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“. . . The fullest and most comprehensive ethnography of the Baba community in Malaysia. . . . The author is a meticulous ethnographer, and provides three chapters of richly detailed information on Baba kinship and marriage practices, ancestor worship, Chinese folk religion and festivals and a variety of Baba social patterns and organizations. . . . This is certainly a necessary and pleasurable reading materials for scholars of Malaysia, and for those interested in ethnicity more generally.” Professor Judith Nagata, Pacific Affairs 62(2), 1989. Based on a long-term ethnographic study, the new edition of this book provides a comprehensive description of Baba culture and identity in Melaka...
This book preserves and scientifically interprets the African foreknowledge on water resources management. It offers insight into the relevance of the traditional knowledge and practices to modern approaches on sustainable water management. The African continent has partially preserved its natural habitat for centuries. In this book, this knowledge is combined with the current scientific understanding. The traditional practices are categorized as: i) water harvesting, ii) water transportation, iii) water storage and conservation, iv) water treatments, v) myths and folk stories about water management or conservation, vi) water resource management systems, and vii) soil–water–forest conservation/management systems sub-topics. The findings presented here are in line with SDG 6, which aims at ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by the year 2030.
This book examines issues of cultural change and identity construction of Chinese overseas, as well as other important issues such as Chinese and non-Chinese relations, and cultural and economic performance. It offers a perspective of understanding Chinese overseas in nation-states and beyond, in a global context which the author describes as the Chinese ethnological field. The author's many years of research on cultural change and Chinese ethnicity in Southeast Asia enables him to describe vividly the effects of localization — the process of becoming local and identifying with the locals — on Chinese ethnicity and cultural identities. This informative and theoretically interesting book enables readers to have a deeper understanding of the issue of Chinese and Chinese-ness in the diaspora.
The concept of culture has long been criticized, with many scholars reformulating it or discarding it entirely. The field of intercultural communication and relations, however, still relies on culture to examine interculturality and this volume provides a comprehensive examination of the problems that the concept poses today.
Explores the concept of 'house' in the context of Levi-Strauss' idea of the house as a link between kinship-based societies and class societies, developing this further into an examination of a conjuncture of architecture, people and symbolism.
This edited work explores piracy and surreptitious activities such as privateering, war-making, slave-hunting and raiding, focussing on Southeast Asia in the early modern period. Readers will discover nine essays studying the different sub-regions of the Malay Archipelago and adjacent seas and exploring the nature and historiographical perception of piracy, maritime conflict and surreptitious activities. The authors probe the linkages between these occurrences with war and economy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in particular, and look at the transition into the nineteenth century. The introduction covers the study of piracy in this period and chapters explore themes of Siak and ...
Food is an important cultural marker of identity in contemporary Asian societies, and can provide a medium for the understanding of social relations, family and kinship, class and consumption, gender ideology, and cultural symbolism. However, a truly comprehensive view of food cannot neglect the politics of food production, in particular, how, when, from where and even why different kinds of food are produced, prepared and supplied. Food and Foodways in Asia is an anthropological inquiry providing rich ethnographic description and analysis of food production as it interacts with social and political complexities in Asia’s diverse cultures. Prominent anthropologists examine how food is related to ethnic identity and boundary formation, consumerism and global food distribution, and the invention of local cuisine in the context of increasing cultural contact. With chapters ranging from the invention of 'local food' for tourism development, to Asia's contribution to ‘world cuisine,’ Food and Foodways in Asia will be a fascinating read for anyone interested in the anthropology of food and/or Asian studies.
Peranakan Chinese communities and their “hybrid” culture have fascinated many observers. This book, comprising fourteen chapters, was mainly based on papers written by the author in the last two decades. The chapters address Peranakan Chinese cultural, national and political identities in the Malay Archipelago, i.e., Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (IMS). This book is divided into two parts. Part I which is on the regional dimension, contains nine chapters that discuss the three countries and beyond. Part II consists of five chapters which focus on one country, i.e., Indonesia. This book not only discusses the past and the present, but also the future of the Peranakan Chinese.
Dynamism of Local Knowledge: Revisiting History and Culture give readers a critical view of history and culture through the lenses of contributors’ understanding of local knowledge and its epistemology. The essays in this volume explore the various facets of Malaysian traditions, culture, history and lifestyle. The perspectives of history and culture take a dynamic turn through exploring genres such as dance, literature, traditions and language. This book will highlight the new dynamic in local knowledge through its publication as the selected essays discuss a wide range of topics that reflect the transdisciplinary research perspectives of the respective contributors.
The book focuses on a Peranakan mother who has been cooking and collecting recipes since she was eight years old. Celebrating her 90th birthday, she shares her favourite recipes and her life story – 90 recipes and a chronicle of her life, family and unique experiences. Although Peranakan in culture, the recipes are not of a specific genre. They are from her favourite collection that includes Peranakan, Chinese, Indian, Malay, Parsi, Eurasian and others. The intended readership are home chefs as the recipes are simplified as best possible since the interest in home cooking has recently been re-ignited due to the Covid stay home restrictions. The book is further differentiated as it shares her unique story – a schoolteacher passionate about cooking, married to a former Deputy Commissioner of Police with stories of their life, love, careers, family history and how she acquired many of her recipes. It is also presented in a chronological journey from pre-war, through marriage, working life, retirement till the present day alongside some historical facts and experiences marking the evolution of Singapore.