Figures of Criminality in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Colonial Vietnam Vicente L. Rafael, ed. SOSEA-25, 877277249

A collection of essays that stem from a conference on
the nature, definitions, reasons, and substance of
criminality and the relationship between criminality
and colonial state formation.
The authors delve into such themes as surveillance,
incarceration, law and custom, secrecy, and
corruption. Hendrik M. J. Maier writes of the criminalization
of the Indonesian author Pramoedya
Ananta Toer, Peter Zinoman studies modern prisons,
and Caroline S. Hau focuses upon illegal
aliens and concepts of criminality in the Philippines.
The work, taken as a whole, is a fascinating
study of power and subversion in the modern post-colonial
nation-state.
Contributors include Daniel S. Lev, Henk M.J. Maier,
Rudolf Mrazek, James T. Siegel, and others. 1999. 259 pages.

Reviews:
“…the authors provide a wealth of material that reflects
a wide range of analyses from various disciplinary perspectives,
very ably supplemented by an editorial introduction that
seeks to instill a sense of focus to the whole work.” Bijdragen

Nguyen Cochinchina
“Li Tana has contributed an important and well-researched
work to Vietnamese studies. She has delved into topics
previously poorly understood in the scholarship of the
period and in the process has undermined many of
the common narratives of the Vietnamese past.” H-Asia Book Review

“…a splendid contribution to the understanding of an
important but little known aspect of Southeast
Asian history. This book can and should be used by
graduate students and scholars interested in the
formation of pre-modern states in Asia and elsewhere.” Crossroads