France/Spain 2011 - Day 5, Part 6 - Paris: Musée Guimet - Southeast Asia

"The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work." - Robert Frost

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France/Spain 2011
Day 5 - 21st March - Paris: Musée Guimet - Southeast Asia (Part 6)


The Nine Deva. Cambodia. Final quarter of 10th-Start of 11th c.


Lintel. Cambodia. 11th c.


"In the 12th century, the Khmer armies of Suryavarman II, founder of Angkor Wat, invaded Cambodia, occupying it for four years. The counterattack was mounted by Jaya Indravarman of Gramapura, an ally of China and Vietnam, who in turn occupied Angkor and Cambodia"
This shows the ignorance of blind nationalistic appeals to history, with the Khmers invading Cambodia.


Tympan: brahmanic worshipper. Vietnam. 13th-14th c.


Dragon-makara. Vietnam. End of 12th-Start of 13th c.


Tympan: brahmanic scene. Vietnam. 10th c (?)


"The cham inscriptions frequently mention the offering of precious covers of this type - a kind of enclosing sheath, protecting and magnifying the linga in store which is the most sacred aspect of the god Siva venerated in an abstract form of phallic origin"
Groin guards. Vietnam. 8th c.


Siva. Vietnam. 11th-12th c.

The Chinese influence on post-Champa Vietnam is clear: not just Chinese characters, but the artefacts are basically inferior copies of Chinese ones (the horrible china is one example).


Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (x2). Vietnam. 18th, 17th-18th c.


Hideous funerary model (fortified farm). Vietnam. 1st-3rd c.


Pair of Altar Candlesticks. Vietnam. 1579.


Altar lamp, Dragons. Vietnam. 1637 or 1697 / End of 16th-17th c.


Makara. Indonesia. 14th-15th c.


Agastya (?). Indonesia. 8th-9th c.


Warding Buddha Maravijaya. Burma. 18th-19th c.
This is "Buddha who vanquished Mara". I don't know why he looks like a ki
I think this was the first time I'd seen Burmese art.


Thai Buddhas


Wheel of the Law (dharmacakra). Thailand. 8th or 9th.


Sutra Cupboard. Thailand. 19th c.


Warding Buddha. Cambodia. 19th c.


Corner pilaster. Cambodia. 16th c.


God. Cambodia (?). 12th c.


Lintel. Cambodia. Middle of 12th c.


Vaishnavite monument. Cambodia. First 3/4 of 12th c.


Balustrade corner. Cambodia. Second half of 12th c.


Balustrade corner. Cambodia. First 3/4 of 12th c.


Asura. Cambodia. End of 12th/Start of 13th c.

The Asuras "constitute a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas were combinedly known as Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa".


Asura. Cambodia. End of 12th/Start of 13th c.

Although this was the Southeast Asian gallery, Cambodia was over-represented. Partly this was due to colonial history, but I don't think I saw a single Laotian item there - even though Laos was part of French IndoChina. But then Laotian history only really started in the mid-14th century.

L'humanisation de désir

"Kojève écrit qu’un désir n’est humain que dans la mesure où il se porte sur un autre désir. Il veut dire qu’un désir est le seul « objet » non naturel par lequel l’homme puisse s’élever au-dessus de l’animalité. Les animaux ont des désirs pour des choses du monde, pour de la nourriture, pour des femelles. L’homme, de surcroît peut désirer s’approprier un désir; il désire ce qu’un Autre désire, non parce qu’il en a envie, mais parce que l’autre le désire, tout simplement. Inversement il peut vouloir qu’un autre désire ce que, lui, il désire. C’est dans ce jeu de désirs qui se désirent que Hegel devine l’origine de l’histoire de l’homme, de la lutte à mort du maître et de l’esclave, du politique.

Même le désir sexuel est, chez l’homme, désir d’un désir. Une femme n’est désirable que par celui ou ceux qui la désirent. Plus les hommes l’entourent, plus son amant, en la prenant, s’appropriera les désirs qu’elle suscite. Elle, de son côté, participe aussi à ce jeu en se maquillant pour devenir l’objet du plus grand nombre de désirs possibles. Ce n’est pas tant elle que l’amant désire que les désirs qu’elle suscite. Si une femme ne peut être désirable que parce qu’elle concentre les désirs des autres, alors plus elle tendra vers la courtisane ou la prostituée, plus elle sera humainement désirée. Si, comme le dit Kojève, il n’y a d’histoire que parce qu’il y a des désirs désirés, le quartier des putains ou les palais remplis de courtisanes contribuent plus à l’humanisation des désirs, au devenir de l’homme, à l’histoire, que tous les partis politiques réunis. Vive Henry Miller!"

--- Passions philosophiques: parcours / Jan Marejko

Race Relations in Singapore (2002): Education, National Service and the Media

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." - Mahatma Gandhi (attr)

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Report on IPS Research Forum on Ethnic Relations in Singapore (2002)

"The special position of Malays and minorities in Singapore... free education for Malays... has been criticised, by both Malays and non-Malays, on grounds that it is at odds with the Government’s policy of meritocracy and that it creates a “crutch mentality”...

Group Representation Constituencies (GRC)... signifies the end of the road for the single minority candidate in Singaporean elections...

Within the Normal stream, peer groups are ethnically homogeneous. Spatial segregation can be seen in classrooms and in the canteens. Peer groups have a strong influence on post-secondary decision making especially among the Malay respondents. Mandarin used in classrooms by teachers for instruction is perceived as discriminatory by minorities...

Respondents [even outside of the Normal stream] perceive that they live in separate ethnic worlds (i.e. religion, social interests) outside school...

Dark-skinned Children: In some instances dark-skinned children are alienated by peers and are often singled out in exclusionary ways. Such instances of rejection may have little to do with race and mainly to do with the individual’s personality characteristics. While the negative reactions of the children to e.g., a dark-skinned boy may have little to do with his skin colour, the nicknames children used are of concern...

The Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) trainees have a greater tendency to perceive Chinese as “shrewd”, and Malays as “lazy” compared to the Degree and Diploma in Education trainees. The latter groups of trainees tend to perceive others in more positive terms [Ed: PGDE trainees have more prestigious education than the others]...

Educational policies such as streaming, school ranking and the preservation of Special Assistance Plan schools have the effect of impeding more frequent ethnic interaction and integration of students...

Leveraging diversity however, is not just a ‘moral’ imperative. There are very real returns of a diversity vision to the organization, outweighing the ‘time, effort and money spent’... v) it may be a marketing strategy.

Individuals may be at different stages for different domains of diversity. Some of the interviewees have higher levels of intercultural competence with regards to inter-national cultures, but lower levels with regards to intranational cultures...

The pre-national service cohorts of young men and women do not differ significantly from each other except for the young males who report having more good friends of the opposite sex... The older female cohort reflects less cohesion in terms of socioeconomic status compared to the age-matched post national service males

[Ed: However, one paper summary reports that "With specific reference to ethnic cohesion, while the national service experience could increase understanding through cooperation, it was thought to intensify pre-existing prejudices within a hostile, competitive environment."]

... Integration of foreign talent and locals through social interaction:
• In terms of discretionary activities, social interaction between foreigners and locals is uneven:
• Foreigners’ interaction patterns tend to include locals as well as foreigners
• substantial proportion of locals have never spent discretionary time with foreigners...

Guidelines should spell out in no uncertain terms a zero tolerance policy for teachers using languages other than English during curricular times with the exception of mother tongue periods...

To facilitate ethnic cohesion in the military context, it would be useful to enlist the opinions of the ethnic minorities in planning and structuring the tasks performed within the NS context. Stereotyping of Indian recruits as “toilet I/C” is one example of a generally held (mis)perception in planning and structuring of tasks.

Posting a mandatory percentage of minorities into each army unit could further facilitate ethnic cohesion...

On local television and film

a. It is unrealistic to eliminate all ethnic stereotypes.
• Stereotypes are resilient and efficient images that help us to give order to a complex world, though such an understanding of the world is grossly inadequate.
• In film and television programmes, audiences connect more readily with characters and situations that are familiar and recognisable.
• Many successful comedies are very dependent upon stereotypes.
• The question of commercial viability cannot be ignored. The film and television industries’ bottom lines depend on mass appeal.

b. It is problematic to try to eliminate negative stereotypes and promote prositive ones:
• This strategy may encourage positive social transformations, e.g. through role modelling.
• But who gets to judge what is positive and what is negative? Such decisions should not simply be based on the values of the dominant majority.
• Also, emphasis on positive representations may in effect whitewash the real problems that ethnic groups face, and the real ethnic differences that do matter.
• Positive stereotypes can dumb-down the critical faculties of audiences who become more immune to injustices.

c. Make negative and positive stereotypes more complex and challenging"