"The Durian Chronicles" Explores Political Dissonance as a Link Between the U.S. and Southeast Asia
“Q: The essays included in this book are all about this dissonance in policies and political choices in both the US and Southeast Asia. Can you tell me more about this concept?
A: The durian is unique. I decided to use it as a metaphor to describe these very strange times when [in] a nation like the U.S. where people all over the place say ‘we uphold the rule of law, we respect and revere it, and we are built on the rule of law’ and we actually elected someone who has no respect for the rule of law.
In terms of democracy, we say that democracy is one of the values of our society yet sometimes does that only mean democracy is to elect the candidates we want? What happens? How do you reconcile living in a democracy where you’ve elected someone that is completely antithetical to everything you believe in or care about? But it’s still a democracy, or isn’t it?
And here is Southeast Asia, similarly, on the surface, people are easygoing, they talk about tolerance, but going hand in hand with that, there is a real authoritarian influence that makes it hard to move towards the democratic impulses that are developing there now.”
In this article from Southeast Asia Globe, Beatrice Siviero interviews NYSEAN Member Sally Tyler about her new book, The Durian Chronicles. Tyler explores the contradictions in modern liberal democracies overrun with corruption and exploitation, comparing her own dissonance in the United States with that of different areas in Southeast Asia.
Tyler’s research is based around conversations with locals on the ground, aiming to convey how politics are actually lived by people, with the aims of exploring the ties between myriad global problems such as climate change and rapidly developing economic crises. Her book spans two dozen essays with a variety of topics connected by the question of how to best build democracy in the complex, oftentimes contradictory multipolar world of the 21st century.
