by Tilman Baumgärtel
Hong Kong University Press, 2012

The rise of independent cinema in Southeast Asia, following the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers there, is among the most significant recent developments in global cinema. The advent of affordable and easy access to digital technology has empowered startling new voices from a part of the world rarely heard or seen in international film circles. The appearance of fresh, sharply alternative, and often very personal voices has had a tremendous impact on local film production. This book documents these developments as a genuine outcome of the democratization and liberalization of film production. Contributions from respected scholars, interviews with filmmakers, personal accounts and primary sources by important directors and screenwriters collectively provide readers with a lively account of dynamic film developments in Southeast Asia.

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edited by May Adadol Ingawanij and Benjamin McKay
Southeast Asia Program Publications, 2011

Since the late 1990s, a vivid new sphere of cinematic practice in Southeast Asia has emerged and been identified as independent. What exactly does this term mean in relation to the way films and videos are made, and the way they look? How do issues of festival circulation, piracy, technology, state and institutional power, and spectatorship apply to practices of independent cinema throughout the diverse region? The authors who speak in this volume—contemporary filmmakers, critics, curators, festival organizers—answer these questions. They describe and analyze the emerging field of Southeast Asian cinema, which they know firsthand and have helped create and foster.

Glimpses of Freedom is the outcome of a project collaboratively conceived by a new generation of scholars of cinema in Southeast Asia, inspired by the growing domestic and international visibility of notable films and videos from the region. Contributors include internationally esteemed independent filmmakers, critics, and curators based in Southeast Asia, such as Hassan Abd Muthalib, Alexis A. Tioseco, Chris Chong Chan Fui, and John Torres. International scholars such as Benedict Anderson, Benjamin McKay, May Adadol Ingawanij, and Gaik Cheng Khoo contextualize and theorize Southeast Asia’s “independent film cultures.” The interaction between practitioners and critics in this volume illuminates a contemporary artistic field, clarifying its particular character and its vital contributions to cinema worldwide.

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edited by David C. L. Lim and Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Editor)

Routledge, 2011

This book discusses contemporary film in all the main countries of Southeast Asia, and the social practices and ideologies which films either represent or oppose. It shows how film acquires signification through cultural interpretation, and how film also serves as a site of contestations between social and political agents seeking to promote, challenge, or erase certain meanings, messages or ideas from public circulation. A unique feature of the book is that it focuses as much on films as it does on the societies from which these films emerge: it considers the reasons for film-makers taking the positions they take; the positions and counter-positions taken; the response of different communities; and the extent to which these interventions are connected to global flows of culture and capital.

The wide range of subjects covered include documentaries as political interventions in Singapore; political film-makers’ collectives in the Philippines, and films about prostitution in Cambodia and patriotism in Malaysia, and the Chinese in Indonesia. The book analyses films from Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, across a broad range of productions – such as mainstream and independent features across genres (for example comedy, patriotic, political, historical genres) alongside documentary, classic and diasporic films.

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by Jose B. Capino
University of Minnesota Press, 2010

Philippine cinema, the dream factory of the former U.S. colony, teems with American figures and plots. Local movies feature GIs seeking Filipina brides, cold war spies hunting down native warlords, and American-born Filipinos wandering in the parental homeland. The American landscape furnishes the settings for the triumphs and tragedies of Filipino nurses, GI babies, and migrant workers.

By tracking American fantasies in Philippine movies from the postindependence period to the present, José B. Capino offers an innovative account of cinema’s cultural work in decolonization and globalization. Capino examines how a third world nation’s daydreams both articulate empire and mobilize against it, provide imaginary maps and fables of identity for its migrant workers and diasporan subjects, pose challenges to the alibis of patriarchy and nationalism, and open up paths for participating in the cultures of globality.

Through close readings of more than twenty Philippine movies, Capino demonstrates the postcolonial imagination’s vital role in generating pragmatic and utopian visions of living with empire. Illuminating an important but understudied cinema, he creates a model for understanding the U.S. image in the third world.

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by Ben Murtagh
Routledge, 2013

Indonesia has a long and rich tradition of homosexual and transgender cultures, and the past 40 years in particular has seen an increased visibility of sexual minorities in the country, which has been reflected through film and popular culture. This book examines how representations of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals and communities have developed in Indonesian cinema during this period. The book first explores Indonesian engagement with waria (male-to-female transgender) identities and the emerging representation of gay and lesbi Indonesians during Suharto’s New Order regime (1966-98), before going on to the reimagining of these positions following the fall of the New Order, a period which saw the rebirth of the film industry with a new generation of directors, producers and actors. Using original interview research and focus groups with gay, lesbi and waria identified Indonesians, alongside the films themselves and a wealth of archival sources, the book contrasts the ways in which transgendered lives are actually lived with their representations on screen.

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by Robert H. Boyer
University of the Phillipines Pr, 2013

“Bob Boyer offers affectionate-often intimate-portraits of Filipino life and culture, formed over many visits to a country that many, if not most, Americans know only in the broadest terms: as a staunch ally in the Pacific and its other wars, as the rack of Imelda’s shoes, and as the home of Manny Pacquiao. Bob sharpens that picture with factual detail. Whether he’s riding a jeepney, sipping iced tea at the Chocolate Kiss, exploring the mysteries of Quiapo, or marching up Bataan and Corregidor, Dr. Boyer invariably delights and inevitably instructs; sometimes-like all good teachers do, but ever so gently-Bob disturbs and critiques us with his observations. It’s hard to imagine how a visitor from the snowbound American Midwest could connect so well with sun-baked Pinoys, but Bob Boyer did-and does again, through this eminently enjoyable book.” –Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr., PhD, Professor, University of the Philippines Diliman. “I have not met Prof. Boyer. Yet, I feel that I know him quite well. His style of writing for Sundays in Manila is not only easy to read, it is also personal. During my four decades of travel to the Philippines I walked many of the paths Prof. Boyer writes about. The scenes are described so vividly and with such clarity that I feel I am at his side. The book also served as a learning experience for me. While I visited many of the same sites, the book describes them in so much additional detail that I now know the sites better. The Philippines is blessed by a number of historic sites as well as those associated with the American period and World War II. Professor Boyer serves both as a personal historian and a guide as he brings historic events to life. The book serves as an excellent reference for persons interested in Philippine history as well as for those who plan to visit the country.” –John A. Ballweg PhD, Professor Emeritus, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

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by Christian and Christine Schneider
Piquant Editions, 2012

“No Europeans live there!” exclaim the locals when the Schneider family moves to the slums of Manila. Yet garbage dumps and tin shacks are to be their home for many years. It’s here that they encounter chief witness Nick, doomed Jessabel, rapist Arol, billionaire Doña, guerilla Nardo, burnt-out development worker Rob … The couple’s gripping, first-hand account tells of countless fascinating encounters, of friendship and betrayal, of floods and shoot-outs in broad daylight, of prayers, dreams and fears, of meaningless death and meaningful life. Christian Schneider, a trained nurse, and his wife, Christine, a primary school teacher, spent over nine years in the slums of Manila with their two children. Through their life with the poor, they helped develop therapeutic communities for former drug addicts, prostitutes and street children. Christian and Christine now live back in Switzerland, but continue to support the aid organization Onesimo they founded in Manila.

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edited by Erlinda Enriquez Panlilio
Anvil Publishing, 2006

“This little volume is a valuable contribution to the lore that accumulates about every great city in the world– part social history, part myth, and part love song. Manila might be sinking under the weight of problems proclaimed every day by newspaper columnists and TV commentators. It might be plagued by calamities, both natural and manmade. It historical monuments might be wrecked by unthinking politicians; it walls and bridges defaced by ugly posters and graffiti; its hapless pedestrians killed by reckless drivers and ineptly constructed billboards. It will survive nonetheless, because people like the writers of this book will not give up on it. These Manilenas will stand their ground. Here is their testament to the city of their affections.” — From the Foreward by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo

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by Nick Joaquín
Bookmark Publishing, 1999

A history of the Philippines written by a Manileño (a Philippine National Artist for Literature) from the point of view of a Manila resident. This book gives great insight into the city and how it came to evolve into what it is today.

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by Cristina Evangelista Torres
Clearway Logistics Phase 7-9, 2012

This book makes use of the historical descriptive method to describe the origins and evolution of the Americanization process in Manila in the first two decades of American rule. It seeks to describe the transformation of the city in the light of the American colonial objectives. It focuses on the sociopolitical dynamics of administrative policy on three important components of America social modernization program: city planning and infrastructure, health and sanitation, and education. The book adops an entirely different framework by examing colonization from the perspective of cross-cultural relations. It espouse an interdisciplinary approach and uses indigenous social science concepts as integrating mechanism. The author uses the concepts of indigenous concepts of loob and kapwa and Scott’s dominant -subordinate relationship as operation paradigms to analyze colonial relationships in a historical study. The various forms of interaction between Americans and the Filipinos are examined from records of both public and private discourse of Americans and Filipinos.

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by Manny Pacquiao and Timothy James
Dunham Books, 2010

“Pound for pound, Manny is the best boxer in the world, but even more important than holding that distinction, Manny has connected with the people of his home country, the Philippines, to the point where he is almost like a god.” –Lennox Lewis, former heavyweight boxer and HBO commentator

Pacman is Manny’s miracle story – his autobiography. Born and raised in an impoverished village in the Philippines, Manny began his life on the ropes. He provided for his family of five in his pre-boxing life by selling practically anything and everything on the streets just to help his family survive. The hard work, determination, and sheer grit that would characterize him as a boxer showed through in a big way during these early years. Though he dreamed of being a priest, his mother could not afford the education, so he soon found another way to move heaven and earth: boxing. According to the New York Times, Manny is pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world today. His rags-to-riches story will inspire you.

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by Rafe Bartholomew
New American Library, 2010

In Pacific Rims, Rafe Bartholemew, journalist, New Yorker, and veteran baller, ventures through the Philippines to investigate the country’s love of basketball.

From street corners where diehards fashion hoops out of old car parts to the professional league where politicians exploit team loyalties to win elections, Pacific Rims gets the story-and gets in the game.

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by Mellie Leandicho Lopez
University of Philippines Press, 2005

“There is no doubt that this marvelous compilation of Philippine games will take its rightful place in the history of folklore research as one of the major collections of traditional games, perhaps ranking with Stewart Culin’s Games of the North American Indians (1907) and Lady Alice Gomme’s Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1894-1898). For this reason, folklorists of the present and future stand greatly indebted to Mellie Leandicho Lopez for her remarkable achievement in recording and preserving so important a portion of the traditional heritage of the Philippines.” Alan Dundes Chairman, Folklore Program University of California, Berkeley President, American Folklore Society 1980

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by Mark V. Wiley
Tuttle Martial Arts, 2001

The Filipino martial tradition, its history, cultural perspective and technique, makes for a rich and fascinating story. This is the first book to delve deeply into that legacy, examining the different schools of arnis and contributions made by leading arnisadores through history. This book examines training regimens, fighting techniques and innovations, and provides an exhaustive bibliography of all the books ever written on the subject. With 125 remarkable photographs, Mark Wiley’s groundbreaking study of arnis stands as an important source book for all serious practitioners of unarmed Filipino martial arts-as well as any serious student of martial arts as it is practiced worldwide.

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by Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III and Angelo Michael F. Merino
Mill City Press, Inc. 2012

From Pancho to Pacquiao: Philippine Boxing In and Out of the Ring is a snapshot of more than a century of Philippine boxing. It is a compilation of lucid and readable biographies of outstanding Philippine-born and Filipino American boxers, from Francisco “Pancho Villa” Guilledo to Manny “People’s Champ” Pacquiao. Each story describes the rough roads these Filipino and Filipina boxers took to achieve fame and glory globally. Vivid photos and personal interviews combine to make the narratives real and captivating.

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edited by Kennon Breazeale
Foundation for the Promotion of Social Sciences and Humanities, 1999

“This truly impressive volume has stood the test of time and relevance as scholars and others alike continue to discuss the transnational maritime connections across Asia. One of the major accomplishments of this volume, however, is that rather than place the focus of the narrative on the rise of the European trading companies in the region during the Early Modern period, readers are rather encouraged to refocus on the rise of Ayutthaya as “one of the most powerful polities in this part of the world.” (Preface) The volume bears relevance to scholars of Thailand and Southeast Asia alone as it neatly traces the development of the second major Thai state, or rather state-like polity (after Sukhothai), in the region during its four hundred and sixteen year long apogee from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Furthermore, through an assertion of the evidence mounted in this volume it is possible to assert that Ayutthaya bears not only regional but also global significance as the well protected hinterland location of this up-river polity provided a comfortable location of exchange between the Oceanic networks stretching from the Mediterranean through the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the straights of Melaka outward to the Vietnamese Coast, the South China Sea and Eastern Asia.”

From a review by William Noseworthy

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by Michael Smithies
Silkworm Books, 2000

This long-forgotten tale of the shipwreck off the coast of Africa of a Siamese embassy to Lisbon in 1686 lay buried in the text of a French book printed 300 years ago. The author of the text was the intrepid and intriguing Jesuit Tachard, who published accounts of his first two journeys to Siam. In his second book, written when he was King Narai’s personal envoy to Louis XIV and Pope Innocent XI, Tachard relates the account of the shipwreck as told by one of its survivors, Ok-khun Chamnan Chaicong, who was accompanying Tachard on his return to France. Ok-khun Chamnan, during his odyssey as part of the aborted embassy to Portugal, spent nearly a year in Goa, where he learned Portuguese; a month traveling overland from Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa, to the Cape of Good Hope; four months at the Dutch settlement at the Cape; six months in Batavia; and several months at sea. On his return to Siam in 1687 he was ordered to greet the French envoys La Loubre and Szberet soon after their arrival. The adventures of this Siamese khunnang did not end with his unsuccessful journey to Lisbon. He went on to Europe in 1688, visited the Riviera and Rome in winter, met the pope, and then in 1689 had an audience with Louis XIV. He converted to Catholicism and returned from Europe in 1690, disembarking at Balassor in Bengal before returning to Ayutthaya overland from Mergui. This extraordinary account has been translated into English for the first time, and is accompanied by three contemporary texts by Choisy, Tachard, and La Loubre describing the Dutch settlement at the Cape.

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by Stefan Eklof
Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2006

Southeast Asia contains some of the world’s busiest shipping waters, particularly the Indonesian archipelago, the Straits of Malacca and South China Sea. The natural geography and human ecology of maritime Southeast Asia makes the area particularly apt for piracy. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that these waters are also the world’s most pirate-infested, accounting for over a third of the total number of pirate attacks world-wide. The figures have increased in recent years, as transnationally organized crime syndicates have extended their activities in the area. Meanwhile, the capacity of the state authorities in the region to suppress piracy appears to have declined, fuelling suspicions that sections of the maritime authorities are colluding with some of the organized pirate gangs that they are supposed to be combating. Not surprisingly, piracy has a long history in the region, and in several instances during the last 250 years, pirates have disrupted peaceful trade and communications. This text traces the shifting character and development of Southeast Asian piracy from the 18th century to the present day, demonstrating how political, economic, social and technological factors have contributed to change – but have by no means exterminated – the phenomenon.

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by Kenneth R. Hall
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011

This comprehensive history provides a fresh interpretation of Southeast Asia from 100 to 1500, when major social and economic developments foundational to modern societies took place on the mainland (Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam) and the island world (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines). Kenneth Hall explores this dynamic era in detail, which was notable for growing external contacts, internal adaptations of nearby cultures, and progressions from hunter-gatherer and agricultural communities to inclusive hierarchical states. In the process, formerly local civilizations became major participants in period’s international trade networks.

Incorporating the latest archeological evidence and international scholarship, Kenneth Hall enlarges upon prior histories of early Southeast Asia that did not venture beyond 1400, extending the study of the region to the Portuguese seizure of Melaka in 1511. Written for a wide audience of non-specialists, the book will be essential reading for all those interested in Asian and world history.

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by Shirley Fish
AuthorHouseUK, 2011

During the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, the transpacific treasure galleons sailed annually from Manila to Acapulco. In Manila, the vessel was loaded with the scented spices of the East, luxurious silks from China, exquisite hand crafted lacquerware from Japan and a multitude of Oriental goods that the Spaniards of New Spain longed to own. The returning galleon from Acapulco to Manila, carried as much as 2.5 million silver pesos in payment of the goods sent to the New Spain in the previous year, as well as a yearly silver subsidy of 250,000 reales for the maintenance of the colonial government in the Philippines. But while the galleons mainly sailed alone and unaccompanied from Manila to Acapulco and vice versa, they were vulnerable to a host of calamities and misfortunes. A fire on board the vessel or a terrifying storm could end the voyage and the lives of every one on the ship even before the galleon was able to reach land. Additionally, the commanders of the galleons were always threatened by lurking pirates and privateers who preyed on the vessels and coveted the treasures they carried. The book describes in detail how the galleons were attacked at sea and how they fought against enemy vessels, as well as how many of the ships sank or were shipwrecked over the years. It also covers their management, construction, manning, weaponry, navigation, daily life on the ship, provisions, cargoes and voyages. The book contains an annotated list of the galleons sailing between the Philippines and Mexico from 1565 to 1815. This informative book is the first of its kind to cover such an expansive history of the Pacific galleons which up to this point had remained largely untold.

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by Jens Uwe Parkitney
Flame of the Forest, Singapore, 2007

In his one-of-a-kind book, Bloodfaces, Jens Uwe Parkitny’s lenses draw us up close to the women from tribal groups such as the Laytu, and his camera unveils not only the variety of delicate tattoo patterns among various Chin groups, but also, more importantly, the innate strength and courage of these women who sat in pain, enduring the needlework, as blood and tears ran down their faces.

The book, a limited edition, is the first of its kind to portrait of what is left in contemporary Myanmar (Burma) of an ancient tribal practice which is vanishing fast but was once wide spread among indigenous ethnics in Asia. Though facial tattoos are still practiced by the Naga tribes in North East India, very little is known about the fact that until recently the Chin in Rakhine and Southern Chin State tattooed the faces of their young girls and women.

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by Lars Krutak
Edition Reuss, 2010

KALINGA TATTOO: ANCIENT AND MODERN EXPRESSIONS OF THE TRIBAL is a photographic masterpiece that explores the vanishing art of Kalinga tribal tattooing in the remote mountains of the northern Philippines. Combining the visionary talents of numerous international photographers and the words and stories of nearly fifty Kalinga elders, Kalinga Tattoo is the first book to tell the story of this incredibly rich tradition of indigenous body art that is believed to be 1,000 years old.

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by Lane Wilcken
Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2010

Tattooing is a very old and spiritually respected art form that has existed in many different cultures around the world. After many centuries of not being practiced in Europe, tattooing was re-introduced to the Western world through the inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean. Beginnning in the 16th century, European explorers came across many people who practiced tattooing as an integral part of their cultures.This is the first serious study of Filipino tattoos, and it considers early accounts from explorers and Spanish-speaking writers. The text presents Filipino cultural practices connected with ancestral and spiritual aspects of tattoo markings, and how they relate to the process and tools used to make the marks. In the Philippine Islands, tatoos were applied to men and women for many different reasons. It became a form of clothing. Certain designs recognized manhood and personal accomplishments as well as attractiveness, fertility, and continuity of the family or village. Facial tattoos occurred on the bravest warriors with names that denoted particular honor.Through the fascinating text and over 200 images, including color photographs and design drawings, the deep meanings and importance of these markings becomes apparent.

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by Tom Vater and Aroon Thaewchatturat
Visionary World Ltd, 2011

Sacred tattoos, called sak yant in Thailand, have been around Southeast Asia for centuries and afford protection from accident, misfortune, and crime. Young women get tattooed with love charms in order to attract better partners, while adolescent men use the protective power of their yants in fights with rival youth gangs. For most though, the tattoos serve as reminders to follow a moral code-endorsing positive behavior. At the time of the application of a sak yant, the tattoo master establishes a series of rules that his tattooed disciples will have to follow for the rest of their lives, usually starting with Buddhism’s first five precepts. Failure to observe the guru’s instructions will cause the sak yant to lose their power. Yet there is more to this than the written word. It goes deeper. This book serves as an introduction to the sak yant, Thailand’s spirit tattoos, and the men and women who make them come alive on their skin.

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by Joe Cummings and Dan White
Marshall Cavendish Corp/Ccb, 2011

Sacred Tattoos of Thailand: Explore the Magic, Masters and Mystery of Sak Yan is the first illustrated book in English to trace the history and origins of the Tai hand-inked tattoo tradition. While Thailand remains the centre of the cultural form’s conservation and development, similar traditions exist today in Cambodia, Laos and parts of Vietnam, China and Burma. The product of 18 months of field research and photography, Sacred Tattoos of Thailand brings the world of this fascinating and commonly misrepresented tradition to light. Rather than sensationalise sak yan and popularise the misconception that the tradition is the stuff of gangsters and bad boys, Sacred Tattoos of Thailand sheds light on the tradition s spiritual roots and how it combines into a single belief system elements of Buddhism, Brahmanism and animism, all of which are underpinned by a strict moral and ethical code that is passed from master to disciple.While masters range from monks to laymen, the sak yan people featured in the book come from all walks of life, from New York rock drummer Ming Roth, Singaporean deejay Chris X Ho and Thai actress Jan Yousagoon, to nightclub bouncers, wandering monks and an officer from the Department of Special Investigations.Joe Cummings expert text traces the development of the tradition in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. While sak yan is in decline in neighbouring countries, the narrative shows how Thailand remains the safe harbour of this vibrant cultural form which otherwise would be at risk of dying out.Beyond bringing the life stories of the various ajarns and their predecessors to light, the author explores the magic and symbolism of the various tattoo traditions, including primary research into the little known Lanna script from Northern Thailand. Visually, Dan White s reportage-style photography takes readers into the salas of the sak yan ajarns, shedding light on their daily lives, the preparations and rituals that give the tattoos their power, and the deep relationships that are formed between master and disciple. Rather than opting for posed artistic portraits the photographer has taken great effort to show the people and places featured in the book in their everyday lives, making them the story.

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Edited by Watson and Ellen
University of Hawaii Press, 1993

Witchcraft holds a perennial fascination for scholars and the public at large. In Southeast Asia malign magic and sorcery are part of the routine experience of villagers and urban dwellers alike, and stories appearing in the press from time to time bear witness to a persisting public concern. The essays presented in this volume describe what people believe and what actions result from those beliefs. Not surprisingly, given the range and variety of cultures, considerable differences exist in the region. Among some cultures, in Thailand and Indonesia for example, sorcerers are said to possess spirits that empower them to cause illness and misfortune. Elsewhere, in Malaysia and Sumatra, the power of the dukun derives from the accumulation of arcane knowledge and mystical practice. Contributors describe the witches and sorcerers they have met and suggest both how their societies look upon them and how we in turn should regard them. Understanding Witchcraft and Sorcery in Southeast Asia will appeal to scholars and students of social anthropology and comparative religion. Its substantial contribution to theoretical and comparative issues in a Southeast Asian context provides a fresh perspective on a stimulating topic.

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by Alex G. Paman
Tuttle Publishing, 2011

Ghost stories are commonplace in traditional Filipino culture, with virtually every family having their own personal accounts of encounters with the supernatural. Passed on from generation to generation, these tales act as a bridge to the past, to a time lost or nearly forgotten.

Full of ghostly encounters with all manner of things eerie and terrifying in the Philippines, Filipino Ghost Stories is a collection of creepy tales that have been told in the author’s family for generations. The book delivers terrific entertainment—and some good chills—for those interested in the Philippines and aficionados of the supernatural alike.

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by Lansell Taudevin
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2010

Malaysia is a country riddled with folklore of ghosts: hantu, pontianak, tigbanua, djinn and so on. There are hundreds. This books takes a light hearted look at some of the ghost stories that are popular in that country. read and believe – if you will!

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by Nigel Barley
Monsoon Books Pte. Ltd., 2010

Many men dream of running away to a tropical island and living surrounded by beauty and exotic exuberance. Walter Spies did more than dream. He actually did it. In the 1920s and 30s, Walter Spies – ethnographer, choreographer, film maker, natural historian and painter – transformed the perception of Bali from that of a remote island to become the site for Western fantasies about Paradise and it underwent an influx of foreign visitors. The rich and famous flocked to Spies’ house in Ubud and his life and work forged a link between serious academics and the visionaries from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, Miguel Covarrubias, Vicki Baum, Barbara Hutton and many others sought to experience the vision Spies offered while Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, the foremost anthropologists of their day, attempted to capture the secret of this tantalizing and enigmatic culture. Island of Demons is a fascinating historical novel, mixing anthropology, the history of ideas and humour. It offers a unique insight into that complex and multi-hued world that was so soon to be swept away, exploring both its ideas and the larger than life characters that inhabited it.

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Edited by Fjelstad and Nguyen
Cornell University Southeast Asia Program Publications, 2006

Essays examining the resurgence of the Mother Goddess religion among contemporary Vietnamese following the economic “Renovation” period in Vietnam. Anthropologists explore the forces that compel individuals to become mediums and the social repercussions of their decisions and interactions.

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by Lee Jones
Palgrave Macmillan, 2012

Drawing on the fields of political economy and historical sociology, Lee dispels the overwhelming consensus among scholars that members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) never interfere in the internal affairs of other states, and pioneers a new approach to the understanding of regional politics in Southeast Asia.

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by Lee Yoong Yoong
World Scientific Publishing Company, 2011

The initiative to establish the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Community was adopted by the ten leaders at the 2003 Bali Summit in Indonesia. Since then, the concept of a community-building process in ASEAN has become an issue that attracts a great deal of attention from scholars and experts around the world.

ASEAN Matters! Reflecting on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations carries essays with different perspectives on critical issues relating to the three pillars in building the ASEAN Community, namely the ASEAN Political and Security Community; the ASEAN Economic Community; and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. In a nutshell, this book provides broad and invaluable insights into the role ASEAN plays in enhancing peace, prosperity, and stability in the Southeast Asian region.

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Edited by Michael G. Plummer and Chia Siow Yue
Insitute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009

The ASEAN Economic Community constitutes the most ambitious programme of economic cooperation in the developing world. Its goal is to create no less than a free flow of goods, services, foreign direct investment, and skilled labour, as well as a freer flow of capital, throughout the region. Implementing this agenda will be technically and politically difficult. Hence, understanding the potential economic “payoff” is of the essence. The goal of this book is to assess empirically the likely economic effects of the AEC on the ASEAN Member States and associated stakeholders. It mobilizes a number of techniques to do so, and finds that the likely effects will be large, even greater than the anticipated effects of the Single Market Program in Europe, for example. The AEC will help the region improve competitiveness, facilitate the creation of production networks, foster the diffusion of “best practices,” and help ASEAN project its interests more effectively in an increasingly integrated, global economy.

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by Jurgen Haacke
Routledge, 2005

Examines the origins of ASEAN’s diplomatic and security culture and goes on to assess whether it is likely to remain salient as the political, economic and security context in which regional leaderships operate is undergoing further change.

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by Amitav Acharya
Routledge, 2009 (2nd edition)

This second edition of Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia takes the excellent framework from Acharya’s first edition and brings it up-to-date, looking at ASEAN’s comprehensive and critical account of the evolution of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) norms and the viability of the ASEAN way of conflict management.

Key issues in determining the future stability of the Southeast Asian and Asia Pacific region are covered, including:

• intra-regional relations and the effect of membership expansion
• the ASEAN Regional Forum and East Asian regionalism
• ASEAN’s response to terrorism and other transnational challenges
• debates over ASEAN’s non-interference doctrine
• the ‘ASEAN Security Community’ and the ASEAN Charter
• the impact of the rise of China and India and ASEAN’s relations with the US and Japan.

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by Francesca Purcell
Routledge, 2005

In view of the increasing number of Third World countries considering the establishment of women’s colleges to meet the demand for the higher education of women, presenting a case study of two key women’s colleges in the Philippines. Within the context of global, national and local changes since the fall of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, academic and administrative leaders at two prestigious women’s colleges candidly discuss how their respective institutions adapted to their environments and how the colleges will fare in the future. Preferences for large, coeducational institutions; the emergence of less expensive tertiary institutions; and the downward spiral of a weak national economy combined to destabilized the enrollment base of these colleges. Factors unique to the Philippines including an increasing number of female overseas contract workers; struggles with national language preferences; and the growth of feminism also affected the colleges. In response, the colleges expanded their curricula, chose high-profile presidents, focused on faculty development, and acquired technology. Decision-markers at these colleges will have to continue in their efforts at solidifying their positions in the Philippine higher education system. The book that women’s colleges worldwide must articulate their unique purposes and collaborate with other institutions to strengthen their organizations.

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by Nathan Gilbert Quimpo
Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2008

When people power toppled the dictator Marcos, the Philippines was considered a shining example of the restoration of democracy. Since 1986, however, the Philippines has endured continuing political and social unrest and encountered tremendous obstacles to the consolidation and deepening of democracy. Scholars have called post-Marcos Philippines an elite democracy, a cacique democracy, or a patrimonial oligarchic state.

In this volume, Nathan Gilbert Quimpo disputes such characterizations of democracy. He argues that the deepening of democracy in the country involves the transformation of an elite-dominated formal democracy into a participatory and egalitarian one. He focuses on emergent, democratically oriented, leftist parties and groups that seek to transform the formal democracy of the Philippines into a more substantial one and shows the difficulties they have encountered in fighting patronage politics. The complexity of the process to deepen democracy in the Philippines becomes evident from Quimpo s exploration of competing notions of democracy, contending versions of the civil society argument, and contending perspectives in governance.

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by Albert F. Celoza
Praeger Publishers, 1997

Ferdinand Marcos came to power in the Philippines in a coup d?tat in 1972 and ruled absolutely, in the name of order, until his dramatic overthrow in February of 1986. This study examines how the authoritarian regime of Marcos remained in power, sometimes in the face of massive opposition, for 14 years. Repressive regimes may seem undesirable, but they are often able to elicit the support of significant sectors of society. Marcos was able to maintain authoritarian rule through the support of bureaucrats, businessmen, and the military–all with the assistance of the United States government. He maintained this network of support through a patron-client system with a centralized bureaucracy as its power and resource base. In order to reward his supporters, he expanded the authority of government. But to minimize the political cost of expansion, he maintained the legal and constitutional forms of democracy. The Philippine experience in despotism is not unique; many Third World countries are under authoritarian rule. This subtle and nuanced analysis, therefore, provides an examination of the levers of power available to absolute rulers, to better understand the political economy of authoritarianism.

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by Charles C. McDougald
San Francisco Publishers, 1987

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by James K. Boyce
University of Hawai’i Press, 1993

The experience of the Philippines from the 1960s to the 1980s vividly illustrates the interplay between wealth and power in the course of economic development. During this period, the benefits of economic growth conspicuously failed to trickle down. Broad sectors of the Filipino people experienced deepening poverty. Professor Boyce traces this outcome to the country’s economic and political structure, and to the development strategies pursued by the Philippine government and its international backers. Impressive gains in rice production via the ‘green revolution’ failed to translate into less hunger. Profits from the country’s agricultural exports – sugar, coconut, banana, and pineapple – were concentrated in the hands of a few. Forestry exports triggered severe environmental degradation, the main victims of which were the poor. Massive external borrowing financed capital flight rather than productive investment, and left the country with a crushing foreign debt burden. The Philippine experience provides important insights into the political economy of development.

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