#also to be clear i am a southeast asian living in southeast asia and similar to mizu i am often alienated for having mixed ethnic ancestry | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kaladinkholins · 4 months

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Seeing fan discussions about Blue Eye Samurai and especially Mizu's identity is so annoying sometimes. So let me just talk about it real quick.

First off, I have to emphasise that different interpretations of the text are always important when discussing fiction. That's how the whole branch of literary studies came to be, and what literary criticism and analysis is all about: people would each have their own interpretation of what the text is saying, each person applying a different lens or theory through which to approach the text (ie. queer theory, feminist theory, reader response theory, postcolonial theory, etc) when analysing it. And while yes, you can just take everything the authors say as gospel, strictly doing so would leave little room for further analysis and subjective interpretation, and both of these are absolutely necessary when having any meaningful discussion about a piece of media.

With that being said, when discussing Blue Eye Samurai, and Mizu's character in particular, I always see people only ever interpret her through a queer lens. Because when discussing themes of identity, yes, a queer reading can definitely apply, and in Mizu's story, queer themes are definitely present. Mizu has to hide her body and do her best to pass in a cisheteronormative society; she presents as a man 99% of the time and is shown to be more comfortable in men's spaces (sword-fighting) than in female spaces (homemaking). Thus, there's nothing wrong with a queer reading at all. Hell, some queer theorists interpret Jo March from Little Women as transmasc and that's totally valid, because like all analyses, they are subjective and argumentative; you have the choice to agree with an interpretation or you can oppose it and form your own.

To that end, I know many are equally adamant that Mizu is strictly a woman, and that's also also a completely valid reading of the text, and aligns with the canon "Word of God", as the creators' intention was to make her a woman. And certainly, feminist themes in the show are undeniably present and greatly colour the narrative, and Episode 4 & 5 are the clearest demonstrations of this: Mizu's protectiveness of Madame Kaji and her girls, Mizu's trauma after killing Kinuyo, her line to Akemi about how little options women have in life, and the way her husband had scorned her for being more capable than him in battle.

I myself personally fall into the camp of Mizu leaning towards womanhood, so i tend to prefer to use she/her pronouns for her, though I don't think she's strictly a cis woman, so I do still interpret her under the non-binary umbrella. But that's besides my point.

My gripe here, and the thing that spurred me to write this post, is that rarely does this fandom even touch upon the more predominant themes of colonialism and postcolonial identities within the story. So it definitely irks me when people say that the show presenting Mizu being cishet is "boring." While it's completely fine to have your opinion and to want queer rep, a statement like that just feels dismissive of the rest of the representation that the show has to offer. And it's frustrating because I know why this is a prevalent sentiment; because fandom culture is usually very white, so of course a majority of the fandom places greater value on a queer narrative (that aligns only with Western ideas of queerness) over a postcolonial, non-Western narrative.

And that relates to how, I feel, people tend to forget, or perhaps just downplay, that the crux of Mizu's internal conflict and her struggle to survive is due to her being mixed-race.

Because while she can blend in rather seamlessly into male society by binding and dressing in men's clothing and lowering her voice and being the best goddamn swordsman there is, she cannot hide her blue eyes. Even with her glasses, you can still see the colour of her eyes from her side profile, and her glasses are constantly thrown off her face in battle. Her blue eyes are the central point to her marginalisation and Otherness within a hegemonic society. It's why everyone calls her ugly or a monster or a demon or deformed; just because she looks different. She is both white and Japanese but accepted in neither societies. Her deepest hatred of herself stems primarily from this hybridised and alienated identity. It's the whole reason why she's so intent on revenge and started learning the way of the sword in the first place; not to fit in better as a man, but to kill the white men who made her this way. These things are intrinsic to her character and to her arc.

Thus, to refuse to engage with these themes and dismiss the importance of how the representation of her racial Otherness speaks to themes of colonialism and racial oppression just feels tone-deaf to the show's message. Because even if Mizu is a cishet woman in canon, that doesn't make her story any less important, because while you as a white queer person living in the West may feel unrepresented, it is still giving a voice to the stories of people of colour, mixed-race folks, and the myriad of marginalised racial/ethnic/cultural groups in non-Western societies.

#blue eye samurai #mizu blue eye samurai #fandom critical #blue eye samurai meta #wank.mp3 #shut up haydar #fandom.rtf #this is a bit of rant but the prevalent whiteness of fandom in general just gets on my nerves i'm sorry #giving me flashbacks to a:tla fandom fr cuz it's the same shit! people love to devalue the stories of non-white non-western identities #also to be clear i am a southeast asian living in southeast asia and similar to mizu i am often alienated for having mixed ethnic ancestry #and even for speaking english (bcs my granddad served the fuckin. british colonials. so my fam speaks mostly in english)#cuz where im from it's still extremely hegemonic racist patriarchal misogynistic homophobic like the setting in the show #so like even though the story is set in historical japan and may seem far-removed from the experiences of a US or european audience #those of us outside the west and in the global south still face a lot of the struggles that mizu goes through till this very day #so please dont just dismiss that. it feels incredibly tone-deaf #okay rant over

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chameshida · 3 years

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Sorry for parroting myself but I think I’d feel better for this to have its own post instead of hijacking someone else.

I saw a lot of opinions on Raya and the last dragon’s ‘Dragon’ and while I agree with a lot of their points. I also troubled by some of them. so this post is going to be for both sharing my own opinion and sharing some Info on Southeast Asia (mainly Thai) myth creatures.

1. Okay first of Yeah, the Elsa face kinda very suck. Glad we can agree on that. She looks extremely similar, even her color paletter look similar (more so in the concept art). Her dragon form face doesn’t seem to compeltely mash up with her human for either. Her human form doesn’t look like Elsa. Her dragon form look a lot younger than her human form. I don’t really like human anthropomorphic face but I can live with it if it is different from just Elsa.Make her older look like her human form or something.

2. Fur! Frankly I both have problem and not have problem with this. or to be more precise; I don’t have problem with her fur. SEA Dragon tend to based off of fured mammal like Wolf and deer and horse so some fur can be expected. I do however have problem with her mane

When I first saw the design. I don’t recognize her as SEA dragon but Eastern Dragon. A lot of my irl friend and co-workers agreed on this. Eastern dragon has a lot more exposure in the media. We see them in something like Haku and Avatar

This is what Eastern Kirin and Dragon looks like. Their manes are usually their most distint feature

Vesus what SEA Myth Creatures usually look like

The problem is that me and my co-worker related the creature in the trailer more to traditional Eastern dragons more than SEA creature and for the story that promote itself tobe influence from SEA culture it’s kinda disapointing. It’s like we’re so excited seeing all these details in the costume and the background it’s all recognizable and then we see the dragon and went “Eh?”

Also I knew that in SEA there’s a lot of Infuence from East Asia culture too. Especially for Vietnamese and Singapore. but like I said Eastern dragon got a lot more exposure so I just thought it’d be nice to see something like Naga and Hayra represent more.

3. “She looks like My little pony/ Unicorn!” It’s probably because The dragon’s inspired by Kirin too which is essentially Asian Unicorn. Kirin are also East Asia Creature but we do have some varient in SEA too

the fact that she’s inspried from Kirin and then being called dragon is another whole can of worm though

4. “She look too minimal, her concept art design look much better” Unpopular Opinion but I don’t agree with this one. I actually prefer the final design for its minimalistic approach. The concept art as too much going on that it doesn’t highlight the SEA most distinct feature; the crown horn and the tail. In the minimal design as much as it doesn’t look like SEA creature, atleast the minimal of it let me see the tail and the horn clearly enough to relate to one

Hate to bring up HTTYD and the light fury up here but It’s similar to how her final design vs her concept art as well. I really like her concept art design much more than the final one and would love to see it on some other dragons but for the main lead of the movie I think they’re right to go for the minimal aproach with the clear silihoute so I respect the final design to be the right decision. That what I think is best for the lead anywell, easy and recognizable. The more detail and complex design suit more for side dragons like Nadders or Skrill.

TLDR; My issue with the designs are the Elsa face and the fact that she looked more like Eastern creature than Southeast Asian Creature. despite taking a lot of inspration from SEA culture.

All in all though, I am still excited by this movie and love all the other stuff I’ve seen. Just slightly which the dragon design could have been better

To end this off I also would like to take this opportunity to share some of the SEA myth creature under the read more!

First; Naga! The most popular of the bunch. We can see them everywhere in the old architecture. They’re more of a Big snake than a dragon!

Then Hayra, the one I think look the most similar to what we got. I heard some call them dragon, wasn’t sure if they are.

Then there’s Naga-eater. Which is actually a Dragon. They usually in the statue together with Naga head popping out of their mouth to make it look like a legged Naga. I wasn’t sure if they’re the same as Hayra, some say they are.

Lastly, The Kirin, which I have already mentioned/showned

Thank you for reading! and sorry for the long image heavy post!

#disney #raya and the last dragon #susi #long post #ratld

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southeastasianists · 5 years

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To complete this series I need to mention the alleged Greco-Roman connections to the Indian Ocean. Southeast Asia’s relationship to the Indo-Roman trade connections was at the centre of colonial period studies. Greco-Roman easterly expansions captured the imagination of early modern European scholars in Asia; it also reaffirmed the Eurocentric mindset in the Western origin ofdevelopment in Asia. Scholarly fascination with the Mediterranean presence in the Indian Ocean created a Eurocentric focus around traders in the Indian Ocean. Scholars such as H.P. Ray in The Winds of Change: Buddhism and the Early Maritime Links of South Asia and R. Gurukkal argued extensively on the roles of Indo-Arab trade facilitating the distribution of Greco-Roman material in the Indian Ocean. If we take into account limits of Mediterranean shipbuilding technology and the lack of density in actual Greco-Roman artefacts in the region, by contrast to those that originated from the Arab world and the western Indian Ocean, it may be worth reassessing the Bay of Bengal interaction as one primarily of Indo-Arab trade rather than Indo-Roman trade.

The Greco-Roman sources we often use when referring to contacts with Southeast Asia, from Ptolemy’s Geographia to Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, are often conflicting and filled with literary exaggerations. Strabo, whose knowledge extended only to parts of western South India, where most Indo-Arab-Roman interactions occurred, was perhaps the truest to detail. If we reposition the idea of Asia, particularly of India, in the Greco-Roman world, we find that the political-geographical space of the East served as a metaphor for opulence and ethereal philosophy to Greek and Latin writers. Classical sources about India, particularly area beyond Sri Lanka, took liberties with details. Pliny often used India as a literary device to display contrast with the Mediterranean world regarding political power, culture, governance, and morality. He had been known to criticise Roman obsession with products from the East; from his disapproval of silk on ladies to spices on Roman plates. Let me be clear that I am not arguing that these sources are not useful; on the contrary, they provide some of the most insightful social and maritime records on the interactions between the Mediterranean world and India. What I am arguing against is the use of classical sources on India beyond the Ganges, or what scholars have come to identify as Southeast Asia. Mediterranean explorers from before the 4th century CE relied on secondhand accounts of the regions around the Ganges, and even more so for the region beyond.

Can we directly translate the Greek and Roman terms Aurea Chersonesus and Chrysos as Suvarnabhumi? The answer is similar to the usage of Suvarnabhumi as a literary function in religious texts. The concept of the Far East as a treasure trove of unimaginable wealth is not new in Mediterranean literature. Chrysos as a golden island or land appears in multiple Greco-Roman narratives, mainly as a mythical location that tested the virtues of heroes and men. India as mapped by Greco-Roman scholars was a representation of the ‘cosmological’ realm in Greek thought. Many locations in India were abstract for scholars in the Mediterranean sea. The east was the home of Dionysus, the god of passion and excess. Throughout the history of Greco-Roman scholarship, representing the East in a detailed and specific fashion was not of much scholarly interest. The Mediterranean world was content with having its spices delivered regardless of whether it was from India or Southeast Asia. Businesses in the Indian Ocean relied on Indian Ocean traders, who paid taxes at Berenike and Myos Homos.

Even when the sources themselves try to capture geographical content, a certain degree of ethnocentricism emerged in the Greco-Roman views of the Indian Ocean world. From India to Southeast Asia, the Greek sources rationalised the geography they encountered through the Greek view of the oikoumene. India emerged out of Alexander’s expedition to the east, but the Alexandrian scholars defined India by rationalising the satraps and the proximate landscape around the Northwestern South Asian peninsular. They were not too keen on details. Arrian’s Anabasiscriticised Ptolemy for his obsession with describing attacks, sieges, and conquests of new territories, rather than the hydrographical features of the landscape. Veronica Bucciantini in her work looking at Geographical Description and Historical Narrative in the Tradition on Alexander’s Expedition described the dawn of encounter, which proponents of Indo-Roman trade have stressed as revolutionary, as lacking when it comes to the treatement of hydrographical features. The individual authors were busy inserting “geographical description in works meant to tell their own history of Alexander.” In many ways, uncovering of the unknown probably caused a ripple through the Greek scholarship more than it did the Indian Ocean world. We owe most of the world map of Eratosthenes to Strabo, who lived in a time when universal geographical knowledge was part of empire-building. Nevertheless, as a source the Greek account and framework on “India beyond the Ganges” may not provide anything more than a reflection of the Greek and Roman cartographic philosophy of the world.

To conclude this series, should we keep matching sites to Suvarnabhumi? Perhaps, to study the local folklore and spread of intangible heritage such as stories and locations associated to it. Should we continue our attempt to manifest it into ancient sites or geography? That can probably best be avoided.

#Southeast Asia #Suvarnabhumi

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anonymoustalks · 4 years

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We thought we were defeating political islam, but after 10 years of the current regime, it's now clear that Islamist have won the social engineering game

(6-18-20) You both like history.

Stranger: Hi

You: hi

You: I should really remove this tag

Stranger: ha ha

Stranger: why

You: idk I'm not very knowledgeable about history

You: what do you like about history?

Stranger: well, we have internet for it

Stranger: war and it's impact on building new civilization

You: I feel like many people on this tag are fond of military history

Stranger: Military history can be boring

You: I'm not very interested in military history

Stranger: me neither, but middle edge politics are good to start with

You: middle age?

Stranger: Religion and politics especially

Stranger: yap

You: mhm

You: I like thinking about what life was like

You: idk what it was like to be a peasant

Stranger: or middle eastern librarian or greek philosopher's assistant

You: mhm right

Stranger: looks like I had longest chat for today

You: I feel like we don't learn enough about the middle east in school

Stranger: school curriculum is biased these days

You: mhm biased towards?

You: like in our school we learned all about the greeks and romans and stuff

You: athens democracy

Stranger: biased towards the dominant followers of religion in that that country

You: mhm

You: I think it's important to study the history of people you're very different from

Stranger: Athens democracy is a safe topic, that's why it is so popular in curriculum.

You: yup

Stranger: Agreed

Stranger: I am not sure where you are from, but I am from a muslim majority country.

You: ohh I'm from the US

You: which country?

Stranger: Muslims are almost sidelined by the Islamists

Stranger: tragedy

You: can you explain the difference for me?

Stranger: give 30 sec

You: this is a really pleasant surprise because I'm used to lots of people from north america at this time on omegle ^^

Stranger: I am from Bangladesh

You: cool

Stranger: Capital Dhaka

You: that's cool

Stranger: was studying the influence of Political Islam in different centuries

Stranger: controversial subject for westerners

Stranger: but not for me

Stranger: it's more of a risky one

You: mhm I think it's important to study

Stranger: being a Muslim in a growing sentimental Islamist dominant society is no longer easy

Stranger: world has changed :(

You: I'm not sure if I"m understanding why it's hard to be muslim in an islamist society?

Stranger: Open discussion about religion, god, science, philosophy was quite prevalent in middle age middle east

You: right

You: golden age

Stranger: but now it's safe to avoid it

Stranger: even within your friend circle

Stranger: looks like I am typing most of the time

You: hm?

You: I'm really interested in hearing what you have to say

You: in your country, is there only one branch of islam that is in power?

You: or are there multiple branches that are tolerated?

You: like in the US, we have catholics, protestants, methodists... a lot of branches of christianity

Stranger: We are democratic country of around 180 million population, led by a female Muslim Prime Minister

Stranger: But after her death, Islamist will reign. Mostly .... :(

You: ohh I see

Stranger: Sunnis are majority here

Stranger: which state are you from?

You: one of the New England ones ^^

You: so right now Bangladesh doesn't have political islam?

You: but you think it it will once the next party takes power?

Stranger: BD has political islam, it just subsided for a while

You: I see

You: what do you think of political islam?

You: like why is it good or bad?

Stranger: but they are active in social engineering

You: mhm

Stranger: Any religion practiced for sake of political dominance, it evil

Stranger: period

Stranger: *is evil

You: oh wow that's a strong opinion ^^

Stranger: We thought we were defeating political islam, but after 10 years of the current regime, it's now clear that Islamist have won the social engineering game

You: mhm what kind of social engineering did they do?

Stranger: just google Turkey before/after Erdogan

Stranger: same thing happened here

You: ah okay

Stranger: So, I believe you would find my stance a bit aggressive, being from one of those New England states

You: hm?

Stranger: I probably branded Islamophobe, if I were in one of those states.

You: ahh

You: I don't think you are an islamophobe

Stranger: definitely I am not, as you already know that I am a Muslim myself

You: I think most americans are broadly supportive of secularism

You: right it's hard for me to imagine any american calling you an islamophobe haha

You: since you are muslim

You: I was just surprised that you called it "evil" since the language sounds very strong

Stranger: you should call it what it is

Stranger: no sugarcoating, when comes to the practice of religious supremacy

You: mhm is that what happens in a religious state?

You: I'm just curious because israel is kind of a religious state? (are they?)

Stranger: it's happening

You: ^^ I'm just trying to understand

Stranger: Israel is progressive, but they are also hurting themselves a bit since the rise of Likud

Stranger: their religious schools and leaders are not dominant.

You: ahh okay

You: thanks for explaining

You: are religious schools bad?

Stranger: not always

Stranger: but in current world, it's definitely not contributing towards peace and progress

Stranger: at least Islamic schools

You: mhm and you are progressive, it sounds like

Stranger: I am disappointed, that people in my country have learned nothing from what happened in Afghanistan, or what's happening in Pakistan everyday.

You: mhm

You: (what happened in Afghanistan?)

Stranger: we all know

You: taliban?

Stranger: Hmm . . .

Stranger: your election is near

You: mh eventually

Stranger: how much influence does religion have in 2020

Stranger: ?

You: (sorry, many of us americans are fairly ignorant about international politics)

You: mhm, maybe a little less than 2016 I think

You: 2016 was a big year because there were many vacant supreme court seats

You: and religious conservatives wanted to appointed justices who were sympathetic to religious values

You: I think trump is more closely aligned with nationalism than religion

You: although the republican party has always been the side for religious conservatives

Stranger: Yes, Trump is definitely not into religion, but need to acknowledge for sake his supporters in Midwest and other red states

You: yup

You: I think economy, coronavirus, and race will play the biggest role n 2020

Stranger: political move, same things happen

Stranger: Bangladesh is in a very interesting position the geopolitical situation in southeast asia

You: because?

Stranger: bordered by India (2nd biggest economy by 2050), nearby China (biggest economy), and US interest to establish military base at Bay of Bengal (since 90s)

You: oh I didn't know the US wanted to establish a military base

Stranger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia

Stranger: lots of Southeast Asian leaders were eliminated to establish one here

Stranger: *alleged

You: oh interesting

Stranger: 20th Century history can be harmful for your sould

Stranger: *soul

You: aww :c

Stranger: International politics is not a gentleman's game anymore

Stranger: before 20th century few good instances were there

You: mhm

Stranger: are you still student?

You: yup!

You: you?

Stranger: I am back in academia again

Stranger: after a while

Stranger: are you in School or University?

You: university

You: "again"?

Stranger: Yes had Engineering, then job then again doing my MSc. Probably higher degrees abroad in next, hopefully

You: oh wow that's a lot of degrees

You: what is it like living in a muslim majority country?

Stranger: in our country, we can't even speak arabic, let alone understand it

Stranger: but political islam and intolerance is growing

You: um... are they adding arabic to your school curriculum?

Stranger: We had one arabic in our school

Stranger: but if you want learn it well, then you need to go to madrasa

Stranger: it's a religious school

You: right

Stranger: not so many tolerant/rationale people come out of this system

You: yeah...

Stranger: we are not the traditional muslim majority country even though it's almost 90% muslim (150 million)

Stranger: you need to go to middle east to experience it

You: mhm are you similar to indonesia?

Stranger: Islamization has taken over traditional culture

Stranger: but it's still quite cosmopolitan in big cities

You: mhm, so islamization is more in rural areas?

Stranger: mostly

Stranger: just study about the Saudi software and it's influence in Indonesia in recent years

Stranger: you will understand how it works

You: ah I don't know anything about it

You: saudi software or anything

Stranger: Saudi software has great influence in Muslim countries. Local culture cannot compete with their budget.

You: oh I didn't know

Stranger: with few billions they can transform society thousand miles away

Stranger: and if US want for their own political gain, then the process become much faster

You: mhm...

Stranger: are you science or humanities?

You: science

You: biology

You: although I also like the humanities

Stranger: but not good for career

Stranger: :(

You: haha ^^ did you want to do humanities?

Stranger: I was good at painting/drawing, but never went to fine arts; you know why.

You: mhm right

Stranger: Wish we could discuss much about the the middle age history

Stranger: but chat is not good for long discussion

You: mhm fair enough

Stranger: just trying the omegle for the first time, didn't expect to get such long conversation.

You: oh really?

You: um, yeah I think this is unusual

You: there are also many mean people here

You: and horny people

Stranger: it has always been like this

Stranger: I was feeling nostalgic about the good old yahoo chatroom

Stranger: so a friend told me to try Omegle

You: oh wow, I never used that

Stranger: they were great when I started using internet on slow broadband

Stranger: mean people were there too

You: mhm

Stranger: but some focused chatroom was also created

You: which chatrooms did you like?

Stranger: movies, football, book discussion

Stranger: it was back in 2004-2008

You: mhm a while ago

Stranger: I think you were much younger back then

Stranger: ha ha

You: how are you?

You: *how old

Stranger: I am in my early 30s

You: ahh cool

You: I'm 26

Stranger: so do you like sports?

You: mhm, not very much

You: I'm a little boring haha

Stranger: it's okay

Stranger: have you ever been to Asia?

You: yup, I have!

You: I'm Chinese American actually

Stranger: are you born in China then moved to USA?

You: nope, born in the US

You: my parents immigrated here for graduate school

Stranger: I see

Stranger: It's 9:45AM here

You: mhm I guess you have to go?

Stranger: what time at your place?

You: nearly midnight

Stranger: I think it's about time to sleep. I haven't slept last night. was doing some work.

You: ohhh

You: go to bed!

You: that's so late!

You: it was nice talking to you

Stranger: Yeah . . . .

Stranger: Yes it was good

You: I thought you just woke up

Stranger: we all in lockdown and it's weekend here

Stranger: Friday, Saturday our weekend

You: ahh

You: I didn't even know that

Stranger: So watched Netflix all night

You: haha

Stranger: It's good to chat with you

Stranger: well the best with your studies

You: yup, you too

You: good luck!

Stranger: you too . . . . :)

You have disconnected.

#omegle #history #bangladesh #islam #political islam #religion #politics #secularism

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afishtrap · 7 years

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Given the relative underdevelopment of women’s history in Southeast Asia, what I am about to write may seem churlish, or “premature”—whatever that may mean in historiographical terms. But without downplaying the importance of these developments in Southeast Asian gender historiography and their contributions to feminist activism in the region, I nonetheless want to insist that gender is not the only social process through which historical agents experience and negotiate their daily lives or engage in dialogue with the state. Other forms of self-identified belonging have been mobilized for political ends in different times and contexts, and other lenses of analyses are thus needed to explicate their histories. This is of course well known to social historians and sociologists, who now deal as a matter of course with the intersections of race, class, and gender in explicating historical and social phenomena. Perhaps it is because of gender’s relative newness as a category of analysis that its practitioners, justifiably proud of the battles that have been fought to bring it to the scholar’s table, have been more inclined to insist on the centrality of the gender lens, to bring women into history as women—even where doing so may not, as I suggest in this essay, always yield the most insight.

Rachel Leow (2012). Age as a Category of Gender Analysis: Servant Girls, Modern Girls, and Gender in Southeast Asia. The Journal of Asian Studies, 71, pp 975-990.

The mui tsai were young girls transferred from their impoverished natal homes to wealthier households to serve primarily as servants and household drudges. The practice of keeping mui tsai, in various forms, was maintained in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaya, and Singapore, as well as in other parts of the world with a significant Chinese diasporic population, and was frequently defended as a Chinese custom. Because this transfer of bodies was accompanied by money, the system quickly assumed the status of a monetized sale in the eyes of the British public, to whose attention the mui tsai were brought by indignant missionaries, abolitionists, and progressives as a particularly heinous incarnation of the dreaded “human merchandise” problem. Worse yet were the persistent rumors of sexual or physical violence. These in particular impelled reformers to apply increasing moral pressure to the colonial administration, though with debatable degrees of success. The practice of keeping mui tsai was eventually abolished, at least in law, in the late 1930s (Leow 2012).

[...]

It is also becoming clear that the interwar years, and particularly the 1930s, witnessed growing support among British colonial officials for the protection of the child as a “less contentious object for statutory reform than the native woman,” upon whose body (in a similar fashion to the Modern Girl, whom we will encounter presently) was frequently inscribed a range of complex struggles over social morality; definitions of custom and tradition; and national, racial, and communitarian identity and difference in the twentieth century (Pande 2012, 205).5 In her research on child marriage in India, Ishita Pande (2012) has identified a shift in the mentality of colonial governance from “woman-rescue” to “child-protection,” which was accompanied by a growing concern with the “digital denotation of social fact”: the attempt to fix age in numbers in order to rationalize governance.6 Children may have been less contentious stimuli for reform, but protecting the sexuality of children was also a frequent, particular obsession of the colonial state. Through laws governing the age of consent, for example, the state can take over as a “surrogate parent” (Tambe 2009). Over the issue of child marriage in Indonesia, the Dutch were “most scandalized” by the prospect of premature consummation: “the sexual violation of childhood” was the sole point on which they took legislative action, in 1915 (Blackburn and Bessell 1997, 113).7

Notwithstanding these successes, often couched in terms of triumph for moral and social advancement, such arguments proved efficient at provoking state intervention, but, turned on their head, could also preclude it. Nazan Maksudyan (2008) has elsewhere written of the beslemes, a striking analogous figure to the Chinese and Southeast Asian mui tsai: they were girls who were “adopted” to work in the homes of Christian and Islamic families in the late Ottoman empire. Due to their “ambiguous position as daughter, servant and even concubine, beslemes faced suspicion, social scrutiny and little cultural protection. . . . The twin framing of beslemes as daughters (and thus a member of the family) and sexually seductive servants (and thus at the will of their ‘father’/ ‘master’) illustrates how the dynamics of social class worked to cast beslemes out of the protected domain of ‘childhood’ ” (Egan and Hawkes 2008, 362; see also Maksudyan 2008). A similar ambiguity can be read into the Modern Girl as both sexual temptresses and daughters, as we will see presently.

Attention to age also raises another issue in understanding the lived experience of themui tsai:what happens to her as she grows up.Given the relative immutability of the patriarchal structures in which she moved, some of the ways in which a mui tsai could change the range of agency available to her became available as a direct function of her age. As she reached sexual maturity, she might elevate her position by seducing the master of the house. This could substantially boost her household status, sometimes even raising it beyond that of “legitimate” female kin. If that did not occur, another possibility remained open: through occasional “money gifts” from her owners, a mui tsai might gradually alter her own status into that of a remunerated housekeeper, an amah, rather than a bondservant. Mui tsai status might also be inheritable if, for example, a mui tsai became pregnant but could not secure a legitimate position in the household. In fact, the position and lived experience of the mui tsai was so frequently inflected by her age that the extent to which this has not been explicitly analyzed in the literature is surprising.8

[...]

While the Modern Girl has been debated in terms of her modernity, her feminist challenge to patriarchal norms and social standards for women, as well as the radical agency she claims in her action, dress, speech, and sexuality, there has been little discussion of her age, her developmental temporality, and her status as a “girl.” For the Modern Girl Around the World Research Group, Modern Girls were “young women—‘girls’—with the wherewithal and desire to define themselves in terms that exceeded conventional female roles and that transgressed national, imperial or racial boundaries” (The Modern Girl Around the World Research Group 2005, 249). Their choice to use the word “girl” is deliberate: for them, it signifies the “contested status of women who lie outside childhood and outside contemporary social codes and conventions relating to marriage, sexuality and motherhood, and is a preferable theoretical alternative to the overdetermined category ‘woman’ ” (291). This has caused some controversy, partly to do with the semantic indistinguishability of the terms “girl” and “woman” in some languages into which the term “Modern Girl” has been rendered (for example, Chinese).12 It has also provoked accusations that calling the Modern Girl a “girl” infantilizes what is otherwise a subject of serious historical inquiry.13 As Miriam Silverberg (2008, 358) put it: “What better way was there to disempower woman than to call her a ‘girl’?” Denying the use of the term “girl” is a good feminist move, but here it might actually work to obscure an unexplored relationship between gender, age, and modern temporality.14 What I am interested in here, then, is whether paying attention to the Modern Girl’s age can bring questions into focus that may not appear if we are paying attention only to her gender or sexuality, or if we are trying to be good feminists.

#gender studies #women's studies #southeast asia #anthropology #research

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rightsinexile · 5 years

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ASEAN: Don’t whitewash atrocities against Rohingya

“Repatriation report ignores dire situation in Myanmar,” says the organisation Human Rights Watch in an editorial published 19 June 2019.

Southeast Asian leaders at their annual summit should drastically rethink their response to the plight of Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya, Human Rights Watch said today. The 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are scheduled to meet at the 34th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, Thailand from 20-23 June 2019.

During its 2018 summit, ASEAN addressed the Rohingya crisis but focused largely on repatriation issues, treating the “humanitarian situation” in Myanmar’s Rakhine State merely as “a matter of concern” and disregarding the government’s crimes against humanity. For this week’s summit, ASEAN’s Emergency Response and Action Team (ERAT) produced a “preliminary needs assessment” on repatriation for the approximately one million Rohingya refugees now in Bangladesh. The 56-page report, obtained by Human Rights Watch, was developed without input from Rohingya refugees and almost entirely disregards the Myanmar government’s atrocities that led to mass displacement. It does not even use the term “Rohingya,” denying the group’s self-identity.

“ASEAN seems intent on discussing the future of the Rohingya without condemning – or even acknowledging – the Myanmar military’s ethnic cleansing campaign against them,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “It’s preposterous for ASEAN leaders to be discussing the repatriation of a traumatized population into the hands of the security forces who killed, raped, and robbed them.”

Myanmar’s government has repeatedly denied that its military was primarily responsible for the current refugee situation, ludicrously blaming Rohingya for the widespread destruction and displacement. In its closing statement at the 2018 summit, ASEAN expressed “[t]he need to find a comprehensive and durable solution to address the root causes of the conflict and to create a conducive environment so that the affected communities can rebuild their lives.”

Yet ASEAN’s ensuing focus on a repatriation process – as shown in the ERAT report – ignores the situation on the ground, sets unrealistic markers for assessing Myanmar’s progress, and fails to identify the root causes of the crisis that need to be resolved before refugees can return in safety and dignity. ASEAN has also ignored efforts to investigate abuses and obtain justice for victims of atrocities.

The ERAT report said it aims “to assess the readiness of Reception and Transit Centres, including potential relocation sites that have been identified by the Government of Myanmar,” but noted that whether or not conditions were in place for return was “beyond the scope” of the assessment. The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre) responded to criticism of this omission by claiming that ERAT’s area of expertise and mandate was “disaster management…. It’s very focused and we cannot go beyond our mandate.”

The report also does not address the challenges resulting from the fighting between the military and Arakan Army that has displaced over 35,000 ethnic Rakhine and others since January.

ASEAN’s drafting of a repatriation assessment without addressing fundamental rights concerns shows disturbing disregard for the well-being of the affected population.

The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and numerous other humanitarian and human rights groups have concluded that current conditions in Rakhine State are not conducive for voluntary, safe, or dignified repatriation of Rohingya. The estimated 500,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar are trapped in appalling conditions, confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement, subject to ongoing state persecution and violence, and cut off from many basic humanitarian services including adequate food, medical care, and education. Neither the national nor the Rakhine State government has moved to improve conditions or address the causes underlying the crisis. Returning Rohingya to Myanmar would condemn them to lives of deprivation, oppression, and possibly death.

Most of the several hundred Rohingya refugees interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they want to go home eventually, but only if the government ensured their security, access to land and livelihoods, freedom of movement, and citizenship rights.

“How can we go back? They will kill us if we go back,” a Rohingya refugee told Human Rights Watch. “They say we are foreign settlers. My grandfather had a citizenship card. My mother. My father. My older brother. But they say I am not a citizen. This is forced. This is involuntary.”

The “reception and transit centers” that the AHA Centre visited for its assessment, constructed to process and house returnees, are surrounded by barbed-wire perimeter fences and security outposts, similar to the central Rakhine detention camps where more than 124,000 Rohingya have been confined for almost seven years. In fact, the Hla Poe Kaung reception center was built on land where Rohingya had been living before Myanmar security forces forced them to flee and burned down their villages, and the government subsequently bulldozed the ruins and redeveloped the area.

The ERAT report outlines a ramped-up security presence in Rakhine State that raises grave rights concerns. The report mentions “[s]trict security measures … at the Transit and Reception Centres and their respective surroundings.… Armed BGP [Border Guard Police] deployed at guard posts along main roadways, intersections and at key locations such as schools, places of worship, markets and entrances to villages” claiming deployments are based on “ongoing security considerations, e.g. occurrences of militant/terrorist attacks.”

These questionable security measures mistakenly lauded as a reflection of the Myanmar government’s “priority in maintaining peace and security in that area.” The report continues:

Security measures set in place may potentially cause inconvenience to the returnees e.g. multiple levels of recording personal details and verifications, with curfews and recording of movement set in place. However, it is important to note that such measures are ultimately established for the safety and long-term benefit of all e.g. both returnees and existing populations. Although there are short-term inconveniences e.g. temporary movement restriction, the community still hopes to strive for long-term stability and peace in Rakhine State.

The Myanmar government has long invoked “security concerns” as a rationale for violating the rights of Rohingya to travel outside of their camps and villages in Rakhine State. By echoing the government’s claim that Rohingya are confined for their own protection, and by not using the term “Rohingya” at all, the ERAT report adopts the government’s political narrative.

“Instead of adopting Myanmar propaganda, ASEAN should be pressing Myanmar to start cooperating with international institutions or else face consequences,” Adams said.

UN officials, humanitarian actors, and human rights groups have repeatedly called on Myanmar to allow observers and humanitarian actors into Rakhine State and cooperate with UN inquiries set up by the UN Human Rights Council.

ASEAN could play an important facilitating role for genuine reforms and communicating to Myanmar that if it ignores concerns it may face intensifying economic sanctions and travel bans on senior military commanders, as well as removal of Myanmar from important regional and international military and economic initiatives.

The ERAT assessment team did not visit the camps in Bangladesh or consult Rohingya refugees. The report does “not speak on behalf of the Rohingya refugees,” according to the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, a Rohingya advocacy group. “Rohingya refugees can speak for ourselves. There will be no repatriation without talking to us.”

Myanmar and Bangladesh should meaningfully consult with Rohingya communities on both sides of the border, and fully involve Rohingya representatives in the design and implementation of any repatriation process to ensure that it is safe and voluntary. ASEAN should be clear that no repatriation takes place until Rohingya refugees can make free and informed decisions about return, with the full involvement of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

“Malaysia and Indonesia have led past efforts to raise Rohingya issues during regional meetings, and it’s vital they do so again at this week’s ASEAN summit,” Adams said. “ASEAN’s credibility to deal with a damaging regional crisis is on the line.”

#refugee #Myanmar #rohingya #return #ASEAN

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bradstravels · 7 years

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Closing Thoughts - Philippines: Pinnacle adjacent

Monday, January 16, 2017 Journal Entry:

I can’t believe three weeks already flew by…the Philippines came out swinging and put on quite the show the entire time I was fortunate enough to find myself in this beautiful country. The country tried hard to convince me it was the king of Southeast Asia. It came close to dethroning Thailand as my top pick, but it fell short for reasons I will list below. Regardless of its position in my ranking of SE Asian countries, I had an absolutely amazing time. I can’t think of a better send off for my tour of SE Asia.

Enough hype. Let’s jump into my takeaways:

My first stop was in Manila, but only because I flew into the airport there. A friend, Nina, was there to meet me at the airport and immediately whisk me away to a country club in the highlands of Tagaytay approximately one hour outside of Manila, and then we went to another country club in Punta Fuego. Even upon returning to Manila for a couple of days for the New Year’s Eve celebrations, I never really saw much of the city as Nina’s family lived outside of the central area.

Let’s be honest, I didn’t see much of the city because Nina’s father just happens to be a Filipino congressman. During my time with Nina and her family, I had a personal driver and bodyguards. This was quite the change for a man who has been backpacking for the past 11 months. No more walking through slums while with this family. Instead, we jumped around country clubs, partied at their family-owned hotel, and watched fireworks at their mansion.

What is the takeaway here (other than finding friends with incredible connections of course)? Filipino hospitality. No one in this family had ever met me before. They hadn’t even heard about me before. I hadn’t spoken to Nina in eight years! None of this seemed to matter. They welcomed me with open arms. Paid for everything while I was with them (food, accommodation, transportation, fun). It actually made me feel a little uncomfortable. They were so generous. I did nothing to earn such generosity. How could I ever repay them? Maybe one day I will figure that out, but for now I just hope everyone sees it as an example of how kind the Filipino people are.

After leaving the family, I did not stumble upon more locals insisting on paying for everything. But. BUT. I did find all of the locals I met to be just as kind. At least for me, these have been the kindest people I have met in SE Asia. Perhaps anywhere I have visited, and that is saying a lot. The Filipino people do not hassle travelers. One response is all they need. If I said no once to a single taxi driver, no others around him would ask me again. The driver who asked would wish me a good day. If I said where I was going but couldn’t use a taxi, they would tell me the best way to get there. Travel agents wouldn’t even try to sell me services when I asked questions. They were just excited to talk about their country. I would have to ask them if I could buy a service! This amazed me.

I should note that seemingly EVERYONE in the Philippines thinks that I look like a vampire from Twilight. I can’t even count how many locals told me this (side note: I’m shocked so many Filipinos have watched the Twilight series). Without asking other travelers of their encounters, I can’t know if my “famous” look got me special attention or not.

(Side side note: they always said it as though it were a compliment, but I’m not sold yet that being so pale everyone thinks I am a vampire is a plus.)

Boracay…listed just a couple years ago as having the best beach in the world…is most certainly worthy of the title it once held. The beaches on this small island are stunning to say the least. Beautiful white sand and clear blue waters await all those who make the journey. More than just beautiful beaches, this is a PARTY island. People wake up and start drinking immediately. Head to the beach, grab a drink. Go to dinner, grab a drink. Go back to their hotel or hostel, grab a drink.

Around 11:00 pm or midnight everyone heads to the bars and clubs and continue to drink the night away. Boracay’s party scene is reminiscent of what I found on Koh Phi Phi in Thailand. It is absolutely wild.

What could possibly dethrone Boracay as the best beach in the world? That would be Palawan. Well, technically Palawan was voted as the best island in the world. It has several beaches worthy of the title “best beach.” Most flights land in Puerto Princesa, but travelers need to head to El Nido to get the best beach experiences. If there isn’t a rush, I would encourage checking out the underground river outside Puerto Princesa before heading to El Nido. I’ve been in a few caves now that also house rivers, but this one has been the most impressive. The river is quite large, and the stalagmite / stalactite formations are better formed than many others I have seen.

El Nido is a five to six hour ride from Puerto Princesa. This is not the most comfortable ride, and some people do get motion sickness due to the fast pace and wild turns. What awaits is well worth any discomfort though. Several smaller islands surround El Nido, some are so close that they can be reached via kayak. There are daily tours to many of these islands; each one has something “unique” that the locals want you to see. Frankly, it doesn’t matter which set of islands one chooses to see as they are all gorgeous.

The only negatives about El Nido are its lack of sufficient accommodation during peak season and its almost non-existent Wi-Fi during most parts of the day. They are working on both of these issues though. It will just take time before they can catch up to the wild jump in tourism to this area. Also, let’s face it, not having Wi-Fi can be a great thing. It just needs to be known before arriving so travelers can plan accordingly. Not knowing this made booking my onward flight rather difficult.

After Palawan I headed to Donsol Bay in an attempt to swim with whale sharks. I chose this area over Oslob (or other areas in the Philippines) because they do not feed the sharks here. The experience is natural, so no sharks are harmed and their migration habits are not influenced. Sadly, I cannot report that I succeeded in swimming with the world’s largest fish. I reached Donsol just as a tropical depression was blowing over, so the water was too murky to spot anything from the boats.

This was a rather tough pill to swallow because the location is out of the way of everything else. There are only a handful of resorts to stay at, and Wi-Fi is lacking here as well. This means that I had absolutely nothing to do after my failed shark swimming tour was over (the beaches here are not like the beaches of Boracay or Palawan, there are no other activities close to the whale shark area, and the resorts do not have many other tourists to meet). I still think it is worth a visit since there is a VERY good chance of seeing the sharks here (top spot in the world actually), but potential visitors should make sure the weather is good before making the journey.

I had a couple other destinations on my list to visit after Donsol, but all of these destinations required me to stop in Cebu City on the island of Cebu first. Upon arriving in Cebu City, I discovered that it was time for the Sinulog festival. The festival is similar to Mardi Gras in the US. People from all over the Philippines come to Cebu City to partake in this festival. This changed my plans. I decided to stay in Cebu City to experience the festivities.

The city itself can be seen in one day, so it is usually just a temporary stop for travelers on their way to nearby areas. Sinulog is not a usual time though. The city transforms. Decorations are everywhere. Everyone is happy and excited. Music is blaring. Well…one song is blaring. Seriously, I listened to one song, and one song only, on repeat for three straight days. The festival itself is on Sunday. This day is filled with parades, dancing, carnivals, parties, and really any other festival type activity one can imagine. It’s a blast.

I can’t end this discussion of the Philippines without mentioning the food. Delightful. Surprisingly so. I had a couple encounters with Filipino food in Houston, but I was able to get a very different perspective here. I feared everything would be very unhealthy. Fried chicken, sweet spaghetti, halo halo, and pork drenched in sweet sauce were the foods that came to mind before arriving here.

Of course these foods exist here and are delicious; however, I also found loads of fresh fish and plentiful vegetables. The country also has more American influence than any other country in SE Asia, so there are many options for a taste of home if it is desired. There were times where I actually began to think I was in an American neighborhood…so many American chain restaurants.

The big negative that prevents the Philippines from surpassing Thailand as my number one destination in SE Asia? Transportation. Traveling between the islands is not easy. Many islands can be reached by ferry, but the ferry rides are usually VERY long. Flights are sometimes the only option, and many times they are the only “reasonable” option. Since I arrived during the peak season, my flights were very expensive. I paid more for flights here than I did in Europe.

More than anywhere else in the world other than America. And the flights were almost always delayed! The land travel is not much better as the roads are often quite poor and the vans stop frequently if any seats are available for more passengers. It is very difficult to plan anything in a timely manner as one never knows how long getting from one place to another will actually take. The infrastructure here is severely lacking. It is in need of a major overhaul. The government has realized this and already has several projects currently underway to remedy the issues. The Philippines will look drastically different in 5 – 10 years.

I am now sitting in the Singapore airport, waiting for a flight that will take me back to Bali for two days in route to Australia. My time in SE Asia is over, but I am grateful that my first and last stops in this area of the world turned out to be my two favorite. I started and ended this journey on wonderfully high notes. The Philippines has earned a special place in my heart, and I can say without a doubt that it is worth a visit for anyone making a stop in SE Asia.

Until next time...

Brad Livingston

Postscript: How do I know Filipinos are cool cats? While walking down the boardwalk in Puerto Princesa, a young boy rode by me on a bicycle. He was only five or six years old. He reached the end of the boardwalk, turned around, and headed straight for me. He slowly stuck his hand out. Never saying a word. Never making eye contact. When he reached me, I too stuck my hand out and gave him a high five. He never even slowed down. No need, our mutual respects were paid.

Smooth, kid. Smooth.