Bagan and the World

Bagan and the World PDF

Author: Goh Geok Yian

Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

Published: 2017-10-30

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9814786020

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The archaeological site of Bagan and the kingdom which bore its name contains one of the greatest concentrations of ancient architecture and art in Asia. Much of what is visible today consists of ruins of Buddhist monasteries. While these monuments are a major tourist attraction, recent advances in archaeology and textual history have added considerable new understanding of this kingdom, which flourished between the 11th and 14th centuries. Bagan was not an isolated monastic site; its inhabitants participated actively in networks of Buddhist religious activity and commerce, abetted by the site’s location near the junction where South Asia, China and Southeast Asia meet. This volume presents the result of recent research by scholars from around the world, including indigenous Myanmar people, whose work deserves to be known among the international community. The perspective on Myanmar’s role as an integral part of the intellectual, artistic and economic framework found in this volume yields a glimpse of new themes which future studies of Asian history will no doubt explore. span, SPAN { background-color:inherit; text-decoration:inherit; white-space:pre-wrap }

Money, Markets, and Trade in Early Southeast Asia

Money, Markets, and Trade in Early Southeast Asia PDF

Author: Robert S. Wicks

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2018-05-31

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1501719475

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This substantial work explores the impact of monetization in premodern Southeast Asia from the third century BCE to the rise of Maleka in the early fifteenth century. The author explores why concepts of money developed unevenly throughout the region. He considers trade policies, price controls, exchange ratios, monopolies, variant standards of value, and the administrative structures required to support such a complex economic innovation.

Mapping Cultural Nationalism

Mapping Cultural Nationalism PDF

Author: Carol Ann Boshier

Publisher: Nias Monographs

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9788776942052

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Despite the proscription of public political debates under colonial rule in Burma, boundary-crossing ventures like the Burma Research Society (founded in 1910) allowed those from different racial and cultural backgrounds to engage in debates about national belonging and identity. At the same time their scholarship generated new historical and cultural knowledge. Such social and intellectual interactions sowed the seeds of nascent nationalism in Burma, not least a unifying Burmano-Buddhist hegemony as promoted by BRS members like J.S. Furnivall and his circle. This was contested by the regional nationalism of San Shwe Bu, with Leslie Fernandes Taylor also warning of the consequences of neglecting the ethnic and linguistic diversity of Burma's many races. With the rise of Rangoon University and popular culture and militant nationalism coming to dominate the social and political landscape by the mid-1930s, the influence of the BRS began to wane. This detailed study of the BRS and its membership, together with an analysis of its published output, contextualizes the Society within its metropolitan and regional setting, as well as drawing on a broader, transnational intellectual landscape. This timely work on the Society's intellectual legacy has the potential to inform current debates in Myanmar at a time when the activities of ultra-nationalist groups threaten other religions and ethnicities' rights as citizens. The study will be of interest to historians and students of colonial Burma as well as anyone interested in the roots of the identity issues currently to the fore in Myanmar.