Histories of Southeast Asia
The Andaya’s on Early Modern Southeast Asia
In this video from their joint Golay lecture at Cornell University on Nov. 13, 2015, Barbara Watson Andaya, professor and chair of Asian Studies at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and Leonard Andaya, professor of Southeast Asian history at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, discuss trends in historiography and how they’ve addressed these issues in their writing of a regional history of ‘early modern’ Southeast Asia and in their third revised edition of A History of Malaysia.
A History of Malaysia: Third Edition (December 2016)
Barbara Watson Andaya and Leonard Y. Andaya
The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia (12th edition)
Barbara Watson Andaya
“The Princess of the Flaming Womb,” the Javanese legend that introduces this pioneering study, symbolizes the many ambiguities attached to femaleness in Southeast Asian societies. Yet despite these ambiguities, the relatively egalitarian nature of male–female relations in Southeast Asia is central to arguments claiming a coherent identity for the region. This challenging work by senior scholar Barbara Watson Andaya considers such contradictions while offering a thought-provoking view of Southeast Asian history that focuses on women’s roles and perceptions. Andaya explores the broad themes of the early modern era (1500–1800)—the introduction of new religions, major economic shifts, changing patterns of state control, the impact of elite lifestyles and behaviors—drawing on an extraordinary range of sources and citing numerous examples from Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, Philippine, and Malay societies. In the process, she provides a timely and innovative model for putting women back into world history
Andaya approaches the problematic issue of “Southeast Asia” by considering ways in which topography helped describe a geo-cultural zone and contributed to regional distinctiveness in gender construction. She examines the degree to which world religions have been instrumental in (re)constructing conceptions of gender— an issue especially pertinent to Southeast Asian societies because of the leading role so often played by women in indigenous ritual. She also considers the effects of the expansion of long-distance trade, the incorporation of the region into a global trading network, the beginnings of cash-cropping and wage labor, and the increase in slavery on the position of women.
Erudite, nuanced, and accessible, The Flaming Womb makes a major contribution to a Southeast Asia history that is both regional and global in content and perspective.
More InformationA History of Early Modern Southeast Asia, 1400-1830
Barbara Watson Andaya and Leonard Y. Andaya
Written by two experienced teachers with a long history of research, this textbook provides students with a detailed overview of developments in early modern Southeast Asia, when the region became tightly integrated into the world economy because of international demand for its unique forest and sea products. Proceeding chronologically, each chapter covers a specific time frame in which Southeast Asia is located in a global context. A discussion of general features that distinguish the period under discussion is followed by a detailed account of the various sub-regions. Students will be shown the ways in which local societies adapted to new religious and political ideas and responded to far-reaching economic changes. Particular attention is given to lesser-known societies that inhabited the seas, the forests, and the uplands, and to the role of the geographical environment in shaping the region’s history. The authoritative yet accessible narrative features maps, illustrations, and timelines to support student learning. A major contribution to the field, this text is essential reading for students and specialists in Asian studies and early modern world history.
A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads presents a comprehensive history of Southeast Asia from our earliest knowledge of its civilizations and religious patterns up to the present day.
- Incorporates environmental, social, economic, and gender issues to tell a multi-dimensional story of Southeast Asian history from earliest times to the present
- Argues that while the region remains a highly diverse mix of religions, ethnicities, and political systems, it demands more attention for how it manages such diversity while being receptive to new ideas and technologies
- Demonstrates how Southeast Asia can offer alternatives to state-centric models of history more broadly
- 2016 PROSE Award Honorable Mention for Textbook in the Humanities
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