The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 62: Changing Notions of Masculinity among Young Malay Men in Brunei Darussalam by T.P.M. Adi Nabil Fadzillah and Chang-Yau Hoon. Please see below for details.Abstract: This paper explores various notions of masculinity among young Malay men in Brunei Darussalam. Using interview data from 16 male and female informants, it elucidates other forms of self-expressions and identities in contrast to the stereotypical and traditional notion of masculinity. While the data attest to the normative values and ways of being men recognized…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 60: From Periphery to Center to Periphery: Chinese Studies in Southeast Asia, 1960-2000 by Tong Chee Kiong and Lee Cheuk Yin. Please see below for details. Abstract: This paper examines the contribution of overseas scholars to Chinese studies. Given that eighty percent of the Chinese diaspora are located in Southeast Asia, it pays particular attention to social science scholarship in the region. The work of scholars in religion and ethnicity are highlighted. The authors argue that the rise of China…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 59: Mutualism between Humans and Palms: The Curious Case of the Palmyra Palm (Borassus flabellifer L.), and its Tapper by F. Merlin Franco, Godson Samuel, and T. Francis. Please see below for details. Abstract: Borassus flabellifer L., is a semi-domesticated palm of cultural and economic importance to local communities from the Persian Gulf to the Cambodian- Vietnamese border. Drawing from a qualitative study conducted in Southern India, we bring out its biocultural significance to the local people, and the mutualistic…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 58: The Anthropology of Remembering and Memory as Ethnography: Reflections on a Fishing Village and Firth’s Malay Fishermen by Zawawi Ibrahim. Please see below for details. Abstract: The Malay peasantry in peninsular Malaysia has been the subject of fieldwork and ethnographic research by both colonial and local anthropologists. Raymond Firth’s Malay Fishermen, based on fieldwork in Perupok, a fishing community in Kelantan, stands as an early and now-classic example of the genre. I was born some seven years after Firth’s…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 57: Covid-19 and Tourism in Southeast Asia by Jennifer Kim Lian Chan and Victor T. King. Please see below for details. Abstract: During the past two decades the Southeast Asian region has experienced a range of major crises. Its substantial tourism industry has often taken the brunt of these difficult and testing events, from natural and environmental calamities, epidemics and pandemics, downturns and financial slumps in the world economy, terrorism and political conflict. The latest peril, this time on a…

Working Paper No 56: The Iban of Melilas, Ulu Belait: From Migrants to Citizens by Mahirah Nazatul Hazimah and Lian Kwen Fee. Please see below for details. Abstract: There are an estimated 14,000 to 20,000 Iban living in Brunei, most of them in the Ulu Belait and Temburong districts. They migrated to Brunei from Sarawak just before the Second World War in search of new land and opportunity to improve their livelihood. Not recognized as one of the seven puak by the state, the common narrative is that they face challenges of incorporation into the Sultanate. In Mukim Sukang (Ulu…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 55: On Constitutions and Power: An Anatomy of Indonesian Reforms 1999-2002 by Paul J. Carnegie. Please see below for details. Abstract: Proposing constitutional reform and the process of establishing it are two distinct matters. The former is largely a normative projection of what could be whilst the latter involves the manner in which reform is brought about. In reality, translating proposals into accepted practice involves overcoming legacies of the past. Whether or not they can persist over time is a…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 54: Performative mimicry and postcolonial exoticism: A re-politicising of the female body in the work of Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan and Amir Falique by Mahfuzah Abd Wahab. Please see below for details. Abstract: While the myth of the exotic Oriental is a subject of rejection and subversion in conventional postcolonial studies, in contemporary studies of Southeast Asia, self-exoticism is evident at both the individual and national levels. It is deployed to achieve positional status in a globalised world. This paper investigates…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 53: Retracing the Political Construction of Race and Ethnic Identity in Malaysia and Singapore: Career of a Concept by Lian Kwen Fee. Please see below for details. Abstract: In this paper, I trace the development of my work on race and ethnicity over my academic career, as a reflection in part of my biographical background. My interest in race and ethnic relations originated from my experience of the race riots in Kuala Lumpur on May 13th in 1969, subsequently grounded…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 52: ‘Wild Borneo’: Anthropologists at War in the Rainforest by Victor T. King. Please see below for details. Abstract: Dispute, disagreement, and debate are the very stuff of academic activity. The problem arises when the language of the debate takes on a personal dimension and the authority that is claimed in arguing in favour of a particular position, approach, or perspective becomes so entrenched that other voices are assigned to the margins. This paper reviews the origins and development of…