Contesting Malayness: Malay Identity Across Boundaries

Timothy P. Barnard (Editor)

People who call themselves Malay - Melayu - are found in many countries, united by a notional shared identity but separated by political boundaries, divergent histories, variant dialects, and peculiarities of local experience. The term 'Malay', widely used and readily understood in the region, turns out to be remarkably difficult to define or explain. This book assembles research on the theme of how Malays have identified themselves in time and place, developed by a wide range of scholars. The list includes Malaysian anthropologist Shamsul A. B, Indonesian poet Tenas Effendy, and linguists and historians based in Singapore, America, the Netherlands and Australia.

The essays describe some of the historical and cultural patterns that make up the Malay world, but taken as a whole they demonstrate the impossibility of offering a definition or even a description of 'Melayu' that is not rife with omissions and contradictions. The term remains evasive and open to varying interpretations, despite efforts to contain it within distinct boundaries. The authors show 'Malayness' as an identity or nationality that can be subverted and questioned, one of the most challenging and confusing in the multiethnic world of Southeast Asia.

Timothy P. BARNARD is Assistant Professor of History at the National University of Singapore, specializing in the Malay world.

Contributors include: Leonard Y. Andaya, Timothy P. Barnard, James T. Collins, Will Derks, Tenas Effendy, Henk Maier, Anthony Milner, Jan van der Putten, Anthony Reid, Shamsul A. B., and Heather Sutherland.

publication year: 2004
256 pages
ISBN: 978-9971-69-279-7  Paperback  US$25.00  S$32.00
ISBN: 978-9971-69-295-7  Hardback  US$45.00  S$55.00