• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.31-77
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• 2011

식민지하 동남아 천년왕국 운동에 대한 오늘날의 해석들은 그 주체인 농민들을 식민주의를 개념화하고 저항하는 동기와 조건 그리고 상징을 제공하는 토착 지식의 전수자로 간주한다. 종말론과 저항에 대한 관심의 대부분은 농민연구나 지역연구 학자들로부터 유래하며, 이들은 봉기에 대한 과거의 묘사들이 토착의 정신세계를 간과했거나 국가이념을 저항세력들의 결집원리로 과대 포장한 것에 주의를 기울인다. 천년왕국 봉기에 관한 글들에서 제공하는 해석들은 동남아 신념 체계에 관한 독립적인 관점을 제공할 뿐만 아니라, 인식론적 측면에서 식민지국가들을 이와 같은 전통에서 단절시키고 있다. 영국 식민지하에서 최대의 농민반란인 서야쌍 봉기(1930-1932)는 오늘날 이와 같은 천년왕국 운동의 정수를 보여주는 사례로 간주된다. 학자들은 수천 명의 농민들로 하여금 버마인의 권위를 되찾고, 불교를 회복시키며, 식민통치로 인해 낳은 사회-경제적 부조리를 일소시킬 그들의 왕으로 믿게 만든 한 농부의 흥미로운 이야기를 묘사하고 있다. 일련의 반란이 미신에 의해 추동되었다고 간주한 식민지 관찰자들과는 달리 이후의 역사가들은 그 반란이 불교를 재건하고 태평성대로 인도할 미래부처인 미륵불의 현신에 대한 믿음의 표현이라고 해석했다. 이러한 학자들에게 서야쌍 봉기는 어떻게 동남아 사람들의 감수성이 식민지의 사회-경제적 압력 속에서도 지속되었으며, 상좌불교의 예언이 토착의 문화적 토양에 얼마나 깊이 내재해 있는지를 말해주는 사례였다. 경험적 관점에서 본 글은 서야쌍 봉기의 근원을 재해석함으로써 천년왕국 봉기에 관한 글들이 대부분 식민지적 문서화 작업과 종교를 과장되고 세속화된 화술로 믿게 하려고 지역연구자들의 산물임을 밝히고 있다. 개념적 관점에서 본고는 버마에서 일어난 천년왕국 운동의 역사적 구성에 대한 식민주의의 역할을 보다 면밀히 관찰하였다. 또한 식민지법, 학문, 그리고 식민지하 버마 농촌에서 발생한 종교적 저항에 대한 우리들의 이해를 상호 연결하는 인식론적 관계를 탐구했다. 그리하여 본고는 천년왕국 해석이 이 시기에 공존했던 다른 유형의 불교정치적 형태를 어떻게 왜곡했는가를 밝히고 있다.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.95-110
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• 2010

Poem plays an important role in Ca trù. Many music researchers say that singing Ca trù is singing poem. Of 46 tunes of Ca trù, there are more than 10 tunes expressed in available poems or styles of poetry; for example: in the tune Tỳ bà, the performer could sing Tỳ bà hành by Bạch Cư Dị being converted into seven-seven-six-eight-word-meter; in the reciting poem tunes, just reciting 5 Thien thai poems by Tào Đường or 3 Thanh Bình tune poems by Lý Bạch; in the reciting poetic essay (phú), reciting Tien Xich Bich and Hau Xich Bich by Tô Đông Pha. Others like bắc phản, cung bắc sometimes used six-eight word meters. Structurally, those are available for familiar types and beyond the scope of particular creativity because they do not originate from Ca trù's activity environment like recitative. Recitative is the main tune of Ca trù and has become an independent poem type. In terms of literature, recitative has a particular form structure and special type content. Unlike other tunes of Ca trù that only stop at some fixed works, recitative has increased to thousands of works in quantity and has been composed for many centuries. For those reasons, we confined ourselves the research to the creation which is the most typical of Ca tru: The recitative.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.1-20
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• 2009

This research tries to review the history and concepts of Thai temple mural painting. According to the research results, the history of Thai mural painting dates back to the late 14th century when Wat Chedi Chet Taeo in Si Satchanalai was built. The Sinhalese elements embedded in the Sukhothai murals are also found in the Ayuthayan stupa murals made in the early 15th century. The mid 18th century's Burmese invasion into Ayuthaya destroyed most of Buddhist temples in the Kingdom of Ayuthaya and as a result, Buddhist murals of the late Ayuthayan age are hardly found except for some temple murals located outside of the capital. The late Ayuthayan murals are much different from the early Ayuthayan murals in that they are narrative in depicting Jataka and the life of Lord Buddha. This classical mural painting culminated in the age of Rama III of Bangkok Dynasty. His successor Rama IV undertook westernized reforms which influenced the area of traditional mural painting. Consequently, new western style Buddhist mural paintings were produced while themes of mural painting were enlarged to the other subjects such as historical recording of royal and social events. This trend continued in the age of Rama V but the development of Thai Buddhist mural painting discontinued after the death of Rama V due to the rapid westernization and decrease of illiteracy. The existing Buddhist murals produced on or before the reign of Rama V are deteriorating and disappearing. The reasons for this are partly because of Thailand's humid climate. However, some social backgrounds such as the lack of concern for preserving old Buddhist murals can not be disregarded. Considering the substantial value of Thai Buddhist murals as a cultural resource in Thai society, it is very urgent to establish appropriate conservation policy for them.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.25-46
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• 2011

The state-sangha relations in the countries of Theravada Buddhism has often been described as a mutually dependent patron-client relation in which the state and the sangha support each other by performing their due roles. Yet this theory involves a normative dimension that prescribes such a relation as the ideal in the Buddhist world. The explanatory power of this theory hence is hampered in a country where the ideal is not fully realized. In the wake of tumultuous political upheaval where political rivals vie for the state the ideal as well as the theory are put into a trial. The tragic history of modern Cambodia is a history of ceaseless conflict in which multiple contenders for the state had to define their relations with the sangha. The relations defined turned out less mutual than supposed. The state-sangha relations were rather unilaterally dependent. More often than not the sangha was subject to state control with no power to confront the state or coopted only to become a tool for political propaganda and manipulation. The sangha always played the role of client, waiting for the state to define the relation and to be benevolent. Even when the monks were forced to disrobe and when the sangha itself was annihilated, all they did was to wait for another patron state that would put the sangha back in place. The state-sangha relations the Cambodian history reveals were not close to one in which the two parties benefit each other on an equal basis. It was a patron-client relationship in which the client sangha had to be heavily dependent on the patron state. Such a unilaterally dependent relationship is the one that has prevailed in Cambodia.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.91-122
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• 2017

Before the start of the North Borneo Company administration in North Borneo (now Sabah, Malaysia) in 1882, the Timugon Murut of today's interior Tenom District lived in longhouses, and practiced head-hunting during wars with other Murutic ethnic groups. Their economy revolved around swidden agriculture of hill rice, sago, and cassava. Wet rice cultivation and water buffaloes were introduced just before 1885. Wet rice was planted on the alluvial plains around the Pegalan and Padas Rivers, while dry rice was planted on hillside swiddens that had been cleared by slash-and-burn methods. Today, wet rice cultivation and cash-cropping on the plains are the main Timugon socioeconomic activities, while some families also plant dry rice on the hills as a back-up. The Timugon believe that the physical world is surrounded by the spiritual world, and everything was made by the creator Aki Kapuuno'. The focus of this field research paper is on the beliefs and ritual practices of the Timugon connected to their traditional rice agriculture. This study found that for generations, the Timugon believed that since animals were created by Aki Kapuuno' for the wellbeing of humans, various types of animals and birds convey omens to guide people. Thus, the older Timugon rice cultivation is strongly influenced by good and bad omens and taboos, and also involves symbolic practices and ritual offerings to guardian spirits of the rice. After the 1930s and especially since the 1960s, most Timugon became Roman Catholic Christians. Hence, this paper also examines changes in the traditional Timugon rice cultivation related beliefs and practices due to religious conversion and other factors.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.79-123
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• 2011

문화정체성은 실로 구성적 성격을 지닌 개념으로, 문화정체성의 구성은 상황 (그리고 역사)과 상념 사이에서 발생하는 역동적인 상호작용의 결과에서 비롯된다. "다약인"이라는 개념의 형성 및 구성에 있어서도 서로 다른 다양한 힘이 작용해왔다. 식민 지배기에 탐험가들과 학자들은 서구적 방식으로 "다약인"의 구성을 구체화시켰고, 이것은 해방 이후 인도네시아 국가의 향방에 순차적으로 영향을 끼쳤다. 다약인 정체성의 구성과 그 동인에 관한 논의는 머리사냥, 긴 형태의 가옥들, 종교 등과 같이 다약인을 그려내는 특정한 이미지에 다만 집중하고, 다약을 그려내는 이러한 이미지들이 오늘날 다약인 정체성과 어떠한 연관성을 지니는가에 관한 논의이다. 과거 머리사냥 풍습에 관해서도 다약인에게 있어서 머리사냥의 의미와 관례를 충분히 설명할 수 있는 분석이 현재 전무하다. 다약인 사회의 또 다른 주요 특징은 독특한 주거양식에서 찾을 수 있다. 주거양식은 대부분의 문헌에서 추정해온 것처럼 독특한 것이 아니라 오늘날에 이르기까지 다약인은 껜야인처럼 종종 연립가옥(라민)을 그들의 중심문화로 여긴다. 깔리만딴 동부에 위치한 롱메카에서 문화와 청년축제가 개최되었는데 이 축제의 전체 진행은 자문화의 재건과 밀접하게 연관되어있다. 2006년에 끄라얀에서 개최된 이와 유사한 한 문화축제는 페뭉 에라우 펜제라니(Pemung Erau Pengerani)라고 불린다. 종교 역시 다약인의 인류학적 설명에 있어서 주요 특징으로, 다약인은 보르네오에 거주하는 비(非)무슬림교도들로 정의된다. 과거에는 거의 대부분의 사람들이 정령신앙을 숭배했으나, 다약인들 사이에서 기독교로의 대규모 개종이 일어나면서 다약인은 기독교도와 일반적으로 동일시되었다. 깔리만딴 지역의 무슬림은 다약인이 될 수 없다는 게 일반적인 생각이다. 실로 다약인이 된다는 것은 수많은 힘들의 집합체로부터 그 구성이 이루어진다는 것을 의미한다.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.39-80
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• 2024

Guided by the prism of cultural studies, this paper takes a look at the Manila Korea Town in Malate, Manila. The location, Manila Korea Town, figures as the paper's object of study by exploring, theorizing, and reflecting on its presence and location within the horizon of the signifying powers of Korea-Philippine relations in the contemporary period. With the subject position of this essay, the paper theorizes by responding to the following questions: How does the meaning-making of South Korea fare with other Koreatowns in the world from the scale of Koreatown in Manila? Subsequently, what happens to a place when a global cultural phenomenon evolves into a form of placemaking in a different nation and territory? As Koreatown finally grounds itself in the anarchic lifeworld of Manila, what does this historical development in our urban lives reveal about our contemporary times? Responding to this set of questions led this paper to foreground the idea of a modular imagined community within a four-part discussion. The body of the essay begins by theorizing on the concept that this paper proposes, modular imagined community, and such a concept work draws from the theories of nationalism by Benedict Anderson and Partha Chatterjee. Subsequently, the antinomy between Anderson and Chatterjee is pursued by looking at the history of such a place, and through this step, the paper unravels the character of the place of Manila Korea Town, which explains the conditions of possibility of such social and communitarian formation. Yet as the public is caught by the presence of such development especially at the heart of Manila, the paper expands the scale and viewpoint by shining light on the globality of South Korea in relation to the Philippines. Lastly, this paper closes with a discussion on the food culture facilitated by this recent development, which also pushes us to imagine its potential, especially in light of the critique raised against South Korea and the popular culture associated with this phenomenon.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.303-343
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• 2024

Globalization and the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the post-pandemic context continue to play a critical role in shaping the workforce of emerging countries. In Vietnam, evidence obtained during the pandemic revealed that the well-being of employees, especially migrant workers, was extremely poor due to both work and non-work factors. This paper examines the most significant factors that impact the well-being of workers employed by various FDI companies in two Vietnamese industrial parks. The survey evidence (n=200) shows that worker well-being is influenced by seven key factors categorized in three dimensions, namely material stressors, social stressors, and human stressors. A further qualitative analysis of 60 participants provides an understanding of the ways in which each factor affects workers' well-being and how elements of well-being in the Vietnamese context are different compared with other countries. Low salaries, lack of social support, work-life imbalance due to job demands, and the interplay between these three determinants significantly affect the overall well-being of workers. In the current business climate, it is important to have well-targeted policies that encourage high-tech investments as well as persuade domestic firms to address low salaries and economic migration. To manage valuable human resources and keep competitive advantages, foreign firms need to authentically implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives focusing on workers' benefits, especially providing workforce housing. This will bring about win-win outcomes of improved employee well-being and business sustainability.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.117-148
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• 2022

The full impact of COVID-19 has yet to be felt: while it may not define the new decade, it is clear that its immediate significance was to test many of the basic operating assumptions and procedures of global civilization. Even as vaccines are developed and utilized and even as it is possible to see the beginning of the end of COVID-19 as a discrete historical event, it remains unclear as to its ultimate importance. That said, it is evident that the academic exploration of Southeast Asia will also be affected by both the global and regional experiences of the pandemic. "Breakthroughs of Area Studies and ASEAN in the Era of Homo Untact" promises to help reconceptualize the study of the region by highlighting the importance of redefined spatial relationships and new potentially depersonalized modes of communication. This paper acknowledges these issues by suggesting that the transformations caused by the pandemic should motivate scholars to raise new questions about how to understand humanity-particularly as it is defined by societies, nations and regions. Given that COVID-19 (and the response to it) has altered many of the fundamental rhythms of globalized regions, there is sufficient warrant for re-examining both the ways in which disease, health and their related spaces affect the perceptions of Southeast Asia. To achieve "breakthroughs" into the investigation of the region, it makes sense to have another glance at the ways in which the discourses about diseases and health may have helped to inscribe definitions of Southeast Asia-or, at the very least, the nations, societies and peoples who live within it. In order to at least consider these larger issues, the discussion will concentrate on a formative moment in the conceptualization of Southeast Asia-British engagement with the region in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. To that end three themes will be highlighted: (1) the role that British diplomatic and military narratives played in establishing the information priorities required for the construction of colonial knowledge; (2) the importance not only of "colonial knowledge" but information making in its own right; (3) in anticipation of the use of big data, the manner in which manufactured information (related to space and disease) could function in shaping early British perceptions of Southeast Asia-particularly in Batavia and Java. This discussion will suggest that rather than see social distancing or increased communication as the greatest outcome of COVID-19, instead it will be the use of data-that is, big, aggregated biometric data which have not only shaped responses to the pandemic, but remain likely to produce the reconceptualization of both information and knowledge about the region in a way that will be at least as great as that which took place to meet the needs of the "New Imperialism." Furthermore, the definition and articulation of Southeast Asia has often reflected political and security considerations. Yet, the experience of COVID-19 could prove that data and security are now fused into a set of interests critical to policy-makers. Given that the pandemic should accelerate many existing trends, it might be foreseen these developments will herald the triumph of homo indicina: an epistemic condition whereby the human subject has become a kind of index for its harvestable data. If so, the "breakthroughs" for those who study Southeast Asia will follow in due course.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.181-213
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• 2018

How to study Southeast Asia (SEA)? The need to explore and identify methodologies for studying SEA are inherent in its multifaceted subject matter. At a minimum, the region's rich cultural diversity inhibits both the articulation of decisive defining characteristics and the training of scholars who can write with confidence beyond their specialisms. Consequently, the challenges of understanding the region remain and a consensus regarding the most effective approaches to studying its history, identity and future seem quite unlikely. Furthermore, "Area Studies" more generally, has proved to be a less attractive frame of reference for burgeoning scholarly trends. This paper will propose a new tool to help address these challenges. Even though the science of artificial intelligence (AI) is in its infancy, it has already yielded new approaches to many commercial, scientific and humanistic questions. At this point, AI has been used to produce news, generate better smart phones, deliver more entertainment choices, analyze earthquakes and write fiction. The time has come to explore the possibility that AI can be put at the service of the study of SEA. The paper intends to lay out what would be required to develop SEABOT. This instrument might exist as a robot on the web which might be called upon to make the study of SEA both broader and more comprehensive. The discussion will explore the financial resources, ownership and timeline needed to make SEABOT go from an idea to a reality. SEABOT would draw upon artificial neural networks (ANNs) to mine the region's "Big Data", while synthesizing the information to form new and useful perspectives on SEA. Overcoming significant language issues, applying multidisciplinary methods and drawing upon new yields of information should produce new questions and ways to conceptualize SEA. SEABOT could lead to findings which might not otherwise be achieved. SEABOT's work might well produce outcomes which could open up solutions to immediate regional problems, provide ASEAN planners with new resources and make it possible to eventually define and capitalize on SEA's "soft power". That is, new findings should provide the basis for ASEAN diplomats and policy-makers to develop new modalities of cultural diplomacy and improved governance. Last, SEABOT might also open up avenues to tell the SEA story in new distinctive ways. SEABOT is seen as a heuristic device to explore the results which this instrument might yield. More important the discussion will also raise the possibility that an AI-driven perspective on SEA may prove to be even more problematic than it is beneficial.