Book Review: Women in Southeast Asian Nationalist Movements: A Biographical Approach

Women in Southeast Asian Nationalist Movements: A Biographical Approach Blackburn, Susan & Ting, Helen (Eds.). 20130 National University of Singapore Press: Singapore. 133 pages. ISBN: 978-9971-69-674-0. $38.00. Paperback. Women in Southeast Asian Nationalist Movements: A Biographical Approach is a compilation of biographies of women engaged in leadership positions within country-specific nationalist movements, included are: Burma, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Laos, and Timor-Leste. Each chapter provides a biographical sketch of a woman or women who dedicated their efforts to promote nationalism and independence from colonial rule. On the surface the value of the text may not garner the significance of its objective. However, in evaluating the purpose and seemingly simple contribution, the life stories included promote an evolution of perspective through the mere animation of the individuals, cultures and national identities that have been masked in stereotype by dominant and colonizing nations. This book is a contribution to enlarging perception and thereby encouraging an understanding of the common interest in autonomy across groups and nations. In highlighting the sacrifices that have been made by fringe to popular nationalist organizations the text weaves a common thread across time. The focus on women is crafted to promote the holistic nature of nationalist movements and establishes a balanced approach that enables a realistic understanding of sacrifice and desire for self-rule consistent with the concept of nationalism itself. Editors Blackburn and Ting, note that the purpose and method of approaching the compilation was to focus on the gender contribution and this was best enabled by biographical sketches. For this reason, depiction of the women included in the text focuses on their personal story, contribution and sacrifice with respect to their participation in nationalism. Further, the discussions provided are focused on increasing understanding as to why in an area of the world where women have held a more prominent role in community and family life have there been observable limitations to the attainment of more significant political position and fundamentally power. The text follows a chronology starting with the 1920s through the early twenty-first century. The first chapter depicts the life and contributions of Daw San in Burma. San was inspired by the India nationalism movement and used her position as a writer to contribute to the nationalism movement in Burma, which was to lead to an independent Burma in 1948. Interestingly, though well known as a journalist, little official recognition was ever given to her for her efforts. This latter characteristic is a repeated attribute of the legacies of other women highlighted in the text. The second chapter focuses on the contributions of Nguyen Thi Giang in Vietnam. The circumstances of her position, nationalist affiliation and limited surviving detail, much of which is attributable to the pen of French colonial rule, are all limitations to the robustness of the biography assembled. Nonetheless, the depiction of her character was assembled and surfaces in the writing of Micheline Lessard. The third chapter is based on the Indonesian national movement and Suyatin Kartowiyono, for whom more information is available relative to Giang yet recognition remains forthcoming in spite of the significance of her contributions. An Indonesian contemporary of Suyatin, Rasauna Said is the subject of chapter four. …