SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia Vol. 3/1 (Feb 1988)

Contents

• Preliminary pages

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• ARTICLES
• Spirits and Ideological Discourse: The Tai Lu Guardian Cults in Yunnan, by Shigeharu Tanabe, author see abstract

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  This article argues that the symbolic representations of various types of communities within spirit cults are to be understood intrinsically in political terms as part of legitimated authority. The discussion focuses on the guardian spirit cults among the Tai Lu in Yunnan, China. The article considers the politico-economic relations between households, village communities, and the state; it also examines spirit cults associated with each of these levels, and how the various cults are interrelated. The changes which have occurred in the social organization of the Tai Lu and the cults during the socialist revolution are then analysed in the light of the previous theoretical discussion.
• The Sangha and Sasana in Socialist Burma, by Tin Maung Maung Than, author see abstract
  The development of the role of the sangha in Burma as a centralized institution, within the larger context of the relationship between the sangha and the state since Burma's independence is traced with emphasis on the period after the 1962 coup d'etat. The formation of a unified sangha organization in 1980 which cut across sectarian and regional boundaries marked a turning point in the institutionalization of the sangha. The convening of the First Congregation of the Sangha of All Orders and subsequent election of the central and regional sangha bodies created a hierarchical structure which was intended to guide and supervise the nation's monks and novices. Backed by the power and authority of the state, the process of "purifying, perpetuating, and propagating" the sasana seems to be continuing with considerable momentum.
• Ritual, Ethnicity, and Transculturalism in Penang, by Wazir Jahan Karim, Mohd Razha Rashid, authors see abstract
  Malay propitiation rituals which are essentially animistic in ideology and form have been increasingly subject to severe criticism by Islamic specialists. As they get discarded by the Malays, the Chinese "adopt" them as an integral component of economic and religious activity. In a particular sea propitiation ritual, the puja pantai, Malays have become "ritual brokers" performing the ceremony for financial gain. These symbolic deconstructions and reconstructions of religion across ethnic boundaries express processes of transculturalism and ritual mediation. In the long term, these processes suggest a fusion of ethnic boundaries within a similar occupational strata although wider socio-political forces work to the contrary.
• RESEARCH NOTES AND COMMENTS
• The Poor in Philippine Cities: A Situation Analysis, by Pilar Ramos-Jimenez, MA. Elena Chiong-Javier, Judy Carol C Sevilla, authors see abstract
  The past decade witnessed a marked acceleration in the pace of urbanization in the Philippines, particularly in Metro Manila. This has been accompanied by increasing numbers of the urban poor (estimated at 14 million), the proliferation of slums and squatter settlements, and concomitant problems of congestion, lack of social services, unsanitary environments, and malnutrition. In this situation analysis of the urban poor, several key issues are identified in the areas of urban development policies, development programmes, and research.
• BOOK REVIEWS
• BOOK REVIEW: (a) Islam and Violence: A Case Study of Violent Events in the Four Southern Provinces, Thailand, 1976-1981. By Chaiwat Satha-Anand. (b) Islam and Malay Nationalism: A Case Study of the Malay-Muslims of Southern Thailand. By Surin Pitsuwan., by Andrew Cornish , author

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• BOOK REVIEW: Divorce in Java: A Study of the Dissolution of Marriage among Javanese Muslims. By Hisako Nakamura., by Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan, author

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• BOOK REVIEW: Cosmology and Social Life: Ritual Exchange among the Mambai of East Timor. By Elizabeth G Traube., by Roxana Waterson, author

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• BOOK REVIEW: Burma: An Annotated Bibliographical Guide to International Doctoral Dissertation Research, 1898-1985. By Frank Joseph Shulman., by Ananda Rajah, author

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