Inside Asia -- two publications

This study, based on fieldwork carried out in 1992, scrutinizes the process of social and cultural change over the past twenty-five years, and addresses such questions as the consequences of the opening up of urban Javanese society to the national and international world; the Javanization of the incipient national, Indonesian culture; and the decline of the spirit of nationalism; Islamization, and so forth. The study also considers Javanese-Indonesian gender ideology and psychology, while devoting a full chapter to Javanese patterns of thought. The appendices provide instances of earlier research around 1970 and 1980, respectively.
The book's cover illustrates current cultural dynamics. Arjuna, symbol of the royal court and refinement stands, lonely and low in the left-hand corner; not quite on his way out, he is not really in the picture either. Centre stage is dominated by Semar, the representative of popular kejawèn par excellence; he symbolizes the ascendency of the common people who now dominate cultural production. These days, however, the 'God of Java' is beginning to cast a Muslim shadow, as shown in the recent, Mas Agung-produced Islamisized Semar.

Inside Southeast Asia. Thai, Javanese and Filipino interpretations of everyday life. Bangkok: Editions Duang Kamol, 1992. xiii + 178 pp.

This study explores the common cultural construction of the social life of inner, littoral Southeast Asia drawing on the author's fieldwork in Java, Thailand and the Philippines. In its three parts, it focuses on major -- religious -- ideas; the striking similarities in the 'logic' of everyday life; the dynamics of the cultural process and the recent evolution of political expression.
The design of the cover, by a Thai artist, in itself opens a fascinating window on mutual perceptions within Southeast Asia. Naturally, the artist had no problem in selecting a khoon mask as a very Thai image; against the background of a church, the Philippines is symbolized by a lady in a typical Filipino politician's pose, yet her dress is reminiscent of Malaysia or Sumatra; Java is illustrated by a Balinese dancer, and someone who seems to emerge from a temple ruin -- if asked to design a representation of Indonesia, the artist would probably have proposed the same picture.

The books cost respectively Dfl. 35,- and Dfl. 25,- and can be ordered form the author:
Niels Mulder
P.O. Box 53211
1007 RE Amsterdam
the Netherlands