Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1976. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 1,009-1,048).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Princeton University, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 317-354).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Boston University, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 249-259).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Southern Illinois University, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [78]-85).

Based on dissertation, Berlin. / Bibliography: p. 205-208.

The central focus of my thesis is the symbolism of money and the power it holds in the Riau archipelago and Batam of Indonesia to affect the nature of social relationships. These social relationships in turn affect the different forms of exchange that take place in the archipelago. In particular, I am exploring the meaning and moral implications of monetary and commercial exchanges in contrast to exchanges of other kinds that take place between the Orang Suku Laut and other Malay and non-Malay communities. The Orang Suku Laut are regarded as the Orang asli Melayu (indigenous Malays) of Riau. Yet in the interaction between the Malays and Orang Suku Laut, there exists much fear between them with constant accusations of being poisoned and harmed by one and the other through practices of magic and witchcraft. This stems from the Malays' perception of the Orang Suku Laut as a "dangerous, dirty and unprogressive people. " The Orang Suku Laut are regarded as preferring a life of nomadism, and one without a religious orientation towards Islam, as opposed to a life of sedentism guided by the Islamic religion. This thesis explores how this self and other perceptions which have shaped the image of the Orang Suku Laut, have become enmeshed in the exchange economy of the Orang Suku Laut and the Malays.

This dissertation creates two new theoretical tools to analyze connections between politics and environmental change. The first section develops the concept of Northern ‘shadow ecologies’ to understand the environmental impact of a Northern state on Southern resource management. A Northern shadow ecology is the aggregate environmental impact of government aid and loans; corporate investment and technology transfers; and trade, including purchasing practices, consumption, export and consumer prices, and import tariffs. After outlining Japan’s shadow ecology, the next part constructs an analytical lens to uncover salient Southern political causes of timber mismanagement. This spotlights modern patron-client links between Southern officials and private operators that debilitate state capacity to implement resource policies. Using these analytical tools, and building on extensive primary sources and more than 100 in-depth interviews, the remainder of the thesis examines the two most important factors driving commercial timber mismanagement in Indonesia, Borneo Malaysia, and the Philippines: pervasive patron-client ties between Southeast Asian officials and timber operators; and the residual and immediate environmental impact of Japan. In a continual struggle to retain power in societies with fragmented social control, Southeast Asian state leaders build potent patron-client networks that syphon state funds, distort policies, and undermine supervision of state implementors. In this setting, the state is often unable to enforce timber management rules as implementors -- in exchange for gifts, money, or security -- ignore or assist destructive and illegal loggers, smugglers, and tax evaders. Japan’s shadow ecology has expedited timber mismanagement, and left deep environmental scars that impede current efforts to improve timber management. Post-1990 Japanese government and corporate policy changes to integrate environmental concerns have marginally improved forestry ODA, and contributed to token corporate conservation projects. As well, there is now less Japanese investment, technology, and credit linked to logging. But massive timber purchases from unsustainable sources, wasteful consumption, timber prices that ignore environmental and social costs, import barriers that deplete Southern revenues, and the residual impact of past Japanese practices continue to accelerate destructive logging in Southeast Asia. Sustainable tropical timber management will require fundamental changes to Japan’s shadow ecology. It is also imperative to confront Southern political forces driving deforestation. While reforms will certainly face formidable -- perhaps insurmountable -- political and economic barriers, unless the world community tackles these issues, the remaining primary forests of Southeast Asia will soon perish. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The concept of regionalism has been the subject of vast research. However, there have been few empirical studies of South East Asia. Although several authors have examined regionalism on a global scale (Russett 1967), the theoretical constructs have been primarily based on regionalism in Western Europe (Haas 1964). Few of these theories have been applied in the context of South East Asia. The current members of ASEAN were chosen for my research paper. (1) ASEAN includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, with the later addition of Brunei in 1984. The research paper was an attempt to the following questions: • What degree of regionalism do the ASEAN countries show with regard to each variable defined as measuring regionalism. An analysis of the usefulness and limitations of each variable will be considered in the study. • What is the significance of regionalism in South East Asia, in terms of current theories in the field of Political Science/International Relations. Data was used from a variety of secondary sources including UNDEX United Nations documents, International Trade Directory and the World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators. The variables were then correlated to check the extent of regionalism in the ASEAN countries. Factor Analysis and Pearson's correlation statistic were used to determine the relationship between variables used to measure regionalism. From the study, the concept of regionalism was defined and measured by multiple indicators. The results indicated that some of the variables used to operationalize and measure regionalism may be inappropriate in an Asian setting. My study found that regionalism in terms of observable cooperation, in domestic and international policy had increased but has not reached the stage of political and economic integration among the ASEAN members. (1) ASEAN stands for the Association of South East Asian Nations. / Master of Arts

In this dissertation, I develop a postcolonial theoretical approach to localized Muslim feminism(s) in Aceh, Indonesia, based on interviews with women in Aceh in 2009 and 2010. One of the central aims of this study is to challenge the dominant exclusivist discourse of "Islamic" feminism by providing a viable alternative for "Muslim" feminism(s), derived from collaborative, indigenous, and post-secular politics. I address the need for a religious feminist model of subjectivity that incorporates both the political and ethical dimensions of agency in potentially non-patriarchal and non-state-centric formations. I suggest a communal understanding of religious law as an alternative to conceptualizing religious law (syariah) in terms of a personal ethical code or a system of laws emanating from a state. I propose an alternative discourse of feminist agency and religious identity, one that reaches beyond a secular-liberal epistemology and challenges the hegemonic discourse of state-centrism within a privatized religious identity. / Ph. D.