IIAS Newsletter 40 | Spring 2006 | free of charge | published by IIAS | P.O. Box 9515 | 2300 RA Leiden | The Netherlands | T +31-71-527 2227 | F +31-71-527 4162 | [email protected] | www.iias.nl . Lustre Press - Roli Books. Bollywood Nostalgia Sterling Investment Corp. Pvt. Ltd. / Sahai, Malthi. 2000. Sterling Investment Corp. , K.Asif dir., 1960. , K.Asif dir., Mughul E-Azam Madhu Bala in 40 The art of seduction The changing art of seduction: ritual courtship, performing prostitutes, erotic entertainment Bart Barendregt tal dancers such as Matahari and Little Egypt brought this art Guest editor of seduction to the West. Many descriptions of such arts, as critics like Edward Said, Rana Khabbani and Ashis Nandy have pp.1, 4-11 o the performing arts play a role in sexual selection? How shown, are based on misunderstandings, sometimes inten- Ddoes music influence mating practices in different cul- tional and generally say more about the western audience’s pp.12-15 tures? Can the performing arts create social settings where longing for a sensual other expressed through a depiction of sexual relationships germinate and grow – even where sex is the East as a place of lust and sexual pleasures. As a result, the a disruptive force, an arena for competition and conflict? And Orient has long been perceived through the seductive per- if so, where does this power of the performing arts come from? formances of its women, something that the journalist Sheri- dan Passo (2005) describes as the ‘Asian Mystique’. Given all pp.20-21 The performing arts everywhere play an important role in this, it is surprising how little is actually known about these expressing erotic feelings. Playing an instrument is often used arts and the often intricate ways they lured and seduced their pp.23-29 to attract the other sex, and the singing of amorous songs audiences. between young men and women is widespread in Asia. According to one colonial travelogue, skill and verbal ability Passions performed: is there an erotic in poetry were a passport to female favour among the high- component to the arts? land Malays of Sumatra: ‘A kind of flirtation goes on inde- Seduction stands for different things in different places, but pendently of the open and public display of skill, and it is often little attention has to date been paid to local conceptualisa- pp.36-39 accompanied with the interchange of flowers and other mute tions. Western dictionaries define seduction as an act of win- symbols which all have a mystical meaning’ (Malayan Mis- ning someone’s love or sexual favour, though seduction has cellanies 1821). The highland Malays ascribed evocative pow- also been interpreted more negatively as enticing someone to ers to lovers’ verses: in the past, when young men went trav- stray from the straight and narrow path. From the sirens of elling, they might give their beloved a piece of bamboo with Greek mythology, Indian celestial nymphs (apsara) who an inscription, which the girl was to read aloud daily to ensure seduced both gods and men, to the attractiveness of today’s the success of her lover’s venture and his faithful return to pop idols, special evocative powers are often attributed to the Miss IIAS Newsletter Spring 2006, her. lovers’ song. Indeed, many believe there is something inher- > ent in music that affects people. This supposed magnetism of music is not unique. Similar Above and below the law in post-Suharto Indonesia, Books received and books reviewed, > > seductive scenes abound in early travelogues, ranging from What makes the human voice seductive and what defines a the courtesans of the celestial city Kin-Sai, famed from Marco sexy voice? Is a sexy voice a biological given or a play upon cul- The seductive arts: biology, politics, religion and entertainment, The seductive arts: biology, and exhibitions, Conferences Polo’s descriptions, to later stories of Kyoto-Gion’s geishas who tural expectations? Wim van der Meer (this issue, p.6) sug- > > lured their customers with their three-stringed shamisen. Drawing upon notions of the seductive Asian woman, orien- continued on page 4 Introduction > Confucius Inc., Contents #40 Plato & Co. The art of seduction 1, 4-5 Introduction / Bart Barendregt ith its growing worldwide network of Confucius Institutes, China is catch- 6 The seductive voice / Wim van der Meer Wing up in the propagation of its culture and language. The Confucius Insti- 7 Love songs and temple festivals in northwest China / Frank Kouwenhoven tute Project, a non-profit organization administered by the Chinese Ministry of Edu- 8 Indian courtesans: from reality to the silver screen and back again / Jolanda cation through the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, Djaimala Boejharat intends to establish 100 Confucius Institutes around the world by 2010. 9 Beauty of seduction in a Tokyo host club / Akiko Takeyama 10 The art of no-seduction: Muslim boy-band music in Southeast Asia and fear of the The project, named after the sage who encapsulates the ‘... longevity and profundi- female voice / Bart Barendregt ty of Chinese language and culture’, is a move by the Chinese government to accel- 11 Dance floor politics in easternmost Java / Ben Arps erate the integration of Chinese language and culture into the world of the 21st cen- tury. The worldwide franchise has its headquarters in Beijing, which supplies the Research overall strategy, the image, the promotional material, and the ‘Great Wall Chinese’ 12 The Indonesian conundrum: entrenched corruption and failing reform / multimedia courseware. Peter King 13 Corruption, collusion and nepotism after Suharto: Indonesia’s past or future? / Most recently founded Confucius Institutes are co-operative projects between the Richard Robison main office and an existing centre of Chinese learning, such as those at San Fran- 14 The price of uncertainty: kampung land politics in post-Suharto Bandung / cisco State University, the University of Melbourne, the University of Manchester, Gustaaf Reerink the Freie Universität Berlin and the Nanyang Technological Insti- 15 Land and authority: the state and the village in Pasir, East Kalimantan / tute. The strategy of engaging existing centres of Chinese Laurens Bakker learning will most likely work to their mutual 16 Colonial rivalry and the partition of Timor / Hans Hägerdal advantage, for funding, visibility and creating 17 Living on the Line of Control: changing family and kinship networks in Devipur legitimacy. These institutes could emerge as Camp / Abha Chauhan focal points within overseas Chinese net- 18 Contemporary Taiwanese women’s arts: curating a movement into art / Ming-Hui works while offering Chinese students Chen Director’s note abroad the opportunity to work as teachers. 19 The way of the world / Simon Wickham-Smith In contrast to the open-minded pragmatism of the Chinese enterprise, the national Euro- Miss IIAS Newsletter Spring 2006 pean institutions abroad such as the British Council, the Goethe-Institut and the Reviews Alliance Française seem like relics of the colo- 23 Books received nial past. 24 Islamic banking in Southeast Asia / Muhammed Hassanali 25 The Kyoto School, American empire and the post-white world / Kenn Nakata Will the fractious tribes of Europe collectively Steffensen manage to inaugurate 100 Plato Institutes 26 In pursuit of inclusive democracy for a multi-ethnic state: Nepal at the crossroads worldwide by the year 2010? < / Alpo Ratia 27 Khmer identity: a religious perspective / Carolina Ivanescu Wim Stokhof 28 Dynamics of social inequality in Vietnam / Phuong An Nguyen Director, IIAS http://east_west_dialogue.tripod.com/ www.paradigmi.it 29 Piracy in Southeast Asia / Stefan Eklöf International Institute for Asian Studies 30 Pensioners on the move: social security and trans-border retirement migration in Asia and Europe / Mika Toyota, Anita Böcker, Elspeth Guild 31 ICAS 5 in Kuala Lumpur 32 IIAS fellows 33 IIAS research 34-35 Announcements 36-37 International arts agenda / Carol Brash 38-39 International conference agenda The International Institute for Asian Studies is a postdoctoral research centre based in Leiden and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Our main objective is to encourage the interdisciplinary and compara- tive study of Asia and to promote national and international cooperation in the field. The institute wanted focuses on the humanities and social sciences and their interaction with other sciences. IIAS values dynamism and versatility in its research programmes. Post-doctoral research fellows are tem- porarily employed by or affiliated to IIAS, either within the framework of a collaborative research pro- asian studies: hearts and minds gramme or on an individual basis. In its aim to disseminate broad, in-depth knowledge of Asia, the insti- tute organizes seminars, workshops and conferences, and publishes the IIAS Newsletter with a circulation of 25,000. IIAS Newsletter welcomes unsolicited contributions from readers around the world: IIAS runs a database for Asian Studies with information on researchers and research-related institutes worldwide. 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