IAS Working Paper on Anthropological Reflections on a Malay Fishing Village

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…

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IAS Working Paper on Covid-19 and Tourism in Southeast Asia

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…

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IAS Working Paper on the Iban of Melilas, Ulu Belait

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…

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IAS Working Paper on Indonesian Reforms 1999-2002

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…

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IAS Working Paper on Performative Mimicry and Postcolonial Exoticism in Literature

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…

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IAS Working Paper on Race and Ethnic Identity in Malaysia and Singapore

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…

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IAS Working Paper on Anthropologists at War in the Rainforest

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…

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IAS Working Paper on Labour Cazualization in Developing States

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 51: Rethinking the Limits of Public Service Labour Casualization in Developing States by Cordelia Belezaire. Please see below for details. Abstract: In the last three decades, labour casualization has become synonymous with Public Service reform in many developing countries. Reforms were meant to restructure and streamline public service delivery by establishing a more flexible workforce. Yet, labour casualization brings with it significant uncertainties such as diminished security of tenure, minimal employment protections, and no guarantee of long-term employment prospects. The…

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IAS Working Paper on Halal Certification

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 50: Halal Certification in Brunei by Hajah Siti Norfadzilah Binti Haji Kifli. Please see below for details. Abstract: This research explores how halal is regulated and practised in Brunei by highlighting the process of Halal Certification in Brunei. In the recent enforcement of the Halal Certificate and Halal Logo (Amendment) Order of 2017, this research discusses the effects it has on the local food and beverage (F&B) businesses, particularly the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). By comparing halal certification…

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King on the Construction of Southeast Asia

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 49: The Construction of Southeast Asia as an Academic Field of Study: Personages, Programmes and Problems by Victor T. King. Please see below for details. Abstract: This paper explores critically and historically some of the popular academic views or ‘myths’ concerning the development of the study of Southeast Asia through the lens of the contributions of particular scholars and institutions. Within the broad field of Southeast Asian Studies, the focus will be on the disciplines of geography, history and ethnology,…

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