Introduction

Studies of Southeast Asian peoples and cultures have faced two fundamental problems in recent decades. The first problem resulted from a scholarly heritage of excessive emphasis upon the unity and integration of the Great Civilizations of China and India on either side, to the neglect of Southeast Asia as an area of any but synthetic and assimilated culture traits, only rarely attaining, in specific regions, the degree of integration considered worthy of serious study by historians. In reaction to this implication of Southeast Asia’s second-class status as an area of research interest, much of the work concerning its peoples consisted of systematic attempts to refute those who alleged a lack of creativity on the part of Southeast Asians or who minimized their contributions to world history. Scholars concentrated their efforts on searching for the uniquely Southeast Asian elements in local cultures and on unearthing ruins of previously unknown civilizations. Much of the social anthropology of the region consists of holistic descriptions of ways of life, accompanied by assertions of their uniqueness and attempts to convince the wider public of the intrinsic value and worth of studying a not-quite Indian or Chinese region.