Southeast Asian Studies, part of the broader field of Area Studies, is an interdisciplinary field of study which focuses on the Southeast Asian region as its object of study. Among the principal subjects in scholarship and research in Southeast Asian Studies are history, economy, politics, society, culture, ethnicity, religion, language, and environment.

Both violence and religiosity are the “children” of human culture. Violence can be differentiated into various kinds based on contexts and motives. Consider carok, the violent tradition of settling conflict among the Madurese. It can end in serious injury or even death to those involved in the process, depending on the ardor and feeling with which they upheld their self-esteem and honor. Madurese commit carok when their honor and self-esteem are insulted or when they feel offended and hurt. When their feeling of being stressed develops into feeling ashamed (maloh or todus), Madurese resort to carok to settle conflict. The context is affirmed in the Madurese popular saying, “ango ’an pote tolang etembang pote matah,” literally “it is better to have white bone than white eyes” and metaphorically “Life is meaningless without self-esteem.”

Masaaki Okamoto

“If you are a man, go on have as many companions as you can! Ten of them, Ha! Ha! Ha!” These were the words an old lady, well over sixty,  uttered while swinging on a rocking chair.

This banter happened in a sub-district, Serang district, Banten province, Indonesia. It is not unexpected [...]

Thailand was under Japanese influence in the same period & Indians living in Thailand were also under influence of the new spirit of Pan- Asianism. Thailand extended a strong support to Indian revolutionaries living in Thailand & Indian activists could also well establish their anti- colonial projects & ventures in the country.

Her memory is not short like many other people. She remembers that in the last election,following the coup government, the majority party was the People Power Party (PPP) led by Samak Sundaravej, who became prime minister. She cannot understand the events that followed. Why was the prime minister leading the party with a majority of votes booted off the Thai political stage in a short time? How could the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD)demonstrate for as long as several months without anyone daring to do anything? How come they could go to dance and sing in Government House for ages, and even hold a rowdy marriage party there? How come tear gas could make people lose an arm or leg, and then doctors came out to explain it was tear gas from China?

A book that has had a much less enthusiastic reception in Thai academia – indeed has hardly drawn any attention at all – is the similarly titled Empire (subtitled How Britain Made the Modern World, first published in 2003), by the prolific British historian, Neil Ferguson.10 The reason Ferguson’s Empire has not been as welcome as the Empire of Negri and Hardt is easy to explain: Ferguson argues that British and American imperialism were, on balance, a “good thing.”

Although those in their privileged status as a permanent worker realized how the economic situations have created hardship they shared together with their brothers and sisters who are in contract and subcontract employment status, given the limited space they have, only sporadic and time-bound contributions are the best they can manage.1 To add to this tip of the iceberg, is the problems of the Burmese migrant workers which have been long ignored by the labor unions.

From this environment, witnessing the teachers and students, he learned a lot about the knowledge of music, giving him the capacity of innovating and recycling garbage to producing unique compositions of sounds.

…“In Indonesia only few experts understand this situation; autodidact artists with excellent talent such as Dodong, have been pushed out of the academic environment because they do not have a degree.

…As an autodidact musician who did not finish Sekolah Tehnik (technical junior high school), he gets to play with a world class orchestra in the show named “La Flute Enchantee” organized by UNESCO in France in 2006; this really makes him proud.