Introduction: To Look at the Local Close-up

The articles in this special issue originated from a panel on "Local Power, Money, and Religion in Southeast Asia" that I convened as a part of the National University of Singapore's Centennial Conference held in Singapore, on 1–3 August 2005.¹ The panel aimed to examine the emergence of locality and its dynamics in peripheral places of Southeast Asia namely south Vietnam, southeast Cambodia, southern Thailand, central Java, and Flores island. The articles are written from a multi-disciplinary angle and cover issues such as culture, performance, politics, social activism, religion, ethnicity, and local identity. The stories are drawn mostly from the authors' recent fieldwork in their respective research areas and therefore are grounded well within the context of Southeast Asian studies.² The articles also give attention to how locals become subjects through negotiating with or engaging each other but with external actors shaping their world as well. The dynamics involve the crafting of their own destiny.

Academically, the articles add to the growing interest among Southeast Asianists to research and to write about places away from the capital cities. Both established and emerging scholars who work on Indonesia have recently shifted their attention to the emergence of local politics in the country since it embarked on decentralization in 2001 (Aspinall and Fealy 2003; Erb, Sulistiyanto, and Faucher 2005). In the context of mainland Southeast Asia, there has been increased interest in examining the situations of people who live in border regions (for instance, Horstmann and Wadley 2006). Similarly, historians search for an autonomous local history in Southeast Asia (Sunait and Baker 2002). It is hoped that these articles will contribute to the academic debates on these subjects and will inform readers about the importance of local dynamics. More research in this direction is certainly needed in years to come. I wish to thank the participants of the panel for their work and also to the anonymous reviewers for their critical comments. Lastly, thanks to SOJOURN, especially Dr Russell Hiang-Khng Heng for accepting the submission of the articles and also for facilitating the publication of this special edition.

Irving Johnson's article focuses on the Thai shadow play (nang talung) and its cultural and political impacts upon local people in the three provinces of southern Thailand (Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Phatthalung, and Songkhla). It looks at the complexity and ambiguity of nang talung, which is often regarded by the public as being simultaneously a subversive and a conservative agent. In arguing his case, Johnson locates the social and historical setting of nang talung in Thailand arguing that nang talung is the most popular cultural activity in the southern part of the country, especially among the ordinary people. As such, it differs from the classical court dance tradition of central Thailand that caters to the educated Thai population. It shares some features of Javanese shadow puppetry (wayang kulit). Johnson argues that nang talung has transformed over the centuries from a performance art form to a multi-dimensional communal art activity. In southern Thailand, the role that the tua talok (clowns) play in nang talung performance is crucial as they personify themselves as interpreters or spokespersons for their society. They comment on, criticize, and also satirize the issues faced by the local people in a humorous way that often challenges the dominant nationalistic cultural discourse imposed by Bangkok. Johnson's article concludes that nang talung with various tua talok characters has helped the people of southern Thailand to come to terms with their modernity and has strengthened their strong sense of a unique regional identity.

Martin Richter's article examines two musical performances in Yogyakarta in 2001 and applies Bourdieu's concepts of bureaucratic field and grounded cosmopolitanism to understand the dynamics of local politics. He argues that music performances are often the subject of political contestation. He shows that campursari performances and street music (musik jalanan) are very popular among the ordinary people of Yogyakarta. The popularity of campursari brings together musicians from different musical genres, for example gamelan, dangdut, and kroncong, while street music is simply performances in Malioboro Street...