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Just who are 'the Malays'? This provocative study poses the question and considers how and why the answers have changed over time, and from one region to another. Anthony Milner develops a sustained argument about ethnicity and identity in an historical, 'Malay' context. The Malays is a comprehensive examination of the origins and development of Malay identity, ethnicity, and consciousness over the past five centuries.
* Covers the political, economic, and cultural development of the Malays
* Explores the Malay presence in Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and South Africa, as well as the modern Malay show-state of Malaysia
* Offers diplomatic speculation about ways Malay ethnicity will develop and be challenged in the future
List of contents
List of Figures.
List of Maps.
Preface and Acknowledgements.
Note about the Author.
1 Thinking about 'the Malays' and 'Malayness'.
2 Early Histories: Engaging India and Islam.
3 The Sultanates.
4 A 'Malay' or Kerajaan World?
5 Experiencing Colonialism, and the Making of the Bangsa Melayu.
6 Building 'Malays' into Nation States.
7 Multiple Forms of 'Malayness'.
8 Ethnicity, Civilization and the Fear of 'Disappearing from this World'.
Bibliography.
Index.
About the author
Anthony Milner is Basham Professor of Asian History at the Australian National University, and was Visiting Professor at The Research Institute for the Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (Tokyo) in 2007. He has also held appointments as Raffles Visiting Professor of History at the National University of Singapore and Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. His writings on 'the Malays' include
The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya (1995, 2002), and
Kerajaan: Malay Political Culture on the Eve of Colonial Rule (1982). He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
Summary
Just who are the Malays? This provocative study, now available in paperback, poses the question and considers how and why the answers have changed over time, and from one region to another. Anthony Milner develops a sustained argument about ethnicity and identity in an historical 'Malay' context.
Report
"The Malays - a volume in Wiley-Blackwell s series 'Thepeoples of South-East Asia and the Pacific - is an absorbing read,clearly written not only for those already interested in thecultural dynamics of the island world of Southeast Asia, but alsofor everyone who is interested in knowing how to successfully failin defining a particular race, people or ethnicity." (Journal ofSoutheast Asian Studies, 1 February 2011)
