Benedict R. O'G. Anderson is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work on the politics and cultures of Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. His early studies of Indonesia led to the publication of Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, a book that profoundly changed the way people understand modern states. Banned from returning to Indonesia after his interpretation of the 1965 coup was published, Anderson shifted his attention to Thailand. This collection of essays gathers in one book Anderson s iconoclastic analyses of Siam (Thailand), its political institutions and bloody upheavals, its literature, authors, and contemporary cinema.

The volume begins with the challenging essay "Studies of the Thai State: The State of Thai Studies," followed by chapters that map shifts of power between the Left and Right in Thailand, the role of the monarchy, and the significance of the military. The final essays track Anderson s own evolution as a student of Siam and his growing, more playful interest in billboards, ephemera, and film. Together, these works demonstrate an extraordinary scholar s commitment to exploring Thailand."

Benedict R. O'G. Anderson is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work on the politics and cultures of Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. His early studies of Indonesia led to the publication of Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, a book that profoundly changed the way people understand modern states. Banned from returning to Indonesia after his interpretation of the 1965 coup was published, Anderson shifted his attention to Thailand. This collection of essays gathers in one book Anderson s iconoclastic analyses of Siam (Thailand), its political institutions and bloody upheavals, its literature, authors, and contemporary cinema.

The volume begins with the challenging essay "Studies of the Thai State: The State of Thai Studies," followed by chapters that map shifts of power between the Left and Right in Thailand, the role of the monarchy, and the significance of the military. The final essays track Anderson s own evolution as a student of Siam and his growing, more playful interest in billboards, ephemera, and film. Together, these works demonstrate an extraordinary scholar s commitment to exploring Thailand."

The Indonesian revolution, its origins, the course of its development, and its relation to current conditions in Indonesian society has always been a subject of major concern to the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. Among the principal gaps in the coverage of its history (where both Indonesian and other Asian and Western scholars have given relatively little attention) are the background provided by the final year of Japanese occupation and an account of the first few months of independence, a critical time in which the revolutionary forces acquired their first institutional form. It is a matter of great regret that most of those Indonesians best qualified to write about this period have had little opportunity for doing so because of their preoccupation with governmental administration and other heavy duties. In the past decade, during which research on Indonesia has taken root at Cornell University, there has been only one substantial study relating to this period, Professor Harry J. Benda's doctoral dissertation, later published under the title of The Crescent and the Rising Sun. (The only other significant studies in English, Dr. M. A. Aziz's Japan's Colonialism and Indonesia and Professor W. H. Elsbree's Japan's Role in Southeast Asian Nationalist Movements, 1940-1945 were written without access to the substantial body of documents available to Dr. Benda and Mr. Anderson in Cornell University Library's collection on the Japanese occupation of Indonesia.) Subsequently, a study of outstanding importance has appeared in Japan, Indoneshia ni okeru Nippon gunsei no kenkyu (A Study of the Effects of the Japanese Military Occupation on Indonesia) by Shigetada Nishijima, Koichi Kishi, et al.; but, unfortunately, this exists only in the Japanese language and has not as yet been translated into English or Indonesian. Mr. Benedict Anderson, a member of the Cornell Southeast Asia Program's Modern Indonesia Project and for two years chief teaching assistant in the University's Department of Government, is currently on his way to Indonesia to undertake research concerning the revolutionary period (1945-1949). It is my hope and expectation that as a consequence he will be able to explore the history of the period in a balanced and scholarly way. I believe that the quality of his work in this present Interim Report, one based only on resources available at Cornell, is a substantial earnest of his capacity for doing so. Mr. Anderson's present study deals with the earliest period of the broader study which he envisages. He wishes it emphasized that the account offered here is an interim report, not a completed mono-graph. It represents his preliminary research, based on the incomplete sources available to him at Cornell. Many of his data are regarded by him as tentative and subject to confirmation or revision - depending upon the information which he encounters during his research in Indonesia. So that this study may be improved, he and I hope that he may secure the cooperation and the full, candid criticism of knowledgeable Indonesian scholars and officials. - George McT. Kahin, September 29, 1961

All of those who are interested in contemporary Indonesian society, its organization and social and political articulation, sooner or later come to realize that in order to achieve any real depth of understanding for these phenomena it is first necessary to appreciate the enduring and frequently manifest residuum of traditional, pre-Western culture in Indonesia. Certainly this is true with respect to Java, whose culture has of course had an impact far beyond the shores of that island. In many cases these legacies of traditional culture help to explain current phenomena; in addition they make much more understandable the Javanese approach to religion-not only to Islam but also to Hinduism and Buddhism, which were introduced to the island earlier. For they have conditioned the way in which all outside ideas, Western and non-Western, have been received, and they help to account for the particular patterns of synthesis which are woven into the Javanese milieu. Most striking is the way in which persisting elements of old Javanese culture affect contemporary values. An ability to accommodate to and tolerate conflicting norms and ideas, the capacity to entertain in coexistence ideas and values that would seem incompatible in many Western settings, an unusual capacity for sympathetic toleration in social behavior-these are all attributes of contemporary Javanese society deriving from old Javanese culture. For the outsider, such elements are probably most easily approached and understood through the traditional artistic medium of the wayang - the Javanese shadowplays based upon adaptations and developments of major themes and episodes in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. These wayang plays, performed with flat leather puppets which throw their sharply etched shadows against a screen which is viewed from the other side, are as important a part of contemporary Javanese culture as they were of the old. To discern this relationship between the wayang plays and Javanese society, to achieve an insight into the values which have been conveyed by wayang over the centuries, and then to perceive these patterns of social conduct and morality in a dynamic phase of interaction and adjustment with the new values and social concepts born in Indonesia of the Japanese occupation, the Revolution, and the rapid change of a post-revolutionary society, is an accomplishment few non-Indonesians would be capable of. Nor, indeed, would it be possible for most Indonesians, for their involvement in the culture and the society is so close that they miss the perspective necessary to appraise and describe these phenomena to an outside audience. Mr. Benedict Anderson's study of the wayang and its sociological and psychological significance is, I believe, a real contribution to our understanding of Javanese culture and values. A political scientist by training (he has recently returned from Indonesia after three years of research there, primarily on the Revolutionary period), he has long been interested in Javanese art, drama, and music and has achieved unusually deep insights into these aspects of the Javanese civilization. Mr. Anderson wishes to emphasize that this study is exploratory in nature and that the conclusions he reaches are tentative. He would welcome comments and criticism on the material he is presenting. - George McT. Kahin, August 24, 1965

In these studies, scholars from the United States and Indonesia identify some of the cultural roots of Indonesian political behavior. The authors, representing the fields of anthropology, history, and political science, explore the ways in which traditional institutions, beliefs, values, and ethnic origins affect notions of power and rebellion, influence political party affiliations, and create new modes of cultural expression. Using two different but contemporary approaches, the authors show what can be learned about Indonesia through use of the Western concepts of "culture" and "politics." Professors Lev, Liddle, and Sartono illustrate how much can be gained from presenting Indonesian life in Western terms, while Professors Abdullah and Anderson contrast Indonesian and Western ideas. In an Afterword, Clifford Geertz reflects on the questions raised in these essays by discussing the tense relationships between Indonesian political institutions and the cultural framework in which they exist. CLAIRE HOLT was, until her death in 1970, Senior Research Associate of the Modern Indonesia Project, Cornell University. In Indonesia she served as assistant to the late Dr. W.F. Stutterheim, the noted archaeologist and cultural historian. She lectured extensively in Europe, the Far East, and the United States on Indonesian culture, and worked as a researcher and training specialist for the US Department of State.

In this lively book, Benedict R. O'G. Anderson explores the cultural and political contradictions that have arisen from two critical facts in Indonesian history: that while the Indonesian nation is young, the Indonesian nation is ancient originating in the early seventeenth-century Dutch conquests; and that contemporary politics are conducted in a new language. Bahasa Indonesia, by peoples (especially the Javanese) whose cultures are rooted in medieval times. Analyzing a spectrum of examples from classical poetry to public monuments and cartoons, Anderson deepens our understanding of the interaction between modern and traditional notions of power, the mediation of power by language, and the development of national consciousness. Language and Power, now republished as part of Equinox Publishing's Classic Indonesia series, brings together eight of Anderson's most influential essays over the past two decades and is essential reading for anyone studying the Indonesian country, people or language. Benedict Anderson is one of the world's leading authorities on Southeast Asian nationalism and particularly on Indonesia. He is Professor of International Studies and Director of the Modern Indonesia Project at Cornell University, New York. His other works include Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism and The Spectre of Comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the World.

With remarkable scope and in scrupulous detail, Professor Anderson analyzes the Indonesian revolution of 1945. Against the background of Javanese culture and the Japanese occupation, he explores the origins of the revolutionary youth groups, the military, and the political parties to challenge conventional interpretations of revolutionary movements in Asia. The author emphasizes that the critical role in the outbreak was played not by the dissatisfied intellectuals or by an oppressed working class but by the youth of Indonesia. Perhaps most important are the insights he offers into the conflict between strategies for seeking national revolution and those for attaining social change. By giving first priority to gaining recognition of Indonesian sovereignty from the outside world, he argues, the revolutionary leadership had to adopt conservative domestic policies that greatly reduced the possibility of far-reaching social reform. This in-depth study of the independence crisis in Indonesia, brought back to life by Equinox Publishing as the first title in it's Classic Indonesia series, also illuminates the revolutionary process in other nations, where wars for independence have been fought but significant social and economic progress has not yet been achieved. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Benedict Anderson is one of the world's leading authorities on South East Asian nationalism and particularly on Indonesia. He is Professor of International Studies and Director of the Modern Indonesia Project at Cornell University, New York. His other works include Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism and The Spectre of Comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the World.

Professor Kahin's classic 1952 study, reprinted for a contemporary audience. An immediate, vibrant portrait of a nation in the age of revolution, featuring interviews with many of the chief players. With new illustrations and a new introduction by Benedict R. O'G. Anderson.

These essays investigate institutionalized violence in New Order Indonesia and the ongoing legacy Suharto's dictatorship has conferred on the nation. The collection includes papers on East Timor, Aceh, Biak, the police, and the Indonesian military, among other topics.

In this lively book, Benedict R. O'G Anderson explores the cultural and political contradictions that have arisen from two critical facts in Indonesian history—that while the Indonesian nation is young, the Indonesian state is ancient, originating in the early seventeenth-century Dutch conquests; and that contemporary politics are conducted in a new language, Bahasa Indonesia, by peoples (especially the Javanese) whose cultures are rooted in medieval times. Analyzing a spectrum of examples from classical poetry to public monuments and cartoons, Anderson deepens our understanding of the interaction between modern and traditional notions of power, the meditation of power by language, and the development of national consciousness. This volume brings together eight of Anderson's most influential essays written over the past two decades. Most of the essays address aspects of Javanese political culture—from the early nineteenth century, when the Javanese did not yet have words for politics, colonialism, society, or class, through the early nationalism of the 1900s, to the era of independence after World War II, when deep internal tensions exploded into large-scale massacres. In the first group of essays Anderson considers how power was imagined in traditional Javanese society, and how these imaginings shaped Indonesia's modern politics. Other essays focus on the significance of the incongruences between the egalitarian, ironizing national language through which modern Indonesia has been imagined and the powerful influence of the hierarchical, authoritarian Javanese official culture. Finally, two essays on consciousness illuminate the crucial eras before and after the rise of Indonesia's nationalist movement. One reflects on Javanese intellectuals' phantasmagoric efforts to keep imagining "Java" as the island was overrun by colonial capitalism and absorbed into the huge, heterogeneous Netherlands East Indies; the second traces the transition from old culture to new nation through the autobiography of an eminent Javanese first-generation nationalist politician.

A representative sampling of the short fiction produced by a single generation of Thai writers during the "American Era" in Thailand, the two decades from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, when US involvement in politics and the economy ignited rapid social change and awakened a group of thoughtful new authors.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.

Indonesia is a semi-annual journal devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's culture, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area scholars and interested readers with contemporary analysis of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and region. Currently, only back issues of Indonesia are available for purchase through Cornell University Press's website.