 As starting point of the study of the culture and society in

Southeast Asia, we need to realize that geographical A. CLIMATE

background of the region is necessary to be known first  The climate in Southeast Asia is mainly tropical–hot and
before going further of knowing its cultural and societal humid all year round with plentiful rainfall.
background.  Northern Vietnam and the Myanmar Himalayas are the only
 There are two branches of geography that we need to regions in Southeast Asia that feature a subtropical climate,
consider in our study; which has a cold winter with snow.
1. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY looks at the natural  The majority of Southeast Asia has a wet and dry season
processes of the Earth, such as climate topography, soil, caused by seasonal shift in winds or monsoon.
forest and other physical features of the countries that  The tropical rain belt causes additional rainfall during the
compose the region of Southeast Asia. monsoon season.
2. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY looks at the impact and  The RAINFOREST is the second largest on earth (with the
behavior of people and how they relate to the physical Amazon being the largest). “LUNGS OF THE EARTH.
world.  An exception to this type of climate and vegetation is the
 Human geography concerns the understanding of the mountain areas in the northern region, where high altitudes
dynamics of cultures, societies and economies, and lead to milder temperatures and drier landscape. Other parts
physical geography concerns the understanding of the fall out of this climate because they are desert like.
dynamics of landscapes and the environment.  Southeast Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to
3. It is important to remember that all areas of geography climate change in the world.
are interconnected: for example, the way human CO2  Climate change will have a big effect on agriculture in
emissions affect the climate is part of both physical and Southeast Asia such as irrigation systems will be affected by
human geography. The main area of geography that changes in rainfall and runoff, and subsequently, water
looks at the connection between physical and human quality and supply. Climate change is also likely to pose a
geography is called ENVIRONMENTAL serious threat to the fisheries industry in Southeast Asia.
GEOGRAPHY.
 Geography puts understanding of social and physical B. TOPOGRAPHY
processes within the context of place - recognizing the  Southeast Asia’s landscape is characterized by three
great differences in cultures, political systems, economies, intermingled physical elements: mountain ranges, plains and
landscapes and environment across the world, and plateaus, and water in the form of both shallow seas and
exploring the links between them. Understanding the extensive drainage systems.
causes of differences and inequalities between places and  The rivers probably have been of the greatest historical and
social groups underlie much of the newer developments in cultural significance; for waterways have decisively shaped
human geography. forms of settlement and agriculture, determined fundamental
 Geography provides an ideal framework for relating other political and economic patterns, and helped define the
fields of knowledge. It is not surprising that those trained nature of Southeast Asians’ worldview and distinctive
as geographers often contribute substantially to the applied cultural syncretism.
management of resources and environments.  It also has been of great importance that Southeast Asia,
which is the most easily accessible tropical region in the
GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA world, lies strategically astride the sea passage between East
 SOUTHEAST ASIA. region between China, India, Asia and the Middle Eastern–Mediterranean world.
Australia, and the Pacific Ocean.  The physiography of Southeast Asia has been formed to a
 Includes countries with political boundaries creating many large extent by the convergence of three of the Earth’s
shapes and sizes. The political borders were created major crustal units: the Eurasian, Indian-Australian, and
through a combination of factors, including natural Pacific plates. The land has been subjected to a considerable
features, traditional tribal distinctions, colonial claims, and amount of faulting, folding, uplifting, and volcanic activity
political agreements. over geologic time, and much of the region is mountainous.
 INDONESIA - the fourth-most populous country in the There are marked structural differences between the
world. mainland and insular portions of the region.
 SOUTHEAST ASIA - is a region of peninsulas and
islands. C. SOILS AND FORESTS
 LAOS - the only landlocked country is the rural and  Southeast Asia, on balance, has a higher proportion of
remote country of LAOS which borders China, Vietnam, relatively fertile soils than most tropical regions, and soil
and Thailand erosion is less severe than elsewhere. Much of the region,
 The PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY of Southeast Asia - however, is covered by tropical soils that generally are quite
includes beaches, bays, inlets, and gulfs. poor in nutrients. Often the profusion of plant life is more
 ISLAND – secluded piece of land surrounded by water on related to heat and moisture than to soil quality, even though
all sides. these climatic conditions intensify both chemical weathering
 PENINSULA – piece of land surrounded by water on three and the rate of bacterial action that usually improve soil
sides. fertility.
 southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia - is a sub region of  Once the vegetation cover is removed, the supply of humus
Asia, consisting of the regions that are geographically quickly disappears. In addition, the often-heavy rainfall
south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent and north- leaches the soils of their soluble nutrients, hastens erosion,
west of Australia. Southeast Asia is bordered and damages the soil texture. The leaching process in part
 to the NORTH by East Asia, results in laterites of reddish clay that contain hydroxides of
 to the WEST by South Asia and the Bay of Bengal, iron and alumina.
 to the EAST by Oceania and the Pacific Ocean,  Laterite soils are common in parts of Myanmar, Thailand,
 and to the SOUTH by Australia and the Indian and Vietnam and also occur in the islands of the Sunda
Ocean. Shelf, notably Borneo. The most fertile soils occur in
 regions of volcanic activity, where they eject chemically  BRUNEI - a tiny nation on the island of Borneo, in 2
alkaline or neutral. Such soils are found in parts of Sumatra distinct sections surrounded by Malaysia and the South
and much of Java in Indonesia. The alluvial soils of the China Sea. It's known for its beaches and bio diverse
river valleys also are highly fertile and are intensively rainforest, much of it protected within reserves. The
cultivated. capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, is home to the opulent
 Southeast Asia is home to nearly 15% of the world’s Jame’Asr Hassanil Bolkiah mosque and its 29 golden
tropical forests. However, the region is also among the domes. The capital's massive Istana Nurul Iman palace
world’s major deforestation hot spots, and ranks among the is the residence of Brunei’s ruling sultan.
highest in terms of severe biodiversity loss, mostly due to  MAYANMAR (BURMA) - Myanmar (formerly
the conversion of intact forests into plantations, such as for Burma) is a Southeast Asian nation of more than 100
palm oil. ethnic groups, bordering India, Bangladesh, China,
 Southeast Asia lost about 80 million hectares of forest Laos and Thailand. Yangon (formerly Rangoon), the
between 2005 and 2015, and it is feared that such country's largest city, is home to bustling markets,
deforestation could lead to over 40% of Southeast Asia's numerous parks and lakes, and the towering, gilded
biodiversity vanishing by 2100. Human activities such as Shwedagon Pagoda, which contains Buddhist relics and
logging and clear-cutting for food production, cash crops dates to the 6th century.
and agriculture are the main drivers of this forest loss.  TIMOR-LESTE - or East Timor, a Southeast Asian
 Forests of Southeast Asia are known for their high nation occupying half the island of Timor, is ringed by
biodiversity, arguably among the greatest in the world. coral reefs teeming with marine life. Landmarks in the
They have been the subject of much international attention capital, Dili, speak to the country's struggles for
over the past decades. independence from Portugal in 1975 and then Indonesia
 The sub-region is a major player in the tropical timber in 2002. The iconic 27m-tall Cristo Rei de Dili statue
trade. Meranti timber from the dipterocarp forests and teak sits on a hilltop high over the city, with sweeping views
from Java, Myanmar and Thailand are among the better- of the surrounding bay.
known tropical timbers of the world. Plantation forestry is  INDONESIA - officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a
widely practiced; the teak plantations of Java and the country in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and
rubber plantations of Malaysia are prime examples. Special Pacific oceans. It is the world's largest island country,
management systems for tropical natural forests have been with more than seventeen thousand islands, and at
developed in the sub region. 1,904,569 square kilometers, the 14th largest by land
area and 7th in the combined sea and land area.
D. MAINLAND AND INSULAR REGIONS  LAOS - is a Southeast Asian country traversed by the
Mekong River and known for mountainous terrain,
 Southeast Asia can be divided into two geographic French colonial architecture, hill tribe settlements and
regions. The MAINLAND PORTION, which is connected Buddhist monasteries. Vientiane, the capital, is the site
to India and China, extends south into what has been called of the That Luang monument, where a reliquary
the Indochina Peninsula or Indochina, a name given to the reportedly houses the Buddha’s breastbone, plus the
region by France. This mainland region consists of the Patuxai war memorial and Talat Sao (Morning Market),
countries of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and a complex jammed with food, clothes and craft stalls.
Myanmar (Burma). This region has been influenced  MALAYSIA - Malaysia is a Southeast Asian country
historically by India and China. occupying parts of the Malay Peninsula and the island
 The ISLANDS OR INSULAR REGION to the south and of Borneo. It's known for its beaches, rainforests and
east consist of nations surrounded by water. The countries mix of Malay, Chinese, Indian and European cultural
in this region include Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, influences. The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is home to
Indonesia, East Timor, and the Philippines. colonial buildings, busy shopping districts such as
Bukit Bintang and skyscrapers such as the iconic,
E. PRESENT-DAY COUNTRIES AND ADJACENT 451m-tall Petronas Twin Towers.
REGIONS  SINGAPORE - an island city-state off southern
 Southeast Asia is composed of eleven countries of Malaysia, is a global financial center with a tropical
impressive diversity in religion, culture and history: climate and multicultural population. Its colonial core
Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Timor-Leste, centers on the Padang, a cricket field since the 1830s
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and now flanked by grand buildings such as City Hall,
Thailand and Vietnam. It is also one of the most dynamic with its 18 Corinthian columns. In Singapore's circa-
areas of the world economically, a factor which largely 1820 Chinatown stands the red-and-gold Buddha Tooth
accounts for its growing international significance. Relic Temple, said to house one of Buddha's teeth.
 CAMBODIA - is a Southeast Asian nation whose  VIETNAM - is a Southeast Asian country on the South
landscape spans low-lying plains, the Mekong Delta, China Sea known for its beaches, rivers, Buddhist
mountains and Gulf of Thailand coastline. Phnom Penh, its pagodas and bustling cities. Hanoi, the capital, pays
capital, is home to the art deco Central Market, glittering homage to the nation’s iconic Communist-era leader,
Royal Palace and the National Museum's historical and Ho Chi Minh, via a huge marble mausoleum. Ho Chi
archaeological exhibits. In the country’s northwest are the Minh City (formerly Saigon) has French colonial
ruins of Angkor Wat, a massive stone temple complex built landmarks, plus Vietnamese War history museums and
during the Khmer Empire. the Củ Chi tunnels, used by Viet Cong soldiers.
 THAILAND - It's known for tropical beaches, opulent  PHILIPPINES - officially the Republic of the
royal palaces, ancient ruins and ornate temples displaying Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast
figures of Buddha. In Bangkok, the capital, an ultramodern Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists
cityscape rises next to quiet canal side communities and of about 7,641 islands that are broadly categorized
the iconic temples of Wat Arun, Wat Pho and the Emerald under three main geographical divisions from north to
Buddha Temple (Wat Phra Kaew). Nearby beach resorts south: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
include bustling Pattaya and fashionable Hua Hin.
  Most countries in the region enjoy national  Ocean drops of up to 120 m (393.70 ft) below the
autonomy. Democratic forms of government and present level during Pleistocene glacial periods revealed
the recognition of human rights are taking root. the vast lowlands known as SUNDALAND, enabling
ASEAN provides a framework for the integration hunter-gatherer populations to freely access insular
of commerce, and regional responses to Southeast Asia via extensive terrestrial corridors.
international concerns. Modern human presence in the Niah cave on East
 China has asserted broad claims over the South Malaysia dates back to 40,000 years BP, although
China Sea, based on its Nine-Dash Line, and has archaeological documentation of the early settlement
built artificial islands in an attempt to bolster its period suggests only brief occupation phases.
claims. China also has asserted an exclusive  CHARLES HIGHAM argues that, despite glacial
economic zone based on the Spratly Islands. The periods modern humans were able to cross the sea
Philippines challenged China in the Permanent barrier beyond Java and Timor, who around 45,000
Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013, and in years ago left traces in the Ivane Valley in eastern New
Philippines v. China (2016), the Court ruled in Guinea "at an altitude of 2,000 m (6,561.68 ft)
favor of the Philippines and rejected China's exploiting yams and pandanus, hunting, and making
claims. stone tools between 43,000 and 49,000 years ago."
 The oldest habitation discovered in the Philippines is
CHAPTER 2. MAKING A LIVING AND ORGANIZING
located at the Tabon Caves and dates back to
SOCIETY
approximately 50,000 years BP. Items there found such
 A society is the name we give to the organization of as burial jars, earthenware, jade ornaments and other
such a group. A group of people sharing a culture is jewellery, stone tools, animal bones, and human fossils
known as SOCIETY every society has a society date back to 47,000 years BP. Unearthed human
structure, or a pattern of organized relationships among remains are approximately 24,000 years old.
groups of people within the society. A society may be  The descendants of these earliest Homo sapiens
as small as a single community or as large as a nation or immigrants, loosely identified as "Australo-
even a group of similar nations. Smaller groups work Melanesians", include the Negritos, Papuans,
together on particular tasks such as gathering food, Indigenous Australians and Hill Tribes (most of them
protecting the community, and education. have Austronesian admixture in modern times). They
 SOCIAL STRUCTURE helps people work together to are associated with the occupation of caves, rock
meet one another’s basic needs. With this, the making shelters and isolated upland regions in Vietnam,
of a living of a group of people could be the most Thailand and the Philippines or on remote islands, such
important factor for us to determine how the society is as the Andaman Islands and although displaced from
organized. the coasts and plains they are present in all regions for
at least 30,000 years.
 PRE-HISTORY  Neolithic Migrations
 early prehistory of Southeast Asia has undergone  The Neolithic was characterized by several migrations
exceptionally rapid change as a result of into Mainland and Island Southeast Asia from southern
archaeological discoveries made since the 1960s, China by Austronesian, Austroasiatic, Kra-Dai, and
although the interpretation of these findings has Hmong- Mien-speakers.
remained the subject of extensive debate.  The most widespread migration event, was the
Nevertheless, it seems clear that the region has been Austronesian expansion, which began at around 5,500
inhabited from the earliest times. BP (3500 BC) from Taiwan and coastal southern China.
 HOMINID FOSSIL remains date from approximately Due to their early invention of ocean-going outrigger
1,500,000 years ago and those of Homo sapiens from boats and voyaging catamarans, Austronesians rapidly
approximately 40,000 years ago. Furthermore, until colonized Island Southeast Asia, before spreading
about 7000 BCE the seas were some 150 feet (50 further into Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia,
meters) lower than they are now, and the area west of Madagascar, and the Comoros.
Makassar Strait consisted of a web of watered plains  The Austroasiatic migration wave centered around the
that sometimes is called SUNDALAND. Mon and the Khmer, who originate in North-Eastern
 These land connections perhaps account for the India arrive around 5000 BP and are identified with the
coherence of early human development observed in the settlement on the broad riverine floodplains of Burma,
HOABINHIAN CULTURE, which lasted from about Indochina and Malaysia.
13,000 to 5000 or 4000 BCE. The stone tools used by
hunting and gathering societies across Southeast Asia  Early Agricultural Societies
during this period show a remarkable degree of  Territorial principalities in both Insular and Mainland
similarity in design and development. Southeast Asia, characterized as Agrarian kingdoms
 Paleolithic - Anatomically modern human hunter- had by around 500 BCE developed an economy based
gatherer migration into Southeast Asia before 50,000 on surplus crop cultivation and moderate coastal trade
years ago has been confirmed by the combined fossil of domestic natural products. Several states of the
record of the region. These immigrants might have, to a Malayan-Indonesian "THALASSIAN" ZONE shared
certain extent, merged and reproduced with members of these characteristics with Indochinese polities like the
the archaic population of Homo erectus, as the fossil Pyu city-states in the Irrawaddy river valley, Van Lang
discoveries in the Tam Pa Ling Cave suggest. in the Red River delta and Funan around the lower
 Java Man (Homo erectus) and Homo floresiensis attest Mekong.
for a sustained regional presence and isolation, long  VAN LANG in the Red River delta and Funan around
enough for notable diversification of the species' the lower Mekong. Văn Lang, founded in the 7th
specifics. century BCE endured until 258 BCE under the rule of
the Hồng Bàng dynasty, as part of the Đông Sơn culture
 eventually sustained a dense and organized population million populations forming the majority in Thailand. In
that produced an elaborate Bronze Age industry. Burma, the Burmese account for more than two-thirds of
 INTENSIVE WET-RICE CULTIVATION in an ideal the ethnic stock in this country.
climate enabled the farming communities to produce a  Indonesia is clearly dominated by the Javanese and Sundanese
regular crop surplus that was used by the ruling elite to ethnic groups, with hundreds of ethnic minorities inhabited
raise, command and pay work forces for public the archipelago, including Madurese, Minangkabau, Bugis,
construction and maintenance projects such as canals Balinese, Dayak, Batak and Malays.
and fortifications.  The Chams forming a significant minority in Central and
 Though millet and rice cultivation was introduced South Vietnam, also in Central Cambodia. While the
around 2000 BCE, hunting and gathering remained an Khmers are the majority in Cambodia, and forming a
important aspect of food provision, in particular in significant minority in Southern Vietnam and Thailand. The
forested and mountainous inland areas. Many tribal Hmong people are the minority in Vietnam, China and Laos.
communities of the aboriginal Australo-Melanesian  Within the Philippines, the Tagalog, Visayan (mainly
settlers continued the lifestyle of mixed sustenance until Cebuanos, Warays and Hiligaynons), Ilocano, Bicolano,
the modern era. Moro (mainly Tausug, Maranao, and Maguindanao) and
Central Luzon (mainly Kapampangan and Pangasinan)
 Bronze Age Southeast Asia groups are significant. The Philippines is also unique in
 Earliest known copper and bronze production in Southeast Southeast Asia, in holding the only Latino founded
Asia has been found at the site of Ban Chiang in North-east communities in Southeast Asia due to its former political
Thailand and among the Phung Nguyen culture of northern union with Mexico during the era of the Viceroyalty of New
Vietnam around 2000 BCE. Spain and also possessing a Mexican-Spanish based Creole
language called Chavacano. There is also burgeoning
 The Dong Son culture established a tradition of bronze American expat population in the Philippines.
production and the manufacture of ever more refined bronze
and iron objects, such as plows, axes and sickles with shaft
holes, socked arrow and spearheads and small ornamented  SUBSISTENCE STRATEGIES
items. By about 500 BCE large and delicately decorated  SUBSISTENCE means to support life. For example,
bronze drums of remarkable quality, that weighed more than subsistence farming literally means farming for the purpose
70 kg (150 lb) were produced in the laborious lost-wax of supporting life. It is easy to imagine that different
casting process. This industry of highly sophisticated metal geographical and cultural areas will create different
processing has been developed locally bare of Chinese or strategies to support their own way of life. These various
Indian influence. Historians relate these achievements to the strategies are called subsistence strategies, or methods used
presence of well organized, centralized and hierarchical to support life. In Southeast Asia it consists of foraging,
communities and a large population. swidden agriculture, traditional wet rice cultivation and
mechanized farming.
 Pottery Culture 1. FORAGING is the process of gathering food from
 Between 1,000 BCE and 100 CE the Sa Huỳnh culture uncultivated plants or undomesticated animals. You can
flourished along the south-central coast of Vietnam. think of it as a ''Hunter/Gatherer'' type of lifestyle. A
Ceramic jar burial sites that included grave goods have been foraging subsistence strategy requires large amounts of
discovered at various sites along the entire territory. Among edible plant growth to sustain itself and plentiful prey to
large, thin-walled, terracotta jars, ornamented and colorized hunt for meat. Foragers need to live a nomadic lifestyle.
cooking pots, glass items, jade earrings and metal objects They must move constantly to follow the growing season in
had been deposited near the rivers and at the coast. different geographical regions and the migration patterns of
 The Buni culture is the name given to another early their animal-based food source. This subsistence strategy
independent centre of refined pottery production that has only supports small groups due to the limited food source in
been well documented on the basis of excavated burial gifts, each area, the need to constantly move, and the need to find
deposited between 400 BCE and 100 CE in coastal north- shelter from the environment. In a foraging subsistence,
western Java. The objects and artifacts of the Buni tradition people in the same foraging group maintain a bond of
are known for their originality and remarkable quality of sharing equally with each other.
incised and geometric decors. Its resemblance to the Sa 2. SWIDDEN AGRICULTURE OR SHIFTING
Huỳnh culture and the fact that it represents the earliest CULTIVATION has been practised in the uplands of
Indian Roulettes Ware recorded in Southeast Asia are Southeast Asia for centuries and is estimated to support up
subject of ongoing research. to 500 million people – most of whom are poor, natural
resource reliant uplanders. Recently, however, dramatic
land-use transformations have generated social, economic
 THE PEOPLE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA: “RACES” and ecological impacts that have affected the extent,
AND ETHNICITIES practice and outcomes of swidden in the region. While
 The Aslians and Negritos were believed as one of the earliest certain socio-ecological trends are clear, how these broader
inhabitants in the region. They are genetically related to the land-use changes impact upon local livelihoods and
Papuans in Eastern Indonesia, East Timor and Australian ecosystem services remains uncertain.
Aborigines. In modern times, the Javanese are the largest 3. TRADITIONAL WET RICE CULTIVATION is the
ethnic group in Southeast Asia, with more than 100 million growing of rice in flooded fields called padi fields in
people, mostly concentrated in Java, Indonesia. Indonesia. Its traditional form is found throughout Southeast
 The second largest ethnic group in Southeast Asia is Asia southern china, Japan, north and South Korea,
Vietnamese (Kinh people) with around 86 million Indonesia and many other tropical regions. Originally, rice
populations, mainly inhabiting in Vietnam, thus forming a is not a water plant. Only after an adaption over thousands
significant minority in neighboring Cambodia and Laos. of years, sophisticated wet rice sorts were bred artificially.
The Thais is also a significant ethnic group with around 59
  Many kinds of weeds and crop pests don't drive well in
the water. There is a significant difference between
 BANDS - have been found primarily among foragers,
rainfall farming and irrigation farming. 80% of the
especially self-sufficient pedestrian foragers. The total
world's rice production is based on wet rice farming. The
number of people within these societies rarely exceeds a few
water is not standing but in a steady, slow flow.
dozen. Bands are essentially associations of families living
 Practically most of the rural landscapes are coined by rice
together. They are loosely allied by marriage, descent,
paddies. In practice, the cultivation looks like that: The
friendship, and common interest. The primary integrating
first step is the seeding into mildly watered soil (here it
mechanism for these societies is kinship. Bands are
becomes evident that rice is not an original wet plant, for
extremely egalitarian--all families are essentially equal.
the seeds wouldn't grow in the water. The fields have to
There is no economic class differentiation. However, there
be ploughed then, traditionally with water buffalos,
are often clear status differences based on gender and age.
nowadays more and more with tractors. Third, after some
 No band level societies survive today with their
weeks, the seedlings have to be transferred from the plant
traditional form of political organization intact.
field into the rice paddies. The growth now depends much
However, they did until the last half of the 19th
on the irrigation. Problematic is if there is not enough rain
century in out-of-the- way regions of northern
or other water supply, or if there is too much rain who
Siberia, the desert and sub-arctic regions of North
floods the fields. Most of the rice sorts in Southeast Asia
America and Greenland, the tropical lowlands of
are wet rice. Practically most of the rural landscapes are
Central and South America, the Australian desert
coined by rice paddies.
interior and tropical north, as well as a few isolated
4. MECHANIZED AGRICULTURE is the process of using
areas of Southeast Asia. While it is easy to think of
agricultural machinery to mechanize the work of
these people and their traditional way of life in the
agriculture, greatly increasing farm worker productivity. In
past as oddities, it is important to keep in mind that
modern times, powered machinery has replaced many farm
the distant ancestors of all people on earth lived in
jobs formerly carried out by manual labour or by working
bands at one time. Before the end of the last ice age,
animals such as oxen, horses and mules.
around 10,000 years ago, it is likely that very few
societies had more complex levels of political
integration.
 VARIETIES OF POLITIES  “AUTONOMOUS” VILLAGES - The 'village' is a powerful
 A polity is an identifiable political entity—any group of unit of analysis in both a material and a metaphorical sense.
people who have a collective identity, who are organized by The traditional village 'community' is often paraded as a
some form of institutionalized social relations, and have a paragon of virtue, and the modern village as a corrupted
capacity to mobilize resources. A polity is an identifiable version of the original. Yet the notion of the traditional
political entity—any group of people who have a collective village as egalitarian, self-sufficient, autonomous,
identity, who are organized by some form of subsistence- oriented, corporate, peaceful and moral is often
institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to at odds with the historic evidence. As such, it presents
mobilize resources. A polity can be any other group of difficulties when the image is used to construct visions of
people organized for governance (such as a corporate what 'development' is doing, and should be doing, in rural
board), the government of a country, or country subdivision. areas of the developing world. This paper looks at the
 In geopolitics, a polity can be manifested in different forms evidence from Southeast Asia regarding the origins and
such as a state, an empire, an international organization, a structure of village 'communities' in the region, and
political organization and other identifiable, resource- examines some of the implications for development.
manipulating organizational structures. A polity like a state  CHIEFDOMS - are similar to bands and tribes in being mostly
does not need to be a classless societies. However, chiefdoms differ in having a
sovereign unit. The most preeminent polities today are more or less permanent, fulltime leader with real authority
Westphalian states and nation-states, commonly referred to to make major decisions for their societies. These leaders
as nations. are usually referred to by anthropologists as chiefs.
 A polity can encapsulates a vast multitude of organizations, Sometimes there is an advisory council as well, but there is
many of which form the fundamental apparatus of no bureaucracy of professional administrators. The
contemporary states such as their subordinate civil and local government is essentially just the chief.
government authorities. Polities do not need to be in control  A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political
of any geographic areas, as not all political entities and organization in non-industrial societies usually based
governments have controlled the resources of one fixed on kinship, and in which formal leadership is
geographic area. The historical Steppe Empires originating monopolized by the legitimate senior members of
from the Eurasian Steppe are the most prominent example select families or 'houses'. These elites form a
of non-sedentary polities. These polities differ from states political-ideological aristocracy relative to the
because of their lack of a fixed, defined territory. Empires general group.
also differ from states in that their territories are not  State – State level political systems first appeared in
statically defined or permanently fixed and consequently societies with large-scale intensive agriculture. They began
that their body politic was also dynamic and fluid. It is as chiefdoms and then evolved into more centralized,
useful then to think of a polity as a political community. authoritarian kingdoms when their populations grew into
 A polity can also be defined either as a faction within a larger tens of thousands of people. While chiefdoms are societies
(usually state) entity, or at different times as the entity itself. in which everyone is ranked relative to the chief, states are
For example, Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan are parts of their own socially stratified into largely distinct classes in terms of
separate and distinct polity. However, they are also wealth, power, and prestige.
members of the sovereign state of Iraq which is itself a  The processes of state formation in the agrarian states
polity, albeit one which is much less specific and as a result of Southeast Asia lend themselves to fruitful
much less cohesive. Therefore, it is possible for an comparative analysis using Eliasian concepts.
individual to belong to more than one polity at a time. However, in the difficult physical environment of a
 region endowed with plentiful land relative to Bureaucracies versus Oligarchies
population, the control of labor was more important
than control of territory, as demonstrated by the cases  As system the difference between oligarchy and
of Siam and Java. Moreover, the religious, bureaucracy is that oligarchy is a government run by only
ceremonial and symbolic significance of kingship a few, often the wealthy while bureaucracy is structure
remained very important even when the coercive and regulations in place to control activity usually in large
power of the centre was weak. Courts made absolutist organizations and government operations. The signal
claims, but their dominance depended on symbolic performances of Southeast Asian countries in attaining
power and on complex intrigues and networks of economic growth and political stability are frequently
patronage. Elias is useful to analyze these explained by cultural and policy factors. Recent research
endogenous processes of state formation. However, suggests, however, that the role of the state is extensive
the modern states of the region were forged by and central to economic and political goals. The present
colonialism, nationalist movements and the more approach to the comparative evaluation of state capacities
recent technocratic developmentalist programmes of attempts to account for the variations and nuances of the
authoritarian elites. Rapid economic transformation performance of Southeast Asian states. The structure of
and industrialization have brought new classes and political support and available means of social control
new tensions to test the adequacy of state structures, provide relatively greater capacity to state elites in
now far removed from the elite territorial competition Singapore and Malaysia, and less capacity to state elites
of the past. in the Philippines and Indonesia; Thailand is an
intermediate case.
The pre-nineteenth century “theater” state
Democratic States versus Authoritarian States
 In political anthropology, a theatre state is a political
state directed towards the performance of drama and  The word democracy comes from the Greek words
ritual rather than more conventional ends such as ‘demos,’ which refers to the people, and ‘kratos,’ which
warfare and welfare. Power in a theatre state is means power. Thus, a democratic state is one in which
exercised through spectacle. The term was coined by power emanates from the people. One might say, then,
Clifford Geertz in 1980 in reference to political that authoritarianism is the opposite of a democracy. In an
practice in the nineteenth-century Balinese Negara, authoritarian regime, all power is concentrated in one
but its usage has since expanded. Hunik Kwon and person alone, often referred to as the dictator.
Byung-Ho Chung, for example, argue that  One of the most basic features of a democracy that sets it
contemporary North Korea is a theatre state. In apart from authoritarianism is the process by which
Geertz's original usage, the concept of the theatre leaders are chosen. Because a democracy is meant to
state contests the notion that precolonial society can uphold the power of the people, leaders are chosen such
be analyzed in the conventional discourse of Oriental that they truly represent the people’s interests. This is
despotism. done through fair and honest elections, whereby citizens
 Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century may collectively express their choice of leaders through
Bali is a 1980 book written by anthropologist the ballot.
Clifford Geertz. Geertz argues that the pre-colonial  In an authoritarian state, such mechanisms are rendered
Balinese state was not a "hydraulic bureaucracy" nor either obsolete or futile. Dictators want to cling to power,
an oriental despotism, but rather, an organized and so the very notion of an election is counter to that
spectacle. The noble rulers of the island were less desire. Thus, authoritarian states often do away with
interested in administering the lives of the Balinese elections entirely, taking the choice away from the people
than in dramatizing their rank and hence political to begin with. In more insidious cases, dictators engage
superiority through large public rituals and the electoral process but dishonestly. By rigging the
ceremonies. These cultural processes did not support system, while offering their citizens the illusion of choice,
the state, he argues, but were the state. the staged elections only serve to legitimize the dictator’s
 It is perhaps most clear in what was, after all, the master continued rule, as it continues to seem as if the dictator
image of political life: kingship. The whole of the negara enjoys the support of the public.
- court life, the traditions that organized it, the extractions
that supported it, the privileges that accompanied it - was
essentially directed toward defining what power was; and
what power was what kings were. Particular kings came
and went, 'poor passing facts' anonymized in titles,
immobilized in ritual, and annihilated in bonfires. But
what they represented, the model-and-copy conception of
order, remained unaltered, at least over the period we
know much about. The driving aim of higher politics was
to construct a state by constructing a king. The more
consummate the king, the more exemplary the centre. The
more exemplary the centre, the more actual the realm.
 Geertz used the Balinese case to develop an abstract
model of the Theatre state applicable to all the South East
Asian Indic polities. To succinctly summarize his theory,
"Power served pomp, not pomp power." Other
anthropologists have contested the ahistorical, static
nature of the model. They point out that he has
depoliticized a political institution by emphasizing culture
while ignoring its material base.