The Islamic kingdom of Aceh was ruled by queens for half of the 17th century. Was female rule an aberration? Unnatural? A violation of nature, comparable to hens instead of roosters crowing at dawn? Indigenous texts and European sources offer different evaluations. Drawing on both sets of sources, this book shows that female rule was legitimised both by Islam and adat (indigenous customary laws), and provides original insights on the Sultanah's leadership, their relations with male elites, and their encounters with European envoys who visited their court. The book challenges received views on kingship in the Malay world and the response of indigenous polities to east-west encounters in Southeast Asia's Age of Commerce.

Sovereign Women in a Muslim Kingdom: The Sultanahs of Aceh, 1641?1699

Religion & Spirituality

Khan, Sher Banu A. L.

Islam

NUS Press

The essays included offer a distinctive survey of China's imperial foreign policy and early globalization in its military and commercial interactions with Southeast Asia in the fifteenth century.

Southeast Asia in the Fifteenth Century: The China Factor

History

Wade, Geoff

Asia

Transforming Lives: NUS Celebrates 100 Years of University Education in Singapore

National University of Singapore Staff

Science & Math

The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia

Verandah of Violence: The Background to the Aceh Problem

Anthony (Editor) Reid

Southeast Asian Lives: Personal Narratives and Historical Experience

<p><div>In this collection, public intellectuals and civil society activists discuss Singapore's public rhetoric about liberalization and its association with the development of a creative economy, focusing on questions surrounding conservatism, national identity and values, civil society activism, and the societal role of the younger generation. Moved by Singapore's&nbsp;Renaissance City Report, released in 2000 amidst an uneasy mix of millennial celebration and pessimism arising from a prolonged economic downturn, the authors engage with the public rhetoric of Singapore's transformation into a forward-looking, critical, unconventional, open, diverse, participatory, and inclusive society.</div></p>

Renaissance Singapore? Economy, Culture and Politics

Business & Money

Economics

<p>Korean science is closely related to traditional Chinese technology, but Sang-woon Jeon's A History of Korean Science and Technology shows that Korean scientists, engineers and technicians adapted Chinese practice to suit the natural elements, seasons and climate of the Korean peninsula. Jeon develops his thesis by considering the creative legacy of Korean practitioners in a number of different areas, including astronomy and meterology ("the sciences of heavens"), metal, glass and gunpowder ("the sciences of earth and fire"), printing, geography and cartography. He concludes with a comparison of science and technology in Korea and Japan, and with a discussion of important scientists active during the Choson Period.<br><br> The book is filled with new information and fresh arguments. His conclusions will be useful for professional scholars in the history of science and technology and also for general historians, as it provides topics for academic debate and fruitful indications for research. The lavish illustrations support the writer's thesis and are themselves part of Korea's rich artistic heritage.</p>

A History of Korean Science and Technology

Jeon, Sang-Woon

Eclectic Collecting: Art from Burma in the Denison Museum

Arts & Photography

Alexandra Green

History & Criticism

Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya: Negotiating Urban Space in Malaysia (ASAA Southeast Asian Publications Series)

Ross King (author)

Reference

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