The Buddha on Mecca's verandah : encounters, mobilities, and histories along the Malaysian-Thai border / Irving Chan Johnson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnson, Irving Chan.

Series:

Critical dialogues in Southeast Asian studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Thais--Malaysia--Kelantan--Social life and customs.

Thais.

Buddhists--Malaysia--Kelantan--Social life and customs.

Buddhists.

Ethnology--Malaysia--Kelantan.

Ethnology.

Borderlands--Malaysia--Kelantan.

Borderlands.

Borderlands--Thailand--Narathiwat (Province).

Manners and customs.

Thailand--Narathiwat (Province).

Malaysia--Kelantan.

Physical Description:

xxii, 223 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2012.

Summary:

The Buddha an Mecca's Verndah examines the many ways in which people living along an international border negotiate their ethnic, cultural, and political identities. This ethnography of a small community of Thai Buddhists in the Malaysian state of Kelantan draws on rich, original vignettes to show how issues of territoriality, identity, and power frame the experience of borderland residents.

Although the Thai represent less than to percent of the Kelantan population, they are about their identity as non-Muslim, non-Malay citizens. They have built some of the world's largest Buddhist statues in their tiny villages, in a state that has governance. At the same time, the That grapple with feelings of social and political powerlessness, being neither Thai citizens nor Muslim Malaysians. This thoughtful study offers classical definition of boundaries and borders as spaces that enforce separation and distance. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Places 24

Chapter 2 Gaps 51

Chapter 3 Forms 85

Chapter 4 Circuits 119

Chapter 5 Dreams 148.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780295992037

0295992034

9780295992044

0295992042

OCLC:

781848463