Asian History Reading Group
(Closed from Oct 2016)
This reading group was formed in August 2016 to provide a multi-disciplinary forum for the discussion of Asian history. There are no thematic perimeters or restrictions on period, with the exception that papers chosen must consider some aspect of Asian history. The reading group welcomes both those based in ARI and other faculties for a lively cross-disciplinary conversation. Themes are not set but decided by each month's speaker. The group meets monthly and is co-ordinated by Fiona Williamson & Chris Courtney (ARI) and Nurfadzilah Yahaya (History).
Group administrators: Fiona WILLIAMSON
October, 2016
Parameswari Krishnan, A. Mhd Dali, A. Zakaria Ghazali & Shritharan Subramaniam
“The History of Toddy Drinking and Its Effects on Indian Labourers in Colonial Malaya, 1900-1957”, Asian Journal of Social Sciences 42 (2014), pp. 321-382.
This article investigates into the history of toddy drinking and addiction amongst Indian coolies in British Malaya from 1900-1957. In doing so, it highlights the ill-effects of toddy on everyday-life of the coolies. It argues, toddy drinking and addiction was an ‘acquired’ trait of Indians in British Malaya and not an inherent trait they brought from India. Toeing the line of Indian nationalist discourses, the authors place the responsibility of causing ‘drunkenness’ amongst Indian coolies (in Malaya) on the colonial administration. While the colonial administration was responsible to some extent, the study fails to explore other contributive factors towards the drinking problem. Nonetheless, the article reveals how social history as a field of study, especially in Southeast Asian history, remains neglected, which remains one of the marked contributions of the article.
September, 2016
Becoming Urban: Mendicancy and Vagrants in Modern Shanghai
(Journal of Social History, 33:1 (1999), pp. 7-36)
This article offers a rich study of beggars’ culture and the institution of mendicancy in Shanghai from late imperial times to the mid-twentieth century. It examines various concepts and practices of mendicancy, including organized begging, state and society relations, public opinions of beggars, and the relationship between mendicancy and religion. It also explores how opinions and practices changed in the early twentieth century.
Lu Hanchao is Professor of History at Georgia Tech University.
February, 2016
Weather, History and Empire: The Typhoon Factor and the Manila Galleon Trade, 1565-1815
In Geoff Wade and Tana Li, eds., Anthony Reid and the Study of the Southeast Asian Past, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. 183 to 220...
by Warren, J