Mobility,Stasis and Transnational Kin: Western Later-life Migrants in Southeast Asia

Studies of transnational families tend to filter understandings of mobility and stasis through a bi-national framework that juxtaposes the movement of migrants across international borders with the immobility of in-place kin within equally static national spaces. This article examines the concept-metaphors of mobility and stasis through the eyes of later-life (over 50 year-old) Western migrants living in Penang, Malaysia and Bali, Indonesia. By treating “in-place” kin as mobile subjects I examine the extent to which the movement of individuals and families within and across a range of national borders affects the lives, concerns and movements of these older, Western migrants and retirees in Southeast Asia. By examining the concept-metaphors from the perspective of these migrants I illustrate the extent to which such people both succumb to yet exceed scholarly imaginings of im/mobility and juxtapositions between mobile selves and immobile others. Migrant thinking about these concept-metaphors, I suggest, complicates an ongoing tendency within the field of transnational family studies to view mobility and stasis as categorical opposites and offers fresh insights into the role and relevance of these concept-metaphors in the lives of Western migrants in Southeast Asia and their transnational relations with teenage and adult children, ageing parents and grandchildren.     

Why did the ancient inhabitants of Palmyra suffer fluorosis?

The skeletal remains uncovered from the 2nd and 3rd century underground tombs of Palmyra, Syria, retain traces of arthritis and mottled enamel. A brown discoloration was also observed in the teeth. In order to clarify that these facts can be related to fluorosis, the teeth excavated from Tomb C and F in the Southeast Necropolis were analyzed. The fluoride contents of the fluorosis-suspected teeth (0.56 ± 0.16% (n = 7)) were higher than those of normal teeth (0.16 ± 0.18% (n = 7)). The highest content (0.85%) proved that 22% of the hydroxide in apatite was substituted by fluoride. The fluoride concentrations of the natural water including deep well water available today in this area ranged from 0.3 to 3.0 mg l⁻¹. The highest fluoride concentration was found to be regulated by the dissolution equilibrium of fluorite, CaF₂, through the process of evaporation and concentration in this arid region. Because of the common ion effect by calcium ions in a high concentration, the fluoride concentration was lower than that expected from the solubility product of fluorite (8.2 mg l⁻¹). The mechanism of this process has probably remained unchanged since ancient times and therefore the drinking water used by the ancient people of Palmyra was estimated to contain fluoride at a level causing fluorosis.     

Archaeology of Northeast Thailand in Relation to the Pre-Khmer and Khmer Historical Records

An earlier study of how the archaeological data from the Khmer period in northeast Thailand confirm and augment the information from historical texts is expanded into an examination of the early historic pre-Khmer and the post-Khmer periods. For these, both the historical and the archaeological data are more limited and problematic. The archaeological record confirms generally the changes associated with the transition from prehistory to history but raises questions about the sources of external influence and the types of political and economic organization which characterized northeast Thailand societies. More robust archaeological data and more precise chronological control will be necessary to test historical models of pre-Angkorian and post-Angkorian political development.     

Developing Complex Societies in Southeast Asia: Using Archaeological and Historical Evidence

A number of archaeologists are making significant advances in the historical archaeology of Southeast Asia. The papers presented in this issue, and the one that preceded it, provide new insights and exciting directions for future research.     

International rivers as border infrastructures: En/forcing borders in South Asia

Rivers have long been convenient yet troublesome borders. Inherently itinerant, rivers routinely defy cartographic depictions of borders as static, territorially bounded formations. Such dynamism poses material and conceptual challenges to state regulatory activities, resulting in increasingly heterodox attempts to fix waterbodies through various securitizing mechanisms. I examine the dialectical relationship between rivers and borders through the concept of the river-border complex. I ask how the Ganges River shapes the form and function of the Indo-Bangladeshi border and how, in turn, bordering practices in India regulate flows along the river, which comprises 129 km of India's border with Bangladesh. Drawing on archival records, in-person interviews, and river data, I find that the border and efforts to secure it mediate many flows along the river. The study corroborates previous work within critical border studies that securitizing cross-border flows has the perverse effect of generating greater insecurity in adjoining countries. Crucially, historical analysis of sediment, information, and human flows reveals how international rivers also determine patterns and processes of circulation and thereby warrant reconceptualization as border infrastructures, rather than as merely being subject to them.     

东北亚区域合作与图们江地区开发科学研究过程及其文献成果分析

本文从科学文献、学术会议、科学考察方面入手概括了东北亚区域合作与图们江地区开发的研究过程,从中分析了科学研究与实践和社会利益的相互关系及发展,指出今后研究重点和文献工作重点应放在国际关系动向及重大项目论证上。     

东北亚地区国际经济合作的文化地理研究

本文以地域文化观点,历史地论证了东北亚地区民族文化的若干相近之点;根据东北亚地区社会经济发展的不平衡,论述了地区经济合作的必要与可能;随着地区经济的大规模合作,必然加强其间的科学文化交流,从而将产生巨大的文化地理效应,并可能在原有基础上形成更具地域性的文化圈。     

东北亚地区矿产资源及其生产要素区位平衡的分析

作为亚太地区组成部分的东北亚地区,主要包括中国东北、俄罗斯远东地区、朝鲜、韩国、日本和蒙古。这六个国家(地区)相互毗邻,联系密切,而且交通方便,运输距离短。     

日本对东亚直接投资"雁行模式"再思考

20世纪80年代以来日本在东亚地区进行大规模的直接投资,执意要确立梦寐以求的、以日本为领头雁,带动亚洲NIES,由ASEAN和中国作为后盾的“雁行模式”。这种三位一体的投资地区分布和产生结构的梯度转移,虽然在短期内有利于日本在亚洲乃至世界保持经济、技术上的优势,有助于东亚经济的高速增长,但从长期效应来看,由于“雁行模式”所具有的致命缺陷,对东亚等发展中东道国乃至日本本国经济发展以及产业结构的高度化将带来深刻的负面效应。     

战后东南亚华人问题的成因及对策

印尼的五月骚乱突出了东南亚华人问题。反华排华一直是东南亚的普遍性现象。导致东南亚地区华人问题的主要原因是民族经济、政治发展的不平衡,语言的复杂性,以及受冷战格局和所在国与中国关系的影响。为了从根本上解决东南亚的华人问题,华人本身、所在国、中国及国际社会等不同的社会主体应采取不同的措施。