Kindred Straits


Book Description

A typhoon’s wrath can be weathered with friends. Olenka is running away, and nothing is going to stop her: not monks, not monsoons, not even the crushing depths of the ocean itself. For too long she’s been dreaming of a life on the high seas, somewhere far beyond the temple’s suffocating walls. A sirena’s life filled with mystery and adventure and freedom. But freedom comes at a price. As Olenka quickly learns, the bustling boardwalks of Sotay Wharf harbor more than silks and spices. Wicked things haunt these waters: hungry sharks searching for careless minnows. If she’s going to have a chance of navigating these treacherous straits, she’ll need a crew. An experienced crew. But experience also comes at a price. Clueless and afraid, Olenka stumbles into Daisay, a fast-talking sirena captain, and her ragged band of almost-pirates. With the temple’s bushi tracking her on one end, and a ship of kaizo hunting her on the other, are Daisay’s seasoned spears just the help she needs to survive? Or will the crew’s checkered past add another weave to the net already closing in around them? What readers are saying about Kindred Straits: "I enjoyed the story telling and all the characters. VERY strong female cast ...A gritty adventure and I loved all of it!" —Rae Kaup, Shut Up and Book Up “I really liked this book! ...The main characters were all super interesting…The growth in the main character was great to read…I really loved this story and I'm pretty excited to read more of this series! I love how it can stay a standalone but I'm definitely enjoying everything about it enough to want to learn more.” —StoryGraph Reviewer “I…LOVED…THIS…BOOK! The world building is original, the characters are lively, the plot is engaging, and the writing is awesome!” —StoryGraph Reviewer “I really enjoyed this start to the Daughters of the Storm series … I'm glad I was able to go on this journey and I enjoyed the characters.” —Goodreads Reviewer




The Regime of Straits in International Law


Book Description

Straits are peripheral formations in the study of geography, but have long been a source of controversy in international relations. They connect separate seas and divide the territory of states. This geographical fact invites legal disputes over international boundary drawing, request forpassage by foreign ships, assertion of territorial control over the waters forming straits, and the basis for a regime generally accepted as law in our times. This is a thorough and well-documented book which combines elements of history, geography, international shipping, and the law of the sea. Itasks the central question: what exactly is the current law governing this area, and also goes on to consider the concept of international straits, the distinction between existing treaty-based regimes and the general regime, and the special characteristics of straits that separate them from similararms of the sea in terms of law. In answering these questions, the author takes us back to the first regime for international straits in 1949, through to the practices of the present day. This will be an invaluable text for all international lawyers, particularly those specializing in the law ofsea.







Gateway


Book Description










Coming Home to a Foreign Country


Book Description

Ong Soon Keong explores the unique position of the treaty port Xiamen (Amoy) within the China-Southeast Asia migrant circuit and examines its role in the creation of Chinese diasporas. Coming Home to a Foreign Country addresses how migration affected those who moved out of China and later returned to participate in the city's economic revitalization, educational advancement, and urban reconstruction. Ong shows how the mobility of overseas Chinese allowed them to shape their personal and community identities for pragmatic and political gains. This resulted in migrants who returned with new money, knowledge, and visions acquired abroad, which changed the landscape of their homeland and the lives of those who stayed. Placing late Qing and Republican China in a transnational context, Coming Home to a Foreign Country explores the multilayered social and cultural interactions between China and Southeast Asia. Ong investigates the role of Xiamen in the creation of a China-Southeast Asia migrant circuit; the activities of aspiring and returned migrants in Xiamen; the accumulation and manipulation of multiple identities by Southeast Asian Chinese as political conditions changed; and the motivations behind the return of Southeast Asian Chinese and their continual involvement in mainland Chinese affairs. For Chinese migrants, Ong argues, the idea of "home" was something consciously constructed. Ong complicates familiar narratives of Chinese history to show how the emigration and return of overseas Chinese helped transform Xiamen from a marginal trading outpost at the edge of the Chinese empire to a modern, prosperous city and one of the most important migration hubs by the 1930s.










Religion-State Encounters in Hindu Domains


Book Description

The historical and empirical project presented here is grounded in a desire to theorize ‘religion-state’ relations in the multi-ethnic, multi-religious, secular city-state of Singapore. The core research problematic of this project has emerged out of the confluence of two domains, ‘religion, law and bureaucracy’ and ‘religion and colonial encounters.’ This work has two core objectives: one, to articulate the actual points of engagement between institutions of religion and the state, and two, to identify the various processes, mechanisms and strategies through which relations across these spheres are sustained. The thematic foundations of this book rest on disentangling the complex interactions between religious communities, individuals and the various manifestations of the Singapore state, relationships that are framed within a culture of bureaucracy. This is accomplished through a scrutiny of Hindu domains on the island nation-state, from her identity as part of the Straits Settlements to the present day. The empirical and analytical emphases of this book rest on the author's engagement with the realm of Hinduism as it is conceived, structured, framed and practiced within the context of a strong state in Singapore today. Ethnographically,the book focusses on Hindu temple management and the observance of Hindu festivals and processions, enacted within administrative and bureaucratic frames.