Description
Book SynopsisConceptualizing 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.
Trade ReviewThe 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 SocietyTable of Contents
- Tables
- Photos
- Abbreviations
- Maps
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Malay Vernacular Education in British Malaya
- 3 Knowledge and Experience: The Case of the Sultan Idris Training College
- 4 The Malay World in Textbooks: The Transmission of Colonial Knowledge
- 5 Ibrahim Haji Yaacob and Pan-Malayism: The Appropriation of Colonial Knowledge
- 6 Melayu Raya and Malaysia: Contested Pan-Malayism
- 7 Conclusion
- Appendix
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
