Southeast Asian Studies Book List · 
Featured Titles
Resistance on the National Stage
Theater and Politics in Late New Order Indonesia
Resistance on the National Stage analyzes the ways in which, between 1985 and 1998, modern theater practitioners in Indonesia contributed to a rising movement of social protest against the long-governing New Order regime of President Suharto.…
The Return of the Galon King
History, Law, and Rebellion in Colonial Burma
In late 1930, on a secluded mountain overlooking the rural paddy fields of British Burma, a peasant leader named Saya San crowned himself King and inaugurated a series of uprisings that would later erupt into one of the largest anti-colonial rebellions in Southeast Asian history.…
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Power, Change, and Gender Relations in Rural Java
A Tale of Two Villages
By Ann R. Tickamyer and Siti Kusujiarti
Women’s status in rural Java can appear contradictory to those both inside and outside the culture. In some ways, women have high status and broad access to resources, but other situations suggest that Javanese women lack real power and autonomy.…
The Return of the Galon King
History, Law, and Rebellion in Colonial Burma
In late 1930, on a secluded mountain overlooking the rural paddy fields of British Burma, a peasant leader named Saya San crowned himself King and inaugurated a series of uprisings that would later erupt into one of the largest anti-colonial rebellions in Southeast Asian history.…
Resistance on the National Stage
Theater and Politics in Late New Order Indonesia
Resistance on the National Stage analyzes the ways in which, between 1985 and 1998, modern theater practitioners in Indonesia contributed to a rising movement of social protest against the long-governing New Order regime of President Suharto.…
A Comprehensive Indonesian–English Dictionary
Second Edition
Edited by Alan M. Stevens and A. Ed. Schmidgall-Tellings
This second edition of A Comprehensive Indonesian-English Dictionary brings the highly successful first edition up to date with hundreds of new entries in business, law, and finance, as well as specialized terminology in the fields of technology, engineering, mining, and construction.…
Between Frontiers
Nation and Identity in a Southeast Asian Borderland
A staple of postwar academic writing, “nationalism” is a contentious and often unanalyzed abstraction. It is generally treated as something “imagined,” “fashioned,” and “disseminated,” as an idea located in the mind, in printed matter, on maps, in symbols such as flags and anthems, and in collective memory.…
Sino–Malay Trade and Diplomacy from the Tenth through the Fourteenth Century
By Derek Heng
China has been an important player in the international economy for two thousand years and has historically exerted enormous influence over the development and nature of political and economic affairs in the regions beyond its borders, especially its neighbors.…
Wartime in Burma
A Diary, January to June 1942
By Theippan Maung Wa
Edited by L. E. Bagshawe and Anna J. Allott
This diary, begun after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and covering the invasion of Burma up to June 1942, is a moving account of the dilemmas faced by the well-loved and prolific Burmese author Theippan Maung Wa (a pseudonym of U Sein Tin) and his family.…
Indonesian Exports, Peasant Agriculture and the World Economy 1850–2000
Economic Structures in a Southeast Asian State
The Indonesian economy, like the Indonesian nation state, took shape as part of the colonial transformation of the archipelago by the Dutch in the mid-nineteenth century. The agricultural sector of the economy provided food and labor to the export sector, which was firmly incorporated into the world economy through international trade.…
Silenced Voices
Uncovering a Family’s Colonial History in Indonesia
Like a number of Netherlanders in the post–World War II era, Inez Hollander only gradually became aware of her family’s connections with its Dutch colonial past, including a Creole great-grandmother.…
BitterSweet
The Memoir of a Chinese Indonesian Family in the Twentieth Century
Millions of Chinese have left the mainland over the last two centuries in search of new beginnings. The majority went to Southeast Asia, and the single largest destination was the colony of the Dutch East Indies, now known as Indonesia.…
Realizing the Dream of R. A. Kartini
Her Sisters’ Letters from Colonial Java
Edited by Joost J. Coté
Realizing the Dream of R. A. Kartini: Her Sisters’ Letters from Colonial Java presents a unique collection of documents reflecting the lives, attitudes, and politics of four Javanese women in the early twentieth century.…
Being “Dutch” in the Indies
A History of Creolisation and Empire, 1500–1920
By Ulbe Bosma and Remco Raben
Being “Dutch” in the Indies portrays Dutch colonial territories in Asia not as mere societies under foreign occupation but rather as a “Creole empire.” In telling the story of the Creole empire, the authors draw on government archives, newspapers, and literary works as well as genealogical studies that follow the fortunes of individual families over several generations.…
Burma’s Mass Lay Meditation Movement
Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power
By Ingrid Jordt
Burma's Mass Lay Meditation Movement: Buddhism and the Cultural Construction of Power describes a transformation in Buddhist practice in contemporary Burma. This revitalization movement has had real consequences for how the oppressive military junta, in power since the early 1960s, governs the country.…
Locating Southeast Asia
Geographies of Knowledge and Politics of Space
Edited by Paul H. Kratoska, Remco Raben and Henk Schulte Nordholt
Southeast Asia summons images of tropical forests and mountains, islands and seas, and a multitude of languages, cultures, and religions. Yet the area has never formed a unified political vision nor has it developed cultural unity.…
A Comprehensive Indonesian-English Dictionary
By Alan M. Stevens and A. Ed. Schmidgall-Tellings
This major new dictionary is the most modern and inclusive Indonesian-English dictionary available. The product of more than twenty years of research and documentation of the Indonesian language and culture, A Comprehensive Indonesian-English Dictionary is designed to be as user-friendly as possible.…
Tensions of Empire
Japan and Southeast Asia in the Colonial and Postcolonial World
By Ken’ichi Goto
Edited by Paul H. Kratoska
Beginning with the closing decade of European colonial rule in Southeast Asia and covering the wartime Japanese empire and its postwar disintegration, Tensions of Empire focuses on the Japanese in Southeast Asia, Indonesians in Japan, and the legacy of the war in Southeast Asia.…
New Terrains in Southeast Asian History
Edited by Abu Talib Ahmad and Tan Liok Ee
At a watershed moment in the scholarly approach to the history of this important region, New Terrains in Southeast Asian History captures the richness and diversity of historical discourse among Southeast Asian scholars.…
Secrets Need Words
Indonesian Poetry, 1966-1998
Edited by Harry Aveling
The period from 1966 to 1999 represents a distinct era in Indonesian history. Throughout the “New Order” regime of President Suharto, the policies of economic development and political stability were dominant.…
Television, Nation, and Culture in Indonesia
The culture of television in Indonesia began with its establishment in 1962 as a public broadcasting service. From that time, through the deregulation of television broadcasting in 1990 and the establishment of commercial channels, television can be understood, Philip Kitley argues, as a part of the New Order's national culture project, designed to legitimate an idealized Indonesian national cultural identity.…
Theater and Martial Arts in West Sumatra
Randai and Silek of the Minangkabau
Randai, the popular folk theater tradition of the Minangkabau ethnic group in West Sumatra, has evolved to include influences of martial arts, storytelling, and folk songs. Theater and Martial Arts in West Sumatra describes the origin, development, and cultural background of randai and highlights two recent developments: the emergence of female performers and modern staging techniques.…
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