La nature informe des systèmes politiques de l'Asie du sud-est insulaire

Centres Restreints, Périphéries Étendues

Bibliographic Data

ID5777828
AuthorsPierre‐yves Manguin (corresponding author)
Year2002
Volume5
Issue5
Pages73-99
Publication date2002-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMoussons (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1620-3224 • E-ISSN: 2262-8363
PublisherOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/moussons.2699
OpenAlexW332832953
LanguageFR
Citations received18
References cited38

This article surveys epigraphy, Malay literary texts, and the archaeological data to better understand the socio-spatial structuration process of western Southeast Asia's ancient political systems, more specifically, Sriwijaya (7th-13th cent.) and its successor, the Melaka Sultanate (15th-17th cent.). Representations of their polities, as offered by the Malays themselves in a variety of literary genres, all allude to the centre and peripheries of their city-states, as well as to the movements of their fleets, construed as metaphors of the whole social group, which provide a graphic illustration of the centripetal forces that structure them both politically and economically. The central places of these harbour-based city-states are entities loaded with symbolic values, with no marked or spatially extended territorial base. The peripheral space of such political systems, however, forms a social space extending, in concentric circles, much farther than the limits of insular Southeast Asia. These vast peripheries comprise places of exchange and international trade-each of which often commands its own periphery-and also religious places. This model once more confirms the intimate relationship between political power, trade relations, and religion in Southeast Asia

Epigraphy · Malay · Successor cardinal · Asian Studies and History · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs