Northern Illinois University Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University

Review
Author(s): Thomas Borchert
Review by: Thomas Borchert
Source: Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2008)
, pp. 202-205
Published by: Northern Illinois University Center for Southeast Asian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40860911
Accessed: 03-02-2016 14:40 UTC

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BookReviews

AlHWA ONG
Neoliberalismas Exception: Mutations in Citizenship and
Sovereignty
Durham,NC:DukeUniversity 2006.292pp.$22.95,
Press, paper.

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

Friction:An Ethnography
ofGlobalConnection
NJ:Princeton
Princeton, 2005.$24.95,
Press,
University paper.

Formuchofthepastfifteen years,scholarsina varietyofdisciplines

have exploredhow to thinkand writeaboutthecauses and conse-
quencesofcontemporary formsofglobalization. Theseexplorations
have focusedon how transnational flowsand globalizationhave
affectedpriorpracticesand imaginingsof communities, and also
thesocialformsbeingproducedin thecontemporary moment.This
has especiallybeen thecase in anthropology, wherescholarsonce
concernedwithmodernization and its ramifications have takento
thinking aboutglobalization and itsramifications. One oftheprob-
lems,however,is thatwe are all withintheglobal,and so gaining
perspective on whatexactlyis goingon is no smallchallenge.An
important aspectof this- and one of theways thatscholarshave
sought to understand theproblem-has been theproblemof uni-
versais.To wit,whateffect do categoriesthatmanypresumeto be
universal(such as democracy, human rights,capitalism,and so
forth)haveon localconditions, and viceversa?
Anna LowenhauptTsingand AihwaOng have been grappling
withthissortofproblemsincetheearly1990s,thoughinverydiffer-
entways,and so itis worththinking aboutthedifferent approaches
thattheyhave takento this material.Tsing'sbook, Friction: An
Ethnography ofGlobalConnection, is a discussion of how the environ-
mentand different typesofenvironmentalism are shaped through
bothglobalandlocalprocesses.Ong'sbook,Neoliberalism as Exception:
Mutations and is an
ofCitizenship Sovereignty, exploration ofmodesof
governance, especially(thoughnotexclusively) withregardtolabor
practicesin EastAsia,Southeast Asia, and in California.

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 BookReviews

Neoliberalistn
as Exception is Ong'sthirdbookinthepasttenyears
dealingwithhow transnational flowsaffectnotionsof citizenship
in Asia (and in particular in Chinaand theChinesediaspora).Her
firstbookon thesekindsofissuesinAsia,Flexible Citizenship (Duke
University Press,1999), dealt with the ways that Asian communi-
ties,and in particularthoseoftheChinesediasporaand thosewith
accesstovariousformsofcapital,wereable tomanipulatetheinter-
sticesofstatepower.Neoliberalism as Exception is in a sensean effort
to thinkabouttheglobalflowsofpeople,images,and capitalfrom
the perspectiveof the state.Normally, we thinkof theuniversais
of liberalism(or neoliberalism) as homogenizing; we also thinkof
neoliberalism as an ideologythatarguesfora minimizing of state
power.However,Ong suggests that when we look at state policies
withinEastand Southeast Asia,particularly withregardtolabor,we
see thatstatesmakea varietyofexceptions withintheirpracticesof
governance, and that these exceptions have a significant impacton
thewaysthatstatesand peopleunderstand themselves as citizens.
Moreover, and thisis theinteresting partofherclaim,neoliberal-
ismwithintheserelatively vitalAsian statesis nota setofpolicies
thatdiminishes statepower.Rather, itis a different formofgovern-
mentality, inwhichstatescontinuetomanipulate shapecitizens.
and
Ong'sbestexamplesof thisare thespecialeconomicdevelopment
zones thattheChinesestateset up on China'seast coast.Whileit
mightbe arguedthattheChinesestateis no longerin controlofthe
economicdevelopment of theregion,I thinkno one would argue
thatthestatehas relinquished anyrealpoliticalpowerin establish-
ing these "neoliberalexceptions."
Atitsbase,Ong'sargument assumesthatdifferent statesaredoing
thesamekindsofthingsforthesamekindsofreasons.Friction on the
otherhandexplicitly examineshow universalcategories get revised
in local contextsin orderto theorizeways to discussglobalization
ethnographically. Moreexplicitly thanOng,Tsingarguesaboutthe
ways that theglobal and the local interact in theproduction ofcul-
ture.Ratherthanseeingthemas clearlyin competition, or as seeing

CROSSROADS 19.2 203

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BookReviews

one as subservient to theother,she arguesthatit is specifically in

theirinteraction thatcultureis produced.Tsing,it seemsto me,is
respondingto the discussionsof the transnational fromthe early
1990s,whenmobility and flowwerethewatchwords and theability
ofpeople,images,and capitalto flowacrossbordersseemedto be
takingplaceeffortlessly. Instead,Tsingarguesthatwe need tohigh-
lightthemomentofinteraction, and thestickiness ofthatmoment,
becausewhiletheglobal(universal)shapesmanyofthepossibilities
foreffectiveaction,itis onlywhenuniversaltermsarerearticulated
in thelocalidiomthattheglobalactuallybecomeseffective.
Becauseofthenatureoftheirsubject, neither oftheseareethnog-
raphiesin thetraditional sense of the term. Ong's attention moves
betweenEastAsia,SoutheastAsia,and thewestcoastoftheUnited
States;Tsing'swork,whileclearlycentered aroundWestKalimantan,
moves around Indonesiaand into the practicesof transnational
mediaandnot-for-profits. Whiledoingethnography outsidea single
locationhasbecomeincreasingly commonwithinanthropology over
the last fewdecades, the effectof this is very different for the two
works.Friction takesplaceall overtheworld,butitrevolvesaround
a singleproblem.Ong'swork,on theotherhand,feelsungrounded.
A provocative introduction to Neoliberalism as Exception is followed
up bychapters thatseemtohavebeenwritten forverydifferent pur-
poses and contain insufficientor old research. Exemplary of thisis
thefact thatdespite herconcern with labor and governing practices
sincethe mid-1990s, the consequencesof the 1997 financialcrisis
are not addressedsquarelyby Ong. By contrast, theyreverberate
throughout Friction.
As shouldbe clear,theseworksbothbearreadingby Southeast
Asianists,thoughin different ways.Ong is rightto be concerned
withstatepracticesand how neoliberalexceptions(suchas in spe-
cial development zones) impactnotionsofcitizenship and national
belonging. While many of the chapters in the book do not ade-
quatelyaddresstheproblem, herintroduction is wellworthreading.
Tsing'sFriction,on theotherhand,deservesthorough attention.Her

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 BookReviews

suggestionthatwe locatetheglobalin themomentofcontact-and

ofthiscontact-is a usefulmodel,butitis onlyin see-
thestickiness
ingherput thismodelto use thatFrictiontakeson realpoweras a
of
way performing ethnography in thetwenty-first
century.

Thomas
Bordiert, ofVermont
University

REGIONAL SOUTHEAST ASIA

K. S. Nathan and Mohammad Hashim Kamali, eds.

Islam in SoutheastAsia: Political,Social and StrategicChallenges
forthe21stCentury
Singapore: of Southeast
Institute AsianStudies,2005.xxiii+ 362 pp.
$32.90,
paper.

One oftheknottiest questionsforstudentsofSoutheastAsianIslam

is whetheror notthestudyofthisbranchofIslamshouldbeginin
the Middle East.A morerecentversionof thisquestionbecomes
thefocusofthisbook:Have theSeptember 11,2001,attacks,largely
orchestrated and carriedout by Arab Muslims,had a significant
impacton Southeast AsianIslam?Thiscollection ofsixteenessaysby
well-known scholarsand activistsprovidesan overviewofIslamic
thoughtand practicein contemporary SoutheastAsia withparticu-
laremphasison thewaytheattacksofSeptember 11 and thecurrent
"war on terror"has affectedattitudes,civil society,and modern
governance in theregion.In theirintroduction,
theeditorscontend
thattheattacks"symbolizeda totalbreakdownofthecenturies-old
cosmopolitan conversationwithIslam"(xi),butmanyoftheessays
do notholdtoostrictly tothisproposedemphasis.
The editorsdividethebook intofourmainparts.The firstpart
includestwoessayson theoriginand function ofIslamiceconomic
BhatiarEffendy
institutions. describesthetheologicaland political
obstaclesfacedby thefirst IndonesianIslamicbankin 1991,namely
theIslamicprohibition of riba(usury)and the state'ssuspicionof

CROSSROADS 19.2 205

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