In this original and important work, Irving Chan Johnson explores the dynamic processes through which Thai Buddhists living in the Tumpat district, located in the Malaysian state of Kelantan, view themselves and their place as ethnic and religious. Based on the premise that a person's and a community's sense of history and identity are expressed and interpreted through “places, persons, and objects” (p. 176), Johnson investigates how place (chapter 1), gaps or marginality (chapter 2), material culture (chapter 3), state patronage (chapter 4), and the past (chapter 5) function in informing and shaping the Kelantanese Thais' notion of selfhood.

Drawing on fieldwork conducted in a village that he refers to as Ban Bor On—as well as on a wide range of Thai, English, and Malay material (e.g., social media sites, newspapers, and historical documents)—Johnson examines the webs of encounters, memories, intersecting histories, and tangled flows through which the Thai in Kelantan are able not only to dynamically alter their sense of boundedness and belonging but also, in turn, re-envision and reinterpret their minority identities in a majority Muslim state and nation. In doing so, Johnson places agency squarely on the shoulders of Kelantanese Buddhists by showing how their shifting alliances and allegiances allow for the production of identity. He illustrates, for example, how the Kelantanese Thais' interactions with Kelantanese Muslims, leaders, and rulers; with Thai Buddhists from Thailand; with royal and monastic bureaucrats in Bangkok; with Chinese Malaysian and Singaporean tourists and monks; and with Muslim leaders in Kuala Lumpur allow for the creation of a much more malleable identity as the residents of Ban Bor On move between being Thai, Buddhist, and Malaysian. As a community with two kings—one in Bangkok and the other in Malaysia—the Kelantanese Thai are able to “reproduce a narrative of Thainess” (p. 45) on certain occasions, while able to divorce themselves from Thailand's hegemonic influence by demonstrating their “patriotism to the Malaysian nation-state” (p. 47) on other occasions.

The importance of The Buddha on Mecca's Verandah to Malaysian, Buddhist, and Thai studies is not only that it gives voice to a much less studied minority community living just across the Thai border in Malaysia, but also the manner in which it deals with issues that surround minority communities and status in Malaysia. Rather than treating race, ethnicity, and religion in a static and overly simplistic and bifurcated manner, Johnson's study reveals much more complex ways in which identity formation works. He examines, for example, how national policies that favor the Malay-Muslim majority (such as the New Economic Policy and the National Culture Policy) affect the Kelantanese Thai as they stand in opposition to such hegemonic policies. At the same time, he also explores how, by nature of their location, flows, and histories, the Kelantanese Thai are guaranteed a “place in the national ethnic imagination” (p. 68) as they maintain strong Thai-Malay social bonds (p. 111) and benefit from Islamic state support.

While The Buddha on Mecca's Verandah is an excellent ethnographic study of religion, race, and ethnicity among a borderland community in Malaysia, I would have liked to see a more detailed description of Johnson's field methods. Although he mentions that his roots hail from the area of his study, he does not discuss, in sufficient detail, the length of time of his study (besides the ethnographic narrative being set between 2001 and 2002), the number of his informants, and how his own background as a Kelantanese Buddhist has affected his research. Although he does describe the webs of relationships between the residents of Ban Bor On and the wider Thai and Malay communities in Kelantan, Malaysia, and Thailand, it would have also been helpful to have seen a more sustained discussion of how representative the village of Ban Bor On is to the wider Thai communities in Malaysia (including those living in neighboring Perak, Kedah, Perlis, and Terengganu).

These minor shortcomings aside, The Buddha on Mecca's Verandah remains one of the most nuanced and detailed ethnographic studies of a single minority community in Malaysia. The range of sources Johnson employs, the nuance of analysis, and the depth of his arguments make this study an essential one to scholars and graduate students interested in Buddhism, Southeast Asia, Malaysia, and minority identity.