Officina Asia

In Envoys of A Human God Andreu Martínez offers an insightful study of the Jesuit mission to Christian Ethiopia. The work combines different approaches –cultural-historical, political and sociological– and draws from a multiplicity of sources, from archival research to archaeology.

This book explores Muslim communities in Southeast Asia and the integration of Islamic culture with the diverse ethnic cultures of the region, offering a look at the practice of cultural and religious coexistence in various realms. The volume traces the origins and processes of adoption, transmission, and adaptation of Islam by diverse ethnic communities such as the Malay, Acehnese, Javanese, Sundanese, the Bugis, Batak, Betawi, and Madurese communities, among others. It examines the integration of Islam within local politics, cultural networks, law, rituals, education, art, and architecture, which engendered unique regional Muslim identities. Additionally, the book illuminates distinctive examples of cultural pluralism, cosmopolitanism, and syncretism that persisted in Islamic religious practices in the region owing to its maritime economy and reputation as a marketplace for goods, languages, cultures, and ideas. As part of the Global Islamic Cultures series that investigates integrated and indigenized Islam, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of theology and religion, Islamic studies, religious history, political Islam, cultural studies, and Southeast Asian studies. It also offers an engaging read for general audiences interested in world religions and cultures.

In this volume, Anthony Reid positions Southeast Asia on the stage of world history. He argues that the region not only had a historical character of its own, but that it played a crucial role in shaping the modern world. Southeast Asia’s interaction with the forces uniting and transforming the world is explored through chapters focusing on Islamization; Chinese, Siamese, Cham and Javanese trade; Makasar’s modernizing moment; and slavery. The last three chapters examine from different perspectives how this interaction of relative equality shifted to one of an impoverished, “third world” region exposed to European colonial power.

Beyond the often-mythologized idea of Asia, the contributors of Re-Imagining Asia investigate artistic heritage, political orientation, and the tensions between tradition and modernity. Through the visual image and the written word, they move toward a definition of Asian values--both aesthetic and intellectual. Lavishly illustrated, with artist biographies and exhibition histories. Shaheen Merali, artist and curator, is head of the Department of Exhibition, Film and New Media at the House of World Cultures in Berlin. He has exhibited internationally in Barcelona, London, New York City (Queens Museum of Art and Bronx Museum of the Arts), Singapore, and Vienna. He is the author of Blackpop (Saqi Books) and the editor of New York States of Mind (Saqi Books).