A kingdom of words: language and power in Sumatra

Jane Drakard
Published by Oxford University Press (1999)

ISBN: 983560035X

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Book description
This book is the first detailed analysis of royal authority in the central Sumatran kingdom of Minangkabau between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries. It examines the language of kingship and the practice of royal signs in Sumatra. Authoritative works, it is argued, were a crucial source of empowerment to local communities in a period of change and external challenge.

About the author
Dr. Jane Drakard is a lecturer in the School of Historical Studies at Monash University. Her interests are in the history of Southeast Asia, specialising in the field of Malay-Indonesian cultural and political history. Dr. Drakard's publications include Sejarah Raja-Raja Barus (1988) and A Malay Frontier: Unity and Duality in a Sumatran Kingdom (1990).

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