A world of water : rain, rivers and seas in Southeast Asian histories / edited by Peter Boomgaard.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / Peter Boomgaard -- In a state of flux: Water as a deadly and a life-giving force in Southeast Asia / Peter Boomgaard -- Geography as destiny?: The role of water in Southeast Asian history / Heather Sutherland -- Of gods and monsters: Indigenous sea cosmologies, promiscuous geographies and the depths of local sovereignty / Sandra Pannell -- A toothy tale: A short history of shark fisheries and trade in shark products in twentieth-century Indonesia / Manon Osseweijer -- A tale of two centuries: The globalization of maritime raiding and piracy in Southeast Asia at the end of the eighteenth and twentieth centuries / James F. Warren -- Storms of history: Water, hazard and society in the Philippines 1565-1930 / Greg Bankoff -- Communal irrigation: A comparative perspective / Robert C. Hunt -- Geographical explanations for the distribution of irrigation institutions: Cases from Southeast Asia / Willem Wolters -- Water and rice in early Java and / Jan Wisseman Christie -- Contestations over a life-giving force: Water rights and conflicts, with special reference to Indonesia / Franz von Benda-Beckmann -- The role of waterborne diseases in Malaysia / Foong Kin -- Privatizing water: The Jakarta concession and the limits of contract / Okke Braadbaart -- The politics of environmental and water pollution in East Java / Anton Lucas and Arief W. Djati -- About the authors / Peter Boomgaard -- Index / Peter Boomgaard.

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Water, in its many guises, has always played a powerful role in shaping Southeast Asian histories, cultures, societies and economies. This volume, the rewritten results of an international workshop, with participants from eight countries, contains thirteen essays, representing a broad range of approaches to the study of Southeast Asia with water as the central theme. As it was exposed to the sea, the region was more accessible to outside political, economic and cultural influences than many landlocked areas. Easy access through sea routes also stimulated trade from an early age. However, the same easy access made Southeast Asia vulnerable to political control by strong outsiders. The sea is, moreover, a source of food, but also of many hazards. At the same time, Southeast Asian societies and cultures are confronted with and permeated by 'water from heaven' in the form of rain, flash floods, irrigation water, water in rivers, brooks and swaps, water-driven power plants, and pumped or piped water, in addition to water as a carrier of sewage and pollution. Finally, the volume deals with the role of water in classification systems, beliefs, myths, illness and healing. Full Text (Open Access)

English.

Description based on print version record.