South East Asian Culture

Question: Discuss about theSouth East Asian Culture. Answer: Influence of Indian and Asian Cultures on Southeast Asia. The term Southeast Asia had been generally used to designate the geographical area of operation for the forces of the Anglo-American in the Pacific Theater of Second World War during the period of 1941-1945. Southeast Asia has been entitled to a number of designations, none being strictly restricted to the geographical sense of the term. Chinese referred it to as Nanyang which meant the South Seas while according to the Indian tradition names used were Suvarnabhumi or Suvarnadipa meaning Golden lands or islands. All over the nations, relatively new nations are involved in a constant struggle to move out from their violent and repressive pasts into a hopeful and stable future. (Hadiz, 2010).The various countries that are present is Southeast Asia provide the scholars with a rich tapestry of both evolution and revolution to start with. Owing to its physical to climatic contrasts, cultural and ethnic variation coupled with uncomfortable political alliances, Southeast Asia as a region em erges in an eminently rewarding position. The complex culture that have emerged in this region, have a rich yet delicate blend of the two most important countries falling in this region, namely India and China. Southeast Asia is well known for its cultural diversities. Though the region is mainly occupied by the Neolithic communities, the cultural influence initially started from the Indian traders getting absorbed in Burma. On the other hand going down further east, the Bronze Age infiltrates were noticed from China. The earliest contacts that took place between the two major empires in Southeast Asia was mainly between 50 A.D. -100 A.D. The Chinese and Christians came here in order to search for a maritime route for trade in place of the other overseas routes that were blocked by the Horsemen tribes spread over Central Asia.(Scott, 2014). The southeast culture started getting indianised, through trade relations springing up over the coastline areas of southern Vietnam. These settlements later became important for trading through maritime to the southern Provinces of China from the Bay of Bengal. The kingdoms present in Southeast Asia at that point of time already was influenced by Indian culture in terms of a well classified caste system , the architectural forms, art styles and most importantly religion i.e. Hinduism and Buddhism. The influence of ancestral spirits that primarily coexisted with Indian religions is still very prominent in this region. Indian influence started spreading when two Chiefdoms namely Funan and Chenla started flourishing in the area of Mekong Delta. China is said to have introduced its own indigenous and traditional cultures in the regions of Southeast Asia. They also have a heavy influence of literary styles, administrative techniques, examination systems and also regions of Vietnamadapting to the religions of Chinese creation like Confucianism and Daoism. (Case, 2013). Features such as distinctive language, women playing a greater role in the social and economic life still prevail in the lives of the Vietnamese people. The Chinese also exerted political influence either directly or indirectly in the central parts of Southeast Asia. The strategic position of Southeast Asia i.e. mountains having it separated from other regions, gives the communities living here an amalgamation of different cultures.This leads to a development of a complex culture heavily influenced by India and China. (Burton and Wurfel, 2016).China was separated by these mountains from Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Thailand. Thus these areas are relatively influenced by the cultures and traditions of India. On the other hand, primarily Vietnam and adjoining areas bore a Chinese influence partly because they were geographica.ly close to China .We see areas falling under thus region often imitating cultures of both the region . (Clifton and Majors, 2012). For example, people who eat mostly with hands here are said to be influenced by the Indian culture while the ones eating with chopsticks have a Chinese influence. Countries like Philippines and Vietnam in this region is seen to have immense diversity in their cultures, particularly derived from the c ontact with the Indian Cultures and influences of the Chinese Trading era. Taking examples of specific countries in the region of Southeast Asia respectively, we would take Indonesia as example and Indias cultural influence on the same. In terms of history, it seen that the island of Indonesia has its mention in the Indian epic i.e. Ramayana with its former name Yawadvipa. Indonesia is said to support a huge Indian population from the earliest of centuries. (Claramita, Nugraheni, van Dalen and van der Vleuten, 2013) This is one of the reasons as to how we see a sense of cultural homogeneity and impact of Indian culture here. The primary ethnic groups in Indonesia are the Javanese and are heavily influenced Indian culture like their religion, lifestyle, beliefs and practices. Indonesian cinematography for that matter is heavily influenced by Bollywood of India. It is seen that Indonesia has always enjoyed more than just cordial relationship with India except in 1965 when it supported Pakistan in a war situation (Acharya, 2014). Vietnam is said to have its origin of influence from the culture of China rather than India. The tribes of the southern China were said to be the first people who came and settled along the areas. They have been able to influence Vietnam in terms of government and politics, social and moral ethics of Confucianism. Most of the political institutions and Chinese principles were forged too owing to the Chinese rule for over 1000 of years. It is seen that the cultures are intermingled in such a way that it becomes overlapping in nature. However the Southeast Asian region is seen to be restricted to their very own cultures that they have developed and are rather hesitant in accepting any other policies from the other countries that do not fall under the realm of their own comfort zone. (Crane, Kawashima and Kawasaki, 2016). They have in fact founded their own regional organization, The Southeast Asian Regions which comprises of the nations of Southeast Asia having, one vision, one identity and thus forming a community of their own. The new cooperative security approaches proposed by other countries are subscribed by the governments of this region but hesitantly. National sovereignty is the most important matter concern for the security discourse of Southeast Asia, even after all the pressure coming from the Asian financial crisis. Thus the countries are constantly trying to preserve their cultural identity however being ignorant about the unconventional security threats lurking the backdrop. References: Acharya, A., 2014.Constructing a security community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the problem of regional order. Routledge. Burton, B. and Wurfel, D. eds., 2016.Southeast Asia in the new world order: the political economy of a dynamic region. Springer. Case, W., 2013.Politics in Southeast Asia: democracy or less. Routledge. Claramita, M., Nugraheni, M.D., van Dalen, J. and van der Vleuten, C., 2013. Doctorpatient communication in Southeast Asia: a different culture?.Advances in Health Sciences Education,18(1), pp.15-31. Clifton, J. and Majors, C., 2012. Culture, conservation, and conflict: perspectives on marine protection among the Bajau of Southeast Asia.Society Natural Resources,25(7), pp.716-725. Crane, D., Kawashima, N. and Kawasaki, K.I. eds., 2016.Global culture: Media, arts, policy, and globalization. Routledge. Hadiz, V.R., 2010.Localising power in post-authoritarian Indonesia: A Southeast Asia perspective. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Scott, J.C., 2014.The art of not being governed: An anarchist history of upland Southeast Asia. Yale University Press.