This groundbreaking work studies the Arabic literary culture of early modern Southeast Asia on the basis of largely unstudied and unknown manuscripts. It offers new perspectives on intellectual interactions between the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the development of Islam and especially Sufism in the region, the relationship between the Arabic and Malay literary traditions, and the manuscript culture of the Indian Ocean world. It brings to light a large number of hitherto unknown texts produced at or for the courts of Southeast Asia, and examines the role of royal patronage in supporting Arabic literary production in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia has a long and rich tradition of homosexual and transgender cultures, and the past 40 years in particular has seen an increased visibility of sexual minorities in the country, which has been reflected through film and popular culture. This book examines how representations of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals and communities have developed in Indonesian cinema during this period. The book first explores Indonesian engagement with waria (male-to-female transgender) identities and the emerging representation of gay and lesbi Indonesians during Suharto’s New Order regime (1966-98), before going on to the reimagining of these positions following the fall of the New Order, a period which saw the rebirth of the film industry with a new generation of directors, producers and actors. Using original interview research and focus groups with gay, lesbi and waria identified Indonesians, alongside the films themselves and a wealth of archival sources, the book contrasts the ways in which transgendered lives are actually lived with their representations on screen.

Malay seals originate from those parts of maritime Southeast Asia long connected by political, economic, and cultural networks; the lingua franca of the Malay language; and the faith of Islam. Seals make up an important element in the manuscript and literary culture of the region. Defined as seals from Southeast Asia or used by Southeast Asians, with inscriptions in Arabic script, Malay seals constitute a treasure trove of data that can throw light on myriad aspects of the history of the Malay world, ranging from the nature of kingship, the administrative structure of states, the biographies of major personalities and the form of Islamic thought embraced, as well as on developments in the art and material culture of the region. This important reference work describes and analyses the Malay sealing tradition, carefully cataloguing more than 2,000 seals sourced from collections worldwide, primarily seal impressions stamped in lampblack, ink, or wax on manuscript letters, treaties, and other documents, but including some seal matrices made of silver, brass, or stone. These Malay seals originate from the present-day territories of Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and Indonesia as well as the southern parts of Thailand and Cambodia, and the Philippines, and date from the second half of the sixteenth century to the early twentieth century. Complete transcriptions and translations of the Jawi inscriptions are provided, bringing the seals to light as objects of literary and art historical analysis, and key resources for an understanding of the Malay Islamic world of Southeast Asia in the early modern period.

The Thai capital Bangkok is the unrivalled centre of the country's gay, lesbian and transgender communities. These communities are among the largest in Southeast Asia, and indeed in the world, and have a diversity, social presence and historical depth that set them apart from the queer cultures of many neighbouring societies. The first years of the 21st Century have marked a significant transition moment for all of Thailand's LGBT cultures, with a multidimensional expansion in the geographical extent, media presence, economic importance, political impact, social standing, and cultural relevance of Thai queer communities. This book analyzes the roles of the market and media - especially cinema and the Internet - in these transformations, and considers the ambiguous consequences that the growing commodification and mediatisation of queer lives have had for LGBT rights in Thailand. A key finding is that in the early 21st Century processes of global queering are leading to a growing Asianisation of Bangkok's queer cultures. This book traces Bangkok's emergence as a central focus of an expanding regional network linking gay, lesbian and transgender communities in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines and other rapidly developing East and Southeast Asian societies. Peter A. Jacksonis associate professor in the School of Culture, History and Language at Australian National University. "The myriad faces of Thai gender/sexuality culture have been an attraction for both pleasure-seekers and researchers/scholars/activists. Exploring the rapidly changing LGBT cultures and Thai queer identities, the essays collected here provide insightful analyses of historical continuities as well as developing variations within the highly complex erotic/economic texture of Thai society. A must-read for anyone in the booming field of gender/sexuality studies." -Josephine Ho, Chair Professor, Center for the Study of Sexualities, National Central University, Taiwan

Serious academic work that moves away from the polemical sectarian discourses on shi'ism in southeast Asia.

The Global Literary Field is a collection of twelve articles dealing with the impact of globalization on literary production. Focusing especially on the social context of literature and employing comparative methodologies, all articles comment on the literary market as it functions today, highlighting unexpected and understudied commercial and symbolic exchanges between literary communities from different parts of the globe. Featuring the work of many scholars working from non-Eurocentric perspectives and with non-European languages, this collection constitutes a timely intervention in the ongoing debate about â oeworld literatureâ , which is so often dominated by scholars specializing exclusively in European literatures. The global literary field, as described in this collection, ranges from Atlantic Canada to Malaysia, from the Caribbean to Japan, and especially also across cyberspace. Dealing with both â oeseriousâ and â oepopularâ literature and with the important issue of translation, this collection achieves a uniquely comprehensive coverage of a highly complex global phenomenon.