Papers

• Interwar “globetrotters” from Czechoslovakia and their contribution to writings on Southeast Asia Tomáš Petru Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences

  The 18th- and 19th-century travelers and sojourners from Bohemia and Moravia to Southeast Asia were few and far between and their presence in these “exotic”, “Oriental” and/or “Far Eastern” lands was usually associated with service to foreign authorities or institutions such as the Jesuit order or the Dutch East Indies colonial army. Typical examples of such individuals included a missionary doubling as a phytopharmacist in the Philippines or an army doctor in Sumatra and their accounts have been well-researched by various Czech authors
  At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, travel to distant non-European lands became more accessible mainly thanks to the introduction of steamship navigation and other innovations. Globe-trotting even became a pastime or fashion. This held true also for interwar, newly independent Czechoslovakia (1918-1938), which saw quite a few of her sons turn into “adventurers” and “globetrotters” seeking fame and riches by “selling” their escapades to the public and publishers alike. To name but a few, there was the newly-discovered “Czech Marco Polo” Bohumil Pospíšil (1902-1974), while others, arguably more scholarly types, combined their journeys with naturalist and anthropological research such as Ji?í Baum (1900-1944) or the professor duo of Daneš and Domin. Their books became bestsellers, their public talks were full house and Southeast Asia (like other regions of Asia or Africa) was featured as an Orientalized embodiment of “otherness”. With this in mind, this paper seeks to analyze what their accounts tell us about East Indies, Siamese and other Southeast Asian societies and peoples at the time, and in particular, how their Central European perspective informed their writings and attitudes.

• Polish Biologists in Search of Southeast Asia Tomasz Ewertowski Shanghai International Studies University

  In the paper, I would like to introduce writings and careers of Polish biologists who conducted research on Java. Marian Raciborski (1863–1917) stayed on the island during the years 1896–1900 and made a number of discoveries concerning Javanese wildlife; Micha? Siedlecki (1873–1940), another professor of biology, did some research in Java for a few months in 1907. Other Polish biologists who worked in Buitenzorg were W?adys?aw Rothert (1863–1916) in 1909 (supported by the Russian Academy of Sciences) and Kazimierz Rouppert (1885–1963) in 1926. Their activities were not limited to the field of biology, but were in fact multidimensional. Raciborski brought home a collection of puppets, used them for what was probably the first wayang performance in Poland, and left some short remarks about his travels. Siedlecki later wrote the first monograph about the island in Polish, which concerned topics like wildlife, art, history, society, and a collection of short stories.
  Furthermore, these botanists represent entanglement of Central Europeans in imperial networks. Rothert, although ethnically Polish, worked for the Russian Academy of Sciences. Rouppert was financed by Rockefeller foundation. Siedlecki and Raciborski were Poles from Austro-Hungary, meaning that both received part of their education in Germany and published in German. In Java they were able to advance their respective professional careers thanks to opportunities created by the Dutch colonial institutions. However, it is worth noting that Raciborski did not for once exhibit any lack of Polish patriotism in his professional activity, even though he was a citizen of the Austro-Hungarian empire and published mostly in German. He even named newly discovered fungi after characters in Polish romantic literature. Thus, among tropical Javanese fungi we can find genus Anhellia which refers to a poem about Polish exiles in Siberia or Ordonia which alludes to a heroic Polish soldier. Therefore, Polish botanists’ stays in Southeast Asia are also interesting from the perspective of knowledge networks and their multiple identities.

• First Written Representation of Siam in the Eye of an Austro-Hungarian Expeditor in János Xántus’ Úti jegyzetek Sziámból (1869) Thapanee Tubnonghee Office of Commercial Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy, Budapest

  This paper investigates the Orientalist influence in János Xántus’ “Úti jegyzetek Sziámból” (Travel Notes from Siam) (1869), during the Austro-Hungarian imperial expeditions to Asia between 1868 and 1871. János Xántus (1825–1894), a prominent Hungarian elite zoologist and political refugee following the Hungarian Uprising of 1848–1849, documented his experiences in Siam (present-day Thailand) during his brief stay to conclude the commercial treaty between Austro-Hungary and Siam. Using a postcolonial lens through Edward Said’s Orientalism framework, this study assesses how his work reinforces Orientalist stereotypes through the representation of Siam and its people in his travelogue. My initial findings suggest that his description is highly embedded with colonial and Orientalist attitudes, emphasizing the “otherness” of Siamese culture while taking care to note similarities and differences with Western imperialist norms.

Abstract