SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The impact of maritime trade, of invasion and conquest; the spread of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, of migration and inter-ethnic mixing, have been diverse, far-reaching, and enduring in Southeast Asia. How did these contacts and convergences affect the nature of interactions between men and women, how people thought of themselves, their bodies, and their behavior toward each other? This chapter will focus on one key area of inquiry – the body – and how gender ideas and practices have been infl uenced by the wider world.