Art and Politics in Southeast Asian History: Six Perspectives
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ART AND POLITICS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: SIX PERSPECTIVES Southeast Asia Paper Number 32 Center for Southeast Asian Studies School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies University of Hawaii at Manoa ART AND POLITICS IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN HISTORY: SIX PERSPECTIVES Papers from the Distinguished Scholars Series 1984-1985 edited by Robert Van Niel Southeast Asia Paper Number 32 Center for Southeast Asia Studies School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies University of Hawai'i at Manoa ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Center for Southeast Asian Studies wishes to acknowledge the generous assistance of the Luce Foundation in the preparation of this book for publication. Further acknowledgement should be given to Joyce M. Wright, Emeritus Head, Asia Collection, and Albert D. Moscotti, Professor Emeritus, Asian Studies, who proofread the manuscripts; Truong Buu Lam, Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies from 1983-1985 when the authors of these papers were on the University of Hawai'i's Manoa campus; current Center Director Wilhelm G. Solheim II, who contacted the authors and oversaw the collection of the individual papers; and Robert Van Niel, Chair of the Distinguished Scholars Committee from 1983 to 1985 and editor of this book. The Center is also appreciative of the editorial and desktop publishing skills of Ruth Gurnani-Smith and the general efforts of Center Coordinator and Education Specialist Florence Lamoureux, who supervised and coordinated the book's publication. Copyright © 1989 Center for Southeast Asian Studies School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies University of Hawai'i at Manoa 1890 East-West Road Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822 All Rights Reserved CONTENTS Introduction Robert Van Niel ii The Art ofSitep (Sri Deva) in Thailand 1 M.e. Subhadradis Diskul The Politics ofPlunder in the Cham Realm ofEarly V'ietnam 5 Kenneth R. Hall Two Lectures on Political Process in an 'Indic State' 17 Opposition and Solidarity 22 The "State" as a System of Signs 45 Shelley Errington The Domains of Topeng 65 John Emigh The Annex ofthe Raj: The Anglo-Indian Interlude in Burmese History, c. 1826-1941 97 Michael Adas The United States and the Philippines: 'Sentimental' Imperialism or Standard Imperialism? 107 Stephen Rosskamm Shalom November 1989 Southeast Asia Papers i INTRODUCfION In the years 1984 and 1985, the Southeast Asian Studies Program of the University of Hawai'i arranged to bring a number of speakers to its campus in what was called its Distinguished Scholars Lecture Series. I was asked to take charge of this program. The endeavor was extremely successful, bringing some ten scholars to the campus, each of whom gave at least two lectures or demonstrations. These events were well attended and were enthusiastically received by students, faculty, and town folk. It was the intention at the time to publish at least one of each scholar's papers in a volume in the series of Southeast Asia Papers. That intention suffered many delays from many causes, not the least ofwhich was the reorganization of the Southeast Asian Studies Program into the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, which became one of the units within the new School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies. The publication of these papers was literally lost in the shuffle. By the time the project was revived in early 1989, some of the scholars had used their papers for other purposes and others could not be reached, but six of the original participants agreed to submit their revised papers for publication in a single volume that would commemorate the Distinguished SCholars Lectures and also make available to a wider audience the views and concerns expressed by these scholars. This volume is now in hand. It was never the intention of the Distinguished Scholars Lecture Series to select speakers on the basis of a single theme. Rather, we hoped to bring to the University of Hawai'i campus scholars whose ideas and research were on the frontiers of their particular disciplines and who were thus laying down themes and patterns for future scholars to take into consideration. It is this fact that gives the papers in this volume a freshness that helps to overcome the delay in publication. But it is also this fact that results in the papers having little commonalty other than that they deal with Southeast Asia. It is well known that collections of diverse papers bound together in a volume such as this tend to become fugitive unless they strike a strong chord of scholarly interest and concern. While I am not versed in each of the disciplines represented by these papers, I feel certain that several of the papers in this volume ,will strike such a chord among readers. For my part, I shall attempt to provide pithy synopses of each author's contribution so that the reader will be moved to explore the contents of each paper more fully. In his paper on "The Art of Sitep (Sri Deva) in Thailand," which was accompanied by a slide show, Prince Subhadradis, Rector of Silapakorn University and an art historian, describes an early site on the Pasak River in north-central Thailand. The earliest influences were Indian from Gupta times and Dvaravati. Later, from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, the site became a Khmer town. Excavations by the Thai Fine Arts Department have found indications of both Buddhist and Hindu influences. The town seems to have been abandoned in the early thirteenth century and was not again a settled site. Consequently the archaeological finds in the area help to reconstruct the early history of Thai and Khmer society. Professor Kenneth R. Hall of North Adams State College in Massachusetts has written a paper on "The Politics of Plunder in the Cham Realm of Early Vietnam." The organizational structure of the Cham "state" [Champa] which controlled the southern portion of present-day Vietnam from the second Ii Southeast Asia Papers Number 32 through the fifteenth centuries is explicated. The nature of this "state" was extremely segmentary, but the Cham peoples were held together through a shared value system that allowed a central authority to emerge. Cham kingship was closely related to the economic system: raiding and plundering were an essential part of Cham statecraft, supporting the royal position through redistribution of booty and captured slaves. A cultural relationship developed with Java that brought art styles and marriage partners to Champa, but this could not save the Cham realm from succumbing under the retributions of its neighbor to the north. Professor Shelly Errington, an anthropologist from the University of California, Santa Cruz, has provided "Two Lectures on Political Process in an 'Indic State'." These two lectures are closely interrelated and actually form a single recounting of the essential conclusions of her field work in Luwu, which is (or was) a "state" on the island of Sulawesi (formerly Celebes) in Indonesia. The social relationships of the people of Luwu, both vertical and horizontal, and the system and symbols that guide these, are central in these two lectures. Persons familiar with the archipelago world of Southeast Asia will recognize the description of a hierarchical social structure as extant in former times in Luwu, but will also have experienced the changes that have been occurring since Indonesian independence. The deeply penetrating analysis of both the personal and the public aspects of living in a society that is always on the alert for aggressive penetration is so engagingly presented in these two lectures that everyone with an interest in Southeast Asia will gain something in the reading. Professor John Emigh of Brown University takes the reader into 'The Domains of Topeng," which is a solo masked dance-drama indigenous to the island of Bali, Indonesia. In this paper, the reader is not only enveloped in the intricacies of this form of popular dance-drama, but is also brought into touch with the broader practice and theory of dramatic performance on a world-wide basis. The result is a robust and penetrating analysis of the Balinese topeng, as it is seen by the Balinese and as it has been viewed by outsiders. When he visited the University of Hawai'i campus, Professor Emigh performed a topeng dance drama, "Little Red Riding Shawl," which served to bring home many of the points made in his paper as well as providing splendid entertainment for those in attendance. As a historian at Rutgers University, Professor Michael Adas analyzes a slice of modern Southeast Asian history in his paper, 'The Annex of the Raj: The Anglo-Indian Interlude in Burmese History, c. 1826-1941." Asking the question why post-independence Burma has isolated itself from the rest of the world, he finds the answer not in a simple response to British colonialism (which did not produce similar effects elsewhere), but rather in the unique situation of Burma being "twice-colonized." This refers to the flood of Indians who were brought in or came in with the British, who treated Burma as an adjunct to their Indian Empire [Raj]. First Indian precedents in governance and law, then Indian entrepreneurs, and finally Indian migrant laborers led to a situation in which Burmese felt themselves being displaced in their own country. It was this circumstance, argues Adas, that may underlie Burma's withdrawal from the world. November 1989 Southeast Asia Papers iii What is imperialism? This question is at the heart of Professor Stephen Rosskamm Shalom's paper on ''The United States and the Philippines: 'Sentimental' Imperialism or Standard Imperialism?" Professor Shalom is a political scientist on the faculty of William Patterson College in New Jersey. Applying political and economic arguments and interpretations, he argues strongly for regarding American policy, past and present, as imperialist in the standard, unadorned meaning of that word.