New Books in Southeast Asian Studies

C. Baker and P. Phongpaichit, “From the Fifty Jātaka: Selections from the Thai Paññāsa Jātaka” (Silkworm Books, 2019)

Dr. Chris Baker and Prof. Pasuk Phongpaichit
From the Fifty Jātaka
Selections from the Thai Paññāsa Jātaka
Silkworm Books, 2019

New Books in Arts & Letters New Books in Buddhist Studies New Books in Literary Studies New Books in Literature New Books in Peoples & Places New Books in Religion New Books in Religion & Faith New Books in Southeast Asian Studies New Books Network April 2, 2020 Alex Carroll

The Jātaka tales, or stories of the Buddha’s previous lives as a bodhisatta, are included in the Pāli Canon and have for centuries been a rich source of inspiration in Theravada Buddhism. In addition to these classical Jātaka, a number of other non-canonical Jātaka tales emerged in Southeast Asia and... Read More

Marco Z. Garrido, “The Patchwork City: Class, Space and Politics in Metro Manila” (U Chicago Press, 2019)

Marco Z. Garrido
The Patchwork City:
Class, Space and Politics in Metro Manila
University of Chicago Press, 2013

New Books in Anthropology New Books in Critical Theory New Books in Peoples & Places New Books in Political Science New Books in Politics & Society New Books in Sociology New Books in Southeast Asian Studies New Books Network April 2, 2020 Sneha Annavarapu

In contemporary Manila, slums and squatter settlements are peppered throughout the city, often pushing right up against the walled enclaves of the privileged, creating the complex geopolitical pattern of what sociologist Marco Garrido calls the “patchwork city.” Synthesizing literature in political sociology and urban studies, Garrido shows how experiences along... Read More

Sumit K. Mandal, “Becoming Arab: Creole Histories and Modern Identity in the Malay World” (Cambridge UP, 2018)

Sumit K. Mandal
Becoming Arab
Creole Histories and Modern Identity in the Malay World
Cambridge University Press, 2018

New Books in History New Books in Islamic Studies New Books in Middle Eastern Studies New Books in Peoples & Places New Books in Politics & Society New Books in Religion & Faith New Books in Southeast Asian Studies New Books Network March 10, 2020 Nick Cheesman

In the wake of the so-called war on terror we’ve become accustomed to racialized portrayals of the Arab as an inflexible and threatening other to the mores and ways of the non-Arab world. Although these portrayals are new in their historical contingencies and sociological particulars, the manner in which Arabs... Read More

Jerome Whitington, “Anthropogenic Rivers: The Production of Uncertainty in Lao Hydropower” (Cornell UP, 2019)

Jerome Whitington
Anthropogenic Rivers
The Production of Uncertainty in Lao Hydropower
Cornell University Press, 2019

New Books in Anthropology New Books in Environmental Studies New Books in Peoples & Places New Books in Politics & Society New Books in Science & Technology New Books in Science, Technology, and Society New Books in Sociology New Books in Southeast Asian Studies New Books Network March 6, 2020 Faizah Zakaria

Jerome Whitington‘s Anthropogenic Rivers: The Production of Uncertainty in Lao Hydropower (Cornell University Press, 2019) examines the dynamics and discourses centered around the development of hydropower dams in the Mekong River Basin. Through deep and connected ethnographies, the book traces how such projects create ecologically uncertain environments and the surprising... Read More

Sher Banu Khan, “Sovereign Women in a Muslim Kingdom: The Sultanahs of Aceh, 1641-1699” (Cornell UP, 2018)

Sher Banu Khan
Sovereign Women in a Muslim Kingdom
The Sultanahs of Aceh, 1641-1699
Cornell University Press, 2018

New Books in Gender Studies New Books in History New Books in Islamic Studies New Books in Peoples & Places New Books in Politics & Society New Books in Southeast Asian Studies February 28, 2020 Faizah Zakaria

In her book, Sovereign Women in a Muslim Kingdom: The Sultanahs of Aceh, 1641-1699 (Cornell University Press, 2018), Sher Banu Khan provides a rare and empirically rich view of queenship in early modern maritime Southeast Asia. Four women ruled the Muslim realm of Aceh in succession during the second half... Read More

Christopher J. Shepherd, “Haunted Houses and Ghostly Encounters: Ethnography and Animism in East Timor, 1860-1975” (NIAS Press, 2019)

Christopher J. Shepherd
Haunted Houses and Ghostly Encounters
Ethnography and Animism in East Timor, 1860-1975
NUS Press, 2019

New Books in Anthropology New Books in History New Books in Intellectual History New Books in Peoples & Places New Books in Politics & Society New Books in Religion New Books in Religion & Faith New Books in Southeast Asian Studies New Books Network February 18, 2020 Patrick Jory

Anyone who tries to understand the history, religion, and especially the “culture” of Southeast Asia, will soon encounter the phenomenon of animism, the belief that landscapes, natural objects, trees and plants, animals, and deceased ancestors, possess spirits that influence the human world. Yet “animism” is a Western analytical category, coined... Read More

Timothy Barnard
Imperial Creatures
Humans and Other Animals in Colonial Singapore, 1819-1942
NUS Press, 2019

New Books in British Studies New Books in Environmental Studies New Books in History New Books in Peoples & Places New Books in Politics & Society New Books in Science & Technology New Books in Southeast Asian Studies New Books Network February 7, 2020 Faizah Zakaria

In Imperial Creature: Humans and Other Animals in Colonial Singapore, 1819-1942 (National University of Singapore Press, 2019), Timothy Barnard explores the more-than-human entanglements between empires and the creatures they govern. What is the relationship between the subjugation of human communities and that of animals? How did various interactions with animals... Read More