Fluid Jurisdictions

Nurfadzilah Yahaya

Description

This wide-ranging, geographically ambitious book tells the story of the Arab diaspora within the context of British and Dutch colonialism, unpacking the community's ambiguous embrace of European colonial authority in Southeast Asia. In Fluid Jurisdictions, Nurfadzilah Yahaya looks at colonial legal infrastructure and discusses how it impacted, and was impacted by, Islam and ethnicity. But more important, she follows the actors who used this framework to advance their particular interests. Yahaya explains why Arab minorities in the region helped to fuel the entrenchment of European colonial legalities: their itinerant lives made institutional records necessary. Securely stored in centralized repositories, such records could be presented as evidence in legal disputes. To ensure accountability down the line, Arab merchants valued notarial attestation land deeds, inheritance papers, and marriage certificates by recognized state officials. Colonial subjects continually played one jurisdiction against another, sometimes preferring that colonial legal authorities administer Islamic law-even against fellow Muslims.Fluid Jurisdictions draws on lively material from multiple international archives to demonstrate the interplay between colonial projections of order and their realities, Arab navigation of legally plural systems in Southeast Asia and beyond, and the fraught and deeply human struggles that played out between family, religious, contract, and commercial legal orders.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Sharia
• Southeast Asia
• Islam
• Asia

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501750892
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

FLUID JURISDICTIONS

FLUID JURISDICTIONS

Col o ni a l L aw a nd Ara bs i n So ut heast Asi a

N u r fa d z i l a h Ya h aya

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2020 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2020 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Names: Yahaya, Nurfadzilah, 1980– author. Title: Fluid jurisdictions : colonial law and Arabs in Southeast Asia / Nurfadzilah Yahaya. Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020000459 (print) | LCCN 2020000460 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501750878 (cloth) | ISBN 9781501750885 (epub) | ISBN 9781501750892 (pdf ) Subjects: LCSH: Arabs—Legal status, laws, etc.—Straits Settlements. | Arabs—Legal status, laws, etc.— Indonesia | Imperialism—Social aspects—Southeast Asia—History. | Great Britain—Colonies—Asia—Race relations—History. | Netherlands—Colonies—Asia— Race relations—History. Classification: LCC KNC145.A55 Y34 2020 (print) | LCC KNC145.A55 (ebook) | DDC 349.59509/03—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020000459 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020000460

Cover image: Ohannes Kurkidjian,The Arab Community in Front of a Gate Celebrating Queen Wilhelmina’s Coronation in 1899.the Nationaal Museum van WereldculCollection of turen, The Netherlands, coll. no. TM60003143.

For my parents, Yahaya Abdul Kadir and Sharifah Azizah Almahdali

Co nte nts

Acknowledgments ix Note on Transliteration and Translation xi

 Introduction: Establishing Legal Domains 1. The Lure of Bureaucracy: British Administration of Islamic Law in the Straits Settlements 2.Surat KuasaAttorney: Powers of across the Indian Ocean 3. Resident Aliens: Exclusions of Arabs in the Netherlands Indies 4. Legal Incompetence: Jurisdictional Complications in the Netherlands Indies

5. Constructing the Index of Arabs: Colonial Imaginaries in Southeast Asia 6. Compromises: The Limitations of Diasporic Religious Trusts  Conclusion: Postcolonial Transitions

Notes 173 Bibliography 223 Index 243

1

33

57

82

101

122

142 163

A c k n o w l e d g m e nt s

In the course of researching and writing my book, I was supported by many individuals to whom I am truly grateful. At Princeton University, Michael Laffan, Linda Colley, and Muhammad Qasim Zaman helped early on to shape the direction the book would eventually take. I am also indebted to Bhavani Raman and Susan Naquin. Kim Lane Scheppele provided me with space to workshop each chapter in the Program in Law and Public Affairs. I count myself immensely fortunate that I could benefit from Dirk Hartog’s tutelage and support when he led the Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History at the University of WisconsinMadison in June 2013. Over the years, I have been buoyed by support from Alex Bevilacqua, Edna Bonhomme, Jim Bonk, Parween Ebrahim, Catherine Evans, Kathi Ivanyi, Hannah Weiss Muller, Margaret Ng, Helen Pfeifer, Suzanne Pod hurst, Intisar Rabb, Kalyani Ramnath, Padraic Scanlan, Wayne Soon, and Michael Woldemariam. Megan Brankley Abbas patiently read drafts of my early chapters and gave comments. Hailing from the other end of the Indian Ocean, Sarah Jappie added more perspective, humor, and a counterbalance to my life in Princeton. Rohit De, Rotem Geva, Radha Kumar, and I formed a writing group that helped keep me on schedule and provided great feedback. Above all, I am indebted to Rohit De and Alden Young for making my time at Princeton a wonderful one. Words cannot describe how they enriched my life many times over both intellectually and socially. At Washington University in St. Louis, Liz Borgwardt, Lori Watt, Nancy Reynolds, and Nancy Berg generously provided mentorship and made St. Louis seem like another home for me. I would also like to thank Anika Walke and Timothy Parsons for their comments on my drafts. Catherine Kelly provided support and friendship across our small hallway. Our conver sations and writing sessions cheered me up considerably. Outside of Wash ington University, the presence of Jeff Redding and Charlotte WalkerSaid were like rays of sunshine, and I count myself truly lucky to have so many legal scholars wherever I moved to.

ix