IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:47 Pagina 1 IIAS Newsletter 39 | December 2005 | 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 Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rotterdam Architecture, Metropolitan for Office 39 A global history of the prison Cultures of confinement Frank Dikötter seemed to miss the world around him. Over the course of the pp.1, 4-8 pp.1, guest editor 20th century, confinement spread across the world to become the only recognised form of punishment alongside fines and ichel Foucault has written of a ‘great confinement’ of the death sentence; countries differing widely in political ide- Mthe poor that peaked between 1650 and 1789, as pun- ology and social background replaced existing modes of pun- ishment of the body was replaced by a regime of surveillance ishment – from exile and servitude to the pillory and the gal- in the prison. Yet even a cursory look at modes of punishment lows – with the custodial sentence. Prisons now span the beyond the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ shows that the 20th cen- globe, from communist China to democratic Britain, as ever- tury, rather than the 18th, was marked by the incarceration of larger proportions of humanity find themselves locked behind vast masses of people, to such an extent that Alain Besançon bars, doing time for crime. Rates of incarceration have varied has characterised the period as ‘the century of concentration over the past century, but the trend is upwards, as new pris- camps’. Foucault’s vision of herding paupers and vagrants into ons continue to be built and prison populations swell in the countless new hospitals and prisons not only confused intend- Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. ed policies with actual practices, thereby overstating the extent pp.20-21 of incarceration in France before 1789 – the philosopher continued on page 6 > pp.36-39 pp.9, 11, 17, 23, 35 23, 17, 11, pp.9, pp.22-28 Book reviews, Book > The road to hell is paved with good intentions, good with paved is hell to road The agendas, conference and Arts > > Rem Koolhaas warchitecture, Koolhaas Rem culture, material and Performance > > First conditional release from the model prison in Beijing Introduction IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:49 Pagina 2 Contents #39 East-West meeting space ingapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong delivered the keynote speech at the SNovember 2005 East-West Dialogue in Barcelona*. ‘After Amman: Uniting to Cultures of confinement: a global history of the prison Defeat Terrorism’ saw Goh address what he considers to be the greatest threat to 1&4 Introduction: cultures of confinement / Frank Dikötter humankind today. 5 Colonial Burma’s prison: continuity with its pre-colonial past? / Thet Thet Wintin and Ian Brown One of the main feeding grounds for terrorism is racial and religious tension. 6 India: the prisoners’ revolt / David Arnold Following the 1960s racial riots in Singapore, the government of the multi-religious, 7 In her aunt’s house: women in prison in the Middle East / Anthony Gorman multi-racial society adopted an ‘overlapping circles’ – in contrast to a ‘melting-pot’ 8 Blurring the boundaries: prisons and settler society in Hokkaido / Pia Vogler – approach to foster racial and religious harmony, where each community can be seen as a circle with its own values, beliefs and culture. ‘Where the circles overlap is the common space where we interact freely. We try to expand and maximize this Poetry space. The space which does not overlap is the community’s own space where they 9 Pulau di atas pulau & In-communicado / Sitor Situmorang are free to speak their own language, practice their own religion and have their own 9 kembara jauh & wayang i / Mohamad Haji Salleh way of life. This way, each community retains its separate identity and yet is bond- ed to each other through common national values.’ Research Against the backdrop of the recent riots in France, Goh’s words have become more 10 The prose of the world: the field speaks for itself / Saskia Kersenboom pertinent in the context of East-West dialogue. After all, it was the same Goh Chok 11 Ancient Chinese ritual dances / Nicolas Standaert Tong who more than ten years ago as prime minister of Singapore developed the 12-13 The Great Fifth / Samten G. Karmay idea of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to improve dialogue between Asia and 14 Black Fever and British medical policy in India / Achintya Kumar Dutta Europe, at a low ebb since decolonization. He pleaded for cultural rapprochement, 15 Urban elections in the People’s Republic / Thomas Heberer for which he delineated three stages. 16 Rendering history through the Sinhala novel / Manouri K. Jayasinghe 17 In the footsteps of Hayam Wuruk / Amrit Gomperts note Director’s In the first, networking phase, gaps in knowledge of each other’s cultures need to 18 Asians in Africa: images, histories and portraits / Gijsbert Oonk be filled. Although this is a never-ending process, the past decade has witnessed 19 The virtual second generation: negotiating ethnicity on the internet / Urmila Goel deepening in our knowledge of each other’s cultures. We are now passing through the second phase, that of constructive dialogue, where common concerns take cen- ter stage in discussions on issues like terrorism, racial tensions, natural disasters, Rem Koolhaas IIAS annual lecture SARS, AIDS and avian flu – phenomena that underline our ever-growing interde- 20-21 Warchitecture / Rick Dolphijn pendence. Focusing on common concerns help erase xenophobic notions of each other’s cultures, so counter-productive to shaping our common future. Reviews We as Asia scholars can facilitate this process by further strengthening academic 22 Women of the kakawin world / Dick van der Meij cooperation between Europe and Asia in the form of joint research projects and stu- 23 Caring for Japan’s elderly / Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill dent exchanges. These pave the way for the third or consensus-building phase where 24 Museums, material culture and performance in Southeast Asia / Sandra Dudley shared values develop – which, in the long run, will enlarge our ‘common space’ 25 Bringing Indonesian media history to life / David T. Hill within the East-West encounter. < 26 Language and politics in Mao’s China / Manfred B. Sellner 27 Globalization and local development in India / Hans Schenk Wim Stokhof 28 Books received Director, IIAS International Institute for Asian Studies * The second East-West Dialogue was organized by Casa Asia, the Asia Europe Foun- 29 IIAS fellows dation, the Club of Madrid, UNESCO, and the Forum Foundation, and held in 30 Hosting major international sports events: comparing Asia and Europe / Barcelona, 16-17 November 2005. Wolfram Manzenreiter and John Horne 31 European Alliance for Asian Studies 32 IIAS research 33-34 Announcements 35 A tale of two museums. Indonesia: The Discovery of the Past / Pieter ter Keurs 36-37 International arts agenda / Carol Brash 38-39 International conference agenda The International Institute for Asian Studies is a postdoctoral research cen- tre based in Leiden and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Our main objective is to encourage the interdisciplinary and comparative study of Asia and to pro- mote national and international coop- eration in the field. The institute focus- es 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 temporarily employed by or affiliated to IIAS, either within the framework of a collaborative research programme or on an individual basis. In its aim to disseminate broad, in-depth knowledge of Asia, the institute organizes seminars, workshops and conferences, and publishes the IIAS Newsletter with a cir- www.iias.nl culation of 25,000. is for authors from around the world to share commentary and opinion; short research essays; book, journal, film and website reviews; fiction and artwork; and announcements of events, projects and IIAS runs a database for Asian Studies with information on researchers and conferences with colleagues in academia and beyond. We welcome contributions from our readers. research-related institutes worldwide. As an international mediator and a clearing- Please send your copy and queries to the editors at: [email protected] house for knowledge and information, IIAS is active in creating international net- works and launching international cooperative projects and research programmes. 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Natasja Kershof: [email protected] Updates on the activities of the Asia Alliance and ICAS are published in this newsletter. < 2 IIAS Newsletter | #39 | December 2005 IIAS_NL#39 09-12-2005 16:50 Pagina 3 [advertisement] KEGAN PAUL SPRING 2006 NEW TITLES PUBLISHERS SINCE 1871 Greening Industries in Newly Industrializing Economies Cultivating Japan Hyper City Asian-Style Leapfrogging Java and the Foundation of Japanese Society The Symbolic Side of Urbanism Edited by Peter Ho Ann Kumar Edited by Peter J. M. Nas and Annemarie Samuels In recent years China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Singapore This innovative work uses new evidence to challenge pre- Cities are sites of multiple meanings and symbols, rang- have been transformed from impoverished developing viously-held views on the prehistory and origins of Japa- ing from statues and street names to festivals and archi- nations into strong and internationally competitive econ- nese society and identity.