New Perspectives on the History and Historiography of Southeast Asia

Michael Arthur Aung-Thwin is Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Hawai¿i at Manoa, US. He has published widely on the history of early and modern Burma.

Using a unique "old¿new" treatment, this book presents new perspectives on several important topics in Southeast Asian history and historiography. Based on original, primary research, it reinterprets and revises several long-held conventional views in the field, covering the period from the "classical" age to the twentieth century. Chapters share the approach to Southeast Asian history and historiography: namely, giving "agency" to Southeast Asia in all research, analysis, writing, and interpretation.

Foreword 1. Introduction Michael Aung-Thwin and Kenneth R. Hall 2. John K. Whitmore¿s Contribution to Vietnamese and Southeast Asian Studies Victor Lieberman 3. A New/Old Look at `Classical¿ and `Post-Classical¿ Southeast Asia/Burma Michael Aung-Thwin 4. Sojourning Communities, Ports-of-Trade, and Commercial Networking in Southeast Asiäs Eastern Regions, c. 1000-1400 Kenneth R. Hall 5. Chinese-style Firearms in Southeast Asia: Focusing on Archeological Evidence Sun Laichen 6. To Catch a Tiger: The Suppression of the Yang Yinglong Miao Uprising (1587-1600) as a Case Study in Ming Military and Borderlands History Kenneth M. Swope 7. Maritime Subversions and Socio-Political Formations in Vietnamese History: A Look from the Marginal Center (mien Trung) Charles Wheeler 8. "1620," A Cautionary Tale Michael Vickery 9. The Imported Book Trade and Confucian Learning in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Vietnam Li Tana 10. Literacy in Early Seventeenth-Century Northern Vietnam Keith W. Taylor 11.The Limping Monk and the Deaf King: Peasant Politics, Subaltern Agency, and the Postcolonial Predicament in Colonial Burma Maitrii Aung-Thwin 12. The Myths of the Tet Offensive Edwin E. Moïse