Ayutthaya History

Although we are still complete beginners in Southeast Asian history, we recently finished Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit's A History of Ayutthaya: Siam in the Early Modern World. An ambitious work that begins with pre-Ayutthaya history and ends with the Bangkok-era Chakri dynasty, Baker and Phongpaichit present several centuries of history. Beginning with early Bronze Age, Iron Age, and agricultural communities, one sees how Thailand's history predates Ayutthaya, Sukhothai, and states founded or associated with Tai-speaking peoples by millennia. The rise of long-distance trade, Indic culture, and the later Dvaravati civilization, which was likely more of a cultural than political entity, paved the path for later polities in which Ayutthaya emerged. Already established as a militarily expansive and commercial state, early Ayutthaya built its wealth through Asian trade. After a period in which military expansion was key, what could perhaps be considered "Middle Ayutthaya" rulers focused on commerce and strengthening Ayutthaya's position as an Asian entrepot. 

This era, after Naresuan, is especially interesting for the various Chinese, Persian, French, Dutch, Siam, and Burmese sources available. While the large estimates of the royal capital's population and the emergence of a peasantry may require further analysis, Siam was undoubtedly a major center of Southeast Asia's "Age of Commerce." The Persian, Japanese, European, Chinese, Malay, and Indian connections illustrate quite clearly how Siam was a central node in Asian trade. This commercial society, according to our authors, gradually changed as the nobility gained further power and control over labor (phrai). Consequently, Buddhism and the ideal king changed to meet the needs of a society with greater social discord, banditry, revolt, and inequality after the 1688 revolution. We will have to read Baker and Phongpaichit's other book to find out what transpired after Ayutthaya fell and Siam encountered the Western powers in the 19th century. 

Girard and the Tanos

Although we have issues with Philippe Girard's scholarship on Haiti, this is a decent introduction to the history of the Taino. Except for the suggestion that ganja or marijuana was part of the cohoba ritual, Girard does a decent job covering the history of the Taino. Of course, accepting the demise of the Taino as an organized society after the Spanish conquest makes Girard a supporter of the Taino extinction narrative. 

Duroseau Meringues

Some catchy classics of Haitian music recorded in the 1950s. The musical Duroseau family surprised us with one very well known Haitian standard.

The Civilization of Angkor

Out of a desire to learn more about Angkor, we recently read Charles Higham's The Civilization of Angkor. Eager to read an overview of this ancient Khmer civilization less outdated than that of Georges Coedes, who heavily relied on inscriptions and was somewhat dismissive of "pre-Indianized" peoples in the region, Higham's short account establishes the deeper roots of the civilization that produced Angkor. Indeed, the degree of long-distance trade and social inequality already in place, detected through archaeology, indicates that "Indianization" was a local adoption and adaptation of Indic religious and cultural practices. What was more surprising to learn was the strong evidence against older interpretations of Angkor's authority being rooted in royal control of irrigation networks. Indeed, Higham suggests the various dynasties of this Khmer civilization were perhaps more akin to the type of "galatic polity" described by Tambiah. In other words, central authority was weak in the provinces and conflict within the court or the center common. Nonetheless, it looks like Coedes and past scholars were correct about the role of the Shiva cult, institution of devaraja, and temple complexes and merit-making as core components of state authority and ideology. Indeed, this is perhaps another parallel with the type of state "networks" described by Kenneth Hall for precolonial Southeast Asian states. We only wish more was known of Funan, the Chenla polities, and the nature of slavery and bonded labor.

Of Cannibals and Kings

Neil Whitehead's Of Cannibals and Kings: Primal Anthropology in the Americas has been on our reading list for some time. A short book consisting of English translations of early Spanish sources on the indigenous Caribbean and an introductory essay by Whitehead, it is important for offering a new translation (based on the Italian) of Ramon Pané and a translation of Rodrigo de Navarrete and Rodrigo de Figueroa. Although Whitehead unconvincingly posits possibly "Taino" or Amerindian influences on Haitian Vodou and West Indian obeah, suggesting Damballa, zombi and perhaps even bokor may be at least in part derived from native Caribbean spirituality and religion, his essay raised a number of legitimate questions about the ways in which scholars have engaged in linguistic analysis of Pané's brief account. Moreover, the translation of Rodrigo de Navarrete's brief relation of the "Aruacas" (who appear to have been centered in the area of Guyana) provides an interesting description of indigenous South American "allies" of the Spanish. Indeed, if the category of caribe was a political rather than ethnic identifier, at least in how it was used by Columbus, Chanca, Figueroa and Navarrete, that dichotomy was clearly understood by indigenous actors who, like the Aruacas, appear to have used trade and alliances with the Spanish to expand their power and settlements against their caribe enemies. Even more intriguing is the unnamed morisco survivor of a shipwreck who lived for years among the Aruacas. He was one of the main informants of Navarrete and perhaps would have given his native hosts a more nuanced perspective on Castile and its history of aggression and expansion. Unfortuantely, Navarette did not share all of the details he learned about the Aruacas (Arawaks), but his brief relation indicates a culture in which astronomical knowledge and lore was important to the shamans. Indeed, similar astronomical lore appears to have been important for the "Carib" and "Taino" shaman class, who likewise played a pivotal role in the ceremonies using song to record history, genealogy, and the deeds of great men. 

Taino Documentary

Somehow we have forgotten about this documentary on the Taino. It raises some interesting questions, such as when a yucayeque can be considered a town or city. Also, it is rather respectful of "neo-Taino" claims of cultural continuity and survival. The scene featuring Puerto Ricans recreating the cohoba ritual and the use of a duho is interesting but hard to imagine it being close to what the actual practice looked like. A self-proclaimed cacique claims to have been able to revive it based on oral traditions passed down throughout the centuries in Puerto Rico. Of course, it is difficult to see how such a ceremony that was aberrant to Spanish and Catholic authorities could have been reconstructed from 20th and 21st century Puerto Rican oral traditions. 

A Record of Cambodia

Although the extant text appears to be perhaps 1/3 of the original work, Zhao Daguan's A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People is a priceless source. Translated into English by Peter Harris, the short account's readable description of Cambodia in the late 13th century brings this vastly different time and place to life. Despite Zhao Daguan's own cultural biases and possible omissions and corruption to the text, an overview of Khmer society, religion, agriculture, landscape, flora, fauna, and the royal court is at least partially described. Keeping the aforementioned shortcomings of the text in mind, one can carefully use Zhao Daguan, with insights from local inscriptions, archaeology, and art history, to reconstruct a complex civilization. 

Zhao Daguan, for instance, highlights the role of slavery as a pervasive institution in society. Slaves, often taken from highland "savage" populations, were so despised that sleeping with them was considered a reprehensible act, though occasionally done by resident Chinese. Agriculture was undoubtedly the basis for the realm's wealth and stability, and local trade was dominated by women. According to Zhao Daguan, women were easy to find, food plentiful, and clothing requirements light, so many Chinese sailors sought to stay in Cambodia. The growing Chinese presence in the kingdom also led to a decline in respect for Chinese merchants as they became more common. Chinese customs such as using paper in lavatories were strange to the local Khmer, just as Zhao Daguan saw local women as lascivious. The far-ranging trade networks of the Khmer extended to, perhaps, India in the west (and likely beyond) to Chinese ceramic ware, manufactured goods, silks,and other products. Recent wars or battles with Siam had devastated part of the kingdom. Nonetheless, people from Siam were also residing in Cambodia, associated with silk and textile production. 

Zhao Daguan also noted with approval how even the "barbarian" people of Cambodia knew how to venerate an absolute ruler (Indravarman III). The various temples and monumental architecture of the capital seems to have impressed him, too. Art, architecture, religion, and the numerous relatives of the king were tied to royal administration and legitimacy. Numerous officials of the state were relatives of the king or people who provided their daughters as concubines to him. The old legend of a snake spirit cohabiting with the king and allusions to Buddhist and Siva/Hindu rituals clearly establish a close relationship with the temples, monks, and priests. While Zhao Daguan did not understand the Hindu-derived pandits and Siva worship, his allusions to them suggest strongly localized cults which were patronized by the royal court.