The later prehistory of mainland Southeast Asia

Until the recent expansion of research into the prehistory of mainland Southeast Asia, the development of civilizations employing Indian religious and political concepts had been seen as a major fulcrum in the area's history. The prehistoric sequence in the area is reviewed, with particular attention being paid to evidence for ritual, display, exchange, and ranking behavior within lowland sedentary communities. These date to the two or three millennia preceding Indian contact. It is argued that already by the end of the prehistoric period, there were complex centralized societies with a long tradition of recognizing status differentials among individuals, affiliated groups, and communities. The sequence incorporates the exploitation of rice, and bronze and iron working. The chronology of these innovations is compared with that in China. It is not possible at present to argue for single or multiple origins, but the area of southern China is suggested as a crucial one in further research to resolve these issues.     

Human security and public health in Southeast Asia: the SARS outbreak

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is now a global public health threat with many medical, ethical, social, economic, political, and legal implications. (Abdullah et al. 2003 Abdullah ASM 2003 ‘Lessons from the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in Hong Kong’ Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal [online] September. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no9/03–0366.htm [Crossref] [Google Scholar])

No man is an island. (John Donne)

The security of the state is dependent on the security of its individual citizens. If they are not secure, the state is not secure. Traditional, state‐dominant, conceptions of security are ill‐equipped to provide understanding into the array of security concerns that now confront nation‐states. In November 2002, one of these new security concerns, a corona pulmonary virus jumped the species barrier to begin infecting people in southern China. Three months later this virus was unwittingly transmitted from mainland China to Hong Kong. From there it spread rapidly throughout most of Southeast Asia as well as through parts of the Americas and Europe. Now known as the SARS—Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome—virus, it became a major threat to the stability and prosperity of Southeast Asian countries. This article reviews the spread and impact of the SARS virus within Southeast Asia from a human security perspective. It is intended that the utilisation of human security in this instance will not only provide a better understanding of the impact of SARS on regional states but will also advance the conceptualisation of the human security model.     

The Origins of the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia

White and Hamilton (J World Prehist 22: 357–97, 2009) have proposed a model for the origin of the Southeast Asian Bronze Age founded on seven AMS radiocarbon determinations from the Northeast Thai site of Ban Chiang, which would date the initial Bronze Age there to about 2000 BC. Since this date is too early for the derivation of a bronze industry from the documented exchange that linked Southeast Asia with Chinese states during the 2nd millennium BC, they have identified the Seima-Turbino 3rd millennium BC forest-steppe technology of the area between the Urals and the Altai as the source of the Southeast Asian Bronze Age. We challenge this model by presenting a new chronological framework for Ban Chiang, which supports our model that the knowledge of bronze metallurgy reached Southeast Asia only in the late 2nd millennium BC, through contact with the states of the Yellow and Yangtze valleys.     

东南亚伊斯兰教传播和发展中的若干问题

伊斯兰教自13世纪末以来在东南亚的传播和发展是东南亚历史发展进程中的重要环节,它不仅改变了东南亚海岛地区原有的宗教分布格局,而且对当地各国的政治、社会和文化都产生了重大而深远的影响。与此同时,伊斯兰教在东南亚海岛地区传播和发展的过程中,也受到当地宗教文化的影响而形成了自己的某些特点。本文将探讨伊斯兰教在东南亚快速传播的原因、东南亚的伊斯兰化、伊斯兰教在东南亚的本地化、东南亚伊斯兰国家出现不同政治倾向的历史渊源。     

Resolve and Credibility: U.S. Policy toward Southeast Asia

Books reviewed in this article:
Fredrik Logevall, The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of the War in Vietnam
Robert McMahon, The Limits of Empire: The United States and Southeast Asia since World War II     

Teaching Southeast Asia through fiction and memoirs

Since few undergraduates intend to major in anthropology, let alone go on to professional careers as anthropologists, I ask students to read materials that I think will most compellingly address the curiosity they have about Southeast Asians' lives. This means drawing on the increasingly rich store of Southeast Asian fiction and memoirs available in English. These materials can be used to illuminate important topics in the study of Southeast Asia. Although my own field is anthropology, a similar strategy could be used to teach courses in other fields, such as history and sociology.     

战后东南亚经济开发引发民族冲突诸因素分析

东南亚在战后经济开发的过程中,大部分国家都出现了这样或那样的民族问题。这些民族问题,既有地方民族与中央政府的对抗,也有大民族与小民族、优势民族与劣势民族之间的争斗,民族关系在一段时间里十分紧张。虽然东南亚国家的民族问题在很大程度上是西方殖民“分而治之”政策所遗留下来的恶果,但无可讳言,战后各国在经济开发过程中的政策失误等问题也是导致民族关系恶化、民族冲突加剧的一个重要原因。认真研究经济开发与民族问题,总结其他国家处理经济开发与民族问题的经验教训,具有现实意义和借鉴作用。笔认为,在一个多民族国家里,经济开发之所以会引发民族矛盾和冲突,主要有以下几个因素。     

The Transition to History in Southeast Asia: An Introduction

Studies of the transition from prehistory to history in Southeast Asia have traditionally relied primarily on documentary sources, which tend to emphasize foreign influences, rather than on the archaeological record, which suggests a series of indigenous developments. The papers in this journal issue and the next discuss strategies for using both documentary and archaeological evidence to study the transition to history and the emergence of early states in the region. These papers investigate how political units were structured and integrated in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South China, and illustrate how historical and archaeological data can cross-check each other to inform on Southeast Asian sociopolitical and economic developments during the early historic period.