Conceptualizing the Malay World
Colonialism and Pan-Malay Identity in Malaya
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Kyoto University Press and Trans Pacific Press
Published:30th Nov '20
Should be back in stock very soon
Conceptualizing the Malay World explores the interrelations between the indigenization of "colonial knowledge" and the quest for pan-Malay identity in Malaya. In what way, to what extent and for what purpose did the colonized accept, modify and adapt the colonizer's worldview?
To answer these questions, this study examines textbooks produced by British and Malay authors for teaching Malay history and geography to the local populace in teacher training colleges, then conducts a case study of one of these students who would go on to become a prominent nationalist activist. It shows that while the colonizers brought new concepts of Malayness to Malaya, the indigenization of colonial knowledge entailed significant reinterpretation, transformation, and appropriation.
"The strength of this book lies in its meticulous comparative textual analyses of four textbooks as well as the various writings by Ibrahim Haji Yaacob. Every significant key concept from the textbooks was rigorously analysed, thereby qualifying this book as a must-read for every ardent researcher and reader, especially to those specialising in Malay nationalism."- Kajian Malaysia (Journal of Malaysian Studies)
"The book is a welcome and positive contribution in examining the contestations toward colonial rule which existed in the realm of ideas, in the British were almost able to redefine ethnicity in Southeast Asia as they pleased. Monograph like this serve to show that the situation was far more nuanced and complicated than many had hitherto imagined." - Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
ISBN: 9781920901370
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 333g
226 pages