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Journal Name: Journal of Southeast Asian Studies: October 2005, Volume 36, Issue 3
Print ISSN:0022-4634 Online ISSN:1476-0680
Articles
Population and the Means of Subsistence: Explaining the Historical Demography of Island Southeast Asia, with Particular Reference to Sulawesi (pp337-372)
David Henley (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden)
Abstract:
The phenomenon of low population growth in pre-colonial Southeast Asia is often interpreted in terms of epidemic disease, internecine warfare or cultural idiosyncracies affecting the birth rate. The modern population boom, in these analyses, results from medical and public health improvements, military pacification or foreign cultural influences. This article, by contrast, argues that in Indonesia and the Philippines population growth has typically been a result of economic growth, and that the general sparsity of the population in early historical times reflected the low 'carrying capacity' of the environments in question under the prevailing economic conditions.
Cigar-Makers in American Colonial Manila: Survival during Structural Depression in the 1920s (pp373-397)
Yoshihiro Chiba (Graduate School of Economics and Business Adminstration, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan)
Abstract:
This article analyses the socioeconomic relations of Manila cigar-makers, who had strong bargaining power vis-à-vis management during the American colonial period. Focusing on a structural economic depression which took place in the mid-1920s, the study considers the evolution of these workers' lives in terms of skills, autonomy, stratification and cohesiveness at their work sites.
Brinkmanship and Deterrence Success during the Anglo-Indonesian Sunda Straits Crisis, 1964–1966 (pp399-417)
Toh Boon Kwan (Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore)
Abstract:
Britain and Indonesia approached the brink of war at the height of the Sunda Straits Crisis in September 1964. Using newly released declassified archival records, this study reviews the supposed British deterrence success. The factors behind successful Indonesian deterrence during the crisis contradict the prevalent view that statesmen should refrain from brinkmanship since they are unlikely to achieve their political goals at minimum costs to themselves.
Religion and the Indonesian Constitution: A Recent Debate (pp419-440)
Nadirsyah Hosen (Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law (CPICL), TC. Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland)
Abstract:
This article examines the recent debate on the position of syari'ah in Indonesian constitutional amendments (1999–2002). The article operates at two levels: a historical review of the debate on Islam and state in Indonesia and a theoretical effort to situate the Indonesian debate in the broader context of debates over Islam and constitutions. It argues that the rejection of the proposed amendment to Article 29, dealing with Islam, has shown that Indonesian Islam follows the substantive approach of syari'ah, not the formal one.
The New Muslim Romance: Changing Patterns of Courtship and Marriage Among Educated Javanese Youth (pp441-459)
Nancy J. Smith-Hefner (Department of Anthropology at Boston University)
Abstract:
This article explores changing attitudes towards courtship and marriage among educated Muslim Javanese youth, as seen against the backdrop of Islamic resurgence, growing educational achievement and socioeconomic change. Through a comparison of earlier forms of courtship and marriage with emerging trends, it sheds light on some of the tensions and ambivalences surrounding the new social freedoms and autonomy modern Javanese women have come to enjoy.
Beyond Syncretism: Hybridization of Popular Religion in Contemporary Thailand (pp461-487)
Pattana Kitiarsa (Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore)
Abstract:
This article challenges the dominant paradigm of 'inclusive syncretism' in the study of Thai religion. By taking the worship of multi-original deities in the popular spirit-medium cults in contemporary Thailand as a case study, it argues that practitioners and specialists working on Thai religious studies need to refresh and update their analytical paradigm to incorporate the concept of 'hybridization'.
(This journal is available online: http://www.cambridge.org/uk/journals/journal_catalogue.asp?mnemonic=SEA)
Posted with permission from the publisher.
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