Authenticity is much sought after; being described as inauthentic is an insult or an embarrassment. Being authentic suggests that a given behaviour or performance is reflective of a trueness or genuineness to ones identity. From a social science perspective there is sometimes scepticism expressed about the historical faithfulness of purported behaviours - such as when something is referred to as an invented tradition. However, what can be overlooked in such criticisms is an array of sociological and existential dynamics that are at play when authenticity is striven for. Likewise able to be overlooked is where the location of that authenticity is ostensibly founded; sometimes the trueness of the behaviour is located in local traditions that reach back into time immemorial, sometimes in a universal human and shared sameness, and sometimes with regard to a global phenomenon.
Punks, Monks and Politics explores the idea of authenticity as enacted in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. The collective contributions reveal the sometimes contradictory ways in which the dynamics of authenticity its pursuit, its deployment, its politics play out in very different contexts. Whether authenticity inheres in the local or the global, amongst the majority or within a subculture, on the outside of or within people, or in the past or the present, authenticity is nevertheless valued.

Julian CH Lee is Senior Lecturer in Global Studies at RMIT and a member of the Centre for Global Research. He is the author ofSecond Thoughts: On Malaysia, Globalisation, Society and Self, and the editor ofNarratives of Globalization: Reflections on the Global Human Condition.

Marco Ferrarese is an independent researcher and freelance writer. He is author ofNazi Goreng, andBanana Punk Rawk Trails: A Euro-Fool's Metal Punk Journeys in Malaysia, Borneo and Indonesia, and has reported from all over Asia for a number of international publications including BBC, CNN and National Geographic Traveller.

Introduction, Julian CH Lee and Marco Ferrarese / Section 1: Malaysia / 1. Heavy Metal Nothingness: Alluring Foreignness and Authenticity Construction in Early 2010s Malaysian Metal, Marco Ferrarese / 2. Religiosity as a Currency of Authenticity: Islam and Group Identity Formation in Malaysia, Frederik Holst / 3. Close Encounters of the Authentic Kind: Exploring Love, Sex and Intimacy among Gay-Identifying Malaysian Men, Joseph N. Goh / 4. Ini Bukan Budaya Kita: This is not our Culture, Julian CH Lee / 5. A Postscript Ini Budaya Kita: This is our Culture, Nikkola Mikocki-Bleeker, Julian CH Lee and Ceridwen Spark / Section 2: Indonesia / 6. Emplacing Punk: Subcultural Boundary Work and Space in Indonesia, Erik Hannerz / 7. Punk Sejati: The Production of Do It Yourself Authenticity in the Indonesian Hardcore Punk Scene, Sean Martin-Iverson / 8. Authenticity and the Textiles of Sikka: An Essay on the Apposition of Values, E Douglas Lewis / 9. Culture as Art: From Practice to Spectacle in Indonesia, Greg Acciaioli / Section 3: Thailand / 10. If you dont do it who fucking will? Authenticity and Do-it-Yourself Practices in Bangkoks Underground Rock Subculture, Pablo Henri Ramirez Didou / 11. Questioning Thainess: Pleng Lukthung in the Twenty-first Century, Viriya Sawangchot / 12. Thailand after the 2014 coup: Restoring Thai-style democracy, Alessio Fratticcioli / 13. Buddhism and Authenticity in the Mountains of Southeast Asia, Sean Matthew Ashley / 14. Reshaping the Quest for Authenticity in Home-Stay Tourism in Northeast Thailand, Rebekah Farrell