State and Personhood in Southeast Asia: The Promise and Potential for Law and Society Research

Abstract

The diversity and pluralism of Southeast Asia make it an ideal subject for law and society researchers, but by and large they have not given the region the attention it deserves. In this article, we argue for a more intense and systematic linking of research about Southeast Asia and the field of law and society. We focus on the theme of state and personhood to suggest how some of the central concerns of law and society may be relevant to Southeast Asian peoples and cultures. We illustrate our argument by selecting nine excellent articles by Southeast Asian scholars who do not currently identify their work with the law and society field, and we demonstrate that their research is rich with implications for the field. We welcome in particular the ways in which they have portrayed personhood as an ongoing construction and have highlighted its contingent relationship with the state. Building on these themes, we conclude the article with a plea for a more far-reaching engagement between Southeast Asian studies and law and society research.

Justice, Emotion, and Belonging: Legal Consciousness in a Taiwanese Family Conflict

“…To reach a better understanding of how the meaning of legality is constituted through everyday practices, or rather the "cultural production" of hegemonic law (Silbey 2005: 355-357), Silbey stresses the need to focus on the "middle level between citizen and the transcendent rule of law"; this space is embodied by social institutions such as the family unit, schools, corporations, or churches where the formation of cultural meaning, social hierarchy, and ultimately legal consciousness can be empirically observed (Miller 2014). However, although scholars agree that the focus should be on this middle level, not as much weight is placed on legal hegemony (Chua and Engel 2019;Liu 2015). When addressing the issue of law as a form of knowledge that serves as justification for what goes on in social transactions (Silbey and Sarat 1987), they rather suggest that more attention be put on the mutually constituted effect of law and identity that is connected to an individual's sense of self (Abrego 2008(Abrego , 2018Chua and Engel 2019;Engel and Munger 2003;Hartog 1995;Tungnirun 2018), or how other norms, customary practices, or social positions influence the way individuals decide to mobilize their rights (Abrego 2011;Albiston 2010;Boittin 2013;Gallagher 2006;Marshall 2005).…”

“…This emphasis on the role of identity in legal consciousness is magnified by Chua and Engel's (2019) reasoning that an identity is inherently required for the law to be perceived and therefore plays a distinct role in determining how relevant the law is to an individual when faced with a conflict. Case studies carried out in North America (Engel and Munger 2003) and Thailand (Engel and Engel 2010) found that the formation of identity shapes legal consciousness, and vice versa, in a process that is not fixed but transformed throughout the course of one's life.…”

“…In Taiwan, consciousness is subject to the concept of zìjǐrén (自 己人, "one of us" or insiders), a culturally embedded emotional complex of belonging that refers to a psychological classification schema of one's level of relational inclusivity or exclusivity within a given group (Gabrenya and Hwang 1996;Gao et al 1996;Goodwin and Tang 1996;Yang 2000). To be zìjǐrén is a ubiquitous life goal in which great efforts are made to be identified by others as a person who deserves respect and acceptance, which are ambitions found in many other cultures that place a high value on affiliation (Cohen 1966) or interpersonal relationships (Chua and Engel 2019).…”

“…Sociolegal scholars have become increasingly drawn to the analysis of nonrational or preconscious cultural categories through which ordinary people comprehend their world, some of which are indirectly constituted by the law itself (Abrego ; Chua and Engel ; Engel ; Engel ; Engel and Engel ; Kim ; Liu ). The adoption of law does not depend solely on the categories and concepts of law nor is always based on conscious, rational thought.…”

“…Under what circumstances might we view the law as relevant in such situations, and when might we invoke it? To answer these questions, scholars have increasingly turned to the concept of legal consciousness, a research paradigm focusing on the degree to which the concepts and reasoning of law in everyday interactions are understood, related to, interpreted, or implemented within an individual or collective consciousness (Chua and Engel 2019;Ewick and Silbey 1998;Engel and Munger 2003;McCann 1994). However, it is often the case that individuals find themselves in unstable and confusing conflict situations, where the law is not always cognitively present and may or may not be invoked (Engel 2005;Engel and Engel 2010;Liu 2018).…”