|
"Water, in its many guises, has always played a powerful role in shaping Southeast Asian histories, cultures, societies and economies. This volume, the rewritten results of an international workshop, with participants from eight countries, contains thirteen essays, representing a broad range of approaches to the study of Southeast Asia with water as the central theme. As it was exposed to the sea, the region was more accessible to outside political, economic and cultural influences than many landlocked areas. Easy access through sea routes also stimulated trade from an early age. However, the same easy access made Southeast Asia vulnerable to political control by strong outsiders. The sea is, moreover, a source of food, but also of many hazards. At the same time, Southeast Asian societies and cultures are confronted with and permeated by 'water from heaven' in the form of rain, flash floods, irrigation water, water in rivers, brooks and swaps, water-driven power plants, and pumped or piped water, in addition to water as a carrier of sewage and pollution. Finally, the volume deals with the role of water in classification systems, beliefs, myths, illness and healing"--Publisher's description Preface,In a state of flux : water as a deadly and a life-giving force in Southeast Asia /Geography as destiny? : the role of water in Southeast Asian history /Of gods and monsters : indigenous sea cosmologies, promiscuous geographies and the depths of local sovereignty /Toothy tale : a short history of shark fisheries and trade in shark products in twentieth-century Indonesia /Tale of two centuries : the globalization of maritime raiding and piracy in Southeast Asia at the end of the eighteenth and twentieth centuries /Storms of history : water, hazard and society in the Philippines, 1565-1930 /Communal irrigation : a comparative perspective /Geographical explanations for the distribution of irrigation institutions : cases from Southeast Asia /Water and rice in early Java and Bali /Contestation over a life-giving force : water rights and conflicts, with special reference to Indonesia /Role of waterborne diseases in Malaysia /Privatizing water : the Jakarta concession and the limits of contract /Politics of environmental and water pollution in East Java /Peter Boombaard --Heather Sutherland --Sandra Pannell --Manon Osseweijer --James F. Warren --Greg Bankoff --Robert C. Hunt --Willem Wolters --Jan Wisseman Christie --Franz von Benda-Beckmann --Foong Kin --Okke Braadbaart --Anton Lucas and Arief W. Djati.
|
