One of the many things that I like about my work is that there are several historians who I can learn from, and I get the pleasure of making video interviews with those historians so that others can benefit from their knowledge as well.
For instance, I recently talked with Stephen C. Druce, an expert on the history of South Sulawesi who works in the Academy of Brunei Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, and we got into a fascinating discussion about ways in which the concept of the mandala does not easily fit the historical context in South Sulawesi, as well as talking about the history of Islam in South Sulawesi.
The concept of the mandala is one that is considered by many to be a key aspect of the Southeast Asian past. Essentially, the term “mandala” here refers to a kind of polity that was less centralized and territorially defined than a modern state. It had a center, and power diffused outward from that center to encompass various vassal kingdoms, which in turn might fall under the influence of more than one “mandala” or center of political power.
In the field of Southeast Asian Studies, this concept was popularlized by historian O. W. Wolters, while others have used terms like “galactic polity” and “solar polity” to refer to the same phenomenon.
In any case, please view the video below to see what Stephen Druce had to say about the mandala in the history of South Sulawesi.
