Javanese shadow puppetry is a sophisticated dramatic form, often felt to be at the heart of Javanese culture, drawing on classic texts but with important contemporary resonance in fields like religion and politics. How to make sense of the shadow-play as a form of world-making? In Tall Tree, Nest of the Wind, Bernard Arps explores …
Based on fieldwork conducted among the Buddhist population living in Rakhine State (western Myanmar) since 2005, this paper elucidates how people understand health and ill-health and how they deal with them as well as with the uncertainty related to them by relying on conceptions and practices originated from Buddhism, astrology, spirit cult, indigenous medicine and …
Filantropi Islam, Sejarah dan Kontestasi Masyarakat Sipil dan Negara di Indonesia Gading, Yogyakarta Indonesian translation of the Faith and the State: A History of Islamic Philanthropy in Indonesia Faith and the State offers a comprehensive historical development of Islamic philanthropy–zakat (almsgiving), sedekah (donation) and waqf (religious endowment)– from the time of the Islamic monarchs, through the period of Dutch colonialism and up …
The European ‘dark ages’ in the millennium 500 to 1500 CE was a bright age of scientific achievements in China, India and the Middle East. The contributors to this volume address the implications of this seminal era of Asian science for comparative and connective science studies. Although such studies have generally adopted a binary perspective …
The Bright Dark Ages: Comparative and Connective Perspectives Read More »
From World City to the World in One City examines changing geographies of Liverpool through and across the lives of Malay seamen who arrived in the city during its final years as a major imperial port. Draws upon life histories and memories of people who met at the Malay Club in Liverpool until its closure …
From World City to the World in One City: Liverpool through Malay Lives Read More »
In a country where “religion” is narrowly defined and strongly regulated, de facto religious activities vibrantly revived in the last three decades along with the steady growth of state-legible religions. The paper reviews the anthropological study of religion in the last three decades against the social, political, and academic contexts. I argue that this field …
Providing a detailed and comparative assessment of the humanitarian responses to a series of major disasters in Asia over the past two decades, including massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis, this book explores complex and changing understandings and practices of relief, recovery, and reconstruction. These critical investigations raise questions about the position and responsibilities of …
Over the course of the last half century, the growth economies of Southeast Asia – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – have transformed themselves into middle income countries. This book looks at how the very success of these economies has bred new challenges, novel problems, and fresh tensions, including the fact that …
Challenging Southeast Asian Development: The Shadows of Success Read More »
Transformations in Japanese housing and urban conditions in the last half century have been remarkable, reflecting significant shifts in the economy and population. The transition has been from an era of extreme of high-speed urban and industrial growth, to the creation and bursting of an economic bubble, to an new era characterized by a sluggish …
WPS 249 How Changes in Housing, Homes and Households are Reshaping Urban Japan Read More »
With Asia expected to add more than a billion people to its urban population by mid-century, attention is turning toward cities as spheres of governance for meeting pressing social, economic and environmental concerns and fulfilling people’s aspirations for a better life. Asia’s accelerated urbanization is a major contributor to an on-going global urban transition that …
