ShawnaKim Lowey-Ball
University of Utah
Paper Abstract
Melaka in the Long 15th Century Conference
2-4 AUG 19
Profile
Dr ShawnaKim Lowey-Ball is an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah, where she works on colonial and pre-colonial Southeast Asia.
Teaching and Research Interests
Dr Lowey-Ball particularly studies trade, violence, and overseas communities in the Early Modern Malay world. More generally, she is interested in projects that emphasize Southeast Asia’s crucial importance as a world region (joining East to West, driving the European search for spice, refining its own interpretations of major world religions, and so on).
Current Research Projects
Dr Lowey-Ball is working on a book, Liquid Market, Solid State: Melaka Under the Sultans.
Melaka in the 15th Century Conference
Abstract
Multiculturalism in Melaka
Melaka at its height was a multinational state, home to Malays, but also to ethnic Chinese, Javanese, Gujaratis, Tamils, and smaller populations of Luzonese, Arabs, and Europeans, among others. These people spoke different languages and practiced different religions. Though the sultanate had definite views on Malay religion and custom, for the most part these multicultural populations were encouraged to immigrate to Melaka and could keep native customs while there. Multinationalism was in many ways the lifeblood of the Melakan port, since the entrepôt thrived precisely by bringing products and people together from east and west. However, many of Melaka’s greatest challenges – from questions of law to existential questions about the role of the Portuguese in Asia – were exacerbated by rivalries between various ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups.