Institute for Asian and African Studies

The following translated essay by Tsubouchi Shōyō 坪内逍遥 (1859–1935) gives an example of one of the earliest public discussions about the theatrical form calledbuyō舞踊 (dance) based on Western scientific approaches in Japan. Within the theatre renewal movement (engeki kairyō undō演劇改良運動), which has been initiated by intellectuals of the political and cultural elite of the Meiji-state, Shōyō on the one hand championed for a preservation of the old dance forms but on the other hand criticized the underlying texts of dance. He as well mentioned the lack of experts at his time who could develop high quality dance performances appropriate to the modern times. As a pioneer of the theatre renewal movement, Shōyō not only focused dance on a theoretical basis, but had also created plays of modern dance theatre as a commixture of Japanese and Western theatrical aspects. In the face of the intense wave of westernization, which affected nearly all areas of life at this time, Shōyō shifts his reader...

Ever since the Internet became a widespread medium of mass communication in the 1990s, its influence on democratic development has been a central issue. New and relatively unrestricted ways to access and disseminate information were and still are seen as a means of undermining control mechanisms in authoritarian societies. More than a decade later, and in the light of the so-called ‘Facebook revolution' in the Arab world, the authors in this volume seek to approach the impact of the Internet from different perspectives, beyond over-optimistic expectations of change in democratic practices. The focus hereby lies on Southeast Asia, with its unique variants of (semi-)authoritarian regimes, and includes often neglected aspects such as the reactions of authoritarian regimes towards these new challenges, the inter-connectedness of the ‘online' and the ‘offline' worlds, as well as the disparate development and usage of IT infrastructure in the region.

Malaysia is an often cited example of a semi-authoritarian regime in which the Internet is seen as an important tool to counter a government-controlled media hegemony. The election results in 2008 in particular have been accredited with mobilizing voters through the use of online media and are seen as a challenge to Malaysia’s ethnic-based political system. In this
article, however, it is argued that ethnicization, as one of the fundamentals of this system, is more complex and resistant and that, thus, simply having access to different kinds of information does not necessarily change ethnicized perceptions. Using the theoretical framework of manifestations and implementations of ethnicization, this paper aims to identify the ambiguities
and contradictions that result from the impact of the online media in an ethnicized society, and demonstrates that the ‘online’ world eventually reflects ‘offline’ structures of power, wealth and knowledge.

"This book is the first monograph to provide an in-depth and multifaceted study of the processes of ethnicization and identity construction in Malaysia, from the colonial period until the present. In his analysis, the author takes multiple layers of ethnicization into account and shows how these have shaped Malaysia’s socio-political system and society in different ways. Moving beyond a center-focused, top-down-oriented perception of identity politics, this work highlights on the one hand the role and position of a multitude of actors - from grassroots level to mainstream politics - who contribute to the persistence of ethnicization in Malaysia in numerous ways. On the other hand, it also shows where and under which circumstances possibilities for transethnic cooperation arise.

A multi-disciplinary approach, substantiated by empirical data based on qualitative and quantitative methodologies, provides a perspective that moves beyond stereotypical narrations of Malaysia as being constituted by mainly three separate, homogenous groups. At the same time, this book gives a detailed and comprehensive account of political and historical developments and constitutes a rich resource for any Malaysia-related research.

While the focus of this publication lies on Malaysia, the concept of manifestations and implementations of ethnicization provides an analytical framework that can also be applied in the study of ethnicization and identity construction elsewhere in the region and beyond."

The attached review is an electronic version of a book review that was published in Asian Ethnicity © 2013 Copyright; Taylor & Francis. Permission kindly granted by Taylor & Francis, any other form of reproduction or redistribution requires permission. Asian Ethnicity is available online at:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14631369.2012.745748

Can race and ethnicity be sound and valid analytical categories in the first place, especially in a contemporary academic context? Are they sufficiently coherent that they can be applied in every possible context, or do they rather only make sense when looking at the ‘other’? And are there ways and means to describe the phenomena that we encounter in fundamentally different ways, rather than just replacing one shaky term with another?
In this article I want to address these questions from a trans-disciplinary area studies perspective.  Modern area studies, which go beyond merely studying a nation-state environment, are helpful in overcoming eurocentric approaches, which are often still very much engrained in the ‘classical’ disciplines. Taking inspiration from disciplines such as sociology, psychology, and discourse analysis, and adjusting and testing them outside a predominantly white, ‘Western’ environment may produce better results not only when looking at the area of the ‘other’, but also one’s own area, ‘at home’.
One of the outcomes of this direction is an alternative approach, in terms of concept as well as terminology, to the phenomena we often describe along the lines of race and ethnicity: the layered concept of ethnicization as a processual framework of analysis. In order to provide a new perspective, such an approach must go beyond classical counter-arguments with regard to race and ethnicity, with the bottom line that everything related to these is constructed. It must take into account the power that notions of race and ethnicity have in real life, but at the same time avoid reinforcing notions of homogeneity, and instead underline the processual aspect of group and identity formation. This may not be an easy task, and might challenge accustomed and convenient categories often used when analyzing group dynamics and relations. But in the end it is a worthwhile endeavor that opens up more differentiated views of the underlying issues at stake, which are all too easily overlooked when focusing on the rather static categories of race and ethnicity.

In the context of group (identity) formation processes, the linkages or references to an ‘original’ idea , a ‘pure’ origin etc. are a key factor to create an ideological framework that the group’s members can relate and subscribe to. Clearly, most people strive to be and ‘original’ and not a ‘copy’ – or at least to have as close links as possible to the ‘original’. This is applicable to a variety of groups, from retro fashion to religious movements. Authenticity as a measurement for compliance or closeness with the perceived original (or the lack thereof) is thus created through the degree of acting in accordance with the standards set out to be original or genuine. While authenticity is actually a binary unit (something is authentic or not authentic, as much as something is true or false), the process of establishing authenticity is a much more fluid one: For one because it is mostly impossible to determine the actual root or origin of an idea, a practice or a school of thought and therefore a certain (often significant) level of ambiguity remains. In addition to that, the reference points of what is original or genuine change over time. Thus, what is referred to as original does not actually have to be the original, it can be merely the point of reference that most people in a certain context agree to be ‘the original’. The perception of something deemed authentic is therefore dependent on how it is sustained, for example in public discourse or vis-à-vis other groups with differing interpretations of authenticity. In this paper, I argue that the various elements that constitute authenticity hold a certain ‘currency’ – some add significant value to one’s (self-)perception of being authentic, others do so only to a lesser degree. Some come at a bargain, just waiting to be incorporated, while others can be acquired only at great expenses. Religiosity (here understood as: the degree of incorporation of religious practices into one’s life) is a suitable example to demonstrate all these aspects in establishing authenticity: Other group members can ‘measure’ the level of compliance with what is set to be the genuine belief, while at the same time numerous interpretations compete against each other for what constitutes a genuine – i.e. authentic – belief system within a certain religious denomination. Religiosity thus becomes a currency in establishing authenticity, with some religious practices or affiliations offering more economical ways to accumulate authenticity than others. I will demonstrate this in the context of Malaysia, where in recent years increasing debates about what constitutes ‘genuine’ Islam, deviancy and apostasy have dominated large segments of public discourse. In addition to contextualizing these debates in a larger context as ethnicization of religion, I shall explain their appeal as reference points of authenticity as well as the accompanying ambiguities and resulting difficulties in dismantling these more and more ossified frameworks of authenticity.

Vorliegender Artikel ist der zweite Teil zum Thema "Internet-Ressourcen in Malaysia". Teil eins erschien in ASIEN ([April 2000] 75, S. 100-103) und hat sich ausführlich mit dem politischen System Malaysias sowie mit Quellen zur wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung des Landes beschaftigt.

Using photo sessions in combination with three in-depth interviews at a Japanese party called Ankokai in Berlin, we explore how the method of photography along with the participant's choice of personal objects in the photographs positively influences narrative interviews. Literally meaning "red bean paste meeting", the Ankokai was originally used as a way for the Japanese gay community to meet in Berlin but nowadays attracts people from all kinds of backgrounds. Keeping the ethnographic research method in mind, our underlying research question asks how translocal categories of migration are reflected in the participants' choices of personal objects in the photographs. Although larger studies are required to verify this claim, we found that photography can be a strong tool for enacting reciprocity and building rapport in ethnographic research. Furthermore, the participants' choices of personal objects for these pictures support powerful personal narratives as the research participants' active participation in the photo session enabled them to reflect on their experiences of migration.

Contemporary Social Sciences show a strong interest in studying power and
domination in postcolonial societies. Elite research has become crucial to understand
the changes in the political and economic dimensions of power structures in the context
of democratic experience and economic development in countries such as India. These
changes can be located within social structures and the globalization of elites. This
study is an attempt to make sense of the ongoing transformations happening in the
field of power in India. The existing scholarship on elites in India has been more
related to socio-political transformations post-independence, and less on the relation
between globalization and changes in the composition of political and economic elites
in India. Therefore, we study the context and impact of the process of globalization
on the social background of these elites and the emerging larger dynamics regarding
socio-economic changes in the Global South