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Snake
Set in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia, Snake is the first novel that Dewi Anggraeni has written about the Chinese descent communities in Southeast Asia. Their stories, woven into the tapestry of the mainstream Malay societies of Malaysia and Indonesia, have not only contributed to the respective society and national culture. They have also moulded the Southeast Asian overseas Chinese into a fascinating society in their own right. In common with Dewi's earlier novels, Snake presents us with an intangible, even mysterious, part of Southeast Asian life. While effective curses, and the power inanimate objects can have over people -- power for good or power for evil -- are generally considered in Australia to be fantasy, they are very much a part of life in Southeast Asia. In 'Snake', a brooch worn as a clasp for the traditional blouse, the kebaya, has power over its owner. Featuring Serena, a choreographer and lead dancer, this is the story of a family split by honour and pride, a family under the curse of a beautiful brooch. The brooch, named peniti ronce by its first owner, initially fascinates, and then destroys, its owner.
Journeys Through Shadows
When Maryati leaves her village in Central Java to live in Melbourne with her Australian husband Trevor, she suffers the intense pain of separation from her baby son. She soon realises that Trevor would never be able to accept that his innocent Maryati already had a son from an earlier casual liaison. In Melbourne, Eni, also from Indonesia, becomes Maryati's personal support system. Eni is so successful, so sophisticated, fitting comfortably into the professional community surrounding her lover, Alex and his brother, Simon. Their friendship matures as their circumstances change. Maryati experiences personal breakdown as her marriage collapses under the weight of Trevor's intransigence. Reunion with her son is the start of her recovery, a full recovery in which she becomes the sophisticated, successful woman of her village. The roles are reversed in the women's friendship as Eni's relationship with Alex leads to her becoming victim to an act of sorcery. It is only through Maryati that she is rescued from the satanic garden into which she has been cast. This novel carries all the emotional and cultural interplay that has become Dewi Anggraeni's trademark.
Parallel Forces
The story of a unique family, focussed on Amyrra, one of twin sisters, whose life parallels that of a queen from Javas Golden Age. Amyrra seeks refuge in a personal God to free herself from her fate to love and suffer again, as she had so many centuries earlier.
Breaking the Stereotype
Dewi Anggraeni wrote this book because she saw that many things which did not fit the ethnic Chinese stereotype in Indonesia were rarely brought to the public's attention, as they were not easily 'slotted' into the existing neat categories. "I wanted to break some of the issues I deemed important out of the editing 'black hole' and present them as the core contents of a book, because they were very significant not only for others to understand, but for the ethnic Chinese to understand what was happening to, and around, themselves".
Dreamseekers
When the women come to recruitment agencies to work as domestic helpers overseas, they begin building the foundation of their dreams of a better future. During their training following the recruitment, their dreams assume colours and shapes. They leave their homeland with high hopes and aspirations. Arriving at their destinations, the workers quickly realize that no amount of training can prepare them for the shock of the cold, foreign world which confronts them. Those who are placed with considerate employers have generally happy working lives. Those who are placed with employers who expect ready-to-use service from their domestic helpers have a long and rocky road to navigate. With very li...
Crabtracks
The essays in this collection celebrate the signal achievement of Dieter Riemenschneider in helping found and consolidate the study of postcolonial anglophone literatures in Germany and Europe. As well as poems, a short story, drawings of the Indian scene (the first, and abiding, focus of this scholar’s work), and ‘letters’ of reminiscence (one quite grave), there are revealing contributions of a literary-historical nature on the establishment of anglophone (especially African) literatures as an academic discipline within Germany, the UK, and Northern Europe generally, as well as a group of searching reflections on such topics of postcolonial import as globalization and the applicabili...
Maid to Queer
Maid to Queer is the first book about Asian female migrant workers who develop same-sex relationships in a host city. Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong, the book explores the meanings of same-sex relationships to these migrant women. Instead of searching for reasons to explain why they engage in a same-sex relationship, this book provides an ethnographic perspective by addressing their Sunday activities and considering how migration policies and the practices of Hong Kong people unintentionally produce alternative sexuality and desires for them. The author contrasts the migrant experiences of same-sex relationships with the...
Migration In East And Southeast Asia
There has been an undisputed increase in the importance of migration over the past decades. It is one of the effects of an increasingly globalized world, where capitalism and free trade are gaining prominence. Migration in East and Southeast Asia aims to bring migration-related problems in Asia to the forefront. The first part of the book deals with migration in Greater China, a region influenced by Confucianism. The 'three Chinas' used to have a close connection in the past, and presently share much similarity. The Hong Kongese and Taiwanese societies are based on migration from Mainland China. However, each society has endured significant social, economic, and political changes. The second part of the book offers a closer look at migration flows in Southeast Asia. Most of the intra-ASEAN migration involves low-skilled labor for construction, agriculture, and domestic work. This book hopes to offer valuable insights into various topics related to migration in the region.
Philippine Studies
These essays by Philippine and U.S.-based scholars illustrate the dynamism and complexities of the discursive field of Philippine studies as a critique of vestiges of "universalist" (Western/hegemonic) paradigms; as an affirmation of "traditional" and "emergent" cultural practices; as a site for new readings of "old" texts and "new" popular forms brought into the ambit of serious scholarship; and as a liberative space for new art and literary genres.
Indonesia Today
The turn of the century and the crossroads of reformasi presents a timely juncture for examining Indonesia's political, economic, and social history--both to evaluate current events and to chart the country's future course. Providing an up-to-date overview, this volume explores events, processes, and themes in contemporary Indonesia--including the evolution of political institutions and democracy, economic development and political economy, religious and social movements, political ideology, and the role of the armed forces. By holding a mirror to historical events, the authors add a rich dimension to our understanding of Indonesia and its problems, free from the exigencies of the present and the prejudices of the past.
