We feature in this issue a cluster of three thematically linked articles, three individual research articles, a review essay, and an ample selection of book reviews. The thematic cluster of articles, written by Ruth Streicher, Alicia Turner and Michael Edwards, with an Introduction by Streicher, explains the intellectual potential of thinking about Buddhist secular formations in Southeast Asia. These essays on Buddhist secularism in Myanmar and Thailand are followed by three research articles that collectively explore Chinese–Southeast Asian interactions in different historical and spatial settings.
Boyi Chen's article is a multi-sited examination of the historical interaction between Hokkien communities and local polities in Vietnam, Java, and the Philippines. Through the experiences of three key Hokkien historical figures, the study considers how local political dynamics affected the nature and scope of Hokkien involvement in the region. Our next essay by Thanh Thi Vu compares household gender roles in urban and rural Vietnam. Focusing on young couples living in two sites — Hanoi city and rural Thai Binh — the articles examine how housework, conventionally understood through Confucian norms, is negotiated in reference to old/new employment circumstances, traditional marital expectations, and the presence of other family members. Our final research article by Grace V.S. Chin examines 1920s Sino-Malay literature in order to understand (male) Javanese Peranakan notions of female purity, masculinity, and their relationship to conceptions of the body politic and Chinese nationalism (Bangsa Tionghua). Through a careful reading of Liem Hian Bing's Valentine Chan atawa rahasia Semarang and Tan Chieng Lian's Oh….Papa!, Chin argues that female purity is an expression of Tionghoa identity and nationalism; a trope that both reaffirms Tionghua masculinity and subverts Dutch colonial authority.
Our articles are followed by Chanratana Chen's review essay of Michael Falser's two-volume Angkor Wat: A transnational history of heritages and 12 book reviews. The editorial team is grateful for the time and effort from our authors, referees, and book reviewers who continue to make the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies the preferred platform for promoting research on the region.
