Most cited papers in Asian Studies and History

Asian Studies and History

What are the most cited papers in Asian Studies and History?

The most cited paper in Asian Studies and History is "Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali" (Clifford Geertz, 1980), with 1,653 citations. Next come "Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia" (1,571) and "Constructing Ethnicity: Creating and Recreating Ethnic Identity and Culture" (1,346).

Published TypeAccessCitations

Showing 50 of 100 papers. Every paper with more than 179 citations is listed.

Most cited papers, sortable by citations and release date
#	Paper
1	Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali Clifford Geertz	1980	1,653
2	Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia Terry McGee · Pacific Affairs	Jun 1988	1,571
3	Constructing Ethnicity: Creating and Recreating Ethnic Identity and Culture Joane Nagel · Social Problems	Feb 1994	1,346
4	Patron-Client Politics and Political Change in Southeast Asia James C. Scott · American Political Science Review Open access	Mar 1972	1,246
5	Articulating Indigenous Identity in Indonesia: Resource Politics and the Tribal Slot Tania Murray Li · Comparative Studies in Society and History Open access	2000	1,029
6	Geographies of Knowing, Geographies of Ignorance: Jumping Scale in Southeast Asia Willem van Schendel · Environment and Planning D Society and Space Open access	25 Nov 2002	682
7	The Gay Archipelago: Sexuality and Nation in Indonesia Abraham D. Lavender · American Anthropologist	29 Nov 2006	585
8	Hofstede's model of national cultural differences and their consequences: A triumph of faith - a failure of analysis Brendan McSweeney · Human Relations	2002	582
9	Compromising Power:Development,Culture, and Rule in Indonesia Tania Murray Li · Cultural Anthropology Open access	Aug 1999	495
10	Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Stewart Sutley · Pacific Affairs	Sep 2001	485
11	the substance of kinship and the heat of the hearth: feeding, personhood, and relatedness among Malays in Pulau Langkawi Janet Carsten · American Ethnologist	May 1995	478
12	The Myth of the Lazy Native: A Study of the Image of the Malays, Filipinos and Javanese from the 16th to the 20th Century and its Function in the Ideology of Colonial Capitalism Bruce Cruikshank, Seyd Hussein Alatas · The American Historical Review	Feb 1978	445
13	The Moral Economy of the Peasant. Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia Karl Josef Pelzer · Pacific Affairs	Dec 1978	431
14	The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia Hugh Tinker · Pacific Affairs Open access	Dec 1963	423
15	Images of Community: Discourse and Strategy in Property Relations Tania Murray Li · Development and Change	Jul 1996	414
16	The Javanese Kijaji: the Changing Role of a Cultural Broker Clifford Geertz · Comparative Studies in Society and History	1960	395
17	Freedom to hate: social media, algorithmic enclaves, and the rise of tribal nationalism in Indonesia Merlyna Lim · Critical Asian Studies	28 Jun 2017	389
18	A New Criminal Type in Jakarta: Counter-Revolution Today James T. Siegel · Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University)	17 Aug 1998	387
19	Indonesia: The Rise of Capital Nico G. Schulte Nordholt · Pacific Affairs	Jun 1988	372
20	Ritual and Social Change: A Javanese Example Clifford Geertz · American Anthropologist	Feb 1957	359
21	reconstructing self and society: Javanese Muslim women and “the veil” Suzanne Brenner · American Ethnologist	Nov 1996	342
22	Java In A Time of Revolution. Occupation and Resistance, 1944-1946. Harold Crouch · Pacific Affairs	Dec 1972	340
23	Ethnicity and the Economy: The State, Chinese Business, and Multinationals in Malaysia R. S. Milne · Pacific Affairs	Mar 1990	336
24	Empire through Diasporic Eyes: A View from the Other Boat Engseng Ho · Comparative Studies in Society and History	Apr 2004	322
25	Bali: Cultural Tourism and Touristic Culture Shinji Yamashita, Michel Picard · Indonesia	Apr 1999	320
26	Decentralization and Democracy in Indonesia: A Critique of Neo‐Institutionalist Perspectives Vedi R. Hadiz · Development and Change	Sep 2004	319
27	Green Dots, Pink Hearts: Displacing Politics from the Malaysian Rain Forest J. Peter Brosius · American Anthropologist	Mar 1999	311
28	The making of race in colonial Malaya: Political economy and racial ideology Charles Hirschman · Sociological Forum	1986	310
29	Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia Charles A. Coppel · Pacific Affairs	Dec 1994	298
30	State versus Islam: Malay families, women's bodies, and the body politic in Malaysia Aihwa Ong · American Ethnologist	May 1990	297
31	Government and Society in Malaysia William F. Case · Pacific Affairs	Mar 1997	292
32	The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia Kenneth Ray Young · Pacific Affairs	Jun 1973	289
33	Swidden Transformations and Rural Livelihoods in Southeast Asia Rob Cramb, Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Wolfram Dressler et al. · Human Ecology	27 May 2009	288
34	Reorganising Power in Indonesia: The Politics of Oligarchy in an Age of Markets Lucian W. Pye, Richard Robison, Vedi R. Hadiz · Foreign Affairs	2005	282
35	The Army and Politics in Indonesia Ruth McVey · Pacific Affairs	Jun 1980	278
36	SPIRITUAL ECONOMIES: Islam and Neoliberalism in Contemporary Indonesia Daromir Rudnyckyj · Cultural Anthropology Open access	29 Jan 2009	273
37	Balinese “Water Temples” and the Management of Irrigation John Stephen Lansing · American Anthropologist	Jun 1987	272
38	Endangered Forest, Endangered People: Environmentalist Representations of Indigenous Knowledge J. Peter Brosius · Human Ecology	Mar 1997	271
39	Politics of Anxiety, Politics of Hope: Penal Populism and Duterte's Rise to Power Nicole Curato · Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs Open access	Dec 2016	270
40	Vernacular Security: The Politics of Feeling Safe in Global, National and Local Worlds Nils Bubandt · Security Dialogue	Sep 2005	268
41	Hanging Without a Rope: Narrative Experience in Colonial and Post-colonial Karoland Sandra A. Niessen · Pacific Affairs	Sep 1994	263
42	Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia C. de Jesus · Pacific Affairs	Sep 1986	261
43	Civic Engagement and Democracy in Post-Suharto Indonesia: A Review of Musrenbang, the Kecamatan Development Programme, and Labour Organising Gyda Marås Sindre · PCD Journal Open access	8 Jun 2017	261
44	Creative destruction: Singapore’s Speak Good English movement Rani Rubdy · World Englishes	Nov 2001	261
45	STRATEGIES OF CAUSAL ASSESSMENT IN COMPARATIVE HISTORICAL ANALYSIS James Mahoney · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter	3 Feb 2003	255
46	Malaysia’s Political Economy: Politics, Patronage and Profits. Kit G. Machado · Pacific Affairs	Dec 1998	254
47	Historiographical traditions and modern imperatives for the restoration of global history Patrick G. O'Brien · Journal of Global History Open access	Mar 2006	246
48	Jokowi’s Authoritarian Turn and Indonesia’s Democratic Decline Thomas P. Power · Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies	2 Sep 2018	245
49	Sufism and the Indonesian Islamic Revival Julia Day Howell · The Journal of Asian Studies	Aug 2001	241
50	Jokowi and the New Developmentalism Eve Alicia Warburton · Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies	Sep 2016	240

Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.