This book examines Muslims in Singapore, analysing their habits, practices and dispositions towards everyday life, and also their role within the broader framework of the secularist Singapore state and the cultural dominance of its Chinese elite, who are predominantly Buddhist and Christian. Singapore has a highly unusual approach to issues of religious diversity and multiculturalism, …

Muslims in Singapore: Piety, Politics and Policies Read More »

Though wary of China’s rapid rise, her neighbours have considerable experience of dealing with unequal power without surrendering their autonomy.  For its part, china has a long memory of unequal or “tributary” relations and a relatively brief and turbulent experience of working within the current useful fiction of “sovereign equality” in international relations.  The emerging …

Negotiating Asymmetry: China’s Place in Asia Read More »

In what is today Malaysia, the British established George Town or Penang Island in 1786, and encouraged Chinese merchants and laborers to migrate to this vibrant trading port.  In the multicultural urban settlement that developed, the Chinese immigrants organized their social life through community temples like the Guanyin Temple (Kong Hok Place) and their secret …

Penang: Rites of Belonging in a Malaysian Chinese Community Read More »

The world’s population negotiates a multiplicity of naming systems. Some are compatible with the “normative” system of the world of passports and identity cards but a great many are not. This is particularly true in Asia, a region with some of the most sophisticated naming devices found anywhere in the world, including nicknames and teknonyms, …

Personal Names in Asia: History, Culture and Identity Read More »

Perspectives in lexicography: Asia and beyond is a unique volume that contains current perspectives on the theory and practice of lexicography. Written by scholars and practitioners, it offers a balanced selection of revised papers from the recent 4th ASIALEX (Asian Association for Lexicography) Conference organized by the National University of Singapore and new papers that …

Perspectives in Lexicography: Asia and Beyond Read More »

With the demise of European socialist economies and the marketization of Asian communist countries, a new global capitalism has reshaped the configuration of the world economy, with speed a determining factor to all transactions of information, finance, goods and services and people. Sea-ports that were significant for a slower but no less global economy have …

Port Cities in Asia and Europe Read More »

In India today, the sick can choose from a range of medical options, including Western biomedicine, homeopathy, Sanskritic ayurveda, Tamil siddha, Islamic unani, and Gandhian nature cure, among others. This variety might seem surprising, given the rapid globalization of the medicines, institutions, and explanatory apparatus of Western medicine. While penicillin cures many ailments, however, the …

Recipes for Immortality: Medicine, Religion, and Community in South India Read More »

In 1994 Bretton Woods conference created new institutions for international economic governance, and, though flawed, the system led to a golden age in postwar reconstruction, sustained economic growth, job creation, and postcolonial development. Financial liberalization since the 1970s, however, has involved deregulation and globalization, which have exacerbated instability rather than stimulate growth. In addition, the …

Reforming the International Financial System for Development: Lessons from the Current and Recent Crises in Developing Countries Read More »

Asian Cultural Studies or Cultural Studies in Asia is a new and burgeoning field, and the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Journal is at its cutting edge. Committed to bringing Asian Cultural Studies scholarship to the international English speaking world and constantly challenging existing conceptions of cultural studies, the journal has emerged as the leading publication in …

The Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Reader Read More »

A comprehensive new collection covering the principal traditions and critical contemporary issues of social theory. Builds on the success of The Blackwell Companion to Social Theory, second edition with substantial revisions, entirely new contributions, and a fresh editorial direction. Explores contemporary areas such as actor network theory, social constructionism, human rights and cosmopolitanism. Includes chapters …

The New Blackwell Companion to Social Theory Read More »