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A theoretical orientation toward 'strategies' is proposed in this paper. This theoretical approach suggests that we study both the context for immediate decision-making and the broader context in which reflection and deliberation occur. Whilst these are very broad concerns, the paper itself is based on fieldwork about land rental relationships in rural South India. The paper introduces strategies as a solution to the theorists' dilemma of choice vs. constraints. We treat tenants (as both households and as individual agents) in their structural contexts whilst respecting the complexity and co-mutuality of their agency. The strategies that people use involve an orientation to current and future events, including possible events which are imagined or which could happen. Both structural relationships and concrete past incidents act as reference points for decisions made today in a given relationship. The strategies of tenants include being pliable vis-à-vis landlords but some tenants make this conditional upon landlords' proper behaviour. Agents negotiate and enforce proper behaviour and, thus, both create and change the system of norms that exists. In Macintyre's terms (1985), the virtues intrinsic to the socio-economic practices are continually being re-worked. The theory of strategies reframes 'virtue' in dynamic structure-and-agency terms. Agents are not simply individuals. The debate about rational choice vs. holism can be augmented by looking at agency supra-individualistically. The strategy of a household is an emergent property of the household as an agent. It includes detailed first-order strategies along with more reflective second-order strategies which reconcile goals in the education, migration, household work, and marriage domains. The paper is, thus, interdisciplinary and contributes to sociology, while pluralistically drawing upon other disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the concept of state autonomy in the context of globalization. Earlier literature either considered state autonomy from the social forces in broad institutional and cultural terms or from the dominant classes in a restrictive sense. However, in either case the focus remained on domestic/national society, not the global society. The discussion of relative autonomy of the state began among the Marxists in the 1970s and then graduated into the mainstream social sciences in the 1980s and 1990s. In the upshot, the notions of developmental state and the embedded autonomy have significantly added to our knowledge of the role of the state. This paper broadens the idea of embedded autonomy by locating the sources of embeddedness in both local as well global institutions and norms. The paper uses the Singapore case to illustrate some of the possibilities and limitations of the reconfigured role of the state in the face of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization has influenced the conduct of scientific research in a number of expected and unexpected ways. At the same time the emergence of specific scientific fields has also influenced the texture and trajectory of globalization. In this paper the relationship between globalization and genomics is analyzed. Much like the globalization of traditional manufacturing, genomics research represents a phase of global bio-capitalism. With specific reference to Singapore, the possible social, economic and political effects of the rapid global circulation of scientists, knowledge, capital and DNA are examined in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper re-visits the narratives of select 'Islamists' from South and Southeast Asia to explore what their narratives offer for a discussion on Islamist intellectual space. Departing from resilient biases in scholarship that de-privilege expressions of the 'Ummah in the East', I focus on a realm of Islamist self-understandings that reveal a consciousness of being important interlocutors of Islam. These Islamists blatantly exercised their intellectual authority through deriding a larger Ummah that had become divorced from a 'true Islam' that they were aware of. is paper highlights facets of Islamist contact that occurred between these regions through Islamist Third Worldist discourses. I also emphasize South and Southeast Asian Islamist reconstructions of Islam into a system and/or polity through returning to, and reconstructing 'orthodox' texts, Prophethood and earlier Islamic periods. is study bears implications for the study of regions often reduced to 'peripheries' in discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes and analyses the Hadrami migration to and adaptations in Hyderabad, India. The various adaptive niches exploited by the Hadramis in Hyderabad before the merger with India in 1948 are outlined, particularly the ones relating to the military field. Hadrami officers and soldiers were a typical features of the Nizam's army. But this was to change with the Indian take-over in 1948. The second part of the paper outlines these changes as they relate to Hyderabad in general and to the new adaptive strategies adopted by the Hadramis in particular. The new evolving adaptations during the 1950s was based on petty trade and represented a downward turn in the fortunes of the Hadramis. During this period the Hadrami identity was fading and they tended to disappear among the other Muslims in the city. In the 1970s, however, labour migration to the Gulf helped improve the economic status of the Hadrami families, and it lead to a strengtheneing of the diasporic organisations that could facilitate the migration and which also strengthened the Hadrami diasporic identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preoccupation with power in mainstream Western social theory can be challenged from a number of perspectives. In this paper, I consider some alternative ways of conceptualizing ways-of-being in society that are implicit in a number of Asian traditions of thought and, in particular, in Buddhism and Gandhian ideas. In this paper, I challenge the necessity for a power-based approach to social relations. I suggest both that the models of society emerging from Foucault and other major Western theorists are examples of culturally bound local knowledge that have significant negative influences on the conception of alternative social possibilities, and that the resources for such alternatives lie not only in Western forms of utopian thinking but in existing Asian traditions — the full sociological implications of which have not yet been explored or worked out in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to map the sociological context in which the cultural economy of technology of Singapore exists. Taking a socio-historical perspective, this paper argues that the development of Singapore as a technological 'intelligent island' must take centre stage in relation to the sociological analysis of modern Singapore's political, economic, and socio-cultural structure. This involves a critique of theories of the information society and empirical research on East Asian developmental states. The aim is to chart the development of technology in Singapore, from its founding as a colonial port-city to its current status as an 'intelligent island', and to situate this development in its social context. In addressing the issue of the global expansion of localized technological knowledge hubs, I argue that while these technological 'hubs' are increasingly linked in complex political, economic and social networks, one must also account for the developmental trajectory of each particular 'hub' and to explain the socio-cultural complex of societies, which promote themselves as such. This paper intends to demonstrate how this construction of a technological nation state is neither a context-free project nor one that is free of complex historical antagonisms and contradictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores potential new directions for a sociology linked more to Asian social theory and to new forms of knowledge emerging from ecology and the new social movements than to its older foundations in Western philosophy and conceptions of society. It suggests that there is a route beyond the trajectory of modernist and postmodernist social thinking and it calls into question the anthropocentric, Cartesian and dualistic assumptions of most conventional sociology. It does so by exploring the possible relationships between sociology and the existential issues thrown up by Asian philosophical and religious traditions, and in particular Buddhism, and the in many ways parallel arguments of Deep Ecology. In doing so it calls into question the adequacy of current sociology as a vehicle for addressing fundamental existential questions and in particular the issues of social suffering, the emerging ecological crisis and the alternative conceptions of society generated by many of the new social movements, and suggests ways in which this inadequacy might potentially be resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, representation of indigenous communities and their relation to resources has been highly contested. Rather than offering critique to the representation of indigenous communities, this paper examines Jumma and indigenous identity formation among the hill peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, their historical contingency and dynamics. I show that groups' identities are products of agencies emerging from a particular pattern of struggle between the group and other political forces of their given circumstance, and are informed by their particular history, place and practices. I also show that claims over resources based on indigenous identity is a recent positioning in comparison to claims based on Jumma identity. Difference and convergence between Jumma and indigenous identities are contingent upon specific historical contexts and groups' relation with the state and its legal provision, and ideological settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to delineate and evaluate the various intellectual trends and visions as espoused by some prominent intellectual figures in Malay Studies by highlighting their ideas on Malay Studies and some of its problems and challenges. Four primary concerns in contemporary Malay studies are highlighted. These are (a) linguistic-language affection; (b) ethnographic and documentation pursuit ; (c) the clamour for a wider Malay world studies and (d) the interest in the search of indigenous theories in the Malay literary studies. The academic interest in these four domains however saw the neglect in confronting the grip of orientalist discourse which, still persists, nor to problematise the uncritical nationalistic discourse within Malay studies which are characterized by feudal romanticism and ahistorical cultural aggrandizement. Therefore, the creation of an alternative discourse, that challenges both orientalist scholarship and nationalistic Malay studies is crucial in order to ensure that it make vital contribution to the progress and development of Malay society. is certainly requires a creative incorporation of social sciences that are both sensitive and emphatic to the particular nuances, yet with a strong universalistic outlook in comprehending the dynamics of Malay society to avoid the pitfall of an ossified and imitative intellectual discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the e-discourse surrounding the dream of a Dutch scientist, Dr X, to create a human genetic databank in Bandung, Indonesia. Not only did Dr X hope to fulfil his dream of placing Indonesia on the genetic world map, he also aspired to set up the largest biomedical research centre in Indonesia, using blood samples gathered from various laboratories, medical centres and the jungle. His most important project was to study genes for familial syndromes, such as cancers and forms of mental retardation, some of which are considered to be specific for certain ethnic groups in Indonesia. Much has been written on the targets of the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP), but the incentives for and motives of geneticists to set up biobanks are little understood. Many works have 'framed' scientists as imperialists, Orientalists, racists and positivists or hailed them as explorers of humanity, pioneers of science and saviours of mankind. By analyzing Dr X's e-letters to fellow scientists, academics and politicians, I claim that the validity of such theories depends on whether they sufficiently take into account the institutional embedding. An institutional approach to biobanking should incorporate an assessment of socioeconomic inequalities, both on an international and national level, public healthcare needs, research regulation, and differences in academic cultures from a comparative perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time, the Saudi regime had ignored the existence of any Al Qaeda branch on Saudi soil and therefore; any potential attacks by such groups in the kingdom were unthinkable. However, the Riyadh attacks were a turning point for Saudi authorities. This paper seeks to understand why Al Qaeda is attacking the Saudi government and secondly, how the Saudi government has countered both the violence and the ideology of Al Qaeda in the Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the pioneering works of Enriquez, Covar and Salazar, which paved the way for the production of social science knowledge that is particularly meaningful and sensitive to Philippine culture and society, this paper explores the social significations of kapwa, kapatiran and bayan. In the context of the dominant influence of Western perspectives in Philippine social science, the understanding, appreciation and evaluation of their contributions continue to be an important undertaking. As a preliminary attempt to contribute to this discourse, a panlipunang pagbabanghay is offered as an approach or an outline for the analysis of Philippine social organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classical assumption that scientific and technological progress are the main driving forces behind, what Weber called, the 'disenchantment of the western world', is basic knowledge in contemporary sociology. In this paper, however, it is argued that the implementation of digital technology also stimulates the religious, or more specific, animistic imagination. A qualitative analysis of Wired magazine (1993-2000) shows that various computer specialists, who are 'supposed' to be the pioneers of a rational, secular and disenchanted society, can be seen as 'technoanimists'. They consider our new technological surroundings as an intelligent, autonomous force and express feelings of humility. Exemplary for this phenomenon is a group of ICTexperts who refer to themselves as 'technopagans'. Paradoxically, the explanation for this unforeseen development of 're-enchantment' can be found in progress in the technological fields of Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life. More generally, the ongoing process of rationalization seems to provide a good explanation for the contemporary emergence of technoanimism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]