By Robert Nicholl
Council of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1991
This scholarly, referenced monograph from the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society traces the course of 16th and 17th century warfare between the Spanish, local and Dutch forces in the Philippines, including the first of the Moro Wars which have become near-permanent components in the history of the area. The background and career of Raja Bongsu, ruler of Sulu c.1610 – c.1650 is set out and discussed. With colour plates of contemporary maps and ships, extensive references, and bibliography. -From Select Books Select Books | Goodreads | Amazon
The Brunei Constitution of 1959: An Inside History
By B. A. Hussainmiya
Brunei Press, 2000
An engaging chronicle in its own right, The Brunei Constitution of 1959: An Inside History paints most vividly, the political milieu of the tension-filled times of 1959, the result of which saw the promulgation of the Brunei Constitution in the said year. Through painstaking research, which at once becomes apparent as the reader thumbs through the pages, the author brings to life through the energy of his prose, events gleaned from dusty documents and thoughts culled from extensive interviews. Answering questions that have long baffled Bruneians such as why was a constitution was introduced, was it a Hobson’s Choice, why was it not implemented in full, who was behind it, who came up with the idea, this book traces the threads of Brunei’s political tapestry and triumphs as a celebration of the nation’s greatest moments. Goodreads | Amazon | Brunei Online
Packed into the relatively small area of Brunei Darussalam is an amazing plant diversity of nearly 3500 species of indigenous seed plants. Almost 3% of these are extremely rare and endemic to Brunei, and nearly half of the overall Brunei seed-plant flora is not known outside of the botanically rich island of Borneo. Of the species documented, more than half of the total 1900 species are trees. This book gives an overview of Brunei Darussalam’s varied rain forests and its incredibly rich plant wealth, and explains why the rain forests are an important aspect of conservation. Goodreads | Amazon
Language, Power, and Ideology in Brunei Darussalam
By Geoffrey C. Gunn
Ohio University Press, 1997
Contrary to modern theories of developing nations, Brunei Darussalam, which has a very high rate of literacy, is also one of the few countries where the traditional elite retains absolute political power. Professor Gunn’s comprehensive study, which assesses the state’s efforts to implement national language policies, explores the aspects of the complex relationship between language and power including the oral tradition, the rise of Islamic literacy, print culture and mass literacy, and the electronic media and its effects. Goodreads | Amazon
Broadcasting in the Malay World: Radio, Television, and Video in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore
By Drew O. McDaniel
Ablex Publishing, 1994
The book provides excellent background knowledge which is useful to anyone in the region’s broadcast history, or anyone interested in regional broadcast network developement. The research is in depth, and explores all governmental and cultural influences which steered the path of broadcast in the Malaysian-Indonesian archipelago. However, the information requires updating for Malaysia at least, as the addition of two new private terrestrial stations (Metrovision and NTV in Kuala Lumpur) and the two competing Pay TV services (Mega TV [cable] and Astro [satellite]), and the planned privatization of RTM2. For history, Broadcasting in the Malay World is a valuable reference, but hopefully Drew McDaniel will be authoring an updated version in the near future to reflect the current state of the industry in the archipelago. – by A Customer Goodreads | Amazon | Google Books
From Brunei and Beyond: The Gaijin Girl’s Guide to Asian Cuisine
By Janet E. Clarke
eBook, 2010
Designed as a guidebook to Asian Cuisine, From Brunei and Beyond takes readers through a tour of east and southeast Asia – provided a handy introduction to each country’s vocabulary and signature dishes. Goodreads | Amazon Return to Top
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Hawai’i’s strong connection with Southeast Asia is probably most easily felt through the influx of residents from the area. Many don’t realize that the University of Hawai’i is an extraordinary resource for Southeast Asian scholarship, the only university in the U.S. with Southeast Asianists in both art history and archaeology, a Center for Southeast Asian Studies plus related faculty in the history department. Noe Tanigawa found two specialists for this visit with “Four Thousand Years of Southeast Asian Art” at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. “Four Thousand Years of Southeast Asian Art,” works from Ban Chiang, Angkor and the Sukhothai Kingdom, continues at the Honolulu Academy of Arts through January 9th. Check www.honoluluacademy.org for details.
The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) is pleased to announce the Next Generation Leadership in Asian Affairs Fellowship for 2011-12. This year-long program, based in Seattle, focuses on bridging the gap between scholarship and policymaking. Fellows support NBR research projects and collaborate with leading scholars to conduct independent research and share research findings with the policymaking community in Washington, D.C.
The fellowship is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Individuals who have received their master’s degree diplomas up to twelve months prior to the application deadline may apply to the program. Applicants must have completed a master’s or equivalent professional degree (MA, MBA, LLM, JD, etc.) by the time the fellowship begins. Prospective fellows should apply only for the year that they expect to participate. No deferrals are permitted.
The Next Generation Leadership program, now entering its sixth year, is training young Asia specialists from a wide variety of fields to bridge the gap between scholarly research and the needs of U.S. policy toward a rapidly changing Asia.
The application deadline is January 15, 2011. Fellowships begin June 1, 2011, and conclude May 31, 2012. For further information and application materials, please visit the Next Generation Fellowship website: http://nbr.org/about/nextgenfellowship.aspx.
View Secretary Clinton’s speech at the Kahala Hotel in Honolulu Waikiki on October 28, 2010 entitled, “America’s Engagement in the Asia-Pacific” below:
Looking for a place to listen to radio from across southeast asia? The CSEAS staff recently discovered radiotime, a free streaming radio program online called radiotime! All the major southeast asian countries are listed, in addition to other countries across the globe. Some countries are even further categorized by locality! Check out the site and be sure to let us know what you think!
Until today, the Muslim Societies in Asia & the Pacific program (MSAP) only had a facebook presence online, so we are very excited to announce their new website: http://www.msiahawaii.com! We hope our readers enjoy the site as much as we do!
The Center for Southeast Asian Studies would like to recognize the incredible efforts of graduate assistants, Nezia and Effendy, who were instrumental in the building of the Muslim Societies in Asia program. The quality and success of the current MSIAP is a testament to their hard work and the CSEAS wishes them the best of luck on their future endeavors.
The First International Conference on HUMAN RIGHTS in SOUTHEAST ASIA
Organized by the Southeast Asian Human Rights Studies Network and the Center for Human Rights Studies and Social Development (CHRSD), Mahidol University, Thailand.
Human rights in Southeast Asia are at a critical juncture. There are a number of positive developments in the promotion and protection of human rights, such as, the institutionalization of the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), formation of national human rights commissions or institutions and the development of a dynamic human rights discourse within the region. These occur, however, alongside a significant amount of human rights violations in a wide variety of areas. There is still much work to do in the promotion and protection of human rights of ASEAN peoples.
The First International Conference on Human Rights in Southeast Asia intends to bring together academics, researchers, graduate and post-graduate students, civil society organizations and government agency representatives who work on the research and greater understanding of human rights in Southeast Asia . It seeks to explore the ways researchers and civil society have begun to make more critical contributions to deepening the understanding of human rights-based framework and actual issues through in-depth engagement with localized sites within the Southeast Asian region. Likewise, as human rights is an emerging area of study at universities and academic institutes in Southeast Asia , the conference also aims to provide a venue for the increasing body of research work being done by academics and graduate students on Southeast Asian human rights.
Possible Panel Themes will include:
1. Universality and particularity of human rights
2. Individual and collective rights
3. Gender, sexuality and women’s rights
4. Rights of vulnerable and marginalized groups
5. Peace, conflict, security and human rights
6. Challenges to human rights in Southeast Asia
7. Media, advocacy and popularization of human rights
Paper Submission Details
Those who wish to present a paper at the conference are invited to submit an abstract of 300-350 words and a short biographical paragraph of 150 words in English by 30 June 2010 to Ms. Saksinee Emasiri at seahrcon@gmail.com. Please indicate to which proposed panel you think your paper would best fall under. The full paper should be about 5,000-6,000 words.
Successful applicants will be notified by 15 July 2010. Full papers are due on 30 September 2010.
Photo taken from flickr user j l t under creative commons license
Ateneo de Manila University, PHILIPPINES
26 to 28 November 2009
On 26 to 28 November 2009, the Philippines plays host, through the Ateneo de Manila University, to the 14th English in South East Asia (ESEA) Conference. This conference carries the theme “English Changing: Implications for policy, teaching, and research.”
The ESEA conference series is the result of collaboration between the National Institute of Education (Singapore), the University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), the University of Brunei Darussalam, Curtin University (Perth, Australia), Ateneo de Manila University (Quezon City, the Philippines), Hong Kong Institute of Education, Sanata Dharma University (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), King Mongkut’s University of Technology (Thonburi, Thailand), and the University of Waikato (New Zealand).