. De Silva, K.M. 1981. A History of Sri Lanka. London: Hurst and Com-

pany. p. 373.

2. Sarachchandra, Ediriweera. 2005. Sinhala Nawakathaa Ithihasaya

haa Vitcharaya, 8th ed. Colombo: Sarasavi Publishers.

3. De Silva, K.M. op. cit. p. 39.

4. Wickramasinghe, Martin 2005. Yuganthaya, 23rd ed. Colombo: Sir-

asa Publications. p. 11.

5. Dissanayake, Wimal. 1971. Girikula haa Sandamadala (The Moun-

tain Summit and the Moon). Colombo: Hansa Publishers. p. 36.

6. Translated by the author into English as Curfew and the Full Moon

(1978).

7. Fernando, Vijitha. (Translation of both novels 2003). Out of the

Darkness. Sri Lanka: Visidunu Publications.

Manouri K. Jayasinghe

Lecturer in Sinhala

Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris

[email protected]

threatened by the anglicization overtaking Sri Lankan societyin the pre-independence period. Apata Wetchche Dey (ThatWhich Happened to Us) and Yanthan Galavunaa (Managed toEscape at Last) represent the views of this highly nationalisticwriter as well as the period’s cultural climate.

Martin Wickramasinghe (1890-1976) may well be the great-est 20th century Sinhala writer. In his trilogy Gamperaliya (TheChange in the Village, 1944), Yuganthaya (The End of the Era,1949) and Kaliyugaya (The Epoch of Kali, 1957), he depicts thetransition of Sri Lankan society from the last vestiges of feu-dalism to urban mercantile capitalism, which generated social-ism.3 Inevitably, his works deal with class differences. Gam-peraliya is a great work of literature, the first full-fledgedSinhala novel. It describes the advent of capitalism throughthe experiences of farmers living in a feudal village in south-ern Sri Lanka. Though the novel is ostensibly the story of thelove between Nanda, the daughter of the feudal landlord, andPiyal, a lower-caste school teacher, the theme of social changeis its thread, evoked by the changing social status of the twoprotagonists and their eventual marriage.

The two novels that follow continue this family saga. In Yugan-thaya, published just after independence, the order is reversed:the focus here is on Nanda and Piyal’s British-educated, rev-olutionary grandson Malin Kabalana, who aims to change thesocial system upon his return to Sri Lanka. The author explainsthat the struggle of the working class against capitalism, espe-cially in 1947, influenced the writing of this novel.4 In Kaliyu-gaya, written about a decade after independence, Wickramas-inghe highlights the confusion of Sri Lankans who hadembraced urban capitalism, describing Nanda and Piyal’s dis-enchantment with their family and offering insights into earlypost-independence Colombo high society. The trilogy is of his-torical value because it represents the socio-political evolutionof the period. On the other hand, Viragaya (Detachment, 1956)is a masterpiece considered to be the turning point of mod-ern Sinhala literature.5

K. Jayatileka’s Parajithayo (The Defeated, 1960), depicts thepolitical and social realities of the 1950s. These emerge in theobstacles to social advancement which confront Udeni, ayoung man from the village who goes to study in Colombo.Another of Jayatileka’s novels, Delovata Nathi Aya (Those NotBelonging to Both Worlds, 1963), deals with the plight of themasses after independence, the author’s disillusionment withthe lack of change in Sri Lankan politics after 1956, and thepolitical landscape of that period.

T. B. Illangaratne’s Peraliya (Insurgency, 1972) and E.R.Sarachchandra’s Heta Etchchara Kaluwara Na (1975)6 are mon-uments to the 1971 youth insurrection. Gunadasa Amarasek-era’s Asathya Kathaawak (An Unreal Story of a Death, 1977)and its sequel Premeye Sathya Kathaawa (A Surreal Story ofLove, 1978)7 also treat aspects of the youth rebellion. Contin-uing into the 1980s, Sumithra Rahubhadhdha captures thistumultuous period in her novel Itipahan (Candles, 1998),alluding not only to the attempted youth revolution of the 70s,but also to the period of mayhem in the 80s.

Milestones in historyGunadasa Amarasekera, in his series of six novels begun inthe early 1980s, is the most prominent of the novelists whoahistorically illustrate milestones in history. He deals with theevolution and predicament of the rural middle class, whichmigrated to the capital shortly before independence, and howevents in history influenced them. The first book in the series,Gamanaka Mula (The Beginning of a Journey), is set in theimmediate pre-independence era when migration to the townsbegan. Gamdorin Eliyate (Out of the Village), depicts the post-independence period from 1948 to 1956 and the transforma-tion of the rural middle class into one that emulated its urbancounterparts. The third book, Inimage Ihalata (Ascending theLadder), portrays the change in Sri Lankan politics that took

Sinhala scholarship was traditionally rooted in the Buddhist clerical establishment, and the vast majority of ancient and mediaevalliterary works were of a religious nature. Except for a few political treatises, there were virtually no distinguished works of secularinterest. From the late 19th century, however, a multitude of secular literary (prose) works began to appear; the close link betweenmodern history and the evolution of the Sinhala novel can be traced back about seven decades.

Rendering history through the Sinhala novel

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:58 Pagina 16


> Research

In the Old Javanese text Nagarakertagama or Desawarnana (1365), the Buddhist poet Prapanca describes King Hayam Wuruk’sjourney through East Java in 1359. We followed the royal tracks in a 900-kilometer jeep expedition in June 2005 and discovered thatmany of the places can still be identified.

Amrit Gomperts

The expedition departed from thecourt of Majapahit, during the day

of the full moon on 8 September 1359.The royal caravan drove in ox-carts, withdozens or possibly hundreds of follow-ers on foot; together they covered over900 kilometres in two months.

R.A. Kern’s overlooked but nearly com-plete map of Hayam Wuruk’s journey(Kern 1927) provided the basic data forour venture. Consultation of 500 Dutchand Indonesian small-scale topo-graphic sheets of the area verified andappended Kern’s work. Sixty per centof the two hundred place names andtopographical descriptions mentionedby Prapanca could be identified frommaps only.

We determined a geodetical datum forJava and converted geographical coor-dinates from Dutch topographical maps(1915-1942) into the current standard.Finally, we entered all the geographicalcoordinates into a GPS satellite naviga-tion system. A few highlights of ourfindings are sketched on the map belowwith references to Prapanca’s textDesawarnana (DW; Brandes 1902).

Places not found on the mapsA number of Prapanca’s toponymscould only be traced in the field. A placecalled Daleman identified by Kern doesnot appear on any of the detailed maps(DW 31.1). With the help of local farm-ers we found Daleman – a small run-ning spring amidst rice fields – alongthe road between Besuki and Binor. Wealso were told that an ancient stone stat-ue of a goddess, said to include aninscription, had disappeared from thespot in 2004, suggesting that the placemay be of archaeological importance.

The village of Balerah, which was passedby the royal party to the east of the townof Pasuruan, also does not appear on ourtopographic sheets (DW 21.1). Neigh-bouring villagers, however, recognizedthe name and directed us to a tiny five-house settlement on one hectare amidstirrigated rice fields. After 650 years, theinhabitants still refer to the hamlet asBlerah.

Prapanca describes topographical fea-tures visible in the Javanese landscapeto this day, referring to them by stillfamiliar Javanese terms. For example,after leaving the still-existing village of

Renes, the caravan passed through a for-est referred to as Jati Gumelar or ‘spreadout teak trees’ (DW 23.1). The Dutchtopographic maps show details of vege-tation that locate the forest near the vil-lage of Tasnan which my Javanese trav-el companions recognized as jati ‘teak’.Prapanca also distinguishes irrigatedrice-fields (sawah) and non-irrigatedfields (tegal) which are also marked onmaps. We were able to identify the roadthat Hayam Wuruk took to the city ofSinghasari from the poet’s reference totegal (DW 38.2).

Prapanca’s terminology may includeboth toponyms and geographicaldescriptions, and some distinctions canonly be verified in the field. For exam-ple, Pakalyan is the name of a river, butthe Old Javanese word pakalyan alsodenotes a ‘river-bed’. As the riverbeditself is jumbled with rocks, the royalparty must have travelled along the roadfollowing the river of Pekalen (Robson1995:115).

A second example: the Javanese under-standing of the word jurang is moreelaborate than just ‘ravine’. My Javanesecompanions showed me that it may alsorefer to a river running through a ravinebut crossed by a bridge. FollowingKern’s map, we passed over modernbridges spanning impressive ravines.The royal party must have traversed thefour jurang dalem or ‘deep ravines’ of theriver of Sampean (Robson 1995:112).Such crossings would have requiredbridges spanning 50 meters strongenough to carry ox-carts. Another suchravine is Bobo Runting which literallymeans ‘mouldered and in tatters’ (DW21.2). We identified it as the bridgecrossing the river of Sawaran near thevillage of Juranglor, literally ‘North of theRavine’. Today, piles support the con-crete bridge. There is no other road thatthe caravan could have taken, and

descending the steep ravine is impossi-ble. Thus, in 1359, the wooden or bam-boo bridge may have been in a moul-dering state but it could not have beenentirely in tatters. Such bridges chal-lenge our archaeological imagination.Close to this location, Prapanca’s topo-graphical reference pasawahan or ‘areaof irrigated rice fields’ suddenlyappeared before us (DW 21.2). On bothsides of the descending road that leadsfrom the ravine of Bobo Runting, sawahextended into the plains as far as the eyecould see.

Medieval touristsThe poet continues with the descriptionof a pleasure trip of Hayam Wuruk tothe shore of the Indian Ocean. This isthe only part of the journey not includ-ed on Kern’s map (Bullough 2004:19).Prapanca did not attend the trip (DW22.4-5), but he versified the words ofsomeone else, expressed in Robson’stranslation as follows (1995:41):

Departing from there the King camedirectly to Kuta Bacok where he dis-ported himself on the shore,Absorbed in looking at the rocksengulfed by waves with showers of sprayresembling rain.

The unusual term bacok, literally mean-ing ‘chopped-off’, appears on one of ourDutch topographic maps as the name ofthe village Gunung Bacok. We found itnear a stone quarry to which severalfamilies of the village have long held themale hereditary right of exploration. Theexcavated boulders are sold as housefundaments, offering an obvious expla-nation for the etymology of the villagename. In the 14th century, there was ahill with a kuta bacok ‘chopped-off peak’.Today, after 650 years of excavating, ithas been reduced into a gunung gacok‘chopped-off hill’. From here, it is eightkilometres to the white beaches at the

cape of Tanjung Papuma, nowadays asmall tourist resort. The rocks jutting upclose to the beach remain as HayamWuruk may have seen them (see photo-graph).

Prapanca’s (DW 32-33) lyrical descrip-tion of the Siwaite forest hermitage ofSagara is aptly expressed in the follow-ing excerpts from Robson’s translation(1995:46-47). My additional interpreta-tions are in brackets [...]:

When the King departed to go on, itwas the forest hermitage of Sagara thathe headed for....It was splendid and extraordinary, inthe midst of the wooded mountains, itslayout bewilderingly beautiful....The bwat ranten pavilion bore severalpaintings of stories and had a base ofstone, polished and high;Flowers of the nagakusuma tree laythick in the yard, the [shore-]side[s](tira) of which was [were] lined with awall. ...And all the hermits and especially thenuns, young and old, were virtuousand clever....The young and pretty hermit-girlsremained behind pining every one.

The toponym Sagara is geographicallyassociated with the area around RanuSegaran – literally ‘lake of Segaran’. Theregion comprises a total of five craterlakes with a diameter of 750 meters in aremote and wooded area that retains itspoetic beauty. The yard’s wall possiblystood on the shore (tira) of a lake. Zoet-mulder (1982:1504) has suggested thatranten might be the Old Javanese highspeech form of the word ranu ‘lake’.Therefore, in combination with the cur-rent toponym ‘lake of Segaran’ and thereference to shore (tira), the OldJavanese bwat ranten probably denotesa ‘lake-pavilion’. Furthermore, thefemale hermits must have had access towater for drinking and sanitation pur-poses. Of the five lakes, we found outfrom villagers that only the water of thelake of Ranu Segaran is potable. There-fore, the geographical location of thehermitage may be narrowed down to thelake shore of Ranu Segaran itself. As weshould interpret Prapanca’s languagewithin the context and dimensions oftraditional Javanese and Balinese archi-tecture, the bwat ranten pavilion waslikely an open verandah consisting ofbamboo and wood on a base of stoneswith a palm-fibred roof. The hypothesisis finally supported by the existence ofseveral big black stones worked by

human hands on the southern shore ofRanu Segaran, in front of a terraced gar-den; this site may well indicate the loca-tion of the bwat ranten.

At the end of the journey, the royal car-avan headed for the court of Majapahit.Prapanca, however, turned off for RabutTugu to where his own family lived inpahyangan, ‘the area of worship’ (DW59.1). Kern’s identification of RabutTugu with the village of Sumbertuguappears well founded. A farmer of thesettlement of Sumbertugu showed us astone pillar on a venerated spot amidstthe maize fields. Locals refer to the loca-tion as Pepunden Tugu or ‘sacred landwith pillar’, which is synonymous withRabut Tugu. We left the pillar untouchedfor the archaeologists.

Much remains to be done on the geo-graphical and archaeological aspects ofHayam Wuruk’s journey. With all Dutchcartographic material of Java now freelyavailable on the website of the RoyalTropical Institute in Amsterdam(www.kit.nl), and because GPS technol-ogy is increasingly affordable, furtherfieldwork is within easy reach. Finally,archaeological research – and funding– is urgent to prevent the reduction ofthe subject to historical geography. <

References

- Brandes, J.L.A. 1902. Nagarakertagama.

Lofdicht van Prapantja op Koning Rasad-

janagara, Hajam Wuruk, van Madjapahit.

Batavia: Landsdrukkerij.

- Bullough, Nigel. 2004. Menulusuri Jalan

Perjalanan Raja Hayam Wuruk ke Lama-

jang pada Tahun 1281 r. Unpublished

paper, State University of Surabaya, 12 Feb-

ruary.

- Kern, R.A. 1927. De Reis van Koning Hajam

Woeroek door Lamadjang in 1359 A.D. Tijd-

schrift van het Koninklijk Nederlandsch

Genootschap 44:613-624.

- Robson, S.O. 1995. Desawarnana (Naga-

rakartagama) by Mpu Prapañca. Leiden:

KITLV Press.

- Zoetmulder, P.J. (and S.O. Robson). 1982.

Old Javanese-English Dictionary. ’s-Graven-

hage: Nijhoff.

Acknowledgement: The author would like to

express words of gratitude to the Bupati of

Sragen, Mr. H. Untung Wiyono, who kind-

ly sponsored our expedition: matur sem-

bah nuwun!

Amrit Gomperts is a freelance researcher

who has published on Old Javanese and

Javano-Sanskrit texts.

[email protected]

In the footsteps of Hayam Wuruk

The reconstructed tracks of Hayam Wuruk’s journey through East Java in AD 1359.

cou

rtes

y o

f au

tho

r

Rocks washed by the

sea as Hayam Wuruk

probably saw them at

the cape of Tanjung

Papuma.

courtesy of author

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:00 Pagina 17


> Research

Gij sbert Oonk

Very little is known about the history of South Asians inEast Africa, while much of what we know comes from for-

eign sources. This is not due to a lack of literate qualities; weknow that South Asian merchants kept highly professionalaccount books and corresponded regularly with distant mar-kets. When the occasion demanded, they learned English, Ara-bic, Swahili and Portuguese to complement their knowledgeof Gujarati and Kutchi. The historian could conclude that thesemen preferred to remain faceless – neither their family his-tories, nor even their community’s history, was for sale.

Pictures and paintings may reveal new knowledge and insightson South Asian lives in East Africa. Taken for specific pur-poses, such as weddings or the beginning of pilgrimages ortours to India, they literally present ‘faces’ and ‘real images’of the past. At the same time, they remain constructions of the

photographer, whose intentions often remain unknown. Thescenes often represent photographic styles which go beyondthe East-African context – as cultural constructions, theybelong to international photography.

These pictures give an idea of the ‘faces’ of South Asians inEast Africa at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Yetthe exercise has limited potential, for in many cases we do notknow when, why and by whom the picture was taken. Never-theless, the history of these images gives some insight intohow some South Asians in East Africa wanted to be repre-sented, either to their families or to a wider audience. <

For more information:

www.asiansinafrica.com

Oonk, G. 2004. Asians in East Africa. Images Histories & Portraits.

Arkel: SCA Producties.

[email protected]

Asians in Africa: images, histories and portraits

Nanji Damodar 1880-1961

The picture of the Hindu Lohana Nanji Damodar was taken by an Indian photographer

in Mombasa around 1920. In the tradition of ‘swagger portraits’, the picture bears, like

European photographs of the same period, diluted traces of painted portraiture. Here

Nanji Damodar is portrayed with a book in hand, suggesting a learned and intellectual

background, while he may not have been a great reader at all. As in the case of the Karim-

jee family, dress is an important marker of identity. Here Nanji Damordar wears his

black Hindu Nehru cap and white Indian dress. His shoes are too large, and may not

have been his own: they are unpolished, unthinkable for a man of his standing. The pho-

tographer may have suggested he wear shoes to present a more formal character.

<The original headquarters of the

Karimjee Jivanjee enterprises, Zanz-

ibar, 1924. Front row, left to right:

Mohamedali A. Karimji Jivanjee; Yus-

ufali Karimji Jivanjee; Mr. Boyac and

Tayabali H.A. Karimjee. The picture

was taken on the occasion of the visit

of Mr. Boyac from Texas Company to

finalise an export deal to Tanganyika

with Karimjee Jivanjee and Company

as sole agents. The members of the

family wear formal dress, with long

sleeves according to Muslim fashion.

Typically, the European representa-

tive is in the middle of the

photograph.

<

<Three typical images of male members of

the Karimjee Jivanjee family bear striking

similarities. All look straight into the cam-

era with serious, self-conscious expres-

sions. Dressed for the occasion, they wear

the Bohra turban, signifying their impor-

tance within the Bohra business commu-

nity. Note that Yusufali, the family’s rep-

resentative in the European market, is

wearing a tie and a western business suit,

testament to the adaptability of dress

within the context of Bohra identity.

Gijsbert Oonk and Henk Schulte Nordholt were the convenors of the IIAS workshop The South

Asian Diasporas: the creation of unfinished identities in the modern world, held in Rotterdam,

23-24 June 2005.

Hasanali Alibhai 1872-1918 Mohamedali A. Karimjee 1879-1940 Yusufali Karimjee 1874-1966

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:00 Pagina 18


> Research

The virtual second generation: negotiating ethnicity on the internet

Urmi la Goe l

About 45,000 Indian citizens live inGermany. They are relatively few

compared to other ethnic minoritiessuch as the Turks, fewer also thanTamils from Sri Lanka or refugees fromAfghanistan. Indian migration to Ger-many started in the 1950s and 60s withindividual young men coming as stu-dents, interns and professionals. In thelate 1960s they were joined by youngnurses from Kerala. From the 1970s,entry to Germany became increasinglyrestricted and Indians came either asasylum seekers or illegal workers. Thelatest phase of Indian migrants, from2000 onwards, is comprised mostly ofIT specialists.

The early migrants from the 1950s and60s started to found families in the 70s.Many of the nurses from Kerala marriedmen from their own places of origin andthus a Malayali community developedin Germany. The Punjabis, who camefrom the 1970s on, have their Gurdwarasand places to meet, but many live inlegally insecure situations without fam-ilies. Bengalis meet regularly to cele-brate Durga Puja; IT specialists havetheir internet meeting places. But ingeneral, Indian Germans live dispersedin the country and have little everydaycontact with others of the same ethnicbackground. From the middle of the1990s, members of the second genera-tion began to search for and create theirown spaces, organising parties andexperimenting with the internet.

In the summer of 2000, Germanybegan discussing chancellor Schröder’splan to give ‘Green Cards’ to foreign ITspecialists. The opposition began a cam-paign against this, which soon becameknown as the Kinder statt Inder cam-paign (‘children instead of Indians’).Many second generation Indians fol-lowed the campaign closely – for the

first time, their ancestral country of ori-gin had become the centre of xenopho-bic debate.

Three young Indian Germans beganexchanging emails and cartoons on thetopic. The idea of an indernet (networkof Indians) developed, which led to thewebsite theinder.net. Wanting to interlinkwith websites of other ‘Indians’ in Ger-many, they began contacting others ofthe second generation. The websitegrew: new technical features like chatand a guestbook were included, newcontent was put online, the editorialteam expanded and traditional printmedia began reporting on the project.During the India boom in Germany theinterest of Germans in the websiteincreased and today thousands of usersclick on theinder.net every month.

The research project The virtual secondgeneration analyses and focuses on ques-tions of ethnicity, community andonline-offline interaction. I interviewedthe editors, users and non-users oftheinder.net as well as other founders of‘Indian’ projects in Germany to gaininsight into the relevance of this inter-net portal.

Marginalised groups onlineThe internet seems to be the right toolat the right time for second generationIndian Germans. Since the second halfof the 1990s, the second generation nolonger wanting to follow their parents,but wanting to do something on theirown, has been growing. Own spaces aresought and created; the internet appealsespecially to young males. theinder.netdevelops just when there is a generalsearch for own spaces and the majorityof the second generation has internetaccess.

The internet is a particularly suitablemedia for marginalised groups, requir-ing only access to computers with inter-

net connections and basic computingskills. It works almost independently ofoffline hierarchies and dominant dis-courses, and can link dispersed mem-bers of marginalized groups. For some,like homosexuals, the anonymity of theinternet is an important factor; for oth-ers, like ethnic minorities, it is the pos-sibility for fast and cheap transnationalcommunication. For dispersed Indiansin Germany it seems to be the onlyspace where many can meet regularly.

Marginalised groups can use the inter-net to create their own spaces on theirown terms – spaces where they canmeet others like themselves, where theycan discuss and negotiate their ‘we-ness’. They define and negotiate therules, discourses and contents amongthemselves, and thus also their repre-sentation to a larger public. Theoreti-cally, the public for a virtual space is thewhole world. In practice, the public ismore restricted; as with the mass ofinformation online, it needs good linksand advertising to make the spaceknown to a wider public.

These are also the self-defined aims oftheinder.net: communication and infor-mation. The editors want to provide aspace where the ‘community’ can inter-act and where those interested in Indiacan get information. The form and con-tent are shaped by them, not by theirparents or host society. This independ-ence is important for the editors andusers. Most of them stress the impor-tance of meeting others like themselves;as there are so few Indians in Germany,this is something that hardly happensoffline. theinder.net is thus one of the fewspaces which is their own, where theydo not have to explain themselves,where they can just ‘be’.

At first glance theinder.net appears to bea transnational website. It offers not justa German, but also an English and a

Hindi version. There are special offersfor IT Indians coming to Germany. Themixture of English and German in thename theinder.net makes Germans thinkit is also designed for an English-speak-ing audience. On a closer look, howev-er, theinder.net is very German, or rather,German-speaking. The English versionhas little content, the Hindi almostnone. The language used in the interac-tive elements is German. SometimesIndian languages – or in some casesSwiss German – are used, but never forlong, as one or another user will com-plain that she does not understand.theinder.net is a transnational localwebsite, a German-speaking portal for‘Indians’ and images of India in theGerman-speaking world.

This localisation is not only evident inthe language, but in content. theinder.netis not a detached virtual space, but close-ly linked to the physical space of Ger-many, the reason for its relevance. Amajor feature of the portal is theannouncement of events, especially par-ties, and later the reporting on them,with pictures. The virtual space makesit possible for the dispersed second gen-eration to get information on what hap-pens offline and thus makes meetingsin physical space possible. Furthermore,the interactive elements are used to getto know other second generation mem-bers, to flirt and to eventually meetoffline.

A virtual community?To talk of an online communitynonetheless does not seem adequate.Although there is a feeling of commu-nity for many individuals, communityis hardly established. Each part of theinternet portal has its own life, and itsusers do not meet as theinder.net com-munity offline. Shared boundaries andsymbols are lacking; theinder.net catersto the longing for community withoutbeing one – it provides a space to meet

and network, from where further activ-ities can take place, which might createcommunities.

In contrast to the ethnic societies of theparents, theinder.net is pan-Indian.Regional conflicts, especially betweenSouth and North Indians, occasionallyoccur in the interactive areas. But aslong as the common language is Ger-man, there is a sense of Indiannessbridging language, regional and reli-gious differences. Many of the secondgeneration consider it a special successto overcome the regional divisions livedby their parents and in India itself.

But theinder.net is not only inclusive; italso marginalizes. Although some Mus-lims and Pakistanis use the portal andsome are even on the editorial team, thedominant Indian patriotism fostered ontheinder.net develops around Hindunessand Hindi. Hindu nationalistic rhetoricappears in many places; most do notnotice and mind, but others are put off.Similarly, homosexuals have the impres-sion that theinder.net is homophobic. Inboth cases, this is due less to particulararticles that are clearly marginalizing –the editorial team prevents this – butrather, through the atmosphere createdin the interactive discussions, the selec-tion of articles and images. Exclusionoccurs by what is missing rather thanwhat is there. <

Urmila Goel is a research assistant at the

Europa-Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt/

Oder (Germany) studying South Asians in

Germany, especially the second generation.

[email protected], www.urmila.de. References

and more information on the ongoing

research project can be found at www.urmi-

la.de/forschung (in German).

The internet of the new global media, linking people transnationally, providing a public for the marginalised, fostering democracy –versus the internet of virtual irreality, detached from the real world, space for escape, leading to social isolation. From theseextremes, research has moved to ethnographic analyses of what actually happens online. Here I analyse how, why and with whatconsequences second generation Indians in Germany do this.


THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN SOUTHEAST ASIA

A New HistoryEdited by Norman G. Owen

HAWAI‘I READER IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE CULTUREEdited by Victor H. MairNancy S. Steinhardt & Paul R. Goldin

HOUSE HOME FAMILY: Living and Being ChineseEdited by Ronald G. Knapp & Kai-Yin LoSpatial Habitus: Making and Meaning in Asia's Vernacular Architecture

TALES FROM A CHARMED LIFE

A Balinese Painter ReminiscesHildred Geertz & Ida Bagus Madé Togog

MURÒJI: Rearranging Art and History at a Japanese Buddhist TempleSherry Fowler

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I PRESSWWW.UHPRESS.HAWAII .EDU


IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:02 Pagina 19


> Rem Koolhaas IIAS annual lecture

In the meeting at the Netherlands Architectural Institute, Shanghai-based architect and

theorist Zheng Shiling argued that whereas Japan had succeeded in giving form to a

new Asian modernity, the current building boom in China has not led to a new ‘Chinese’

architecture. Anne-Marie Broudehoux’s study of construction for the Beijing Olympics

indeed showed the participation of major architects from the West (Norman Foster,

PTW, Herzog & de Meuron). But no Chinese master builder is involved in any of these

$500m projects. It is difficult to say why. One could argue that Chinese architects have

(out of necessity) specialized in quantity rather than quality. But it may be more plau-

sible to conclude that Chinese officials are only interested in getting China on the world

map. And world recognition means the participation of world-famous architects, Zheng

sadly concluded.

CH

INESE

MO

DER

NITY

:?

JAP

AN

ESE

MO

DE

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ITY

:M

ETA

BO

LISM

Kenzo Tange (1913-2005) was an architect and critic skeptical of the nostalgic use of tra-

dition in Japanese architecture and in what he saw as dull international modernism. He

sought something new. Together with brothers in arms Noriaki Kurokawa and Tadeo

Ando, Tange combined symbolic forms from Japanese tradition with modern technol-

ogy, giving rise to the futuristic and fluid forms that symbolizes Asia’s new modernity.

Tange’s most famous project, the Tokyo Bay area, seems to show the Asian need to sur-

pass every western accomplishment. Tange, too, organizes territory following a grid,

but outran Manhattan and other American cities by taming the water. It was in Singa-

pore (another early ‘democratic’ state under Lee Kuan Yew’s iron rule) where the mod-

ern metabolists’ vision was most nearly realized.

S K Y S C R A P E R S A N D S L E D G E H A M M E R SThe 10th IIAS annual lecture was delivered in Amsterdam on 17 November by world-famous Dutch architect and Harvard professorRem Koolhaas. Co-founder and partner of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and initiator of AMO, its think-tank/mirrorimage, Koolhaas’ projects include de Kunsthal in Rotterdam, Guggenheim Las Vegas, a Prada boutique in Soho, Casa da Musica inPorto and most spectacularly, the new CCTV headquarters in Beijing. His writings range from his Delirious New York, a retroactivemanifesto (1978) to his massive 1,500 page S,M,L,XL (1995), several projects supervised at Harvard including Great Leap Forward(2002) and Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping (2002) to his most recent volume between a book and a magazine, Content(2005). On these pages of the IIAS newsletter, itself a strange animal between an academic journal and newspaper, we explore whyKoolhaas in his last book invites us to Go East; why he has a long-time fascination with the Asian city; why the Metabolists havealways intrigued him; why OMA has developed an interest in preserving ancient Beijing; and, perhaps most importantly, why hethinks architecture is so closely connected to ideology.

...THE DAY AFTERZheng Shiling from Shanghai, Xing Ruan from Sydney and Anne-

Marie Broudehoux from Quebec City were Koolhaas’ discussants

following the lecture. To give our guests a chance to meet their

Dutch and Flemish brothers in arms, IIAS organized a meeting

at the Netherlands Architectural Institute in Rotterdam the fol-

lowing day. Bearing the title (Per)forming Culture; Architecture and

Life in the Chinese Megalopolis, specialists of contemporary Chi-

nese urban change – including scholars of architectural theory,

anthropology, sinology and philosophy as well as conservators,

journalists and urban developers – engaged our international

guests in discussion, entering territory left untouched or only

hinted at the day before.WARCHITECTURE Rick Dolphi jn

Self-acclaimed amateur detective Rem Koolhaas began histalk by tracing the development of the Asian city from the

1930s to today. Analyzing macro-political structures and howthey effectuated urban change, he discussed architectureunder fascism, democracy, communism and the market econ-omy, the four great ideologies that have dominated East Asiafor the past 75 years. What emerged over the course of his lec-ture was that whatever the name of the political regime, it wasauthoritarianism – veiled or unveiled – which was the motorof East Asia’s rise.

Through the study of strategic infrastructure, Koolhaasshowed how Chinese and Japanese governments havereformed the Asian cityscape. Despite changes in nameand appearance, their deeper ideas of political/architec-tural normalcy remained. Japanese fascism always impliedJapanese democracy, Chinese capitalism always impliedChinese communism. Differently articulated, differentlyperformed, but similar, emblematic of that urban idealismwhich considers the utility of the mountain its ability to filla hole. Two political/architectonic regimes that had bigconsequences for the Asian city and its architecture. Bigin every sense of the word.

Japan and warchitectureKoolhaas began his talk with memories from early childhood.At eight, his family moved to post-war Jakarta, a conglomer-ate city of kampongs, the village structure found everywhere inIndonesia. In Jakarta, the kampong appeared in its most con-densed form, making the city very different and much moremodern than the ones he knew from Holland. Another thinghe remembered from his Indonesian years was that Indone-sians regarded the Japanese, at least at the start of their rule,as their liberators.

The Japanese invaded territories in search of lebensraum. Likethe Germans with their autobahns (and the Italians with theirinnovations in Ethiopia), the Japanese radically restructuredthe new lands as extensions of their own territory; architec-tural troops began planning new roads and railways to con-nect the new land and cities to the old. We can see this as acrime, but it was definitely not the first time architecture andcrime proved such a fruitful combination.

Japanese fascism was the second wave of architectural mod-ernism after the European invasion. Every extension of theJapanese empire was – at least in theory – rigorously over-coded by modern planning, offering opportunities for greatarchitects to rise. Here Koolhaas makes the key argument ofhis talk: war, painfully enough, is good for architecture. Archi-tecture has little to expect from civil society. It is under auto-cratic, despotic or anti-humanist rule that architecture thrives,where the architect finds a colossal canvas on which to test hisprinciples.

This is an argument that can already be found in Koolhaas’early writings. Delirious New York, his architectural manifestoof 1978, argues that the grid, the uniform block structure of 13avenues and 156 streets, gives the tiny island its unique appear-ance. The production of the Manhattan Grid was ‘the mostcourageous act of prediction in Western civilization...’(1978:18). But it was not an act of empathy. It was an autocraticact, which – not for the first time – was good for architecture.

In his lecture Koolhaas gave another example discussed inS,M,L,XL: the city center of Rotterdam, which would neverhave become a national and international center for architec-

ture had Nazi Germany not bombarded it in May 1940. Wecannot but conclude that imperialist, autocratic regimes aregood for architecture. They give rise to the most daring archi-tects and the most spectacular buildings.

Back to Japan’s imperialist expansion. Here too we see a groupof young architects benefiting from opened land. Amongthem, recent graduate Kenzo Tange, soon-to-be father of theMetabolist movement (see frame), child prodigy of the Japan-ese regime. In the postwar period, a democratic governmentthat, as Koolhaas and his team found out, bought architecturalcompetitions by corrupting juries. Tange was the trueManchurian Candidate, Koolhaas claims, as shadowy politicsturned this veteran of the fascist order into the face of the newdemocratic architecture that placed Japan on the world map.Tange, backed by his administrative creator Shimokobe andtalented ghost-writers, brought the Metabolists their world-wide fame at the 1960 World Design Conference. Their zenithwas at the 1970 World Fair when Japan, thanks to technolog-ical giants such as Sony, represented true modernism. A mod-ernism which in architecture was very much connected toSuperstar Tange.

China and warchitectureThe newly installed Chinese communist regime began restruc-turing cities following Soviet ideology. Mao’s Red Book con-tains pictures of villages with forests of chimneys, an imageseen today in every corner of the country, homage to the archi-tectural revolution that accompanied communist revolution.Despite rigorous and often brutal spatial reforms followingthe revolution, things really took off under Deng Xiaoping.‘To get rich is glorious’, stated the paramount leader. And itshows, especially in town planning and in the ultra-fast com-position of stacks of concrete that only vaguely remind us ofthe city as defined in the post-industrial West.

With his students, Koolhaas studied developments in the PearlRiver Delta, five cities from Hong Kong to Macau, very dif-ferent in character but linked in their growth. It is estimatedthat these five cities today house 20 million people, and will,in less than 20 years, turn into a single urban conglomerateof 36 to 40 million inhabitants. Of nightmarish proportions,the largest in the world.

What is happening today in the Pearl River Delta, Koolhaasnotes, is not very different from what happened in Manchuria65 years ago. Here, too, land is colonized, regardless of inhab-itants. Nature is flattened with unusual rigor, railroads and high-ways laid down, territory straightened to the party’s demands.The government’s ruthless optimism and ‘blackboard-urban-ization’ in these Special Economic Zones of unbridled capital-ist experimentation is, moreover, a continuation of Maoist tra-dition. The only difference is that market capitalism has todaybrought party officials money they previously lacked, provid-ing the regime with the tools to radically restructure territory,in ways the hammer and sickle just weren’t capable of.

Fragment of an image

of the OMA website

(www.oma.nl )

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:03 Pagina 20


> Rem Koolhaas IIAS annual lecture

DOWN

FALLOF THE

SKYSCRAPERThe history of the skyscraper is of

eastward travel. Starting in the

1920s in New York and Chicago, it

arrived in Europe and Africa after

the Second World War and then on

to Asia. In the meantime its func-

tions and meanings changed. The

skyscraper has always been a capi-

talist tool, but there is no single way

for capitalism to use it. Differences

are easy to find. New York’s Sea-

gram Building is a capitalist

machine made of steel and glass

because the building integrates

spaces and times, within and with-

out. How different are these com-

plex early 20th century construc-

tions from the high-rises now

merely collecting bureaucrats and

businessmen in Pudong, the new

Shanghai? One dimensional com-

positions, created merely to

impress. Just look at the symbol of

Pudong, the Oriental Pearl TV

Tower. A building that hardly has

an inside, a sign of potentiality,

only to be admired from the other

side of the Huangpu River, the new

Bund/the old City. The skyscraper

is the emblem of the market

economy, of ultra-democracy, of

VIAGRA-potency. Koolhaas claims

he could realize his CCTV non-

skyscraper only in Beijing, in the

still communist heart of increas-

ingly capitalist China. CCTV is a

statement against the banality of

the skyscraper, an exploration of

the space of communism for

architecture today. And thus Kool-

haas, in Content, invites us to

KILL THE SKYSCRAPER!

In S,M,L,XL, Koolhaas explains ulti-mate architecture, what mobilizesarchitecture’s full intelligence. He con-ceptualizes it as ‘BIGNESS’. It beganabout a century ago, paralleling othermodernist revolutions in the arts, a timewhen creative spirits like Picasso,Marinetti and Joyce radicalized theirfields, united by a quest for what theirparticular artform or medium of expres-sion was all about. Picasso experiment-ed with painting as a two-dimensionalplay of colours and lines; Joyce workedthe margins of literature by messingwith language, signs and print; Marinet-ti, frontman of the Italian Futurists, rev-olutionized art by introducing speedand volatility into presumably staticforms.

With Mies van der Rohe, Gropius andLloyd Wright, architecture began a pro-ductive period of experimentation, asearch that Koolhaas summarizes underfive themes: a search for multiplicity, forelevation, for the facade, for a disinte-gration of the urban tissue and mostimportant, for a new ethics, beyond goodand evil, beyond the imaginable. These

themes give rise to Bigness. A true Nietzschean search for inhuman quantity: because architecture in theend can only achieve its goal by becoming ultrabig and fiercely inhuman. Can CCTV architecture thereforebe bad, as Xing Ruan asked Rem after his lecture? No it cannot. It can never be. Architecture works withcrime, with despotic regimes, because this is the way to its goal: to achieve bigness. CCTV is no doubt thebiggest building Rem Koolhaas has made. It performs the ultimate REMOLOGY.

OMA’s new CCTV headquarters is 230meters high and has a floor area of360,000 square meters. Its novelty liesin its incorporation of every aspect ofTV-making (administration, news,broadcasting, studios and program pro-duction) in a sequence of inter-con-nected activities. The building is amonolith, a block with continuous loopsof horizontal and vertical sections, anurban site rather than a finger pointingto the sky. The irregular grid on thebuilding’s facades is an expression ofthe forces traveling throughout its struc-ture, western and Chinese and neither.

Co

pyr

igh

t H

ans

Wer

lem

ann

/ O

MA

WELCOME TOPHOTOSHOPOLIS!

C C T V = B I G N E S S = R E M O L O G Y

Rick Dolphijn lectures cultural philosophy at the cultural

studies department at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Currently he is also an IIAS-fellow researching The TIME-city,

the Asian Megalopolis and its Production of Life.

www.rickdolphijn.com

If there is one thing Koolhaas tries to grasp in his writings,it is how cities of today perform a different logic than cities

of the past. A logic he continuously conceptualizes in neolo-gisms. Koolhaas is not interested in clarifying, nor in framinghistory. He writes experiences, swamping us with images andsigns of the unknown, the unheard of, urging us to think thesocial, cultural, political and architectural consequences ofthese new forms of life.

So what makes the Chinese contemporary cityscape? Looking at

the urbanization of the Pearl River Delta, of the Three Gorges

region, of the deconstructed cities of Shanghai and Beijing, Kool-

haas overwhelms us with questions from what he sees, hears and

feels. Isn’t it strange that the city centre of Shenzen is a golf-

course? What of our idea that skyscrapers form urban conglom-

erates, when, in China, a ten-story building is as readily built in

a ‘rural’ environment? And how come the government and pri-

vate organizations have no qualms about the enormously expen-

sive Wu Freeway (it hardly touches the ground) which leads to

nowhere?

Koolhaas poses these questions not necessarily to answer but to

conceptualize them. The building of seemingly unnecessary infra-

structure and even complete towns, he captures in words like

‘POTEMKIN CORRIDORS(c)’ or ‘POTEMKIN CITIES(c)’. The

urban landscape no longer grows in harmonic concentric layers,

separated by time, united by space, but consists of atonal frag-

ments pressed into one another like felt, ‘the generic city’. Only

gravity makes it stick, an urban form that lacks urbanity, that neg-

lects traditional differences between city and countryside, that

thickens the body of the earth with a plaque of urbanity more and

more organized by time, less and less by space. And what about

Zhouhai, a non-city without public spaces or people, that exists

on the horizon but evaporates as soon as you near it? Isn’t this

merely an ‘Announcement of the City’?

In his lecture, Koolhaas stressed the sheer speed by which Chi-

nese cities erupt. Shenzhen, not yet a teenager, already claims

several million inhabitants. Everywhere in China, building occurs

at great speed, often the product of a simple apple computer in

the kitchen of the parental home. Skyscrapers are designed with-

in weeks. Koolhaas states that the Chinese architect is the most

important in the world – the way his product is conceived

requires a deep and thorough understanding of the laws of archi-

tecture. Or rather, it presupposes a radical unlearning of the laws

of architecture which have made it such a cumbersome and

lethargic practice.

Such rapid designing cannot happen with pencil and ruler, the

standard equipment of architects not long ago. One needs

AUTOCAD, or better, PHOTOSHOP, the tool that combines

everything possible in one frame. To cut and paste 200 meters

of skyscraper in 20 days. This new way of designing has enor-

mous consequences for the kind of city that results. For cutting

and pasting does not lead to cities where different styles and

forms of building achieve melodic coexistence. The city produced

by PHOTOSHOP is the city of frantic coexistence. It is the true

‘City of Exacerbated Difference(c)’.

IS OMA GETTING OLD?Rem closed his lecture by admitting that his bureau has begun doing things he

wouldn’t have dreamt of ten years ago. A project he considers most eccentric: the

preservation of cultural heritage in Beijing. Should traditional hutongs, square court-

yards enclosed by houses now giving way to modern high rises, be protected for

future generations?

The problem with preservation, Koolhaas argues, is that it leads primarily to gen-

trification, best intentions notwithstanding. It is unlikely that people who lived

there will still live there. Preservation is most often thought of in terms of authen-

ticity, the restoration of buildings. But what forms a particular site? Showing a pic-

ture of daily life in a Beijing hutong, Koolhaas argued that what should be kept was

its atmosphere, for it is here that these miniature social units differ most from their

modern high-rise counterparts. This way, preservation is not about stones or build-

ings, but keeping what cannot survive in modern environments: the life articulat-

ed between the buildings and its inhabitants. Nor does it limit the architect to pre-

serving buildings, or forbid new constructions. But it may also ask the architect

not to take action ... something which comes unnaturally to him, Koolhaas admit-

ted.

Artistic impression of the CCTV complex in Beijing

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:04 Pagina 21


> Review

- Creese, Helen. 2004. Women of the kakawin world: marriage and sexuality in the Indic courts of Java and Bali. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe. 357 pp. ISBN 0-7656-0160-5

Women of the kakawin world

Dick van der Mei j

After finishing this book, I suddenly realized I hardly everread a scholarly work from cover to cover. There is a sim-

ple reason I did with this book. As quite rightly put by theauthor, the subject concerns gems of a hidden literary tradi-tion: kakawin. Over a period of more than 1,000 years, theseOld Javanese poems in Indian or Indian-inspired poetic metraconstitute a world of beauty quite ‘beyond the realm of thesenses’, as put by Raechelle Rubinstein, or in the words ofHelen Creese, ‘beyond the power of the senses.’

Kakawin are usually inspired by the great Indian epicsRamayana and Mahabharata and focus on romantic love, poet-ic lovemaking, idealized nuptial relationships and heroic bat-tles. Kakawin were written in Java, and after the fall of theHindu empire of Majapahit in the 15th century, in Bali. Mostmanuscripts containing kakawin texts were copied and com-posed in Bali, where the practice has continued to the presentday. Gems from the Javanese period include the kakawinRamayana, Bharatayuddha, Sumanasantaka, Smaradahanaand the popular Arjunawiwaha. The Balinese period includesthe Parthayana (edited by Helen Creese), Subadrawiwaha andmany more.

Kakawin are, or used to be, transmitted on palm leaf manu-scripts in Old Javanese script. Nowadays they are also pub-lished on paper, sometimes with a Balinese translation. A(small) number of them have been edited by scholars in Dutch,Indonesian or English. Helen Creese is the most knowledge-able western scholar on the subject alive today.

Women of the Kakawin World leaves the battles and concen-trates on aspects of love, courtship, marriage, and their intri-cacies. The role of women – as exemplary daughters, wives

and widows – are explored in great detail through Javaneseand Balinese kakawin. Their role in the Indic courts wasrestricted, but by no means insignificant – mostly noblewomen lived sequestered from the outside world in the innercourts of the palaces, closely guarded by their male relativesand female attendants. The role they played in courtship, mar-riage, lovemaking and death is described in relation to the menthey court, marry and follow in death.

Despite its title, my sense is that the book is not so much aboutwomen and female sexuality as it is about gender relations asseen by women. The book presents these female roles by fol-lowing lives from birth to death. The author has also linkedthe kakawin world to remaining temple reliefs in Java and toBalinese illustrations of Old Javanese literature, evoking a con-tinuum between the literary world and the world as it mighthave existed, describing the world depicted in kakawin in such

detail as to enable us to form an idea of the world outside theconfines of the literary tradition.

The book is peppered with quotations from 15 kakawin fromthe Javanese period and 14 from the Balinese period. TheEnglish translations provide the reader a unique opportu-nity to appreciate the beauty of the poems; it is to the greatcredit of the author that she has translated the Sanskrit-liketitles into English to make the poems and her book as acces-sible as possible. Helen Creese has done an admirable joband has succeeded in opening up the hidden kakawin worldfor a public much wider than ever before. The book is there-fore a must for anyone seriously exploring Asian literaturein its widest sense. <

Dick van der Meij

[email protected]


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IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:05 Pagina 22


> Review

El i sabeth Schröder -Butter f i l l

The Care of the Elderly in Japan is a fascinating ethnographicstudy of life in an institution for elderly people in subur-

ban Tokyo. By drawing on six months’ participant observationas a care volunteer and in-depth interviews with residents,staff and visitors, Yongmei Wu constructs a detailed pictureof institutional care.

Wu’s primary interest lies in what constitutes quality of lifefor elderly residents. Yet her secondary aims of under-standing what brings elderly people, staff members and vis-itors to the home, and how institutional old-age care is expe-rienced and evaluated by different subgroups, occupy mostof the book and yield many of its most interesting insights.The core chapters describe the home, which combines‘assisted living’ with a nursing care section; the experiencesof residents before and after entry; staff members’ perspec-tives on work, workplace, and old-age care; visitors’ evalua-tions of the home and their reasons for visiting or volun-teering; sources of conflict in the institution; and anassessment of the impact of policy changes on life and workin the home.

The study takes place at a key juncture in Japanese welfare his-tory. Ideas about welfare and responsibility for old-age care arebeing renegotiated, while the actual practice of welfare provi-sion is radically changing following the introduction in 2000of the new Long Term Care Insurance system (LTCI). With it,institutionalisation and formal old-age care, traditionally con-sidered acts of government benevolence, are redefined as theright of every elderly person. This redefinition is not taking placesmoothly or uniformly. One of the great contributions of thebook is the way in which the author captures and juxtaposes thedisparate, ambivalent, and at times contradictory views differ-ent cohorts and players have about non-family care in Japan.

The elderly in the study experience the tension between theideal of co-residential family-based care and the reality oftheir lives, often characterised by a lack of family or familyconflict, economic vulnerability or severe care needs. Con-sidering they belong to cohorts in which institutional carewas associated with abandonment and the stigma of chari-ty, their capacity for adaptation and positive reinterpretationof their situations is remarkable. One elderly woman, forexample, first suffered from the tensions her presence wascreating in her son’s marital household and then found thenon-normative solution of living with a married daughterembarrassing and constraining. Despite expressing disap-pointment, even humiliation, at not receiving the custom-ary care she feels she earned by serving her parents, hus-band and children, this woman actively sought admissionto the residential home and thrives on its leisure activitiesand services.

Optimism among many older residents is not easily recon-ciled with the pity with which some staff and visitors viewthem. Their negative views are epitomised by the head matron,who tells the author: ‘Look at the residents ..., aren’t most ofthem unfortunate people? ... I think many elderly here willpass away in misery. This is their fate’ (p. 102-3). Most mid-dle-aged care staff and visitors have ambivalent feelings aboutinstitutional care, claiming to prefer it for themselves over‘becoming a burden’ on children, yet eschewing institutionalsolutions for their own parents. It is only the youngest cohorts– young care staff and students on placements – who seem tohave embraced the view of welfare as entitlement. Wu showsthat normative consensus exists most readily where severelyfrail or impaired elderly people are concerned. Residents, staffand visitors agree that the quality of care the home can offersuch patients far surpasses what families could provide, whilethe burden of such care on family caregivers, many of whomare elderly women themselves, is considered unacceptablyhigh.

The book’s drawbacks lie in its weak theoretical underpin-nings and discussion. Some of the theories dealt with, like dis-engagement theory, are outdated; even in the topical area ofquality of life, more recent works are not considered. In theempirical chapters, links to theory are brief and chiefly con-fined to footnotes. The discussion of the empirical materialremains too close to the case studies which form its core;greater abstraction and critical commentary by the authorwould have been desirable.

That said, Wu’s analysis of Japanese cultural constructs sur-rounding family relationships and their applicability to insti-tutional care is fascinating. For example, the notion of amae,which refers to a person’s ability to presume upon anotherperson’s care and indulgence, is central to intergenerationalfamily relations and has been invoked to explain Japanese eld-ers’ more willing dependence on others compared with eld-ers in the West. Wu is able to challenge the view that amae isalso found among unrelated ‘patient-caregiver’ relations bypointing to the powerful sense of indebtedness that elderly

people feel towards state support and home staff. With theexception of physically dependent elderly people who havesucceeded in forging close bonds with a particular matron overa long period of time, none of the residents feel entitled tomake demands or presume on the indulgence of staff, whoremain ‘strangers’, not family.

The book’s strengths lie in the detailed descriptions of life inthe home, and the perspectives on Japanese society that areopened up through the actions and statements of people asso-ciated with the home. In reading about one elderly resident’searlier neglect of his family when he was successful, or anoth-er man’s involuntary confinement to a mental institution byhis mother when he was young, we are reminded that even inthe past Japanese family solidarity could not be taken for grant-ed. And lest we rush to the conclusion that whole-sale insti-tutionalisation of elderly people is likely in the near future,consider the following statistic and anecdote. In 1995, lessthan 2% of people aged over 65 in Japan resided in some kindof old-age institution. (This fact actually renders the book’stitle misleading). One young trainee caregiver, impressed withthe quality of food in the home, took some for her grand-mother to taste, but she flatly refused. The trainee apologised:‘to her, the food in a home for elderly is dirty. There is still prej-udice towards institutions’ (p. 146).

This prejudice is doubtless waning, partly due to the intro-duction of the entitlement-based care insurance system. Inone of the best chapters of the book, Wu reports on attitudesto the new law before its implementation and assesses itsimplications soon after its introduction. The picture thatemerges is far from rosy. Cuts in government fees and theexclusion of ‘non-essentials’ have meant that food quality hasdropped and leisure activities now have to be paid for by res-idents themselves, with the result that participation is declin-ing. The home’s renowned dietary section is under threat,while staff are increasingly hired on a part-time basis. Link-ing fees to the degree of elders’ dependency has also led to thehome accepting more care-intensive patients, leaving less timeand resources for maintaining the autonomy and well-beingof more independent residents. In a market-based environ-ment, aspects which contributed most to residents’ quality oflife (leisure activities, excellent food, an emphasis on Japan-ese traditions, ‘a loving heart’ among the criteria by whichemployees were hired) are sadly no longer assets.

Wu has succeeded in portraying both institutional old-age care,and the ambivalences surrounding the question of how bestto manage care for frail elderly people, in such a way that thereader doesn’t – and can’t – come away with his or her mindmade up. The author’s perceptive description of the institu-tion and its elderly and non-elderly members avoids judge-ment and thereby does justice to the sensitivity and complex-ity of intimate care at the end of a person’s life. <

Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill

St Antony’s College, Oxford University

[email protected]

Caring for Japan’s elderly- Wu Yongmei. 2004. The care of the elderly in Japan. London: RoutledgeCurzon. pp.224. ISBN 0-415-32319-3



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IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:05 Pagina 23


> Review

- Fiona Kerlogue, ed. 2004. Performing objects: museums, material culture and performance in Southeast Asia.London: The Horniman Museum. xiv + 187pp. ISBN 1 903 33801 8

Museums, material culture and performance in Southeast Asia

Sandra Dudley

Recently, an increasing number ofbooks have dealt with museum-

related issues and with material culture.From the perspective of many workingin the intersection of these areas, howev-er, the number of books on material cul-ture in museums is still relatively small– despite Kerlogue’s suggestion to thecontrary in her introduction. True, thereare now classic volumes (such as Karpand Lavine 1991), together with workson museums and material culture interms of cultural property or colonial-ism or both (e.g. Peers and Brown 2003,Bennett 2004). A growing number ofvolumes also deal with collection histo-ries and practices (e.g. Shelton 2001aand 2001b; Gosden and Knowles 2001).Yet overall, there are still relatively fewworks addressing the huge and impor-tant subject of material culture in and ofmuseums.

New books in this area are thus usuallywelcome, and this one is no exception.The result of a 2001 conference of theAssociation of Southeast Asian Studiesin the UK, its regional focus also makesit of significant interest to area special-ists.

Kerlogue, who does not have a paper ofher own in the book, applies recent the-oretical approaches to the lives of objectsby comparing museum objects withstage actors. The objects’ ‘performance’,she argues, emerges when they areutilised in exhibitions; curators providetheir ‘lines’ in the form of labels and textpanels. When they are back in the muse-um store, they are ‘resting’, like actorsbetween jobs. We may, she suggests,question these objects’ roles, their rela-tionships to the stories they tell duringa ‘performance’, and how their role in amuseum can be reconciled with theirprevious role in ‘real life’ as opposed to‘stage life’.

While interesting, this object/stage actoranalogy is problematic. I am not sure,for example, that objects ‘rest’ when noton display. They may still be experiencedand interacted with by museum staffand others, and their traces – material,textual, imaginary – may linger in placesother than their current one. Similarly,I am not sure the museum lives ofobjects are less ‘real’ than their pre-museum lives: rather than being syn-chronously juxtaposed to reality asactors’ stage performances are to theirreal lives, objects’ lives in museumscome after their lives in their originalethnographic setting.

On one level, this is really just nit-pick-ing over Kerlogue’s otherwise effectiveintroduction. On another level, it relatesto another quibble – over the book’s title.Performing objects implies, especiallygiven the early thrust of the introduc-tion, that the book will examine the livesand performances of specific items of

museum material culture. Some chap-ters do indeed do this, but others take adifferent approach. The prospectivereader could also be forgiven for expect-ing from the title that the book concen-trates on museums, performance andmaterial culture located in SoutheastAsia. Again some of the chapters dothis, but others interrogate museum andmaterial culture issues that today areeither physically outside Southeast Asiaor thematically general enough to per-tain to areas other than or in addition toSoutheast Asia. Some Southeast Asian-ists may thus initially be disappointed,while many museum and material cul-ture specialists with no interest inSoutheast Asia may never pick up thebook at all. Yet to potentially disappointor lose readers because of its title wouldbe a shame, for this is a fascinating,wide-ranging and well-edited book, ofinterest to Southeast Asianists andmuseum and material culture special-ists alike.

Preservation, posterity and pusakaThe opening chapter questions the verynotion of museums and what they do,and challenges the conventional viewthat preserving objects for posterity inmuseums is largely a Western idea.Christina Kreps explores the Indonesianconcept of pusaka both ‘as a non-West-ern form of cultural heritage preserva-tion’ and in terms of ‘how practices sur-rounding the care and treatment ofpusaka constitute forms of museologi-cal behaviour’ (p.1). By problematisingthe idea that only in the West is there aconcern for the care and preservation ofcultural heritage, Kreps seeks – and to alarge extent succeeds – both to under-mine arguments used to legitimisekeeping others’ cultural property inWestern museums and to question the‘imposition of Western-style systems ofcultural heritage management’ (p.2).

The book then considers the sociopolit-ical uses and history of museums inSoutheast Asia. Katherine McGregor’scase study of the colonial-era BataviaMuseum’s transformation into theIndonesian National Museum draws onAnderson’s ideas about national identi-ties (1991), and Nicole Tarulevicz’sexamination of the Singapore NationalMuseum’s presentation of history drawslargely on Foucauldian approaches.Both are well-written and useful casestudies, but without new theoretical con-tributions to analysis of nationhood andthe representation of history.

Laurens Bakker, in the book’s onlychapter dealing solely with representa-tions examines the differences betweenrepresentations of the island of Nias inethnographic museums in the Nether-lands and in Indonesia (including onNias itself ). Dutch museum represen-tations and their focus on religiousbelief and practice are at odds withchanges in recent decades in theimportance of these issues on Niasitself. Bakker uses this to discuss theproblems museums face in keeping upwith socio-cultural shifts within thecontinually changing communitiesthey represent in their essentially fixed,static displays. This well-written chap-ter is one of the most valuable in thebook, although its conclusion wouldhave been enhanced had Bakker pre-sented a more detailed description ofhow museums might begin to tacklethese problems.

The fabric and performance of lifeThe book then moves to collections andcollecting. Genevieve Duggan’s chapteris a richly detailed, though uncriticalaccount of textile traditions on Savu andthe contemporary process of docu-menting and collecting textiles and relat-ed materials for the Horniman Muse-

um. Two chapters on colonial-era col-lections in European museums – Anto-nio Guerreiro on the cartographerJacques de Morgan’s late 19th centuryjourney across mainland Malaya and hiscollection of Orang Asli material (Muséede l’Homme), and Sudeshna Guha onIvor Evans’ photographs taken on theMalaya peninsula and in northern Bor-neo (Cambridge Museum of Archaeol-ogy and Anthropology) – are both inter-esting excursions into aspects of theimperial endeavour. It is also pleasingto find a chapter on photographs in abook about museums and material cul-ture; ignored for too long, photographsare only now being seen as material cul-ture in their own right (see Edwards andHart 2004).

Three chapters examine material objectsintended for use in public performance.Two contributions on puppets (Poh SimPlowright and Matthew Cohen) empha-sise in different ways the multiple con-texts of material culture and the inter-sections of these contexts across timeand space. As an analysis of a ‘new tra-dition’ in transformation, Laura Nos-zlopy’s paper on ogoh-ogoh effigies inBali then raises important questionsabout the nature of tradition and cul-tural authenticity. It is a well-writtenethnographic account, and the author iskeenly aware of the wider questions, butit would have been nice to see more the-oretical underpinning and location ofthese issues within the literature on ‘tra-dition’.

The closing chapter by Andy West oncontemporary material culture andurbanisation in southern China asks ifand how museums should reflect rapidsocio-cultural change. In some ways thisgoes back to the relationship betweencollections and representations of cul-tures raised in previous chapters. It alsoreturns to the wider questions on the

very nature of museums, what they do,and how and why they do it.

In general, this is an ethnographicallyrich and thematically wide-rangingbook. It is also, as with other books inthis Horniman Contributions in Criti-cal Museology and Material Cultureseries, nicely produced with black andwhite illustrations, and is a pleasure toread. The reader will not find in-depththeoretical analysis, but hopefully theywill come away feeling they have gainednew insight into the ethnographic con-texts and themes raised. I regret that thebook has so little on mainland SoutheastAsia, and I would also have liked anindex. <

References

- Anderson, B. 1991. Imagined Communities:

Reflections on the Origin and Spread of

Nationalism. London: Verso.

- Bennett, T. 1995. The Birth of the Museum.

London: Routledge.

- ——-. 2004. Pasts Beyond Memory: Evolu-

tion, Museums, Colonialism. London: Rout-

ledge.

- Edwards, E. & J. Hart, eds. 2004. Pho-

tographs, Objects, Histories: On the Materi-

ality of Images. London: Routledge.

- Gosden, C. and C. Knowles. 2003. Collect-

ing Colonialism: Material Culture and Colo-

nial Change. Oxford: Berg.

- Karp, I. and S. D. Lavine, eds. 1991. Exhibit-

ing Cultures: the Poetics and Politics of Muse-

um Display. Washington, D.C.: Smithson-

ian Press.

- Peers, L. and A. K. Brown, eds. 2003. Muse-

ums and Source Communities. London:

Routledge.

- Shelton, A., ed. 2001a. Collectors: Individu-

als and Institutions. Horniman Museum.

- ——-. 2001b. Collectors: Expressions of Self

and Other. London: Horniman Museum.

Sandra Dudley

Department of Museum Studies

University of Leicester

In the bowels of the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden

(c)

Pet

er H

ilz,

Ap

ril

199

8

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:06 Pagina 24


> Review

David T. Hi l l

The appearance within the past year of these English-lan-guage books about the Indonesian press says a lot about

both the vibrant state of the publishing industry in Indonesiaand the burgeoning international interest in – and increasingquality of research about – that country’s media. From thesame innovative English-language publisher in Jakarta, thebooks focus on different, if overlapping, aspects of the Indone-sian press. Importantly, each offers a new and excitingapproach to the writing of media history, setting them apartfrom previous studies.

Steele, a specialist in Media and Public Affairs at George Wash-ington University, came to Indonesia in 1997-8 as a Fulbrightprofessor. While teaching about American mass media at theUniversity of Indonesia during the final assault against theNew Order, she was drawn inexorably to that community ofactivists involved in the Indonesian media’s struggle againstgovernment constraints, an agglomeration of media workersthat gravitated around the memory of Indonesia’s mostprominent newsweekly, Tempo. When Tempo was banned bythe Suharto regime in June 1994 (together with two otherweeklies, DeTik and Editor) it spawned waves of protest aroundthe country, and came to symbolise the middle-class’ brokenhopes for political openness. Ex-Tempo staffers mobilisedabove and below ground against the New Order, and generat-ed a substantial part of the agitation that was to bring theregime down in May 1998.

Steele’s engagement with the spirited staff of Tempo throughthis period led her to delve more deeply into what made themtick. She pushed back into the history of the magazine’s estab-lishment, ranged over its various crises and bans, through toits resurrection after the eventual fall of Suharto. Returningregularly to Indonesia, spending extended periods living,researching and teaching in the capital, Steele acquired a valu-able insight into the ethos and camaraderie of these mediaworkers and the principles around which they coalesced. WarsWithin opens up this circle of journalists, their motivations,their conflicts, and their commitments.

For Steele, as for a generation of Indonesians, Tempo had cometo symbolise the best of Indonesian journalism; it was pas-sionate, probing, innovative, articulate, outfront, and preparedto take the consequences. Yet Tempo was also, in some sens-es, politically compromised; a product of the early New Order’salliance with the anti-Sukarnoist student movement in elim-inating the Left, the magazine enjoyed the backing of figuressuch as Golkar’s treasurer Eric Samola, who became Tempo’spublisher. Steele writes with great sympathy of the complexi-ties of operating a news publication in an authoritarian polit-ical environment, in which the cultivation of close relationswith power-brokers was part of a necessary balance betweenidealism and pragmatism.

Wars Within is more than an academic account of the rise, fall,and rise of one Indonesian newsmagazine. Based on thoroughresearch, it is engagingly readable, with characters – both well-known and those behind the scenes – emerging from thepages with the texture of well-crafted fiction. Steele eschewsthe conventional unfolding of arms-length history to tell thereader of her own interactions with, and attempts to under-stand, the community and events she unravels for us. Yet thetext never lapses into name-dropping. Her insights providean entrée into the Tempo community, and, through it, a broad-er understanding of the cultural politics of the New Order.

State terrorismIf one can read Wars Within for all the pleasure of a tale well-told, The Invisible Palace takes us a step further to a re-telling ofhistory as ‘faction’. Steele’s account of Tempo is one of upliftingspirit and determination in the face of a repressive state;Tesoro’s subject matter is the gruesome underbelly of state ter-rorism. He lays bare the circumstances surrounding the mur-der of Indonesian journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin inAugust 1996, and the cover-up of the state’s involvement.

Syafruddin, known commonly as Udin, was a journalist withthe local Jogjakarta daily paper Bernas. He had stirred the ireof local political figures including the regent (bupati) ColonelSri Roso Sudarmo with his forthright exposure of corruptionand malfeasance. After the more routine forms of verbal intim-idation failed to silence him, this unassuming small-townreporter was beaten to death one evening at the door of hismodest home. Government investigations ignored evidencepointing to the involvement of political figures and insteadframed a scapegoat in an attempt to deflect public criticismand close the case. Despite tireless efforts by journalist col-leagues and press organisations to focus evidence upon morecredible culprits and to press for their conviction, no one hasbeen found guilty of the murder, nor have any officials beenjailed for the miscarriage of justice which accompanied thestate cover-up.

Tesoro’s goal was to examine ‘how injustice functions: Whathappens when, in the wake of a crime, the authorities seek notto punish the perpetrator but to hide him and not to discoverthe truth but to bury it’ (p.25). Despite the separation of theIndonesian Police Service from the Armed Forces after the fallof Suharto, Tesoro’s account of the botched police investiga-tion, including the failure to protect evidence, may be of addedinterest given heightened curiosity about the conduct of recenthigh profile arrests in Indonesia.

A Philippines-born journalist and Yale-graduate, Tesoro wasbased in Indonesia for Asiaweek from 1997 to 2000, when heresigned to write The Invisible Palace. In it, he has attemptedto unravel hundreds of pages of court transcripts, legal mem-

oranda, witness testimony, police reports, and personal inter-views, to present these to the reader as creative non-fiction –an account of the events prior to and after the murder, morein the genre of novel than of history or reportage. He begins,‘This is a work of non-fiction. But, like all true stories, noteverything found within is fact.’ While this treatment mayseem a touch strained in places – such as when he recountsmystic encounters with Javanese dukun (seers) – the techniqueis vividly successful as a general strategy to bring the com-plexities of the case to life. The Invisible Palace opens up theNew Order’s media and system of ‘justice’ to informed scruti-ny, and the tale is a powerful one.

There is much common ground in these two books: the splitbetween the official journalists’ association PWI and theactivist Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI); the formsof intimidation used against Indonesian journalists, and theirstrategies for resisting; the craven behaviour of authoritiesbowing to the dictates of the regime. Though the analyticalapproach, style and focus of the books vary greatly, togetherthey flesh out, in the lives (and deaths) of the journalists theyfeature, the fate of the profession in an authoritarian state. Inmaking such history so readable, the authors – and their pub-lisher – are to be congratulated. <

David T. Hill is Professor of Southeast Asian Studies and Fellow of

the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University, Western Australia.

He was a Visiting Fellow at IIAS in November 2004, researching local

media in post-Suharto Indonesia.

[email protected]

Bringing Indonesian media history to life- Steele, Janet. 2005. Wars Within: The story of Tempo, an independent magazine in Soeharto’s Indonesia. Jakarta and Singapore:

Equinox Publishing and ISEAS. xxxiv + 328 pp, appendices, index, ISBN 979-3780-08-8

- Tesoro, José Manuel. 2004. The invisible palace: the true story of a journalist’s murder in Java. Jakarta: Equinox Publishing. 326 pp, maps, sources, ISBN 979-97964-7-4


Social Science Research on Southeast AsiaRecherche en sciences humaines sur l’Asie du Sud-Est

ARTICLES

Tending the Spirit’s Shrine: Kanekes and Pajajaran in West JavaRobert Wessing & Bart Barendregt

L’Enchaînement des appartenances: dossier coordonné par Guillaume Rozenberg

Des gardiens des confins aux bâtisseurs des plaines: le parcours d’une population tibéto-birmane du LaosVanina Bouté

Le nouveau partage du monde. Pauvreté et dépendance dans les marges du Yunnan (Chine)Stéphane Gros

Urang Banten Kidul (gens de Banten Sud): entre autorité coutumière et souveraineté nationale en IndonésieÉric Bourderie

L’expression du particularisme arakanais dans la Birmanie contemporaineAlexandra de Mersan

REVIEW ARTICLES

Women’s War. An Update of the Literature on Iban TextilesMichael Heppell

Around Balinese Music. Catherine Basset & Michael Tenzer

NOTE

Les missionnaires et la botanique: l’exemple du père Urbain Faurie en Extrême-OrientChantal Zheng & Zheng Shunde

SALES & SUBSCRIPTIONSEDISUD, La Calade, RN 7, 13090 Aix-en-Provence, France

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Moussons is a joint publication of IRSEA and LASEMA

NUMBER 8 NOW AVAILABLE

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:06 Pagina 25


> Review

Language and politics in Mao’s China- Ji, Fengyuan. 2004. Linguistic engineering: language and politics in Mao’s China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

ISBN 0-8248-2536-5

Manfred B . Se l lner

Imagine that George Orwell’s accountof an imaginary future society is actu-

ally a meticulous copy of 30 years of Chi-nese Communist Party control overthought and language climaxing withthe Cultural Revolution.1 Imagine thatOrwell’s ‘newspeak’ of Nineteen Eighty-Four owes its model not to Nazi Ger-many but to the mechanisms of lin-guistic engineering (‘the attempt tochange language in order to affect atti-tudes and beliefs’, p. 3) as propagated in‘Maoist newspeak’. Then you will real-ize that Orwell’s utopia is not a novel-ist’s fantasy, but, for the most part, alucid account of the possibilities of mindand language control of a society.

It is well known and documented thatthe Chinese Communists were firmlycommitted to language reform aftertheir 1949 takeover. They initially con-centrated on simplifying the traditionalwriting system and on a massive litera-cy program (about 80% of the popula-tion was largely illiterate at the time ofthe proclamation of the People’s Repub-lic). Their less successful endeavourswere the unification and disseminationof putonghua, or ‘common language’(actually, the speech of Beijing), and thepopularization of the phonetic tran-scription-system, known as pinyin, in

order to phoneticise the script and thusabolish the traditional writing system.Most forcefully propagated andenforced, however, was the successfulprogram of linguistic engineering dur-ing the Great Proletarian Cultural Rev-olution (1966-1976). It was used as aninstrument of ideological persuasion tocreate new, revolutionary humanbeings.

‘Love’Ji begins by reviewing the possibility ofguided interpretation of messages andthe relationship between language andthought, as initiated and covered by the‘Whorfian-Hypothesis’ and RelevanceTheory. She subsequently reviews indetail linguistic engineering before theGreat Cultural Revolution: how infor-mation was controlled and disseminat-ed by several government agenciesfrom the beginning of the communisttakeover in 1949; how radio, newspa-pers, film, school lessons and discus-sions with communist cadres in schoolsand workplaces propagated politicalinformation in a linguistic form thateven illiterates could process, grasp andmemorize. The author gives numerousexamples of strategies that included thepropagation of a personality cult (‘quo-tations from Chairman Mao Zedong’),numerical formulae of various kinds(‘the Three ‘isms’’: collectivism, patri-

otism, socialism), keyword slogans (the‘Great Leap Forward’), and even Chi-nese character slogans (such as the‘eight character constitution’ to popu-larize agricultural policy). Its successwas so great that even illiterate peasantsbegan to use ‘ideological vocabulary’ indaily life. The vocabulary of everydaylife was thus semantically extended toconform to Party policy and to show itsuser’s commitment to the Party andespecially to chairman Mao. Thus ‘rev-olutionary love’ became the basis of therelationship between husband and wife,while ‘hot love’, pertaining solely to theParty and Chairman Mao, showed one’s‘Mao worship’. At the same time, thedistinction between ‘blood relatives’and ‘party associates’ was semanticallyand politically eliminated, so that allChinese became ‘quin ren’ (relatives) or‘xiongdi’ (brothers and sisters) of oneanother.

The red and the blackLinguistic engineering was driven to itsextreme during the Great Cultural Rev-olution. Ji gives convincing examples toshow that Mao’s words became the stockphrases of everyday life and communi-cation in China. People fought ‘quota-tion wars’ (da yulu zhang) to win argu-ments, while streets, shops, theatres,and even people and children (the name‘Wenge’, for example, meaning ‘Cul-

tural Revolution’) were (re)named toconform to Mao’s revolutionary spirit.Simultaneously, one was afraid to com-mit a ‘one-character-mistake’ (yi zi zhicha – the mispronunciation of one Chi-nese character) because it could destroyan individual and his family: mispro-nouncing the name of a leader wastaken as a measure of counter-revolu-tionary conviction. In brief, the era’sChinese discourse was in part speakingand writing using quotations from the‘Mao Bible / The Little Red Book’ andwas characterized as ‘repetitive, nar-rowly political, and cliché ridden’ (p.155), with the color ‘red’ elevated to cultstatus. Thus there were (good) ‘redwords’ (hongzi), a (good) ‘red storm’(hongse fenbao) and (good) ‘red terror’(hongse kongbu), all of which contrastedwith ‘black’ (hei), symbolizing all evil inMao’s empire.

It is not surprising that the so-called‘Public Criticism Meetings’, in whichsuspected opponents of the communistregime were verbally and physicallydehumanized, were also macro-struc-tured to consist of rituals and formulae.Ji argues that these were the agents ofpersuasion and control of the peoplethat permeated all public and privatelife: even traditional greeting habitswere changed, and characters in the newmodel revolutionary operas spoke instandardized scripts that revealed theirclass and exposed their ideologicalstandpoint, thereby following Mao’s dic-tum that art should be secondary to pol-itics. The result was a culture lacking lit-erary imagination. Hardly any novelswere published between 1966-1972,while Mao’s works were published enmasse.

When life is primarily a class struggleagainst the ‘black evil’, school instruc-tion is of primary importance to itsrulers. The study of English survived theCultural Revolution, probably owing toMao’s 1968 remark that ‘It’s good toknow English’. Yet, as Ji illustrates nice-ly, the method of instruction was com-pletely void of any foreign cultural ref-

erences. It lacked any sense of struc-tured curriculum, because instructionwas based on themes of Mao worshipand reciting stock phrases of propagan-da that ignored structured grammaticalforeign language instruction.

Because of the Revolution’s apparentsuccess, it comes as a surprise that Ji cansummarize 30 years of indoctrinationby concluding: ‘The Maoist dream of arevolutionary people retooled by for-mulae, propaganda, and directives to fol-low the right path remained a fantasy’(p. 246). But as we all know, a great dealhas changed with the rise of DengXiaoping in 1978, when the Party movedaway from most of its totalitarian goalsand policies and the people followed suitat breakneck speed.

Ji’s book makes fascinating reading.She brings much new information tothe attention of people interested in‘Chinese Affairs’, to socio-linguistsinterested in language planning andpolicy, and to historians and politicalscientists who want to know moreabout the Great Cultural Revolution andits foundations. The linguistic part ofthe book is written non-technically, in aclear style, and thus makes pleasantreading even for a wider audience. Sheincludes so much background infor-mation that history and politics stiflesthe emphasis on linguistics, resultingin a pace that sometimes drags. Never-theless, it should be on the bookshelf ofevery non-totalitarian-oriented readeras a constant warning against the pos-sible impact of ‘the people’s democrat-ic dictatorship’ that is now trying to pro-tect its people by formulating newdirectives of censorship.2 <

Notes

1. For excellent as well as first-hand accounts

of the reform attempts between 1949 and

the beginning of the Cultural Revolution,

see also Martin, Helmut. 1982. Chinesische

Sprachplanung. Bochum: Studienverlag

Brockmeyer; and Geduhn, Hans-Jörg. 1985.

Sprachplanung in der Volksrepublik China

1976-1980. Bochum: Studienverlag Brock-

meyer. Geduhn concentrates on the time

between 1976-1980, when the Chinese

authorities concentrated on reactivating

their original language planning efforts. In

this respect, these German accounts com-

plement Ji’s monograph.

2. See Yuwen, Zongguo. 1957. (Chinese Lan-

guage) ‘Editorial’ (August 1957, p.2).

Reprinted in Seyboldt, Peter Y. and Chiang,

Gregory Kuei-Ke, eds. 1979. Language

Reform in China: Documents and Commen-

tary. White Plains, N.Y: Sharpe; Folkstone,

Kent: William Dawson & Sons Ltd. See this

volume also for representative accounts of

Chinese Communist rhetorics.

Manfred B. Sellner

Department of Linguistics

University of Salzburg

[email protected]


Mao zhuxi yulu: lishide jingyan (Quotation

from Chairman Mao: the historical experience)

Beijing: Beijing Chubanshe, 1968.

Printno. 68105-6.

IISG, the S.R. Landsberger collection

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:07 Pagina 26


> Review

Globalization and local development in India- Landy, Frederic and Basudeb Chaudhuri, eds. 2004. Globalization and local development in India: examining the spatial

dimension. New Delhi: Manohar & Centre de Sciences Humaines. 248 pp. ISBN 81-7304-540-2.

Hans Schenk

The nation-states of the world open up from above and frombelow, write editors Landy and Chaudhuri in their intro-

duction. The interaction of ‘globalization’ and ‘localization’ –i.e. ‘the progressive extension to the entire planet of exchangesof all kinds’ (p.7) and increasing political power at the locallevel – challenge the national role in economic development.The editors question how these interacting forces affectdevelopment processes at local, regional, national and globallevels.

The volume contains nine case studies, each focusing on prob-lems and developments in a specific economic sector. Begin-ning with the overall opening of India’s economy in the 1990s,the reader moves to India’s health systems (western andindigenous), electricity supply, the leather industry in TamilNadu, diesel engines in Maharashtra, a hydro-electric plant inMadhya Pradesh, oil-seeds, dairy in Gujarat and Haryana, andfinally, to food security and fertilizers. Each case study makesfor interesting reading. Lachaier’s contribution on the suc-cessful adaptation of erstwhile diesel pump builders to thesophisticated demands of the multi-national car industry andKennedy’s study of the strategies of leather industrials to copewith national anti-pollution measures convincingly demon-strate the interplay between forces operating at several levelsinfluencing the fortunes of local actors. Heuze’s intriguingcase study deals with a large development project in the mid-dle of nowhere, ongoing for over four decades, which I willdiscuss here in detail.

Heuze presents the complexity of a large-scale developmentproject in which all possible levels from local to global are pres-ent: a public sector hydro-plant on the borders of Uttar Pradeshand Madhya Pradesh. The author discusses the project’simpact from 1960 onwards. 80,000 local peasants were thefirst victims of the project; they were displaced and providedwith scant agricultural land and few project-related jobs. Pri-vate companies moved into the area as it developed into a newindustrial region. New forms of administration – Special AreaDevelopment Authorities – replaced existing village and dis-trict councils. Economic, social and administrative changesled to the emergence of new actors on all levels, often withconflicting interests. Tension and in-fighting among the newelites included public sector interests competing with privatesector interests, politicians with administrators and issues ofcompetency between local, state and national authorities, andbetween authorities in the two states.

The already complex political scene became considerably moreconfused when foreign (global) actors came to the fore. TheWorld Bank and foreign and Indian NGOs entered the proj-

ect area in the 1980s. The WB (pressured by American NGOs)agreed to a loan for further investment under the conditionthat more attention be paid to the project’s environmental andsocio-economic impacts. Other foreign NGOs also started totake interest. Heuze argues, however, that the entry of the newglobal actors ‘introduced an additional dimension withoutchanging old power equations’ (p.155). These remained invari-ably in favour of local, regional and national elites, while noone seemed to care much about the plight of former peasantsand un-skilled workers. Heuze cynically concludes: ‘No one,not even the ecologists who were fascinated by the talk of the“good wild tribal” who had to be protected, found fault withthe fact that the peasants of the villages surrounding the fivegiant power stations themselves had no electricity’ (p.160).

The authors in this book show relevant dimensions of ‘eco-nomic development in practice’. The cases also show that glob-al or local – spatial – levels contain many actors with conflict-ing interests. The levels are heterogeneous, divided by social,economic and political position, as the well-presented casestudies clearly show. The book concludes with a plea to focuson the micro-level when looking at development to avoid gen-eralizing visions.

Old wine in new bottles?The book, however, is puzzling for several reasons. Many ofthe issues discussed in the case studies sound familiar whenlooking at earlier Indian history and need not be specifical-ly attributed to globalization. Some cases, such as the hydro-plant, deal with foreign involvement much earlier than the1990s. Though India’s economy was more protected in thepre-globalization past than it is now, there are many exam-ples of past foreign economic involvement (e.g. steel plantswith Russian, German, US and British participation in the1960s, Maruti, Green Revolution rice varieties, World Bankloans for urban improvement, cement and Operation Flood),apart from more ideological foreign involvement (e.g. fam-ily planning in the 1960s and early 1970s). Even the phe-nomenon of localization, here dated from the 1992-3 con-stitutional amendments (p.16), began much earlier. Ruralself-governance in a hierarchy of village and regional coun-cils (panchayats) was attempted in the 1960s, and failed fora variety of reasons. What is then the surplus value of theglobalization-locality framework? Do we need the interact-ing concepts of globalization and localization to understandthe issues, problems and solutions so clearly analysed in thecase studies? Landy and Chaudhury turn this argumentaround by casually remarking that globalization is mucholder than the concept, although new means of communi-cation have led to growing complexity (p.13). Is their conceptof globalization then window-dressing, a display of old winein new bottles?

Globalization is defined in a neutral way: the progressiveextension to the entire planet of exchanges of all kinds is sup-posed to operate in all directions, in this case to and fromIndia. In the case studies, however, most of the exchangescome to India (barring a few exceptions, such as the export ofIndia’s traditional medical system, and of footwear). Many ofthe global actors remain by and large the familiar ones fromthe pre-globalization era such as the World Bank, foreignNGOs and multinationals. Foreign involvement in India’s eco-nomic development is stronger than it was a few decades ago.Private capital investments are now easier to make (e.g. theJapanese automobile industry) and out-sourcing by Westerncompanies has become fashionable (the IT sector), but thepattern has not really changed: the exchanges come mainly toIndia, for a simple reason – to make profits. Few profitableexchanges from India to the world exist. Globalization canhardly be called a neutral process.

One wonders, therefore, whether development guided by glob-alization is substantially different from the worldwide devel-opment paradigm of the 1950s and 1960s: western-styledmodernization. One may wonder as well whether the impactof globalization should not be described in terms of the 1970s– those of unequal economic and political power, such as cen-tre versus periphery or dependencia relations. The editors onlycasually mention the (former) exploitative and unequal char-acter of world economic relations (p.11), and add that exclu-sion is now replacing exploitation. Discussion on the inequal-ities of both the progressive extension of exchanges and itsexploitative/exclusive impacts would have enriched the book.Are not exploitation and exclusion basic elements of interna-tional economic relations and of economic development with-in India?

The book gives insights into the often contradictory mecha-nisms that determine India’s development. The framework,into which the case studies are squeezed, would have bene-fited from a historical perspective that could perhaps even haveled to a re-valuation of current hypes. <

Hans Schenk

AMIDSt Research Institute

University of Amsterdam

[email protected]

A semi-annual journal dedicated to thestudy and preservation of Asian traditions

This year’s issues include articles on:

*Silkworms and Consorts in Nara Japan*Bridal Laments in Rural Hong Kong*Urban Adaption of Paharia in Rajshahi*Hmong-American Oral Culture Traditions*Cross-dressing, Gender, and Sex

Subscription rates for two issues/year: Institutions US $40.00, Individuals US $22.00Contact address: Editor, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan University

18 Yamazato-cho, Showa-ku, 466–8673 Nagoya, Japane-mail: [email protected]

ASIAN FOLKLORE

STUDIES

[ a d v e r t i s e m e n t ] [ a d v e r t i s e m e n t ]

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:07 Pagina 27


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005

Stat

e, m

arke

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elig

ions

in C

hine

seso

ciet

ies

Leid

en: B

rill.

pp.

258

, ISB

N 9

0-0

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597-

4

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Ben

nett

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da R

ae. 2

005

Wom

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slam

and

mod

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ualit

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in c

onte

mpo

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Indo

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: Rou

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p. 1

83, t

able

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ISB

N 0

-415

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29-9

de P

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200

5

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op

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ede:

Inek

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nker

. pp.

254

, ill.

, Dut

ch,

ISB

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0-9

019

746-

x

Hak

s, L

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Indo

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arly

pos

tcar

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ngap

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hipe

lago

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ss. p

p. 2

88,

colo

ur il

l., IS

BN

981

-415

5-25

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Nils

son

Hoa

dley

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a-G

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a. 2

005

Indo

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vs

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the

aft

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158

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ISB

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114-

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pe, S

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me

cour

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stu

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inst

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: Cor

nell

Uni

vers

ity.

pp.

494

,

ISB

N 0

-877

277-

38-9

Res

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d. 2

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The

polit

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and

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omic

s of

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a’s

natu

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esou

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Sing

apor

e: IS

EAS.

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292

, tab

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ISB

n 98

1-23

0-3

12-x

Stee

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anet

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War

s w

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empo

, an

inde

pend

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mag

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e in

Soe

hato

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done

sia

Sing

apor

e: IS

EAS.

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328

,

ISB

N 9

81-2

30-3

27-8

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nFi

sher

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005

Uns

peak

able

act

s: t

he a

vant

gard

eth

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uji a

ndpo

stw

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pan

Hon

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u: U

nive

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y of

Haw

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Pre

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SBN

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248-

2796

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Has

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Rac

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the

enem

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talin

, Tru

man

,an

d th

e su

rren

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of Ja

pan

Cam

brid

ge: T

he B

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of H

arva

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Uni

vers

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Pre

ss. p

p. 3

82, i

ll.,

ISB

N 0

-674

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93-9

Kus

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The

thou

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anes

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peri

alpr

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anda

Hon

olul

u: U

nive

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y of

Haw

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Pre

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pp. 2

42, i

ll., I

SBN

0-8

248-

2920

-4

Nis

hika

wa,

Yuk

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200

5

Japa

n’s

chan

ging

rol

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hu

man

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cris

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: Rou

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p. 2

27, t

able

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ISB

N 0

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200

5

Han

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pott

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patr

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tea

pra

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rs in

Japa

nH

onol

ulu:

Uni

vers

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of H

awai

’i P

ress

.

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36, i

ll., I

SBN

0-8

248-

2970

-0

Swan

son,

Pau

l L. a

nd C

lark

Chi

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6

Nan

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guid

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Japa

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rel

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ulu:

Uni

vers

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of H

awai

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ress

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66, I

SBN

0-8

248-

300

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Will

mon

t, H

.P. 2

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The

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le o

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the

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Blo

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iana

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Pre

ss.

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98, i

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SBN

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53-3

4528

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Kore

aH

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5

Com

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ado

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Bey

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Cam

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arva

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nive

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Cen

ter.

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81, i

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Song

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The

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chéo

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stit

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ranc

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de P

ondi

cher

y.

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25, F

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Le v

ieux

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s pl

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Pon

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Inst

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Pon

dich

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pp. 1

60, i

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renc

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2 8

5539

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Gri

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Inde

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stit

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ranc

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de P

ondi

cher

y.

pp. 4

32, F

renc

h IS

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5539

644

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Kin

g, A

nna

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nd Jo

hn B

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The

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mat

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love

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in In

dic

relig

ions

New

Del

hi: O

rien

t Lon

gman

Pri

vate

Lim

ited

.

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23, I

SBN

81-

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Ladr

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Bha

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pp. 1

98, I

SBN

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1-17

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Nug

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lber

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Bel

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N 9

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Ray

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.

Cha

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X P

art

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His

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hilo

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Indi

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ICT’

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nd In

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my,

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k,re

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tion

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Can

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es, I

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15-3

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t)

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Gio

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ng. 2

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sing

in S

outh

east

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an

capi

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ngap

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ore:

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S. p

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73,

ISB

N 9

81 2

30 3

40 5

Stra

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Lac

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a: P

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Boo

ks. p

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N 1

740

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Terw

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ttha

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cent

tim

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ok: R

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hist

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ngap

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ISEA

S. p

p. 2

88,

ISB

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81-2

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17-0

Inte

rest

ed i

n r

evie

win

g o

ne

of

ou

r B

oo

ks

Rec

eive

d?

Req

ues

t a

cop

y fr

om t

he

edit

ors

at: i

iasn

ews@

let.

leid

enun

iv.n

l

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:08 Pagina 28


> IIAS fellows

IIAS f

ellow

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IAS fe

llows

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of. H

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ed fe

llow

, spo

nsor

ed b

y G

onda

Foun

dati

onA

crit

ical

edi

tion

of th

e fir

st c

hapt

er o

f the

P Ata

njal

ayog

aPAs

trav

ivar

ana

1 N

ovem

ber

200

5 - 3

1 M

arch

20

06

Dr

Pete

r K

horo

che

(UK

)A

ffili

ated

fello

w, s

pons

ored

by

Gon

daFo

unda

tion

HAl

a: S

atta

saG;

An

anno

tate

d tr

ansl

atio

n in

toEn

glis

h15

Aug

ust -

30

Sep

tem

ber

200

6

Dr

Vik

tori

a Ly

senk

o(R

ussi

a)A

ffili

ated

fello

w, s

pons

ored

by

Gon

daFo

unda

tion

Indi

an th

inke

rs o

n di

rect

and

indi

rect

per

cept

ion

1 Se

ptem

ber

- 30

Nov

embe

r 20

06

and

10Ja

nuar

y - 1

0 M

arch

20

07

Dr

Rul

y M

aria

nti(

Indo

nesi

a)A

ffili

ated

fello

wEl

derly

wom

en in

Pak

ista

n an

d In

done

sia

1 Ju

ne 2

00

4 - 3

1 D

ecem

ber

200

5

Dr

Shom

a M

unsh

i (In

dia)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

and

IIA

S re

pres

enta

tive

inIn

dia

The

new

wor

ld o

f Ind

ian

sate

llite

tele

visi

on:

Tran

snat

iona

l net

wor

ks a

nd s

ocie

ty1

Nov

embe

r 20

04

- 1 N

ovem

ber

200

6

Dr

Kim

Plo

fker

(USA

)A

ffili

ated

fello

w, s

pons

ored

by

NW

OM

athe

mat

ics

in In

dia,

500

BC

E - 1

800

CE,

with

spec

ial e

mph

asis

on

its re

latio

nshi

p w

ith Is

lam

icm

athe

mat

ics

(750

- 18

00 C

E)9

Sept

embe

r 20

04

- 9 S

epte

mbe

r 20

06

Dr

Sara

ju R

ath

(Ind

ia)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

, spo

nsor

ed b

y G

onda

Foun

dati

onC

atal

ogue

col

lect

ion

Sans

krit

text

s5

Janu

ary

200

4 - 5

Dec

embe

r 20

08

Dr

Kar

una

Shar

ma

(Ind

ia)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

From

refe

renc

e to

dev

alua

tion:

Wom

en a

ndla

bour

in M

edie

val I

ndia

c. 1

200

- c. 1

800

2 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

- 2 Ja

nuar

y 20

07

Dr

Saty

a Sh

rest

ha-S

chip

per

(Nep

al)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

Mig

rati

ng fr

om t

he h

ills

in t

he H

imal

ayas

: Th

e im

pact

s on

the

soc

ial o

rgan

izat

ion

of

the

Jum

li (W

este

rn N

epal

)1

Mar

ch 2

00

4 - 3

1 D

ecem

ber

200

5

Ale

xand

re S

otov

, MA

(Rus

sia)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

, spo

nsor

ed b

y G

onda

Foun

dati

onId

eolo

gy o

f tra

ditio

n: A

stu

dy in

Rgv

edic

sem

antic

s2

Janu

ary

- 2 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Prof

. Ale

xand

er S

toly

arov

(Rus

sia)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

, spo

nsor

ed b

y G

onda

Foun

dati

onD

igita

l lis

t of e

arly

med

iaev

al N

orth

Indi

anco

pper

pla

te g

rant

s6

Mar

ch -

6 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Sout

heas

t Asia

Supa

porn

Ari

yasa

jsis

kul,

MA

(Tha

iland

)A

ffili

ated

fello

w, s

pons

ored

by

CN

WS

Late

Ayu

ttha

ya’s

fore

ign

trad

e po

licy:

A st

udy

in it

sre

gion

al a

nd in

tern

atio

nal c

onte

xt w

ith a

n em

pha-

sis o

n th

e re

ign

of k

ing

Bor

omak

ot (

1733

-175

8)1

Sept

embe

r 20

03

- 1 S

epte

mbe

r 20

07

Dr

Gre

gg B

anko

ff (

UK

)A

ffili

ated

fello

wC

ultu

res

of c

opin

g: c

omm

unit

y an

d na

tura

lha

zard

in t

he P

hilip

pine

s1

Sept

embe

r 20

04

- 31

Aug

ust 2

00

7

Dr

Jean

Ber

lie(F

ranc

e)A

ffili

ated

fello

wM

uslim

s of

Mya

nmar

1 D

ecem

ber

200

5 - 3

1 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Dr

CH

IN Y

ee W

hah

(Mal

aysi

a)A

ffili

ated

fello

wC

hine

se e

ntre

pren

eurs

hip

in M

alay

sia

1 A

pril

- 30

June

20

07

Dr

Dw

i Nov

erin

i Dje

nar

(Ind

ones

ia)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

Prep

ositi

on in

spo

ken

and

writ

ten

Indo

nesi

an1

Sept

embe

r - 1

Dec

embe

r 20

06

Dr

Wil

Dijk

(the

Net

herl

ands

)A

ffili

ated

fello

wTh

e V

OC

’s t

rade

in A

sian

sla

ves

1 O

ctob

er 2

00

4 - 3

1 D

ecem

ber

200

5

Prof

. Gre

gory

For

th(U

K)

Seni

or fe

llow

Imag

es o

f ‘w

ildm

an’ i

n So

uthe

ast A

sia

1 Se

ptem

ber

200

5 - 1

May

20

06

Dr

Ann

e Fo

ster

(USA

)A

ffili

ated

fello

wC

olon

ial o

pium

pol

icie

s in

Sou

thea

st A

sia,

185

0-19

40: C

halle

nges

to im

peria

l pow

er a

nd m

oral

auth

ority

1 Ja

nuar

y - 3

0 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Dr

Han

s H

äger

dal (

Swed

en)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

, spo

nsor

ed b

y th

e Sw

edis

hVe

tens

kaps

råde

tEa

rly m

oder

n Ti

mor

; the

mee

ting

betw

een

indi

geno

us g

roup

s an

d co

loni

al in

tere

sts

20 Ju

ly 2

00

5 - 2

0 Ju

ly 2

00

6

Prof

. Fra

ns H

üske

n(t

he N

ethe

rlan

ds)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

The

soci

al h

isto

ry o

f com

mun

ism

in c

entr

al Ja

va:

1920

-196

514

Nov

embe

r 20

05

- 21

Janu

ary

200

6

Jasp

er v

an d

e K

erkh

of, M

A(t

he N

ethe

rlan

ds)

Res

earc

h fe

llow

with

in th

e II

AS/

NIO

Dpr

ogra

mm

e ‘In

done

sian

isas

i and

nat

iona

lism

.Th

e em

anci

patio

n an

d re

orie

ntat

ion

of th

e ec

on-

omy

and

the

wor

ld o

f ind

ustr

y an

d co

mm

erce

’15

Oct

ober

20

02

- 31

Dec

embe

r 20

05

Dr

Serg

ey K

ulla

nda

(Rus

sia)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

The

evol

utio

n of

Aus

tron

esia

n so

cial

ter

min

olog

yan

d ea

rly

stat

e fo

rmat

ion

in N

usan

tara

9 Ja

nuar

y - 9

Apr

il 20

06

Dr

Thom

as L

indb

lad

(the

Net

herl

ands

)Pr

ogra

mm

e co

ordi

nato

r with

in th

e II

AS/

NIO

Dpr

ogra

mm

e ‘In

done

sian

isas

i and

nat

iona

lism

.Th

e em

anci

patio

n an

d re

orie

ntat

ion

of th

e ec

on-

omy

and

the

wor

ld o

f ind

ustr

y an

d co

mm

erce

’1

Oct

ober

20

02

- 1 O

ctob

er 2

00

6

Dr

Julia

Mar

tine

z(A

ustr

alia

)A

ffili

ated

fello

wLa

bour

mig

ratio

n fr

om th

e N

ethe

rland

s Ea

stIn

dies

to n

orth

ern

Aus

tral

ia6

- 18

June

20

05

and

15 M

ay -

17 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Dr

Port

ia R

eyes

(Phi

lippi

nes)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

The

Filip

iniz

atio

n of

his

tory

: An

expl

orat

ion

into

the

cont

empo

rary

indi

geni

zatio

n of

Sou

thea

stA

sian

his

torio

grap

hy10

Aug

ust 2

00

4 - 3

1 D

ecem

ber

200

5

Muh

amm

ad H

aji S

alle

h(M

alay

sia)

Art

ist i

n re

side

nce

Pant

un m

anus

crip

ts1

Oct

ober

- 31

Dec

embe

r 20

05

Dr

Elis

abet

h Sc

hröd

er-B

utte

rfill

(UK

)A

ffili

ated

fello

wO

ld-a

ge v

ulne

rabi

lity

and

soci

al n

etw

orks

inSo

uthe

ast

Asi

a1

May

20

04

- 31

Dec

embe

r 20

05

Prof

. Hei

n St

einh

auer

(the

Net

herl

ands

) II

AS

Prof

esso

rSp

ecia

l Cha

ir ‘E

thno

lingu

isti

cs o

f Eas

t Ind

one-

sia’

at t

he R

adbo

ud U

nive

rsit

y N

ijmeg

en1

Sept

embe

r 19

98 -

1 Se

ptem

ber

200

6

Prof

. Bar

end

Jan

Terw

iel (

the

Net

herl

ands

)A

ffili

ated

fello

wTh

e flo

odpl

ains

of M

ainl

and

Sout

heas

t Asi

a an

den

viro

nmen

tal h

isto

ry1

Janu

ary

200

5 - 1

Janu

ary

200

7

Dr

Jacq

uelin

e Ve

l (th

e N

ethe

rlan

ds)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

Um

a po

litic

s: a

dat i

n ac

tion

on S

umba

(I

ndon

esia

)1

Sept

embe

r 20

04

- 28

Febr

uary

20

06

Prof

. Md.

Sal

leh

Yaap

ar(M

alay

sia)

IIA

S Pr

ofes

sor,

Euro

pean

Cha

ir fo

r M

alay

Stu

d-ie

s, s

pons

ored

by

Leid

en U

nive

rsit

y an

d th

eM

inis

try

of E

duca

tion

, Mal

aysi

aPa

ntun

and

Pan

toum

: A s

tudy

in M

alay

-Eu

rope

an li

tera

ry re

latio

ns5

Febr

uary

20

03

- 5 F

ebru

ary

200

5M

alay

-Dut

ch L

itera

ry R

elat

ions

: Han

g Tu

ah in

the

Net

herla

nds

5 Fe

brua

ry 2

00

5 - 5

Feb

ruar

y 20

06

East A

siaD

r K

ATO

Mas

ae(J

apan

)R

esea

rch

fello

w w

ithi

n th

e A

SSR

/IIA

S/N

WO

prog

ram

me

‘Soc

io-G

enet

ic M

argi

naliz

atio

n in

Asi

a’ (

SMA

P)A

com

para

tive

stud

y on

soc

io-g

enet

ic m

argi

nalis

a-tio

n: Ja

pan

in ‘A

sia’

in re

latio

n to

the

‘Wes

t’ a

s a

refe

renc

e gr

oup

1 A

pril

200

5 - 1

Apr

il 20

08

Jan-

Eeri

k Le

ppän

en M

A(F

inla

nd)

Res

earc

h fe

llow

wit

hin

the

ASS

R/I

IAS/

NW

Opr

ogra

mm

e ‘S

ocio

-Gen

etic

Mar

gina

lizat

ion

inA

sia’

(SM

AP)

Soci

o-ge

netic

mar

gina

lisat

ion

and

vuln

erab

le e

th-

nic

grou

ps in

Sou

thw

est C

hina

1 Fe

brua

ry 2

00

5 - 1

Feb

ruar

y 20

09

Rho

da S

chul

ing,

MA

(the

Net

herl

ands

)R

esea

rch

fello

w w

ithi

n th

e jo

int N

WO

/Lei

den

Uni

vers

ity/

IIA

S re

sear

ch p

rogr

amm

e ‘T

he S

ynta

x of

the

Lan-

guag

es o

f Sou

ther

n C

hina

’Z

huan

g sy

ntax

15 S

epte

mbe

r 20

05

- 15

Sept

embe

r 20

06

WA

NG

Chu

ngua

ng(C

hina

)A

ffili

ated

fello

w, s

pons

ored

by

CA

SSSo

cial

net

wor

ks a

nd th

e in

tegr

atio

n of

Chi

nese

mig

ratio

n in

to D

utch

soc

iety

.3

Janu

ary

200

6 - J

une

200

6

WO

NG

Leo

, MA

(Chi

na)

Res

earc

h fe

llow

wit

hin

the

join

t NW

O/L

eide

nU

nive

rsit

y/II

AS

rese

arch

pro

gram

me

‘The

Syn

-ta

x of

the

Lang

uage

s of

Sou

ther

n C

hina

’C

anto

nese

syn

tax

13 S

epte

mbe

r 20

04

- 13

Sept

embe

r 20

06

Dr

WU

Cun

cun

(Chi

na)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

‘A s

urve

y of

hom

oero

tic d

ocum

ents

and

refe

renc

esin

the

Van

Gul

ik c

olle

ctio

n’, a

con

trib

utio

n to

the

proj

ect H

omoe

rotic

ism

in Im

peria

l Chi

na: k

eydo

cum

ents

1 A

pril

200

6 - 3

1 M

ay 2

00

6

IIA

S pa

rtne

rs a

nd fe

llow

spo

nsor

s:A

SSR

:A

mst

erda

m S

choo

l for

Soc

ial S

cien

ce R

esea

rch,

the

Net

herl

ands

BD

K:

Buk

kyo

Den

do K

yoka

i, So

ciet

y fo

r th

e Pr

omo-

tion

of B

uddh

ism

, Jap

an

BIC

ER:

Bur

eau

of In

tern

atio

nal C

ultu

ral a

nd E

duca

tion

-

al R

elat

ions

, Min

istr

y of

Edu

cati

on, T

aiw

an

CA

SS:

Chi

nese

Aca

dem

y of

Soc

ial S

cien

ces

CN

WS:

Scho

ol o

f Asi

an, A

fric

an, a

nd A

mer

indi

an

Stud

ies,

the

Net

herl

ands

IDPA

D:

Indo

-Dut

ch P

rogr

amm

e on

Alte

rnat

ives

in

Dev

elop

men

t

KN

AW:

Roy

al N

ethe

rlan

ds A

cade

my

of A

rts

and

Sci-

ence

s

KR

F:K

orea

Res

earc

h Fo

unda

tion

, Kor

ea

NIO

D:

Net

herl

ands

Inst

itut

e fo

r W

ar D

ocum

enta

tion

NSC

:N

atio

nal S

cien

ce C

ounc

il, T

aiw

an

NW

O:

Net

herl

ands

Org

aniz

atio

n fo

r Sc

ient

ific

Res

earc

h

SSA

APS

:Sw

edis

h Sc

hool

of A

dvan

ced

Asi

a-Pa

cific

Stud

ies

SASS

:Sh

angh

ai A

cade

my

of S

ocia

l Sci

ence

s

WO

TRO

:Net

herl

ands

Fou

ndat

ion

for

the

Adv

ance

men

t

of T

ropi

cal R

esea

rch

From

15

Dec

embe

r 20

05

IIA

S ho

sts

seve

ral c

ateg

orie

s of

pos

t doc

tora

lre

sear

cher

s (f

ello

ws)

in A

sian

Stu

dies

. Spo

n-so

rshi

p of

thes

e fe

llow

s co

ntri

bute

s to

the

inst

itut

e’s

aim

of e

nhan

cing

exp

erti

se a

nden

cour

agin

g th

e ex

plor

atio

n of

und

erde

vel-

oped

fiel

ds o

f stu

dy. F

ello

ws

are

invi

ted

to p

res-

ent l

ectu

res,

par

tici

pate

in s

emin

ars,

and

coo

p-er

ate

in r

esea

rch

prog

ram

mes

. Fel

low

ship

appl

icat

ions

can

be

subm

itte

d at

any

tim

e (n

oap

plic

atio

n de

adlin

e).

Mor

e in

form

atio

n an

d II

AS

fello

wsh

ip

appl

icat

ion

form

s ar

e av

aila

ble

at

ww

w.ii

as.n

l/iia

s/fe

llow

ship

s.ht

mlo

r vi

a iia

sfel

low

ship

s@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

Cat

egor

ies

of fe

llow

s:1.

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

s2.

Res

earc

h fe

llow

s 3.

Seni

or fe

llow

s4.

IIA

S Pr

ofes

sors

5.

Art

ists

in R

esid

ence

Gene

ral

Dr

Kat

ia C

hirk

ova

(Rus

sia)

Prog

ram

me

coor

dina

tor

wit

hin

the

prog

ram

me

‘Tra

ns-H

imal

ayan

dat

abas

e de

velo

pmen

t:C

hina

and

the

Subc

onti

nent

’, sp

onso

red

byC

ASS

/IIA

S/K

NAW

1

Sept

embe

r 20

05

- 1 S

epte

mbe

r 20

06

Dr

Ric

k D

olph

ijn(t

he N

ethe

rlan

ds)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

The

TIM

E-ci

ty: T

he r

ise

of t

he m

egal

opol

is a

ndit

s co

nseq

uenc

es fo

r th

e ev

eryd

ay li

fe1

Aug

ust 2

00

5 - 3

1 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Mel

ody

Lu, M

A(T

aiw

an)

Aff

iliat

ed fe

llow

Inte

rmed

iate

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IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:08 Pagina 29


> ASEF/Alliance

ASEF/Alliance Workshop 9-11 March 2005University of Edinburgh

Wolf ram Manzenre i ter and John Horne

The pursuit of hosting major (or‘mega’) sports events has become

increasingly popular among govern-ments, corporations, and civic ‘boosters’worldwide. They argue that major eco-nomic, developmental, political, andsocio-cultural benefits will flow fromthem, easily justifying the costs andrisks involved. Numerous studies fuelthe popular belief that sport is a gener-ator of national as well as local econom-ic and social development. Economical-ly it has been viewed as an industryaround which cities can devise urbanregeneration strategies. Socially it hasbeen viewed as a tool for the develop-ment of urban communities and thereduction of social exclusion and crime.

Most of these studies, however, havebeen conducted in advance of the eventson behalf of interested parties withoutadequate measurement of final andintermediate outputs as well as inputs.Critical post-event studies point to theiruneven impacts. Research shows thatcosts have usually been underestimatedwhilebeneficial impacts have been over-estimated. Regarding social regenera-tion, there is an absence of systematicand robust empirical evidence on thesocial impacts of projects. In order toimprove research standards, partici-pants at the workshop ‘Hosting MajorInternational Sports Events: ComparingAsia and Europe’ addressed method-ological, theoretical and empirical issuesgained from mega-event research inspecific localities and temporalities.

The papers were arranged in sessionsaccording to the following topics: failedbids and successful bids; nation andeconomy building; assessing the costsand benefits for developed and newlyindustrializing economies; identity pol-itics and political identities; evaluatingthe economic and sporting impact ofsports events and promotional activities;and case studies of impacts and out-comes.

Harada Munehiko (Osaka University ofHealth and Sport Sciences) focused onthe City of Osaka’s unsuccessful bid tohost the 2008 summer Olympic Games.He argued that failure was due toOsaka’s minor global importance and toexternal factors favoring the other Asiancompetitor, Beijing. Critics pointing tothe huge costs and poor state of publicfinance in Japan were silenced by thepowerful image of the Tokyo Olympics.Harada argued that despite lack of suc-cess, Japan’s second largest conurbationarea was able to pursue urban revital-ization. Initial losses can spur cities ontolater gains, even though delayed bene-fits for communities (in terms of ‘psy-

chic income’) that arise from the bid-ding process are difficult to measure.John Horne (University of Edinburgh)addressed the North American experi-ence of hosting major sports events tooffer a contrasting view on the over-esti-mated benefits and under-estimatedcosts of hosting. He suggested thatadopting ‘boosterism’ or ‘skepticism’were difficult to avoid in assessingimpacts. Even where economic analysesdemonstrate that profits can be made onthe operational costs of sports megaevents, much of this can be accountedfor by the free labour provided by thevolunteer force enlisted to help run suchevents.

Nicholas Aplin (National Institute ofEducation, Singapore) described localsporting traditions and the influence offormer Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew asthe main reasons for Singapore’s resist-ance to the allure of sports mega events.In some ways this was similar to thePeople’s Republic of China’s previousresistance to competitive sport. Yet inSingapore, the alternative choice of asports-for-all policy failed to realize sus-tainable mass participation rates. YiJiandong (Beijing Sport University) pre-sented a roadmap to 2010 of sportsevents’ hosting in China. Data neverseen before outside China providedample evidence of China’s pursuit of theBeijing 2008 Olympics for both statusand economic investment purposes. Indiscussion it was questioned how longthe investment would last and how even-ly the benefits would be spread. Whilehosting certainly is popular with thepolitical elite, larger parts of the Chinesepeople might have different ideas.

Gerd Ahlert (Institute of EconomicStructures Research, Osnabruück) out-lined a robust econometric forecastingmodel that has been applied to the Foot-ball World Cup 2006 in Germany. Thecalculation based on the Sport SatelliteAccount predicts huge pre-event invest-ments and low direct economic impacts.But economic gains can be made indi-rectly through marketing and nationbranding. Sombat Karnjanakit (Chula-longkorn University) argued that Thai-

land has already reached a saturatedlevel of modernity, allowing the city tohost and perform credibly in multi-sportevents, as demonstrated by the AsianGames in 1966, 1970, 1978 and 1998.The problem for countries such as Thai-land – already established on the globaltourist route – is the unpredictability ofeconomic benefits.

Salomé Marivoet (University of Coim-bra) outlined research on the EuropeanFootball Championships held in Portu-gal in 2004 and introduced the massmedia into the workshop’s discussions.Her paper considered the impact of themediatized event on the internal imag-

ined community and the way differentgroups in Portugal sought to capitalizeon national identification externally. Inparticular she demonstrated how cor-porate nationalism was produced whennational symbols of the past were por-trayed as present-day ‘brands’ of nationson a globally mediated stage. Xin Xu(Olin Institute for Strategic Studies,Harvard University/ Ritsumeikan AsiaPacific University, Japan) also dealt withnational identity, in terms of its impacton political relations between the ‘twoChinas’ (the People’s Republic of Chinaand the Republic of China, Taiwan). Heforesaw the danger that both unifiersand secessionists might highjack theBeijing Olympics in 2008 for theirrespective political ambitions.

Kathy Van den Bergh (Vrije UniversiteitBrussels) asked how sports events andother sports promotion vehicles canincrease participation in sport. While itis often assumed that there is a correla-tion, it is not based on sound empiricalevidence. Van den Bergh reported onattempts to devise and test an instru-ment to evaluate sports promotion as ameans of increasing participation. Sheconcluded that outcomes exist butexpectations are usually too ambitious.Sport economist Chris Gratton(Sheffield Hallam University) arguedthat only through specific studies ofmajor events in particular locations is itpossible to answer questions about theeconomic impact and benefits or non-

benefits of major sports events.Research into ten events in five cities inBritain suggest that a European modelwhere events are staged in existingsports facilities is more cost effectivethan the North American model ofbuilding facilities in the hope that eventsor franchises will be attracted to them.

Wolfram Manzenreiter (University ofVienna) discussed the winners and los-ers among cities in Japan that hostedhalf the 2002 FIFA Football World Cup.While the regional impact was overesti-mated in most economic dimensionsand in each of the ten host regions, thesocial benefits received overtly positive

appraisal. With the increase of size ofthe conurbation where the hostingoccurred and its rise of importance onthe national map, satisfaction with theimpact of the multi-site event decreased.Most participants, Manzenreiter noted,were in favour of more transparency inthe bidding process and more researchto explore the possibilities of expandingsocial benefits deriving from the mega-event experience. Mustafa Ishak(National University of Malaysia)demonstrated that events such as theCommonwealth Games in 1998 andGrand Prix (Formula One) car racinghad put Malaysia on the global sportingmap. He argued that these events hadhelped the country to acquire modernstate-of-the-art sports facilities, spurredhuge infrastructure investments andfostered an enhanced sense of nationalpride. Hence he emphasized the impor-tance of sport to processes of economicdevelopment in newly industrializedcountries and nation building in multi-ethnic societies. Finally FrancescoMuñoz Ramirez (Universitat Autònomade Barcelona, Spain) identified theimportance of place in determining suc-cess or failure in hosting sport events.An illustrated guide to pre-Olympic

Barcelona, Olympic Barcelona and post-Olympic developments in the cityrevealed the importance of partnerships– public and private, and across differ-ent sectors of public life – to create‘transversal synergies’ and to include thewhole city in revitalisation projects.Barcelona has benefited from continu-ity in strategic thinking on revitalisationand architecture as a means of urbanredevelopment.

The final discussion summed up theissues presented in the papers. First,there was a need to distinguish moreclearly between increasingly commer-cial international sport ‘mega-events’such as the Olympics and the FootballWorld Cup, ‘big sports events’ that gen-erate large national audiences andmedia audiences abroad but are closedto competitive bidding, and other ‘majorsport events’ with different scope andeffect. Second, the dichotomies of post-colonialism (such as ‘Asia-Europe’) werereflected in differences in approachtowards mega-events by developed andnewly industrialised economies, estab-lished and emerging nations. Third,mega-events were considered of utmostimportance for the projects of moderni-ty as well as post-modernity, albeit withdistinctive goals. For modernizingnations, hosting a mega-event is a clearmarker of international esteem fordevelopmental achievements; in post-modern societies, events large and smallfulfill the role of image generator.Fourthly, economic gains are less likelythan social benefits, though this kind oflegacy is difficult to plan and control.

While the subsequent direction of theresearch agenda stimulated by thepapers was uncertain, participants at theworkshop stressed the necessity ofmulti-disciplinary research and inter-national collaboration to go beyond thelimits of one’s own research perspective.Our view was that the workshop suc-ceeded in that it enabled all to sharegreater awareness and recognition of thedifferences and similarities between theexperience of hosting major interna-tional sports events in developing anddeveloped nations, modern and post-modern cultures, and post-industri-alised and newly industrialisedeconomies.

Wolfram Manzenreiter

East Asian Studies

University of Vienna

John D. Horne

Scottish Centre for P.E., Sport and

Leisure Studies

University of Edinburgh

Hosting major international sports events: comparing Asia and Europe

Major international sporting events have an extraordinary capacity to generate emotionally powerful and shared experiences. Eventslike the Olympic Games, the Football World Cup, and other major sporting events reveal both the appeal and elusiveness of sport. Inthe age of global television, the capacity of major sports events to shape and project images of the host, both domestically andglobally, make them highly attractive for political and economic elites.

The ASEF/Alliance Workshop ‘Hosting Major International Sports Events: Comparing Asia

and Europe’ was convened by John Horne, Hirose Ichiro and Wolfram Manzenreiter, and was

held at the University of Edinburgh 9-11 March 2005. Revised versions of some of the papers

will be available in J. Horne and Wolfram Manzenreiter, eds. Sports Mega-Events. Oxford:

Blackwell (forthcoming).

Jian

g L

ido

ng

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:09 Pagina 30


> ASEF/Alliance30 November - 2 December 2005

Centre for Khmer Studies, Cambodia

Water in mainland Southeast AsiaDr. Philippe Peycam, Centre for Khmer Studies, Cambodia

Prof. Barend Jan Terwiel Hamburg University, Germany

5-7 January 2006

National University of Singapore, Singapore

Pensioners on the move: social security and trans-border retirement migration in Asia and EuropeDr. Mika Toyota, Asia Research Institute, National

University of Singapore

Dr. Anita Böcker, Institute for the Sociology of Law,

Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, the Netherlands

20-22 January 2006

Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand

Voices of Islam in Europe and Southeast AsiaDr. Uthai Dulyakasem, Institute of Liberal Arts,

Walailak University

Dr. Cynthia Chou, Institute of Cross-Cultural and Regional

Studies, Head of Southeast Asian Studies, University of

Copenhagen

June 2006

Buon Ma Thuot, Vietnam

Locating the communal in Asian land tenureThomas Sikor, Institute of Agricultural Economics and

Social Sciences, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

2 - 14 July 2006

Leiden, the Netherlands

Shared views for common challenges: (ex)changing perspectives on the international legal order in the 21st century

Call for participants to the 13th ASEF UniversityAre you an MA (graduate) student, under 28, with an interest in Asia-Europe relations? Do you want to devel-

op your leadership qualities and meet talented university students from Asia and Europe to share thoughts

on developments in international law? If so, the organisers of the the 13th ASEF University invite you to apply

to this two-week intensive summer school in Leiden, the Netherlands, 1-13 July 2006.

Recent years have seen dramatic changes in international law and practice that challenge traditional views of

state sovereignty. As the threat of terrorism grows, judicial systems worldwide struggle with pressure from

states to allow investigation and punishment to be more widely applied. The ASEF University will address the

ethical issues behind these developments, as well as the wider (legal) context of the global world order.

For information and application details, please visit www.iias.nl or www.asef.org or contact

Amis Boersma or Josine Stremmelaar Valerie Remoquillo

International Institute for Asian Studies Asia-Europe Foundation

P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA 31 Heng Mui Keng Terrace

Leiden, the Netherlands Singapore 119595

[email protected] [email protected]

The European Alliance for Asian Stud-

ies is a cooperative framework of

European institutes specializing in

Asian Studies. Its partners are:

NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian StudiesDirector: Dr Jørgen Delman

Leifsgade 33 DK 2300 Copenhagen S,

Denmark

T +45-35-32 9500

F +45-35-32 9549

[email protected]

www.nias.ku.dk

IFAInstitut für Asienkunde

Director: Dr Günter Schucher

Rothenbaumchaussee 32,

D-20148 Hamburg, Germany

T +49-40-428 8740

F +49-40-410 7945

[email protected]

www.duei.de/ifa

EIASEuropean Institute for Asian Studies

Director: Dr Willem van der Geest

35 Rue des Deux Eglises,

1000 Brussels, Belgium

T +32-2-230 8122

F +32-2-230 5402

[email protected]

www.eias.org

CERI - Sciences PoFondation Nationale des Sciences

Politiques

Director: Prof. Christophe Jaffrelot

56 rue Jacob, 75006 Paris, France

T +33-1-58717000

F +33-1-58717090

[email protected]

www.ceri-sciencespo.com

CEAOCentro de Estudios de Asia Oriental

Director: Prof. Taciana Fisac

Centro de Estudios de Asia Oriental

Universidad Autonoma de Madrid

Campus de Cantoblanco

28049 Madrid, Spain

T +34-91-397 4695

F +34-91-397 5278

[email protected]

www.uam.es/otroscentros/

asiaoriental/especifica/

SOASSchool of Oriental and African Studies

Director: Prof. Colin Bundy

University of London

Thornhaugh Street / Russel Square,

London, WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom

T +44-20-7637 2388

F +44-20-7436 3844

[email protected]

www.soas.ac.uk

SSAAPSThe Swedish School of Advanced Asia

Pacific Studies

Director: Prof. Thommy Svensson

The STINT Foundation, Skeppargatan

8, 114 52 Stockholm, Sweden

T +46-70-6355160

F +46-8-6619210

[email protected]

www.ssaaps.stint.se

IIAS (secretariat Asia Alliance)

More information:

www.asia-alliance.org

Asia Alliance

The European Alliance for Asian Studies and theAsia-Europe Foundation welcome proposals forworkshops on themes of common interest to Asia and Europe, to take place in 2006/2007.

For more information www.asia-alliance.org and www.aews.asef.org

Asia Europe

TheAnnualThe

AnnualAsia EuropeWorkshop Series 2006/2007

politicians, journalists and representatives of industry are welcome.

• The topic should be innovative and interdisciplinary, address shared interests between Asia and Europe, be of interregional/multilateral importance, and stimulate interregional dialogue.

• Workshops initiated by young postdocs aimed at creating an academic network are favoured.

The proposalMaximum eight pages, in English. The proposal should contain:• Title of the workshop, proposed dates and

venue, names of initiators and organising institutions in Europe and Asia (include at least two signed letters of intent), and one contact address (p. 1)

• Introduction to the topic and scientific objectives (p.2-4)

• List of confirmed participants, with institutional affiliations and disciplinary

The deadline is 1 February 2006. Proposals will be refereed by an Asia-EuropeSelection Committee; six will be selected forrealisation. Applicants will be informed of theCommittee’s decision by June 2006.

Financial support, up to a maximum of € 12,500 per workshop, consists of contributiontowards travel and accommodation.

Criteria• Three day expert workshop, to be held

between September 2006 and September 2007 in an ASEM member country.*

• Jointly organised by an Asian and a European institute from ASEM member countries.

• Participants: coming from at least eight different ASEM countries (Asia and Europe equally); male/female parity; balance between senior experts and promising junior researchers

• Participants are invited primarily from academia - though contributions from

competence in relation to the workshop’s topic (p.5)

• Detailed programme including paper titles (p.6)

• Itemised, detailed budget showing expenses and expected income (p.7)

• Envisaged follow-up including publication(s) (p.8)

Deadline and addressProposals should be received (by regular mail)before 1 February 2006.

Secretariat Asia-Europe Workshop Series

c/o International Institute for Asian StudiesP.O. Box 95152300 RA LeidenThe Netherlands

Address for hand delivery or private courierservice: IIAS, Nonnensteeg 1-3, 2311 VJLeiden, The Netherlands

* ASEM COUNTRIES:Austria, Belgium, Brunei,Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia,China, Cyprus, CzechRepublic, Denmark, Estonia,Finland, France, Germany,Greece, Hungary, Indonesia,Ireland, Italy, Japan,Korea, Laos, Latvia,Lithuania, Luxemburg,Malaysia, Malta,Netherlands, Philippines,Poland, Portugal,Singapore, Slovakia,Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,Thailand, United Kingdom,Vietnam.

The European Alliance forAsian Studies is a co-operativeframework of European institutesspecializing in Asian Studies.Members include the InternationalInstitute for Asian Studies (IIAS);NIAS - the Nordic Institute ofAsian Studies; the Institute forAsian Affairs (IFA); the EuropeanInstitute for Asian Studies (EIAS);the Centre for InternationalStudies and Research (CERI-Sciences Po); the Centro deEstudios de Asia Oriental (CEAO);the School of Oriental and AfricanStudies (SOAS); and the SwedishSchool for Advanced Asia PacificStudies (SSAAPS).

The Asia-Europe Foundation(ASEF), Singapore, was establishedby members of the Asia-EuropeMeeting (ASEM) on 15 February1997. ASEF promotes engagementbetween the civil societies of Asiaand Europe and the forging ofmutual understanding.

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IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:10 Pagina 31


> IIAS research

Programmes

Care of the aged: gender, institutional provisions andsocial security in India, the Netherlands and Sri LankaThis IDPAD/IIAS research project addresses the implicationsof population aging for the social security and health care ofelderly people. As the experience of ageing is highly genderedand can vary according to class, caste, and religion, the proj-ect seeks to capture the dimensions, characteristics and trendsrelated to aging among different social and economic groups,with an emphasis on women. This comparative study of theNetherlands, Sri Lanka, and India draws on diverse experi-ences of development to contextualize the aging process. Coordinator: Carla Risseeuw

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

Indonesianisasi and nationalizationFrom the 1930s to the early 1960s, the Indonesian economytransformed from a ‘colonial’ economy, dominated by theDutch, to a ‘national’ economy in which indigenous businessassumed control. This NIOD project explores this transfor-mation, studying the late-colonial era as well as the Japaneseoccupation, the Revolution and the Sukarno period. Two issuesare given special attention: Indonesianisasi (increased oppor-tunities for indigenous Indonesians in the economy) andnationalization, in particular the expropriation of Dutch cor-porate assets in Indonesia in 1957-58. Coordinator: J. Thomas Lindblad

Illegal but licit: transnational flows and permissive polities in AsiaThis research programme analyses forms of globalisation-from-below, transnational practices considered acceptable(licit) by participants but which are often illegal in a formalsense. It explores limitations of ‘seeing like a state’, and insteadprivileges the perspectives of participants in these illegal butlicit transnational flows.Coordinator: Willem van Schendel

Islam in Indonesia: the dissemination of religious author-ity in the 20th and early 21st centuriesForms and transformations of religious authority among theIndonesian Muslim community are the focus of this researchprogramme. The term authority relates to persons and booksas well as various other forms of written and non-written ref-erences. Special attention is paid to the production, repro-duction and dissemination of religious authority in the fieldsof four sub-programmes: ulama (religious scholars) and fat-was; tarekat (mystical orders); dakwah (propagation of thefaith); and education. Coordinator: Nico Kaptein

Socio-genetic marginalization in AsiaThe development and application of new biomedical andgenetic technologies have important socio-political implica-tions. This NWO/ASSR/IIAS research programme aims togain insight into the ways in which the use of and monopolyover genetic information shape and influence population poli-cies, environmental ethics and biomedical and agriculturalpractices in various Asian religious and secular cultures andacross national boundaries. Coordinator: Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner

Syntax of the languages of southern ChinaThis project aims to achieve a detailed description and in-depthanalysis of a limited number of syntactic phenomena in sixlanguages, both Sinitic and non-Sinitic, spoken in the areasouth of the Yangtze River. The project will systematically com-pare these descriptions and analyses to contribute to the devel-opment of the theory of language and human language capac-ity, through the study of non-Western languages.Coordinator: Rint Sybesma

Trans-Himalayan database development: China and thesubcontinent (Phase I)The project’s main goal is to combine the database of cognatewords in Tibeto-Burman languages, maintained by the Insti-tute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Chinese Academy ofSocial Sciences) with language data of the George van DriemHimalayan Languages Project (Leiden University) to create ajoint, online database of Tibeto-Burman languages with a mir-ror-site in Leiden. The project’s second objective is to contin-ue documentation of endangered Tibeto-Burman languagesin China in cooperation with the Institute of Ethnology andAnthropology. Coordinator: Katia Chirkova

Networks

ABIA South and Southeast Asian art and archaeology index The Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology is a globalnetwork of scholars co-operating on an annotated biblio-graphic database for publications covering South and South-east Asian art and archaeology. The project was launched byIIAS in 1997 and is currently coordinated by the Postgradu-ate Institute of Archaeology of the University of Kelaniya,Colombo, Sri Lanka. The database is freely accessible atwww.abia.net. Extracts from the database are also available asbibliographies, published in a series by Brill. The projectreceives scientific support from UNESCO. Coordinator: Ellen Raven

www.abia.net

Changing labour relations in AsiaCLARA aims towards a comparative and historical under-standing of labour relations in different parts of Asia, includ-ing changes within national economies, links to internation-al markets and the nature of state intervention. It focuses onfive overlapping themes: the labour process, labour mobility,labour consciousness, gendered labour and labour laws andlabour movements. Coordinator: Ratna Saptari

Transnational society, media, and citizenshipThis multidisciplinary network studies the complex nature ofcontemporary cultural identities and the impact of the glob-alization of information and communication technologies onthe (re)construction of these identities. The programme isbased in the Netherlands while the projects are carried out atnumerous fieldwork sites. Coordinator: Peter van der Veer

IIAS initiatives

Development of space technology in AsiaThe space age has dramatically impacted all nations. In Asia,the ‘space-faring nations’ of India, China and Japan have suc-cessfully developed space technologies and applications. OtherAsian nations have readily adopted these applications, includ-ing satellites for telecommunications, for gathering data onthe weather, and environmental and earth resources. IIAS islaunching this new research initiative and has initiated a seriesof workshops on the topic. Coordinator: David Soo

Piracy and robbery on the Asian seasActs of piracy loom large in Asian waters, with the bulk of allofficially reported incidents of maritime piracy occurring inSoutheast Asia during the 1990s. This is of serious concernto international shipping, as the sea-lanes between East Asia,the Middle East, and Europe pass through Southeast Asia.IIAS and the Centre for Maritime Research at the Universityof Amsterdam are currently identifying issues and concerns,and are delineating core elements of an interdisciplinaryresearch programme on piracy and robbery at sea in Asia.Coordinators: Wim Stokhof and John Kleinen

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

IIAS research programmes, networks & initiatives

ComparativeIntellectualHistories ofEarly ModernAsia

IIAS Masterclass30 May - 2 June 2006Leiden, the Netherlands

Led by:

Sheldon Pollock (William B. Ransford Professor of Sanskrit and South Asian Studies,

Columbia University, New York, USA)

How to understand the logic of an intellectual order founded upon ideologies

of continuity and preservation, rather than ideologies of improvement and obso-

lescence? A comparative intellectual history of the early modern world (1500-

1800) can address this question more effectively and develop a more heuristi-

cally powerful theory than can any one scholarly tradition investigated in

isolation. This masterclass will bring together experts in the field of Sinology,

Indology and Middle Eastern studies to consider shared issues not only in the

historiography of early modern knowledge, but also in the theoretical challenges

we must confront in writing the intellectual history of the non-West, where even

the terms of the theme ‘intellectual’ and ‘history’ do not go without saying. The

focus will be put on three forms of knowledge: aesthetics, political thought, and

moral philosophy.

Also presenting:

Michael Cook (Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, USA)

Benjamin Elman (Professor of East Asian History, Princeton University, USA)

Quentin Skinner (Professor of History, Cambridge University, UK)

Deadline for registration:

15 March 2006

Registration and information:

International Institute for Asian Studies

Manon Osseweijer

PO Box 9515

2300 RA Leiden

T +31 (0)71 527 2227

F +31 (0)71 527 4162

[email protected]

www.iias.nl


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

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:12 Pagina 32


> Announcements

Traditional music theatre bythe Kattaikkuttu Sangam

Kattaikkuttu is popular music theatre from

Tamil Nadu, South India, which combines

intense singing, comical parts, improvi-

sation and ritual traditions. A Kattaikkut-

tu performance is played by twelve actors

and three musicians at night. It is rooted

in rituals and religion and is an essential

part of life of South Indian rural commu-

nities.

From 21 January till 1 February the Kat-

taikkuttu Sangam from Kanchipuram will

tour the Netherlands with two perform-

ances of this expressive and colourful

music theatre from rural India. The audi-

ence is invited to watch the make up

before the play and cultural anthropolo-

gist Hanne de Bruin will explain the per-

formance.

Concept & direction: P. Rajagopal,

Hanne M. de Bruin

Costumes: Hanne M. de Bruin

Actors: P. Rajagopal, B. Saravanan,

N. Ramalingam, K. Maheswaram

Musicians: R. Kumar (harmonium),

T. Rangasami (mrdangam/dholak),

C. Chandiran (mukavinai)

‘The eightienth day’:

about the meaning of war

‘The eightienth day’ (Pattinettam nal) is a

shortened version of a traditional full

night performance. The theme comes

from the famous Indian Mahabharata

epic. The play opens with King Duryo-

dhana in impressive costume who reflects

on his own acts in the horrible war

between families. All his 99 brothers are

killed, as well as his friend Karna. With the

dead in his eyes he talks to the god Krish-

na and the other survivor, the clown

‘Bhima and the flower’

Youth performance

This episode from the Mahabharata is like

a fairytale about greed, beauty and exile.

The strong Bhima tries to find the beauti-

ful Madaara flower for his wife Draupadi.

On his journey he meets in a match the

Monkey god Hanuman.

The Kattaikkuttu Sangam, directed by P.

Rajagopal, looks after the economic and

artistic interests of actors in Tamil Nadu

and cares for the education of young

actors. Together with Hanne. M. de Bruin,

he has raised a union, theatre centre and

youth theatreschool.

More information

www.kattaikkuttu.org

Kalai Manram supports the Kattaikkuttu

Sangam in the Netherlands.

Esmee Meertens

T 020-6222841

Evelien Pullens

T 030-2715560.

[email protected].

Chinglish.com: Chinese-English email

Few analysts or trend-watchers will dis-

agree. The internet and China are fueling

globalization and the world economy.

Chinese and English are the most wide-

spread languages on the web today.

Combining them in a meaningful man-

ner would lead to an interesting alliance.

Chinglish.com, a Dutch startup run by a

group of Chinese engineers who studied

and worked in the West and a group of for-

eigners who studied and worked in

Greater China, has picked up the gaunt-

let. Its vision is that Chinese and English,

already major languages in education,

business, and tourism, will continue to

gain in importance, and that the world is

becoming increasingly bilingual.

Interpreting the word chinglish as a con-

traction of the words Chinese and English,

it suddenly becomes a semantic novelty.

Semantic not only in the sense that the

word is re-inventing itself, changing its

original meaning of bad English, but also

in the web sense by making ample use of

the semantic web and FOAF & RDF tech-

nologies, allowing for more efficient

querying.

Hundreds of millions of young Chinese

are doing everything within their power to

master the English language as it is the

surest ticket to professional advancement.

Simultaneously, tens of millions of for-

eigners are looking to improve their Chi-

nese language and culture skills. Knowl-

edge of the Chinese language is no longer

the exclusive domain of scholars.

Chinglish.com intends to meet the needs

of Chinese-English communities by build-

ing into its portal maximum flexibility

between simplified Chinese, traditional

Chinese, and English. All content is pre-

sented in a chinglish format, i.e. Chinese

and English text in juxtaposition, comple-

mented by a language toolbar facilitating

the overall language learning process.

Will the Chinese language really start

appearing in European, South American,

and African newspapers, the way English

has been making an appearance in Chi-

nese media? Maybe not, but come what

may, Chinese will not be replaced by a

phonetic or characterless system any time

soon. A slow but continuing trend of what

could be called chinglification will be more

likely.

In September 2005, a test version of the

new Chinese-English email system went

live at http://beta.chinglish.com. What

sets chinglish apart from conventional

webmail in the tradition of yahoo and hot-

mail are the language features such as

translation and pronunciation tools, fully

integrated into the email environment.

Moreover, switching between Chinese and

English has been made very simple. It is

also possible to use both a Western and a

Chinese name on the same email account.

This ‘one system, two characters’ repre-

sents China’s paradoxical relation with

itself, the rest of the world, and the inter-

net. What remains to be seen is whether

chinglish.com will truly be able to live up

to the role it aspires to. The challenge is

certainly bigger than mere semantics.

More information:

www.chinglish.com


FELLOWSHIPS AT THE ASIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

Applications are invited for the following positions:

1) one Research Fellowship in the Migration cluster to begin in August 2006;

2) one Visiting Research Fellow in the Changing Family cluster from August 2006 to 31 March 2007;

3) three Postdoctoral Fellowships (one position each in the Changing Family cluster, the Cultural

Studies cluster and the Open cluster) to begin in August 2006; and

4) two Postdoctoral Fellowships (one position each in the Migration cluster and the Religion and

Globalisation cluster) to begin in January 2007.

at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore (NUS).

The Institute is also seeking up to two Postdoctoral Fellows for its new “Asian Cities” research initiative

from 1 August 2006. Please refer to our website in November 2005 for more information.

Interested applicants should consult the website www.ari.nus.edu.sg for details of conditions and

application procedure. Applications will close on 31 January 2006.

Enquiries and applications to:-

Human Resources

Asia Research Institute

National University of Singapore

5 Arts Link, Level 4

AS7, The Shaw Foundation Building

Singapore 117570

Fax: (65) 6779 1428

Email: [email protected]

Asia Research Institute Fellowships at the International Institutefor Asian StudiesIIAS invites postdoctoral researchers to apply for fellowships in Leiden or Amsterdam.

The institute focuses on the interdisciplinary and comparative study of Asia in the

humanities and social sciences, and their interaction with other sciences. IIAS research

covers South, East, Southeast and Central Asia. IIAS Fellows are offered office facilities,

while the institute will mediate in gaining access to libraries, archives and other

institutions in the Netherlands. Fellows may be asked to give a lecture or organise a

workshop, remain in contact with European researchers, and make due reference to IIAS

in (future) publications, (partly) made possible through research done during your stay.

IIAS has five categories of fellowships for researchers:

• Affiliated fellows

• Research fellows (upon vacancy only)

• Senior fellows

• IIAS professors (upon vacancy only)

• Artists in residence

IIAS fellowship applications can be submitted at any time.

Vacancies are announced in the IIAS Newsletter and on the website.

For more information and an IIAS fellowship application form see

the IIAS website at: www.iias.nl

For specific information, please contact Amis Boersma or Wouter Feldberg at:

[email protected]


IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:13 Pagina 33


> AnnouncementsDealing with the Gods (De Goden Verzoeken)

Exhibition on rituals in the Hindu religion

17 December 2005 - 10 September 2006

Tropenmuseum Amsterdam

On 17 December 2005 the Tropenmuse-

um in Amsterdam launched the exhibition

Dealing with the Gods: Rituals in Hindu

Religion. The display introduces visitors to

the deities, traditions, fragrances and

colours of Hindu religion. Following the

path of wealth, wisdom or love, visitors

make their way through the Hindu world.

Hundreds of items are presented, ranging

from domestic shrines, prints and objects

to temple statues made in India especial-

ly for the exhibition. A highlight of the col-

lection is a 1,000 year old figure of the

Hindu sun god Surya.

The central theme is contact between Hin-

dus and their gods; many different rituals

make this contact possible. Exuberant cel-

ebrations mark festivals such as Holi and

Divali, other customs relate to birth, mar-

riage and death, while many simple prac-

tices are for everyday use. Whether it’s in

the temple or at work, at home or in the

car, the gods, for Hindus, are everywhere.

With India as the backdrop, the imagery

of Bollywood and the hundreds of objects

presented in the exhibition provide a mag-

nificently colourful and theatrical show.

Rarely shown exhibits from the museum

are displayed alongside remarkable loans

from museums as well as private collec-

tions. A range of audiovisual material

accompanies the classical Indian objects.

Visitors have a choice of three personal

routes through life to experience the exhi-

bition: the path of wisdom (linked to the

god Ganesha), the path of love (linked to

the god Krishna) or the path of wealth

(linked to the goddess Lakshmi). Each

path provides a key with which to start

interactive presentations. This allows vis-

itors to participate in rituals, to receive

small (digital) gifts and to find extra infor-

mation. Each path teaches visitors how to

Deal with the Gods.

For more information and visual

material:

Anna Brolsma

the Tropenmuseum

T. +31 (0)20 - 5688418

[email protected].

http://home.planet.nl/~j.e.m.houben

www.jyotistoma.nl

Oral masterpieces online

New Masterpieces of the Oral and Intan-

gible Heritage of Humanity Ceremony

www.unesco.org/culture/intangible-

heritage/35eur_uk.htm

Edito : r Anja Walke

Annual Subscription Rates:

Six issues per year, available in

print and digital form

€ 82.00 per year *)

(Students € 40.00 *))

Online edition: fee per article

*) plus postage

Call for Papers

Japan aktuell is an internationally refereed academic journal published by the Institute of Asian Affairs, Hamburg that focuses on current developments in Japan. The bimonthly journal has a circulation of 500 copies and reaches a broad readership in academia, administration and business circles. Articles to be published should be written in German or English and submitted exclusively to this publication.

Japan aktuell is devoted to the transfer of scholarly insights to a wide audience. The topics covered should therefore not only be orientated towards specialists in Japanese affairs, but should also be of relevance to readers with a practical interest in the region.

The editor welcomes contributions on contemporary Japan that are concerned with the fields of interna-tional relations, politics, economics, society, education, environment or law. Articles should be theoretically grounded, empirically sound and reflect the state of the art in contemporary Japanese studies.

All manuscripts will be peer-reviewed for acceptance. The editor responds within three months.

Research articles should not exceed 10,000 words (incl. footnotes and references). Manuscripts should be sub-mitted to the editor in electronic form (stylesheet: www. duei.de/ifa/stylesheet).

Recent and forthcoming topics:

Collective identity between Japan und the US after

September 11th, 2001 (in German)

Innovation capacity and competitiveness in East Asia (in

German)

Japan’s leading role and EU influence on financial

integration in East Asia

For submission of article please contact: sInstitute of Asian Affairs

Rothenbaumchaussee 32

20148 Hamburg • Germany

Phone: +49 40 4288740 • Fax: +49 40 4107945

E-mail: [email protected]

Subscription and advertising info: [email protected]

Website: www.duei.de/ifa


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

Images of the ‘wildman’in Southeast AsiaIIAS Masterclass, 7-10 February 2006, Leiden

Led by:

Gregory Forth (Professor of Anthropology, University of Alberta and IIAS senior fellow)

Featured speakers:

Jet Bakels (Independent researcher, Amsterdam)

David Bulbeck (School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University)

Raymond Corbey (Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University)

Southeast Asia has been the site of a series of representations of hairy manlike crea-

tures, partly interpretable as ‘crypto-species’ and comparable to the better known

Himalayan ‘yeti’ and North American ‘sasquatch’ or ‘bigfoot’. Remarkably, these

Southeast Asian figures have received virtually no attention from anthropologists or

scholars in related disciplines. To the extent that these figures have been considered,

they have been treated as imaginary constructs and subsumed in ethnographic

writing as spiritual beings. The recent discovery of Homo floresiensis and the

hypothetical linking of the palaeoanthropological discovery with local categories of

putative ‘wildman’ suggest the need to reconsider indigenous representations. This

masterclass pursues how anthropologists should understand local reports of ‘wild-

man’ and how their occurrence as components of local folk zoologies and cos-

mologies may challenge time-honoured analytical principles and categories of social

and cultural anthropology.

Registration and information:

International Institute for Asian Studies, Manon Osseweijer

PO Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, T +31 (0)71 527 2227, F +31 (0)71 527 4162

[email protected], www.iias.nl

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:13 Pagina 34


> Arts

Pieter te r Keurs

S ince January 2004, staff from bothmuseums have been co-operating

in an intensive programme addressingstorage facilities, registration, conser-vation, training programmes, researchand, last but not least, the creation of alarge-scale exhibition from the collec-tions of both museums. Indonesia: TheDiscovery of the Past enabled the projectteam to combine training with practicalresults, providing a successful formula

for further co-operation. The exhibitionand catalogue – both addressing the twoinstitutions’ collecting histories – are themost visible results thus far.

Many similarities exist between the MNIand RMV collections as they often orig-inate from the same source. Finds fromarchaeological sites or ethnographic col-lections were often (not always) dividedbetween the colony and the motherland.This is the central focus of the exhibi-tion as well as of the preparatoryresearch. The division of ethnographiccollections became official policy in1862, but collections were often sepa-rated before then. A team of curatorsfrom both museums worked for twoyears to compare documentation, toupdate information about the MNI col-lections from old Dutch sources, todevelop the storyline, and finally, to writethe articles for the catalogue.

The Museum Nasional is the successorof the Museum of the BataviaaschGenootschap van Kunsten en Weten-schappen (Batavian Society of Arts andSciences) founded in 1778 by VOC offi-cer J.C.M. Radermacher. The DutchSociety of Sciences began its activitiesin 1752; Radermacher proposed abranch in Batavia, which eventuallybecame the independent BataviaaschGenootschap van Kunsten en Weten-schappen. The Genootschap – a typicalEnlightenment institution – stimulatedresearch in the cultures and nature ofthe archipelago and collected archaeo-logical and ethnographic material. Dur-ing the English period in the early 19thcentury, Sir Thomas Stamford Rafflesbacked the Genootschap’s activities,while Dutch authorities under KingWilliam I developed in the followingdecades a keen interest in the culturesand nature of the East Indies. Althoughthere was scientific interest, politics andeconomics were never far removed.

Indonesia: The Discovery of the Past fea-tures some of the most spectacularHindu-Buddhist statues collected in theearly 19th century. The main displayconcentrates on the Singasari period(end of the 13th century), including sixlarge Singasari statues from the Leidencollection and the Prajnaparamita fromthe Jakarta collection. Also included arethe finds of Muteran, Combre and PugerWetan. In all cases the artefacts weredivided between Leiden and Batavia.

C.B.H. Baron von Rosenberg is a goodexample of an early collector of ethno-graphic material who played a majorrole in producing the first catalogue ofthe Bataviaasch Genootschap’s collec-tions. Other 19th century scientific expe-ditions include those by the Natu-urkundige Commissie (Natural ScienceCommittee), the Nederlandsch Aardrijk-skundig Genootschap (Dutch Geo-graphical Society) and A.W. Nieuwen-huis’ travels through Central Borneo.

Interest in the archipelago wentbeyond the scientific. The last decadesof the 19th century saw Europeanimperialism at its height, and althoughthe search for ethnographic ‘treasures’was never used to justify militaryinvolvement, some superb collectionswere found in the palaces of localrulers, in particular in North Sumatraand on Bali and Lombok. Indonesia:

The Discovery of the Past displays objectsfrom these colonial wars from the col-lections of both museums. The Lom-bok treasure is a special case. Foundafter the local ruler was defeated in1894, it was sent to Batavia; a part of itwas later sent to Holland. In 1977 alarge part of the Dutch Lombok collec-tion was returned to Indonesia whereit is now part of the MNI collection.

The exhibition will display examplesfrom all three parts of the Lomboktreasure.

Not all Indonesian rulers were at warwith the Dutch; many tried to developfriendly relations by exchanging gifts,whose value depended on the receiver’sstatus. Many colonial officers broughttheir gifts to the BataviaaschGenootschap, while others broughtsome superb objects to Holland afterretirement and donated (or sold) themto the museum in Leiden.

Some Dutch developed an interest in‘kunstnijverheid’ (applied art) at the endof the 19th and beginning of the 20thcentury. G.P. Rouffaer, who togetherwith H.H. Juynboll wrote a standardwork on batik, can be seen as part of thistradition. Another important figure, J.E.Jasper, was a colonial officer who organ-ized Jaarmarkten (annual markets), usu-ally in Batavia or Surabaya, where prod-ucts from all over the country were sold.Jasper worked with the Javanese artistMas Pirngadi to publish major volumeson Inlandsche Kunstnijverheid (Local Artsand Crafts). N. Adriani and A.C. Kruytof the Protestant Mission in CentralSulawesi documented, collected andstimulated trade in decorated barkclothfrom Central Sulawesi. Both the MNIand RMV collections include siga (headcloths) from Adriani and Kruyt withtheir price tags still attached.

The exhibition and catalogue also focuson collecting in East Indonesia: scien-tific expeditions such as the militaryexploration of West New Guinea (A.J.Gooszen), and by missionaries (B.A.G.Vroklage, P. Middelkoop), civil servants(J.G.F. Riedel, G.W.W.C. van Hoëvell)and scholars (P. Wirz). All contributedto the collections of the BataviaaschGenootschap and the RMV and can beseen in the exhibition in De NieuweKerk. They reveal ªthe story of colonialcollecting and of contact between Euro-peans and local people. They tell a storyof appreciation, but also a story ofimage-building by means of collections.They show images Europeans had of‘the other’ and – less explicitly – how‘the other’ thought of Europeans. Onthis last issue, however, much moreresearch is necessary to understand howlocal people experienced the arrival ofthe colonizer. <

Pieter ter Keurs

Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden

A tale of two museumsIndonesia: The Discovery of the Past

The exhibition Indonesia: The Discovery of the Past will be on show in De Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam from 17 December 2005 until17 April 2006. The result of co-operation between the Museum Nasional of Indonesia (MNI) in Jakarta and the Rijksmuseum voorVolkenkunde (RMV) in Leiden, the exhibition is drawn from the collections of both museums, often referred to as the bestIndonesian collections in the world.

Kris

Badung, Bali

Collected during the conquest

of Badung in 1906,

RMV 1602-17

Standard for a kris

Tabanan, Bali

Collected by W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp,

RMV 1586-142

Wayang kulit figure,

Batara Brama,

Purwadipura,

Central Java

1856, collected by

W.L.H.A. Harloff,

Painted leather, horn,

Length: 59 cm,

RMV 37-729

For further information on this project

and upcoming exhibition please visit

www.rmv.nl and www.nieuwekerk.nl. The

conference Collecting cultural heritage in

Indonesia: ethics, sciences and politics, co-

organized by IIAS, will be held in Amster-

dam, 23-25 March 2006. Contact person:

Pieter ter Keurs: [email protected]

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:14 Pagina 35

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IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:15 Pagina 36


> International arts agendaU

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ibit

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ores

the

inca

rnat

ions

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du G

reat

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g on

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orks

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r in

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xcep

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ne s

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y of

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ve n

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en b

y th

e pu

blic

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orks

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ual n

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e of

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God

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ss a

s bo

th a

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ng m

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r an

d a

fear

-so

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rior

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apan

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ry Ja

pane

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crol

ls, p

anel

s an

d ki

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ted

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nt Ja

pane

se c

ultu

re,

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me

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ipse

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er r

esis

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, but

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bee

n em

brac

ed b

y 20

th-

cent

ury

Japa

nese

art

ists

.

Unt

il 26

Feb

ruar

y 20

06

Silk

& le

athe

r: s

plen

did

atti

re o

f 19t

h -c

entu

ryC

entr

al A

sia

Gar

men

ts a

nd a

cces

sori

es w

orn

by t

he r

ulin

gcl

ass

and

urba

n an

d no

mad

ic e

lites

of T

urk-

men

ista

n, U

zbek

ista

n, K

irgi

zsta

n, T

ajik

ista

n,an

d pa

rt o

f Kaz

akhs

tan

are

the

focu

s of

thi

sex

hibi

tion

. Six

out

stan

ding

coa

ts a

s w

ell a

sha

ts, b

oots

, bel

ts, p

igta

il co

vers

, chi

ldre

n’s

clot

hing

, pur

ses,

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ches

, and

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ls r

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e co

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s pr

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tion

and

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tifa

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d us

eof

silk

and

leat

her

and

the

blos

som

ing

of t

ex-

tile

and

rel

ated

art

s du

ring

the

19t

h ce

ntur

y in

Cen

tral

Asi

a.

Hou

se o

f ora

cles

: a H

uang

Yon

g P

ing

retr

ospe

ctiv

e

Wal

ker

Art

Cen

ter,

Min

nea

pol

is, U

SA

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:16 Pagina 37


> International conference agenda

Agen

da> I

nter

natio

nal c

onfer

ence

agen

da

Dece

mber

2005

16 D

ecem

ber

200

5

Am

ster

dam

, the

Net

herl

ands

Dev

elop

men

t P

olic

y R

evie

w N

etw

ork

(DP

RN

)

Sout

heas

t A

sia

Mee

ting

sem

inar

orga

nize

d by

IIA

S/V

rije

Uni

vers

itei

t

cont

act:

Josi

ne S

trem

mel

aar

j.str

emm

elaa

r@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

16 -

18 D

ecem

ber

200

5

Ban

gkok

, Tha

iland

Hum

an s

ecur

itie

s in

the

Asi

a P

acifi

c re

gion

seve

nth

con

fere

nce

of t

he A

sia-

Pac

ific

Soci

olog

ical

Ass

ocia

tion

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.a

siap

acif

icso

ciol

ogy.

org

17 -

20 D

ecem

ber

200

5

New

Del

hi, I

ndia

Rel

igio

ns a

nd c

ultu

res

in t

he In

dic

civi

lizat

ion

seco

nd in

tern

atio

nal c

onfe

ren

ce

orga

nize

d by

Indi

c St

udie

s N

etw

ork

(IsN

ew)

and

Man

ushi

- a jo

urna

l abo

ut w

omen

and

soci

ety

info

rmat

ion:

mad

hupu

rnim

a@in

dics

tudi

es.o

rg

19 D

ecem

ber

200

5

Am

ster

dam

, Net

herl

ands

Tow

ards

soc

ial s

tabi

lity

and

dem

ocra

tic

gove

rnan

ce in

Cen

tral

Eur

asia

: cha

lleng

es t

o

regi

onal

sec

urit

y

book

pre

sent

atio

n

conv

enor

(s):

Irin

a M

oroz

ova

orga

nize

d by

IIA

S

cont

act:

Mar

loes

Roz

ing

m.r

ozin

g@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

19 D

ecem

ber

200

5

Hon

g K

ong,

Chi

naTh

e ch

alle

nge

of t

he P

earl

Riv

er D

elta

: int

erdi

sci-

plin

enar

y ap

proa

ch fo

r it

s gl

obal

-loca

l dyn

amic

s

conf

eren

ce

orga

nize

d by

Div

isio

n o

f Soc

ial S

cien

ce H

ong

Kon

g U

niv

ersi

ty o

f Sci

ence

and

Tec

hnol

ogy

info

rmat

ion:

http

://i

hom

e.us

t.hk

/~de

mol

ogo/

22 -

24 D

ecem

ber

200

5

Vara

nasi

, Ind

iaC

hild

ren,

you

th, a

nd t

heir

edu

cati

on in

a

glob

aliz

ing

Indi

a

orga

nize

d by

Cen

tre

for

Pos

tcol

onia

l

Educ

atio

n

orga

nize

r: R

ohit

Set

ty

sett

yrb@

umic

h.ed

u

Janu

ary 2

006

Janu

ary

- Apr

il 20

06

Am

ster

dam

, the

Net

herl

ands

The

Asi

an C

halle

nge

eigh

th S

WR

-Hen

drik

Mul

ler

Sem

inar

con

ven

or(s

): P

eter

van

der

Vee

r an

d

Gov

ert

Bui

js

orga

nize

d by

KN

AW

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.k

naw

.nl

1 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Cop

enha

gen,

Den

mar

kR

espo

nsib

ly m

ade

in C

hina

? C

hine

se

deve

lopm

ent

& c

orpo

rate

soc

ial r

espo

nsib

ility

wor

ksho

p

orga

nize

d by

NIA

S an

d C

open

hage

n B

usin

ess

Scho

ol

info

rmat

ion:

http

://n

ias.

ku/a

ctiv

itie

s/co

nfer

ence

s/ht

m

5 - 7

Janu

ary

200

6

Sing

apor

e, S

inga

pore

Pen

sion

ers

on t

he m

ove:

soc

ial s

ecur

ity

and

tran

sbor

der

reti

rem

ent

mig

rati

on in

Asi

a an

d

Euro

pa

ASE

F-A

llian

ce w

orks

hop

con

ven

or(s

): M

ika

(Nat

iona

l Uni

vers

ity

of

Sing

apor

e) a

nd A

nit

a B

öcke

r (R

adbo

ud

Uni

vers

itei

t N

ijmeg

en)

info

rmat

ion:

ari

yeov

@nu

s.ed

u.sg

5 - 9

Janu

ary

200

6

Hon

g K

ong,

Chi

naSe

cond

ann

ual g

radu

ate

sem

inar

on

Chi

na

(GSO

C)

orga

nize

d by

NIA

S an

d U

nive

rsit

ies

Serv

ice

Cen

tre

for

Chi

na S

tudi

es o

f the

Chi

nese

Uni

vers

ity

of H

ong

Kon

g an

d it

s So

uth

Chi

na

Pro

gram

me.

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.n

ias.

ku.d

k

9 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Am

ster

dam

, the

Net

herl

ands

Dev

elop

men

t P

olic

y R

evie

w N

etw

ork

(DP

RN

)

Sout

h A

sia

Mee

ting

sem

inar

orga

nize

d by

IIA

S/A

SiA

con

tact

: Peg

gy v

an S

chijn

del

P.H

.J.v

anSc

hijn

del@

uva.

nl

9 - 1

0 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Siem

Rie

p, C

ambo

dia

Firs

t co

nfer

ence

on

hist

ory

of m

edic

ine

in

Sout

heas

t A

sia

orga

nize

d by

Cen

ter

for

Khm

er S

tudi

es

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.k

hmer

stud

ies.

org

10 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Par

is, F

ranc

eC

omm

ent

est

conç

ue la

sin

isat

ion/

hani

sati

on d

e

la C

hine

?

lect

ure

spea

ker:

Joël

Tho

rava

l (EH

ESS)

orga

nize

d by

Las

ema-

CN

RS,

CN

RS,

CN

RS

-

Uni

vers

ité

Par

is X

, EFE

O

con

ven

or(s

): F

erna

nd M

eyer

& M

iche

l Pic

ard.

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.c

nrs.

fr

12 -

14 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Nak

hon

Si T

ham

mar

at, T

haila

ndVo

ices

of I

slam

in E

urop

e an

d So

uthe

ast

Asi

a

ASE

F-A

llian

ce w

orks

hop

con

ven

or(s

): U

thai

Dul

yaka

sem

(W

alai

lak

Uni

v. T

haila

nd)

& C

ynth

ia C

hou

(Uni

v. o

f

Cop

enha

gen

)

info

rmat

ion:

cyn

chou

@hu

m.k

u.dk

13 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

dsFr

om A

sian

ear

th: c

eram

ics

of S

outh

and

Sout

heas

t A

sia

sem

inar

con

ven

or(s

): E

llen

Rav

en,

Ger

da T

heun

s-de

Boe

r

orga

nize

d by

IIA

S/A

BIA

cont

act:

Wou

ter

Feld

berg

w.f

eldb

erg@

let.

leid

enun

iv.n

l

18 -

20 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Sing

apor

eFo

urth

gra

duat

e w

orks

hop

on r

elig

ion

and

tech

-

nolo

gy in

con

tem

pora

ry A

sia

Asi

a R

esea

rch

Inst

itut

e

con

ven

or(s

): F

ranc

is L

im a

nd Ja

cob

Ram

say

arir

jr@

nus.

edu.

sg

24 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Par

is, F

ranc

eP

eut-

on p

arle

r de

sin

isat

ion

en In

sulin

de?

spea

ker:

Cla

udin

e Sa

lmon

(C

NR

S)

orga

nize

d by

Las

ema-

CN

RS,

CN

RS,

CN

RS

-

Uni

vers

ité

Par

is X

, EFE

O

con

ven

or(s

): F

erna

nd M

eyer

& M

iche

l Pic

ard.

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.c

nrs.

fr

28 Ja

nuar

y 20

06

Ber

kele

y, U

nite

d St

ates

Pak

ista

n Se

curi

ty S

ympo

sium

orga

nize

d by

Cen

ter

for

Sout

h A

sia

Stud

ies,

Uni

vers

ity

of C

alif

orni

a

info

rmat

ion:

http

://i

as.b

erke

ley.

edu/

sout

hasi

a/pa

kss.

htm

l

Febr

uary

2006

3 - 5

Feb

ruar

y 20

06

Kol

katt

a, In

dia

The

Arm

enia

n di

aspo

ra: h

isto

ry, s

ocie

ty, c

ultu

re

and

trad

ing

netw

orks

sem

inar

conv

enor

(s):

Sus

hil C

haud

hury

.

orga

nize

d by

Cal

cutt

a U

nive

rsit

y

info

rmat

ion:

sus

hil1

_c@

redi

ffm

ail.c

om

4 Fe

brua

ry 2

00

6

Ber

kele

y, U

nite

d St

ates

Dis

curs

ive

hybr

idit

y an

d so

cial

coe

xist

ence

in a

Bom

bay

slum

lect

ure

spea

ker:

Mar

tin

Fuch

s

orga

nize

d by

Cen

ter

for

Sout

h A

sia

Stud

ies,

Uni

vers

ity

of C

alif

orni

a, B

erke

ley

info

rmat

ion:

http

://i

as.b

erke

ley.

edu/

sout

hasi

a/fu

chs.

htm

l

7 - 9

Feb

ruar

y 20

06

New

Del

hi, I

ndia

Indi

a an

d Ea

st A

sia:

par

adig

ms

for

a ne

w g

loba

l

orde

r

sem

inar

cont

act:

Rav

ni T

haku

r &

Shr

i Pra

kash

ravt

haku

r@vs

nl.c

om &

shri

prak

ash_

17@

hotm

ail.c

om

7 - 1

0 F

ebru

ary

200

6

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

dsIm

ages

of ‘

wild

folk

’ in

Sout

heas

t A

sia

IIA

S m

aste

rcla

ss

conv

enor

(s):

Gre

gory

For

th

orga

nize

d by

IIA

S

cont

act:

Man

on O

ssew

eije

r

m.o

ssew

eije

r@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

9 - 1

1 Fe

brua

ry 2

00

6

Leid

en a

nd A

mst

erda

m, t

he N

ethe

rlan

dsM

aois

t in

surg

enci

es in

Asi

a an

d La

tin

Am

eric

a

sem

inar

conv

enor

(s):

Sat

ya S

hres

tha-

Schi

pper

orga

nize

d by

IIA

S/II

SG

cont

act:

Mar

loes

Roz

ing

m.r

ozin

g@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

17 -

18 F

ebru

ary

200

6

Ber

kele

y, U

nite

d St

ates

21st

annu

al S

outh

Asi

a co

nfer

ence

orga

nize

d by

Cen

ter

for

Sout

h A

sia

Stud

ies,

Uni

vers

ity

of C

alif

orni

a, B

erke

ley

info

rmat

ion:

csa

sevn

t at

ber

kele

y.ed

u

http

://i

as.b

erke

ley.

edu/

sout

hasi

a/co

nfer

-

ence

/con

fere

nce.

htm

l

20 -

24 F

ebru

ary

200

6

Bue

nos

Air

es, A

rgen

tina

Inte

rnat

iona

l for

um o

n th

e So

cial

Sci

ence

-

polic

y ne

xus

wor

ksho

p

orga

nize

d by

UN

ESC

O a

nd t

he G

over

nmen

t

of A

rgen

tina

info

rmat

ion:

ifsp

wor

ksho

ps@

unes

co.o

rg

http

://p

orta

l.une

sco.

org/

shs/

en

23 -

24 F

ebru

ary

200

6

Sing

apor

eN

amin

g in

Asi

a: lo

cal i

dent

itie

s an

d gl

obal

chan

ge

conf

eren

ce

orga

nize

d by

Asi

a R

esea

rch

Inst

itut

e

cont

act:

Cha

rles

Mac

dona

ld, Z

heng

Yan

gwen

,

Ant

hony

Rei

d

mac

dona

ld@

wan

adoo

.fr,

ariz

yw@

nus.

edu.

sg, a

ridi

r@nu

s.ed

u.sg

ww

w.a

ri.n

us.e

du.s

g/co

nf20

06.

nam

ing.

htm

24 -

25 F

ebru

ary

200

6

Chi

cago

, Uni

ted

Stat

esIm

agin

ing

empi

re: v

isio

ns o

f a u

nifie

d po

lity

in

Sout

hasi

a fr

om a

ntiq

uity

to

the

pres

ent

thir

d an

nual

Sou

th A

sia

grad

uate

stu

dent

conf

eren

ce

orga

nize

d by

Sou

th A

sian

Lan

guag

es a

nd

Civ

iliza

tion

s C

omm

itte

e on

Sou

ther

n A

sian

Stud

ies

Uni

vers

ity

of C

hica

go

info

rmat

ion:

sag

sc@

listh

ost.

uchi

cago

.edu

http

://s

agsc

.uch

icag

o.ed

u/

25 -

27 F

ebru

ary

200

6

Siem

Rie

p, C

ambo

dia

Ret

hink

ing

mai

nlan

d So

uthe

ast

Asi

a: c

ompa

ring

soci

al a

nd c

ultu

ral c

halle

nges

conf

eren

ce

orga

nize

d by

Cen

ter

for

Khm

er S

tudi

es

info

rmat

ion:

che

anm

er@

khm

erst

udie

s.or

g

Marc

h 200

62

- 4 M

arch

20

06

Sura

baya

, Ind

ones

iaR

ethi

nkin

g lo

cal k

now

ledg

e in

ver

nacu

lar

sett

lem

ents

: anc

hori

ng t

he c

once

pt o

f pla

ce in

the

post

-dis

sast

er a

nd p

ost-

glob

al w

orld

thir

d in

tern

atio

nal s

emin

ar o

n ve

rnac

ular

sett

lem

ent

info

rmat

ion:

alt

re@

pete

r.pet

ra.a

c.id

http

://a

rchi

tect

ure.

petr

a.ac

.id/I

SVS3

-06/

7 M

arch

20

06

Par

is, F

ranc

eIs

lam

isat

ion

et s

inis

atio

n: a

ntag

onis

me,

com

plém

enta

rité

?

spea

ker:

Eliz

abet

h A

llès

(CN

RS)

orga

nize

d by

Las

ema-

CN

RS,

CN

RS,

CN

RS

-

Uni

vers

ité

Par

is X

, EFE

O

conv

enor

(s):

Fer

nand

Mey

er &

Mic

hel P

icar

d

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.c

nrs.

fr

12 M

arch

20

06

Ber

kele

y, U

nite

d St

ates

Dem

ocra

ts, M

aois

ts a

nd t

he m

onar

chy:

Nep

al

at t

he c

ross

road

s

publ

ic a

ffai

rs s

ympo

sium

on

Nep

al

orga

nize

d by

Cen

ter

for

Sout

h A

sia

Stud

ies,

Uni

vers

ity

of C

alif

orni

a, B

erke

ley

info

rmat

ion:

http

://i

as.b

erke

ley.

edu/

sout

hasi

a/ne

pal.h

tml

18 M

arch

- 20

Mar

ch 2

00

6

Mum

bai,

Indi

aA

sia

Soci

ety’

s 16

th A

sian

cor

pora

te c

onfe

renc

e

conf

eren

ce

co-o

rgan

ized

by

Dow

Jone

s &

Com

pany

and

the

Con

fede

rati

on o

f Ind

ian

Indu

stry

(C

II)

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.a

sias

ocie

ty.o

rg/c

onfe

renc

e/

22 -

24 M

arch

20

06

Sing

apor

e Th

e un

rave

lling

of c

ivil

soci

ety:

rel

igio

n in

the

mak

ing

and

unm

akin

g of

the

mod

ern

wor

ld

conf

eren

ce

orga

nize

d by

Asi

a R

esea

rch

Inst

itut

e,

Nat

iona

l Uni

vers

ity

of S

inga

pore

info

rmat

ion:

ari

mk@

nus.

edu.

sg

ww

w.a

ri.n

us.e

du.s

g/co

nf20

06/

ucs.

htm

22 -

24 M

arch

20

06

San

Die

go, U

nite

d St

ates

The

Nor

th-S

outh

div

ide

and

Inte

rnat

iona

l

Stud

ies

47th

ann

ual I

SA c

onve

ntio

n

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.is

a.or

g

23 -

25 M

arch

20

06

Am

ster

dam

, the

Net

herl

ands

Col

lect

ing

cult

ural

her

itag

e in

Indo

nesi

a:et

hics

,

scie

nces

and

pol

itic

s

conf

eren

ce

cont

act:

Pie

ter

ter

Keu

rs

terk

eurs

@rm

v.nl

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:16 Pagina 38


> International conference agenda27

- 29

Mar

ch 2

00

6

Bon

n, G

erm

any

From

con

cept

to

acti

on

thir

d in

tern

atio

nal c

onfe

renc

e on

ear

ly

war

ning

orga

nize

d by

EW

C II

I

cont

act:

Dav

id S

teve

ns

davi

d.st

even

s@un

ivie

nna.

org

27 -

31 M

arch

20

06

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

dsFi

rst

EAC

L sp

ring

scho

ol in

Chi

nese

ling

uist

ics

mas

terc

lass

conv

enor

(s):

Rin

t Sy

besm

a

orga

nize

d by

Eur

opea

n A

ssoc

iati

on fo

r

Chi

nese

Lin

guis

tics

cont

act:

Rin

t Sy

besm

a

r.p.e

.syb

esm

a@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

http

://d

bs.r

ub.d

e/EA

CLd

at/d

efau

lt_e

n.ht

m

31 M

arch

- 1

Apr

il 20

06

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

dsTo

war

ds a

n un

ders

tand

ing

of c

hang

ing

hill

soci

-

etie

s of

Nor

thea

ster

n In

dia

Con

veno

r (s

): E

rik

de M

aake

r

Con

tact

: Er

ik d

e M

aake

r

emaa

ker@

gmai

l.com

April

2006

6 A

pril

200

6

Ber

kele

y, U

nite

d St

ates

Vie

tnam

stu

dies

: sta

tes

of t

he fi

eld

info

rmat

ion:

cse

as@

berk

eley

.edu

http

://i

as.b

erke

ley.

edu/

csea

s

6 - 9

Apr

il 20

06

San

Fran

cisc

o, U

nite

d St

ates

AA

S an

nual

mee

ting

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.a

sian

st.o

rg

18 -

20 A

pril

200

6

Ho

Chi

Min

h C

ity,

Vie

tnam

Educ

atio

n/tr

aini

ng: t

he s

earc

h fo

r qu

alit

y

inte

rnat

iona

l con

fere

nce

info

rmat

ion:

info

en@

educ

atio

nhcm

.com

ww

w.e

duca

tion

hcm

.com

21 -

23 A

pril

200

6

Lisl

e, U

nite

d St

ates

14th

ann

ual A

SIA

Net

wor

k co

nfer

ence

cont

act:

P. R

icha

rd B

ohr

rboh

r@cs

bsju

.edu

27 -

28 A

pril

200

6

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

ds

The

deco

loni

sati

on o

f the

Indo

nesi

an c

ity

(193

0-19

60)

in c

ompa

rati

ve (

Asi

an a

nd A

fric

an)

pers

pect

ive

orga

nize

d by

NIO

D a

nd K

ITLV

cont

act:

Fre

ek C

olom

bijn

f.co

lom

bijn

@fs

w.v

u.nl

27 -

30 A

pril

200

6

Aus

tin,

Uni

ted

Stat

esSe

nse

and

subt

ance

in t

radi

tona

l Asi

an m

edic

ine

sixt

h in

tern

atio

nal c

ongr

ess

orga

nize

d by

Inte

rnat

iona

l Ass

ocia

tion

for

the

Stud

y of

Tra

diti

onal

Asi

an M

edic

ine

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.ia

stam

.org

/cof

eren

ces.

htm

29 A

pril

200

6

Cam

brid

ge, U

nite

d St

ates

10th

ann

ual K

orea

n st

udie

s gr

adua

te s

tude

nt

conf

eren

ce

orga

nize

d by

Kor

ea In

stit

ute

Har

vard

Uni

vers

ity

con

tact

: Sue

Jean

Cho

jhar

vard

@gm

ail.c

om.

ww

w.fa

s.ha

rvar

d.ed

u/~k

orea

/ksg

sc/i

ndex

.htm

l

30 A

pril

- 1 M

ay 2

00

5

Ber

kele

y, U

nite

d St

ates

Koy

il: in

vent

ion,

imag

inat

ion,

tra

nsm

issi

on &

the

tem

ples

of T

amil

Nad

u

U.C

.Ber

kele

y Ta

mil

Con

fere

nce

con

tact

: Lay

ne

Litt

le

llitt

le@

stla

wu.

edu

http

://t

amil.

berk

eley

.edu

/Tam

ilCon

fere

nce

%20

200

5/ta

milw

eb.h

tm

May 2

006

11 -

13 M

ay 2

00

6

Viln

ius,

Lit

huan

iaC

ultu

ral m

emor

y an

d cu

ltur

es in

tra

nsit

ion

oc@

cr.v

u.lt

ww

w.o

c.vu

.lt/c

onfe

r_en

g_3.

htm

l

12 -

13 M

ay 2

00

6

Sing

apor

eA

sian

exp

ansi

ons:

the

his

tori

cal p

roce

sses

of

polit

y ex

pans

ion

in A

sia

wor

ksho

p

orga

nize

d by

Asi

a R

esea

rch

Inst

itut

e

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.a

ri.n

us.e

du.s

g/co

nf2

00

6/ex

pans

ion

.htm

12 -

15 M

ay 2

00

6

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

dsIm

agin

ing

and

wri

ting

Kor

ea a

nd W

orld

s

con

ven

or(s

): Ja

Hyu

n K

im H

abou

sh,

Bou

dew

ijn W

alra

ven,

Mar

ion

Egg

ert

con

tact

: Bou

dew

ijn W

alra

ven

b.c.

a.w

alra

ven

@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

18 -

20 M

ay 2

00

6

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

dsTh

e ge

nero

sity

of a

rtifi

cial

lang

ugag

es in

an

Asi

an p

ersp

ecti

ve

sem

inar

con

ven

or(s

): F

rits

Sta

al, M

arti

n St

okho

f,

Wim

Sto

khof

, Joh

an v

an B

enth

em

orga

nize

d by

IIA

S

con

tact

: Mar

loes

Roz

ing

m.r

ozin

g@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

19 -

20 M

ay 2

00

6

Lond

on, U

nite

d K

ingd

omH

ome

and

away

: his

tori

cal a

nd c

onte

mpo

rary

pers

pect

ives

firs

t bi

enn

ial c

onfe

renc

e of

the

Guj

arat

Stud

ies

Ass

ocia

tion

info

rmat

ion

: s.m

awan

i@gu

jara

tstu

dies

.org

ww

w.g

ujar

atst

udie

s.or

g/

29 -

30 M

ay 2

00

6

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

dsEm

pire

s an

d ex

act

scie

nces

in p

re-m

oder

n

Eura

sia

sem

inar

con

veno

r(s)

: Kim

Plo

fker

, Jan

Hog

endi

jk

orga

niz

ed b

y II

AS

con

tact

: Mar

loes

Roz

ing

m.r

ozin

g@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

29 -

31 M

ay 2

00

6

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

dsIs

the

re a

‘dha

rma

of h

isto

ry’?

sem

inar

con

veno

r(s)

: Axe

l Sch

neid

er

orga

niz

ed b

y II

AS/

Leid

en U

nive

rsit

y

con

tact

: Kar

in A

alde

rink

k.a.

aald

erin

k@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

29 -

31 M

ay 2

00

6

Kol

kata

, Ind

iaC

once

pt o

f env

iron

men

tal c

onse

rvat

ion

in

anci

ent

Indi

a

info

rmat

ion

: har

appa

_04@

yaho

o.co

m

30 M

ay -

2 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

dsIn

telle

ctua

l his

tory

in p

re-c

olon

ial A

sia

mas

terc

lass

con

veno

r(s)

: She

ldon

Pol

lock

orga

niz

ed b

y II

AS

con

tact

: Man

on O

ssew

eije

r

m.o

ssew

eije

r@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

June

2006

1 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Buo

n M

a Th

out,

Vie

tnam

Loca

ting

the

com

mun

al in

Asi

an la

nd t

enur

e

ASE

F-A

llian

ce w

orks

hop

con

veno

r(s)

: Tho

mas

Sik

or (

Hum

bolt

Uni

vers

ity)

& N

guye

n Ta

n Vu

i (Ta

y N

guye

n

Uni

vers

ity)

info

rmat

ion

: tho

mas

.sik

or@

rz.h

u-be

rlin

.de

14 -

18 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Boc

hum

, Ger

man

yTh

e so

cial

his

tory

of m

inin

g: 1

9th

and

20th

cent

ury

adva

nced

sem

inar

orga

niz

ed b

y ES

TER

Eur

opea

n gr

adua

te

Scho

ol fo

r Tr

aini

ng in

Eco

nom

ic a

nd S

ocia

l

hist

oric

al R

esea

rch

cont

act:

Kla

us T

enfe

lde

klau

s.te

nfel

de@

ruhr

-uni

-boc

hum

.de

ww

w.r

ug.n

l/po

sthu

mus

/eST

ERIn

tern

atio

nal

Pro

gram

24 -

25 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Bei

jing,

Chi

naTh

e gl

obal

coo

pera

tion

of e

nerg

y ef

ficie

ncy

and

its

impe

dim

ents

EPA

wor

ksho

p, in

coo

pera

tion

wit

h C

ASS

conv

enor

(s):

Meh

di A

min

eh a

nd S

hi D

an

orga

nize

r: II

AS/

CA

SS (

Inst

itut

e of

Indu

stri

al

Econ

omic

s)

cont

act:

Meh

di A

min

eh

m.p

.am

ineh

@uv

a.nl

25 -

27 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Sing

apor

eC

hine

se n

atio

n, C

hine

se s

tate

, 185

0-20

00

bian

nual

con

fere

nce

of t

he H

isto

rica

l Soc

iety

for

the

Twen

tiet

h C

entu

ry C

hina

orga

nize

d by

Asi

a R

esea

rch

Inst

itut

e

cont

act:

Tho

mas

Dub

ois

hist

dd@

nus.

edu.

sg

26 -

29 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Wol

long

ong,

Aus

tral

iaA

sia

reco

nstr

ucte

d: fr

om c

riti

ques

of

deve

lopm

ent

to p

ostd

octo

ral s

tudi

es

16th

bie

nnia

l con

fere

nce

of t

he A

SAA

conv

enor

(s):

Adr

ian

Vic

kers

info

rmat

ion:

asa

a@uo

w.e

du.a

u

ww

w.uo

w.ed

u.au

/art

s/co

nfer

ence

s/as

aa/i

ndex

.htm

l

27- 2

8 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Man

ches

ter,

Uni

ted

Kin

gdom

Thir

d in

tern

atio

nal c

onfe

renc

e on

Sou

th A

sian

popu

lar

cult

ure

info

rmat

ion:

rajin

der.d

udra

h@m

anch

este

r.ac.

uk

ww

w.a

rts.

man

ches

ter.a

c.uk

/sub

ject

area

s/

dram

a/re

sear

ch/c

entr

efor

scre

enst

udie

s/

conf

eren

ces/

27 -

30 Ju

ne 2

00

6

Leid

en, t

he N

ethe

rlan

ds19

th E

urop

ean

conf

eren

ce o

n m

oder

n So

uth

Asi

an s

tudi

es

conv

enor

(s):

Dir

k K

olff

orga

nize

d by

IIA

S

cont

act:

Mar

loes

Roz

ing

ecm

sas2

00

6@le

t.le

iden

univ

.nl

ww

w.e

asas

.org

29 Ju

ne -

1 Ju

ly 2

00

6

Mün

ster

, Ger

man

yTh

e ri

tual

art

icul

atio

n of

cul

tura

l ide

ntit

y an

d

soci

o-po

litic

al o

rder

in In

done

sia

conv

enor

: Jos

Pla

tenk

amp

cont

act:

Jos

Pla

tenk

amp

plat

enk@

uni-m

uens

ter.d

e

July

2006

10 -

14 Ju

ly 2

00

6

Edin

burg

h, U

nite

d K

ingd

om13

th w

orld

San

skri

t co

nfer

ence

orga

nize

d by

Inte

rnat

iona

l Ass

ocia

tion

of

Sans

krit

Stu

dies

(IA

SS)

and

Asi

an S

tudi

es

(LLC

), T

he U

nive

rsit

y of

Edi

nbur

gh

J.L.

Bro

ckin

gton

@ed

.ac.

uk

P.D

unda

s@ed

.ac.

uk

ww

w/a

rts/

ed/a

c/uk

/san

skri

t/13

thW

SC

Augu

st 20

061

- 2 A

ugus

t 20

06

Chi

cago

, USA

Ann

ual c

onfe

renc

e of

the

Ass

ocia

tion

of A

sian

Per

form

ance

(A

AP

)

info

rmat

ion:

pau

ka@

haw

aii.e

du

ww

w.y

avan

ika.

org/

aapo

nlin

e/

3 - 4

Aug

ust 2

00

6

Sing

apor

eR

atio

nalis

ing

Chi

na’s

pla

ce in

Asi

a, 1

800

to 2

005

conf

eren

ce

conv

enor

(s):

Zhe

ng Y

angw

en &

Liu

Hon

g

orga

nize

d by

Asi

a R

esea

rch

Inst

itut

e

info

rmat

ion:

ariz

yw@

nus.

edu.

sg &

chs

liuh@

nus.

edu.

sg

20 -

23 A

ugus

t 20

06

Bei

jing,

Chi

naTo

uris

m a

nd t

he n

ew A

sia:

impl

icat

ions

for

rese

arch

, pol

icy

and

prac

tice

info

rmat

ion:

wfe

ighe

ry@

belt

ouri

sm.c

om

ww

w.p

kuto

uris

m.c

om/n

ews/

map

/

conf

eren

ce20

06.

htm

24 -

26 A

ugus

t 20

06

Dak

ar, S

eneg

alYo

uths

and

the

glo

bal S

outh

: rel

igio

n, p

olit

ics

and

the

mak

ing

of y

outh

in A

fric

a, A

sia

and

the

Mid

dle

East

conf

eren

ce

orga

nize

d by

Afr

ican

Stu

dies

Cen

tre

(ASC

),

ISIM

, IIA

S, C

OD

ESR

IA

cont

act:

Man

on O

ssew

ieje

r

iias@

let.

leid

enun

iv.n

l

25 -

26 A

ugus

t 20

06

Can

berr

a, A

ustr

alia

Asi

a-P

acifi

c m

issi

onar

ies:

at

hom

e an

d ab

oard

seco

nd b

ienn

ual A

NU

mis

sion

ary

hist

ory

conf

eren

ce

conv

enor

(s):

Aus

tral

ian

Nat

iona

l Uni

vers

ity

orga

nize

d by

NIA

P

info

rmat

ion:

ian.

wel

ch@

anu.

edu.

au

27 A

ugus

t - 2

Sep

tem

ber

200

6

Kön

igsw

inte

r /

Bon

n, G

erm

any

11th

sem

inar

of t

he In

tern

atio

nal A

ssoc

iati

on fo

r

Tibe

tan

Stud

ies

info

rmat

ion:

iats

200

6@un

i-bon

n.de

ww

w.ia

ts20

06.

uni-b

onn.

de

Sept

embe

r 200

67

- 9 S

epte

mbe

r 20

06

Sing

apor

e O

f Asi

an o

rigi

n: r

ethi

nkin

g to

uris

m in

cont

empo

rary

Asi

a

info

rmat

ion:

ari

wtc

@nu

s.ed

u.sg

ww

w.a

ri.n

us.e

du.s

g/co

nf20

06/

tour

ism

.htm

25 -

26 S

epte

mbe

r 20

06.

Goa

, Ind

ia

Gi4

DM

: Rem

ote

sens

ing

and

GIS

tec

hniq

ues

for

mon

itor

ing

and

pred

icti

ng d

isas

ters

seco

nd in

tern

atio

nal s

ympo

sium

on

geo-

info

rmat

ion

for

disa

ster

man

agem

ent

orga

nize

d by

the

Indi

an S

ocie

ty fo

r R

emot

e

Sens

ing

in c

oope

rati

on w

ith

AG

ILE,

FIG

,

ISP

RS,

OR

NC

, TU

Del

ft, U

NO

OSA

info

rmat

ion:

ww

w.c

omm

issi

on4.

ispr

s.or

g

Octo

ber 2

006

20 O

ctob

er 2

00

6

Ber

kele

y, U

nite

d St

ates

Foun

ding

a n

ew Is

lam

ic s

tate

in A

sia

lect

ure

spea

ker:

Jit

Sing

h U

bero

i

orga

nize

d by

Cen

ter

for

Sout

h A

sia

Stud

ies,

Uni

vers

ity

of C

alif

orni

a

info

rmat

ion:

http

://i

as.b

erke

ley.

edu/

sout

hasi

a/ub

eroi

.htm

l

Nove

mber

2006

11 -

12 N

ovem

ber

200

6

Ber

kele

y, U

nite

d St

ates

Tran

slat

ing

cult

ure:

Sik

h an

d P

unja

b st

udie

s in

glob

al p

ersp

ecti

ve

conf

eren

ce

orga

nize

d by

Cen

ter

for

Sout

h A

sia

Stud

ies

and

Dep

artm

ent

of S

outh

and

Sou

thea

st A

sia

Stud

ies,

Uni

vers

ity

of C

alif

orni

a

cont

act:

Mic

hael

Nijh

awan

msn

ijhaw

an@

gmx.

de

http

://i

as.b

erke

ley.

edu/

sout

hasi

a/

tran

slat

ingc

ultu

re.h

tml

You

can

incr

ease

pu

blic

aw

aren

ess

of

you

r

con

fere

nce

in

th

is n

ewsl

ette

r an

d i

n t

he

onlin

e A

gend

a A

sia

by s

ubm

itti

ng y

our

con-

fere

nce

deta

ils t

o w

ww

.iias

.nl/

port

al/

IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:17 Pagina 39


IIAS Newsletter #39

Winter 2005

International Institute for Asian Studies

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

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Takeo David Hymans & Natasja Kershof

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Cultures of confinement

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Staff

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Board

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

Prof. P. Spyer (Leiden University)

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

Dr J. de Jong (Groningen University)

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

Prof. M. Sparreboom (Erasmus University, Rotterdam)

Academic Committee

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

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

Prof. H. Beukers (Leiden University)

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

Dr G. Persoon - Chairman (Leiden University)

Prof. C.I. Risseeuw (Leiden University)

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

IIAS Extraordinary Chairs

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

Special Chair at the Erasmus University Rotterdam

‘Asian History’

1 October 1999 - 1 October 2007

Prof. H. Steinhauer (the Netherlands)

Special Chair at Nijmegen University

‘Ethnolinguistics with a focus on Southeast Asia’

1 September 1998 - 1 September 2006


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IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 17:18 Pagina 40

Introduction - International Institute for Asian Studies

Documents

Transcript of Introduction - International Institute for Asian Studies