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1994 Ah Ku and Karayuki-san: Prostitution in , 1870-1940. By James Francis Warren

Sharon A. Carstens Portland State University, [email protected]

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Citation Details Carstens, Sharon. "Ah Ku and Karayuki-san: Prostitution in Singapore, 1870–1940. By James Francis Warren." Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1993. xvi, 434 pp. The Journal of Asian Studies 53.02 (1994): 522-523.

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. 522 THE JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES

Ah Ku and Karayuki-san:Prostitution in Singapore, 1870-1940. By JAMES FRANCISWARREN. Singapore:Oxford University Press, 1993. xvi, 434 pp. $65.00.

Social historiansof organizedfemale prostitution find themselves faced with at least two dilemmas. First,how to identifyand indict the more oppressiveaspects of prostitutionwithout making the women appear as mere pawns of the system. Second, how to portraythe daily lives and worldsof the people involvedfrom their own perspectiveswhile also delineatingthe contextualmacro-issues such as changing politicaleconomies, state structures, and genderideologies that shaped theselives. JamesWarren addresses these problems by dividinghis book in two. The firsthalf offersa macrohistoryof brothelprostitution in Singapore; the second focuseson detailsin the actuallives of theJapanese and Chineseprostitutes, known, respectively, as karayuki-sanand ah ku. Beginningwith a chaptertitled "Patriarchy, Poverty, and Prosperity,"Warren identifiesunderlying causes behind the procurement of Chineseand Japanesewomen forprostitution in Chinaand and theirshipment to Singapore.He thendescribes the geography,, and organizationof Singapore'sbrothels; the agents and agencies who supplied and controlledthe women; and the shiftingcolonial policies of the Britishgovernment as it attemptedto manage what was seen as a necessarysocial evil. The book's second halffocuses on the actual lives of the ah ku and karayuki-san,drawing on a varietyof oral historyaccounts, coroner's reports, and otherobserver's records. Beginning the narrativesback in the villagesof and Japan, Warrendescribes the journeysof the young women to Singapore;the routinesof their daily lives as brothelinhabitants; the male clients whom they served;the opportunitiesto leave the tradeby marriageor buyingthemselves out; and theirprospects in old age. As withhis previousbook, RickshawCoolie (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1986), Warrenaspires to writean alternativehistory of Singapore. He notes that "the historicalmemory of Singaporeansociety is constitutednot of one singlestrand, but of a tangledskein. There is a dominantmemory, carefully and oftenselectively recordedfor posterity, of the articulateand powerful,and thereare the numerous alternativememories of the past from the testimonyof 'the under-classes,the underprivileged,and the defeated'-the historyof the powerless"(p. 388). Certainly the subjectmatter he has chosenand his statedgoals are important,yet his attempt to give voice to the memoriesof these"women of the night"is not entirelysuccessful. His prosestyle varies from competent historical description to passagesthat attempt to be evocative,yet strikethis readeras melodramatic.For example, in discussing use of the coroner'sdocuments, we read, "this source and approachinvolves the historianin the intimatecontemplation of important,almost unmentionable, subjects in Singapore'spast-prostitution, the statusand subordinationof women, sex and love, and death" (p. 14). Similarly,the difficultiesof using oral history"are more thanoffset by the awesomepower and wonderof languagelifting the veil of silence fromaround the livesof theseprostitutes" (p. 15). And "photographsof the karayuki- san and the brothels. . . wereboth functional and symbolicobjects which can make one gasp, grimace,or smile; the black-and-whiteimages are pricelesssnatches of Singaporelife itself,each tellingits own story"(p. 17). This book is also too long; thedivision into two distinctparts leads to redundancy and some confusion,and in the secondhalf of thebook, storiesof the same prostitutes

This content downloaded from 131.252.181.104 on Tue, 26 Aug 2014 15:51:12 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BOOK REVIEWS-ASIA GENERAL 523 are retoldchapter after chapter as differentaspects of theirlives are discussed.Warren also does not keep the differentsocial and sexual mores of Chinese and Japanese womensufficiently distinct, often lumping his explanationsunder the not terribly illuminatingterm of "patriarchy."Surprisingly, though claiming ethnographic inspiration,he makes no referenceto JohnEmbree's classic, SuyeMura (University of Chicago Press, 1939), which deals with the veryregion and Japanesewomen whose oral historieshe purportsto tell. Despite theseshortcomings, Warren's book is richin data on aspectsof Singapore historytoo oftenneglected by other historians.We find here, too, lessons and admonitionsfor the social historianwho attemptsthe difficultjob of speakingfor heretoforesilent underclasses.Such writingrequires a delicate and sophisticated approachthat is not easily mastered.

SHARON CARSTENS PortlandState University

The RisingTide of CulturalPluralism: The Nation-Stateat Bay. Edited by CRAWFORD YOUNG. Madison: The Universityof Wisconsin Press, 1993. xi, 305 pp.

The contributorsto thisimpressive volume show how relevantCrawford Young's conceptof "culturalpluralism" is in the studyof ethnicityand nationalismacross the globe. It is, therefore,a pity that his originalwork, The Politicsof Cultural Pluralism(Madison: University of WisconsinPress, 1976), has apparentlynot received the attentionit mightdeserve in the Third World. This reviewer,while researching on his Cultureand thePolitics of Third WorldNationalism (New York: Routledge, 1992) in the mid-1980s, did not come acrossit in major Indian libraries.Nor does Young providean outlineof his idea of culturalpluralism in his long introductory essayto this volume. Aftera masterlysurvey of global instancesof ethnicconflict, he concludesthat his conceptof culturalpluralism embraces all theexisting approaches to ethnicity:"instrumentalist," "primordialist," and "constructivist"(pp. 21-22). However, in the absence of an objectiveargument in this volume, his notion of culturalpluralism seems to be that of a catch-allphrase and a synonymfor ethnic nationalismfor those who dislike the term"nationalism." While the contributorsfrequently use "culturalpluralism" as a catch-allphrase in this volume, what apparentlyinfluenced them most are Benedict Anderson's conceptof nationas an "imaginedcommunity" and E. J. Hobsbawm's conceptof traditionas one of "creation."Such conceptsmake a lot of sense to scholarscoming fromstrong individualist traditions, but to thoseimmersed in the studyof traditional yet complexsocieties, those concepts appear ahistoricaland asociological.Members of a complexsociety, such as Hans, Hindus, or Arabs, may not know each other by name but they share a numberof fundamentalcommonalities that constitute theirrespective societies. It is not the work of "imagination"or "invention,"but a productof social unityinherent in any complexsociety that is activated,politicized, and mobilizedfor the productionof nationalismby the dominantor majorityethnic group.

This content downloaded from 131.252.181.104 on Tue, 26 Aug 2014 15:51:12 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions