Overview
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.
Full Product Details
Author: Naoki Soda
Publisher: Kyoto University Press and Trans Pacific Press
Imprint: Kyoto University Press and Trans Pacific Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.20cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 22.50cm
Weight: 0.333kg
ISBN: 9781920901370
ISBN 10: 192090137
Pages: 226
Publication Date: 30 November 2020
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
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
Author Information
Naoki Soda is Professor at the Institute of Global Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He specializes in modern Southeast Asian history and Malaysian political and social history. After completing a Master's degree at Kyoto University, he studied abroad at the National University of Malaysia (UKM) from 1996 to 1999. He received his PhD in Area Studies from Kyoto University in 2008, and served at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies as Lecturer in 2002 and as Associate Professor in 2006, before taking up his current position in 2019.
