Asian Folklore Studies articles from June 1 1999

Asian Folklore Studies archives from June 1 1999

Kejadian manusia: an "histoire" of Malay/Semai culture contact.
June 1, 1999... History and its representations are not nicely distinguishable. To the contrary: history lies in its representations, for representation is as much the making of history as it is consciousness speaking out. Jean and John Comaroff, Of...

To be or not to be ... the cultural identity of the Jawi (Thailand).
June 1, 1999... A national unity can be achieved through a diversity of ethnic groups. No cultural group would submit to a process of integration that would eventually lead to the loss of its valued identity. SURIN PITSUWAN, Islam and Malay Nationalism ...

Fasts, feasts, and the slovenly woman: strategies of resistance among North Indian potter women.
June 1, 1999... The temple courtyard was crowded with small groups of women; it had become, uncharacteristically, a woman's space. Each woman was dressed in her brightly colored finest, with articles of worship set out before her. The air was filled with...

Songha Sindang: the tutelary shrine of T'aeha Village, Ullung Island, Korea.
June 1, 1999... The cult practiced at the tutelary shrine of T'aeha Village, Ullung Island (Ullung-do) is one of the most unique village cults in Korea, combining features of a tutelary cult and a cult to propitiate vengeful spirits of the dead. My own...

Shamanic dance in Japan: the choreography of possession in Kagura performance.
June 1, 1999... Religion in Japan is often characterized as shamanic in origin.(1) Indeed, both religious ritual and the performing arts in Japan are generally acknowledged as originating from shamanic possession-trance.(2) The ancient techniques involved in...

The magicality of the hyena: beliefs and practices in West and South Asia.
June 1, 1999... Among carnivorous mammals, hyenas belong to a family (Hyaenidae) comprising four species: the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), the striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), the brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea), and the aardwolf (Proteles cristatus) (MILLS and...

A response to Naithani's review.(response to Naithani, Asian Folklore Studies, vol. 57, p.175)
June 1, 1999... I have been pleased to see that six years after publication The Taste of Laughter: Aspects of Tamil Humor received another review (AFS 57:175-76). I would, however, have preferred the reviewer to be a scholar familiar with the Tamil language...

Shamanism and Culture.(Review)
June 1, 1999... PENTIKAINEN, JUHA. Helsinki: Etnika Co., 1997. 112 pages, graphics. N.p. This work is a collection of papers by an outstanding scholar on the shamanistic traditions of the "Northern" or circumpolar peoples. The chapters discuss a range of...

Folk Narrative and World View: Vortrage des 10. Kongresses der Internationalen Gesellschaft fur Volkserzahlungsforschung.(Review)
June 1, 1999... PETZOLDT, LEANDER, editor. (ISFNR), Innsbruck 1992. Beitrage zur Europaischen Ethnologie und Folklore, Reihe B: Tagungsberichte und Materialien, Band 7 (two parts). Bern: Peter Lang AG, 1996. 875 pages. Paper FR 119.00; ISBN 3-631-48698-7; ISSN...

Marchen als mundlich tradierte Erzahlungen des Volkes? Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Entstehungs - und Verbreitungstheorien von Volksmarchen von den Brudern Grimm bis zur Marchenforschung in der DDR.(Review)
June 1, 1999... POGE-ALDER, KATHRIN. Europaische Hochschulschriften I/1479. Bern: Peter Lang, 1994. 340 pages. Bibliography. Paper FR 78. - ; ISBN 3-63146576-9; ISSN 0721-3301. (In German) The intention of this well-documented work of the history of a...

The Story of Japan, vol. 1, History from the Founding of the Nation to the Height of Fujiwara Prosperity.(Review)
June 1, 1999... HIRAIZUMI KIYOSHI. Trans. by Sey Nishimura and committee. Ise City, Japan: Seisei Kikaku, 1997; viii + 219 + xi pages. Introduction by the translation committee, contents of all three volumes, name index, map, tables, brush illustrations. Paper...

Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions in Urban Japan, 1600-1868.(Review)
June 1, 1999... NISHIYAMA MATSUNOSUKE. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1997. viii + 309 pages. Maps, illustrations, glossary, references, index. Cloth US$49.00; ISBN 0-8248-1736-2. Paper US$21.95; ISBN 0-8248-1850-4. This is an important book...

The Kakure Kirishitan of Japan: A Study of Their Development, Beliefs, and Rituals to the Present Day.(Review)
June 1, 1999... TURNBULL, STEPHEN. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon (Japan Library), 1998. xii + 296 pages. Maps, figures, illustrations, appendices, bibliography, Japanese character list, index. Cloth [pounds]40.00; ISBN 1-873410-70-0. The past decade has...

Mythology and Foklore of the Hui: A Muslim Chinese People.(Review)
June 1, 1999... LI SHUJIANG and KARL W. LUCKERT. New York: State University of New York Press, 1994. xii + 459 pages. Map, b/w photographs, bibliography, index. Paper US$21.95; ISBN 0-7914-1824-3. The book under review is the first publication in English...

Suzhou pingtan wenxuan, disan ce.(Review)
June 1, 1999... WU ZONGXI, editor. [Selected Writings on Suzhou Pingtan Storytelling, Volume Three]. Suzhou: Suzhou University Press, 1997. 244 pages. (In Chinese) This work appears in a series of selected essays of various authors on the subject of...

Shanghai Express: A Thirties Novel.(Review)
June 1, 1999... ZHANG HENSHUI. Fiction from Modern China. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1997. 259 pages. Map. Cloth US$28.00; ISBN 0-8248-1825-3. Paper US$12.95; ISBN 0-8248-1830-X. This is a novel that is certain to please a wide-ranging reading...

Gotter im Wandel. Gesammelte Aufsatze zum Synkretismus der mongolischen Volksreligion.(Review)
June 1, 1999... HEISSIG, WALTHER. Studies in Oriental Religions, Volume 38. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996. 281 pages. Tables, illustrations. Paper, DM148.--; ISBN 3-447-03702-4. (In German and English) Gotter im Wandel is a collection of essays (one...

Motiv un Wirklichkeit. Gesammelte Aufsatze.(Review)
June 1, 1999... HEISSIG WALTHER. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1993. xii +253 pages. Tables, illustrations. Paper DM78.--; ISBN 3-447-03432-7. (In German and English) For many years it has been the goal of Heissig's research not simply to isolate some...

Shamans and Elders: Experience, Knowledge, and Power among the Daur Mongols.(Review)
June 1, 1999... HUMPHREY, CAROLINE and URGUNGE ONON. Oxford Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. xiv + 396 pages. Maps, photographs, bibliography, index. Cloth US$80.00; ISBN 0-19-827941-8. Paper US$24.95; ISBN...

The Moen Collection of Eastern Turki (New Uighur) Popular Poetry.(Review)
June 1, 1999... JARRING, GUNNAR, editor and translator. Scripta Minora 1996-1997:1. Stockholm: Alqvist & Wiksell International, 1996. 46 pages. Alphabetic index of first lines, glossary, references. Paper n.p.; ISBN 91-22-01725-9. Modern Uyghur...

Die Erzahlung von Edige. Gehalt, Genese und Wirkung einer heroischen Tradition.(Review)
June 1, 1999... SCHMITZ, ANDREA. Turcologica 27. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996. 234 pages. Bibliography, index, maps. Paper DM78.--; ISBN 3-447-03758-X. (In German) This volume is an extensive and comprehensive investigation of the body of problems...

Tibetan Culture in the Diaspora: Papers Presented at a Panel of the 7th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Graz 1995.(Review)
June 1, 1999... KOROM, FRANK J., editor. Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Denkschriften, 258. Band. Wien: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1997. 119 pages. Figures, illustrations. Paper...

The Coming of the Gods: An Iban Invocatory Chant of the Baleh River Region, Sarawak.(Review)
June 1, 1999... MASING, JAMES JEMUT. Two volumes. Canberra: Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1997. 598 pages. Maps, figures, tables, glossaries, references. Paper $A45.00 (overseas price for both...

Women of Southeast Asia.(Review)
June 1, 1999... VAN ESTERIK, PENNY, editor. Monograph Series on Southeast Asia, Occasional Paper No. 17, revised edition. DeKalb, IL: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, 1996. xiv + 229 pages. Illustrations, figures, tables,...

Chant the Names of God: Music and Culture in Bhojpuri-Speaking India.(Review)
June 1, 1999... HENRY, EDWARD O. San Diego: San Diego State University Press, 1988. xviii + 318 pages. B/w photographs, bibliography, appendices (transliteration of songs, musical notations), index. Paper, n.p.; ISBN 0-916304-79-5. In a large part of the...

Love Song of the Dark Lord: Jayadeva's Gitagovinda.(Review)
June 1, 1999... MILLER, BARBARA STOLER, editor and translator. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. xxii + 125 pages. Paper US$17.00/[pounds]9.95; ISBN 0-231-11097-9. Composed in the twelfth century in eastern India, the Gitagovinda has been popular...

Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil India, 1891-1970.(Review)
June 1, 1999... RAMASWAMY, SUMATHI. Studies on the History of Society and Culture 29. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. xxiii + 303 pages. B/w photographs, references, index. Cloth US$50.00; ISBN 0-520-20804-8. Paper US$20.00; ISBN 0-520-20805-6....

Applied Ethnobotany: A Case Study Among the Kharias of Central India.(Review)
June 1, 1999... VARGHESE, E. New Delhi: Deep Publications, 1996. Hardcover Rs. 400; US$70.00. Though ethnobotanical studies in India have been done for quite some time, it is only during the last three decades that these studies have come into their own....

Die Natur in der Bildersprache des Sahname.(Review)
June 1, 1999... EHLERS, JURGEN. Beitrage zur Iranistik, Band 16. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1995. xii + 282 pages. Photograph, bibliography, appendix, list of key terms. Cloth DM 84.--; ISBN 3-88226-831-X. (In German) This book is a welcome...

The Thirsty Sword: Sirat 'Antar and the Arabic Popular Epic.'.(Review)
June 1, 1999... HEATH, PETER. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1996. xx + 324 pages. Frontispiece, appendices, bibliography, index. Cloth US$50.00; ISBN 0-87480-515-5. Epic scholars whose appetite has been whet by "parts of this volume [which]...

A response to Jason's review.(response to Heda Jason, Asian Folklore Studies, 1996, vol. 55, p. 184)
June 1, 1999