MAI Press
An imprint of Monash University PressMAI Press goes electronic
MAI Press has signed a distribution agreement with Informit, who host and distribute scholarly publications online. The first series to be digitised will be the iconic Working Papers on Southeast Asia. Subject to copyright permission from the authors, the back catalogue, which goes back to 1974, will be made available online, and future editions will be published online and in 
print. Most of the authors have now been contacted, and they are very enthusiastic about this new development.
We are keen to follow this up with the Annual Indonesia Lecture Series, and selected out-of-print books. It will take some time to digitise the back catalogue. Some of the older titles will be scanned with text recognition software and laid out afresh. Illustrations will take on a new life, as the electronic format allows better reproduction than the printing methods we have traditionally used for the working papers. The end result will be high quality, searchable texts for readers around the world.
New title released
Imagining Siam, by Caron Eastgate Dann
This is the first comprehensive critical study of Western literature about Thailand. It offers a broad view, covering literary attempts to describe Siam in the 13th century, through the formative phase of Western engagement in the 16th century, the various competing European imperialisms in the 19th century, to today’s era of mass tourism and the global reach of mobile, economically and culturally powerful ‘First World’ populations. This will appeal to those interested in Thailand, critiques of travel writing and the Anna Leonowens legacy.
13 New titles in 2008
MAI Press released 13 new titles in 2008
Business in Asia, edited by Russell Smyth and Marika Vicziany
Indonesian Islam in a new era: how women negotiate their Muslim identities, edited by Susan Blackburn, Bianca Smith and Siti Syamsiyatun
The First Indonesian Women’s Congress of 1928, edited by Susan Blackburn
Malaya’s secret police 1945-60: the role of the Special Branch in the Malayan Emergency, by Leo
n Comber
Tall tales and true: India, historiography and British Imperial imaginings, edited by Kate Brittlebank
Narrating the other: Australian literary perceptions of Japan, by Megum
i 
Kato
Is Japan really remilitarising? The politics of norm formation and change, by Yasuo Takao
The iconic female: goddesses of India, Nepal and Tibet, edited by Jayant Bhalchandra Bapat and Ian Mabbett
Horizons of home: nation, gender and migrancy in island Southeast Asia, edited by Penelop
e Graham![AILS25 cover [2]](http://maipress.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/ails25-cover-thumb.jpg?w=67&h=96 "AILS25 cover [2]")
Muslim politics and democratisation in Indonesia
The politics of satire: Tarjoman, Afghanistan’s first satirical newspaper, by Faridullah Bezhan
Migrant remittances in low-income households in Sri Lanka: development policy issues, by Judith Shaw
Global trends in religion and the reaffirmation of Hindu identity in Bali, by Thomas Reuter
For more information go to the MAI Press website: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mai/press/index.php
Between Three Worlds new DVD release
MAI Press and Between Three Worlds films are proud to announce the release of Indonesia at the margins: political documentaries and essay films
The four films on this DVD are the most important early documentary and essay films by Indonesia’s leading director of features, Garin Nugroho. The executive producer of this DVD is David Hanan of Film and Television Studies in the School of ECPS, who re-subtitled the documentaries, designed and authored the DVD and wrote a lengthy essay on the films, which is included in the DVD as a pdf file. The subjects examined in this collection include environmental issues in Jakarta, the plight of some young street kids in Yogyakarta, the past and future of West Papua, and Nugroho’s relationship to his own films. The first two films in effect are pioneering works in the development of critical and investigative documentary in Indonesia, made in the Suharto era, at a time of considerable political repression. The two later films are innovative documentary-essay films, made by Nugroho with the resources of his SET Workshop.
The collection comprises the following four films (all with English subtitles):
Air Dan Romi (‘Water and Romi’, 1991)
Dongeng Kancil Tentang Kemerdekaan (‘Kancil’s Story About Independence’, 1995)
My Family, My Films and My Nation (1998)
Aikon: Sebuah Peta Budaya (‘Icon: A Cultural Map’, 2000-2002)
For details on how to order go to: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mai/films/orderform.php
New publication
Is Japan really remilitarising? The politics of norm formation and change
Yasuo Takao, 2008, 220 pp, page size A5 210 x 148mm
Is Japan really remilitarising? According to the mass media, Japanese nationalism is on the rise. Tokyo’s stance on national security is becoming uncharacteristically assertive. This book explores the prospect of Japan’s remilitarisation and challenges the preconceived approaches taken by existing theories to Japan’s national security. The book examines Japan’s pacifism since the Second World War, developments in Japanese military build-up since the late 1960s, and Japan’s responses to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Controversies between realism and social constructivism continue to dominate Japan’s national security debates but neither is fully able to make point predictions. This study, an attempt to bridge the gap between these two rigid approaches, helps us understand this vital aspect of national security.
To order: http://ecommerce.arts.monash.edu.au/categories.asp?cID=58
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