Natural Symbols in South East Asia

This book is based on the second of two series of open lectures given in the Centre of South East Asian Studies in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London during the session 197576. The first of these, Nature and Man in South East Asia, ran from October to December 1975. The second, Natural Symbols in South East Asia, ran from January to March 1976. The hope that both series would be coherent and independent, and that each would complement the other, was in the main realised and the editors are thus able to present the published versions as companion volumes. The Department of South East Asia and the Islands at S.O.A.S., which had long had close relations with other departments of the School, notably those of History, Linguistics and Anthropology, was given new opportunities by the formation in the 1960s of a Centre of South East Asian Studies which strengthened existing personal and academic links. More recently the recruitment of scholars from other disciplinespolitics, geography and jurisprudencehas greatly increased the resources of the School in the South East Asian region.