The Modern Anthropology of South-East Asia (2^nd Ed.) An Introduction

This is a comprehensive introduction to the social and cultural anthropology of South-East Asia. It provides an overview of the major theoretical issues and themes which have emerged from the engagement of anthropologists with South-East Asian communities; a succinct historical survey and analysis of the peoples and cultures of the region. Most importantly the volume reveals the vitally important role which the study of the area has occupied in the development of the concepts and methods of anthropology: from the perspectives of Edmund Leach to Clifford Geertz, Maurice Freedman to Claude Levi-Strauss; Lauriston Sharp to Melford Spiro.

1. Southeast Asia: A Field of Anthropological Enquiry? 2. Anthropology and the Colonial Impact (1900-1950) 3. Anthropology in the Period of Decolonization (1950-1970): The American Tradition 4. Anthropology in the Period of Decolonization (1950-1970): The European Tradition 5. Social and Economic Change: 'Peasants' as Part-Societies 6. Ethnicity, Identity and Nationalism 7. Religion 8. Ecology and Environmental Change 9. Gender and the Sexes 10. Urban Ways of Life 11. Summary, Conclusions and Trends