A world of water : rain, rivers and seas in Southeast Asian histories / edited by Peter Boomgaard.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Boomgaard, P., 1946-

Series:

Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde ; 240.

Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde ; 240

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ecohydrology--Southeast Asia--History.

Ecohydrology.

Water--Social aspects--Southeast Asia.

Water.

Water in agriculture--Southeast Asia.

Water in agriculture.

Water--Pollution--Southeast Asia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (368 pages): illustrations, charts

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden : KITLV Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Water, in its many guises, has always played a powerful role in shaping Southeast Asian histories, cultures, societies and economies. This volume, the rewritten results of an international workshop, with participants from eight countries, contains thirteen essays, representing a broad range of approaches to the study of Southeast Asia with water as the central theme. As it was exposed to the sea, the region was more accessible to outside political, economic and cultural influences than many landlocked areas. Easy access through sea routes also stimulated trade from an early age. However, the same easy access made Southeast Asia vulnerable to political control by strong outsiders. The sea is, moreover, a source of food, but also of many hazards. At the same time, Southeast Asian societies and cultures are confronted with and permeated by 'water from heaven' in the form of rain, flash floods, irrigation water, water in rivers, brooks and swaps, water-driven power plants, and pumped or piped water, in addition to water as a carrier of sewage and pollution. Finally, the volume deals with the role of water in classification systems, beliefs, myths, illness and healing. Full Text (Open Access)

Contents:

Preface, In a state of flux : water as a deadly and a life-giving force in Southeast Asia / Peter Boombaard

Geography as destiny? : the role of water in Southeast Asian history / Heather Sutherland

Of gods and monsters : indigenous sea cosmologies, promiscuous geographies and the depths of local sovereignty / Sandra Pannell

Toothy tale : a short history of shark fisheries and trade in shark products in twentieth-century Indonesia / Manon Osseweijer

Tale of two centuries : the globalization of maritime raiding and piracy in Southeast Asia at the end of the eighteenth and twentieth centuries / James F. Warren

Storms of history : water, hazard and society in the Philippines, 1565-1930 / Greg Bankoff

Communal irrigation : a comparative perspective / Robert C. Hunt

Geographical explanations for the distribution of irrigation institutions : cases from Southeast Asia / Willem Wolters

Water and rice in early Java and Bali / Jan Wisseman Christie

Contestation over a life-giving force : water rights and conflicts, with special reference to Indonesia / Franz von Benda-Beckmann

Role of waterborne diseases in Malaysia / Foong Kin

Privatizing water : the Jakarta concession and the limits of contract / Okke Braadbaart

Politics of environmental and water pollution in East Java / Anton Lucas and Arief W. Djati.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

CC BY-NC-ND

ISBN:

9789004254015

9004254013

OCLC:

923614533

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004254015 DOI

Access Restriction:

Open access Unrestricted online access