Discursive Construction of Southeast Asia in 19th Century Colonial-Capitalist Discourse

The nations of Southeast Asia today are rapidly integrating economically and politically, but that integration is also counterbalanced by forces ranging from hyper-nationalism to disputes over cultural ownership throughout the region. Those forces, Farish A. Noor argues in this book, have their roots in the region's failure to come to a critical understanding of how current national and cultural identities in the region came about. To remedy that, Noor offers a close account of the construction of Southeast Asia in the nineteenth century by the forces of capitalism and imperialism, and shows how that construct remains a potent aspect of political, economic, and cultural disputes today.

'This is a truly excellent work, both insightful and highly original - a very rare text indeed. It constitutes a major and highly detailed contribution to the field with specific reference to the way in which the idea of "Southeast Asia" emerged as the product of discursive construction during the colonial era. This is a critique of Orientalism that has long been central to academic debates in the field of Asian and African studies, but which has received relatively less attention in reference to Southeast Asia. As a result, this book makes a landmark contribution to our understanding of the detail and effects of Orientalist discourse in the region. Strongly recommended for its engaging readability, this is one of the best and most engaging texts on the region that has appeared for some time, providing a rich and vital tool with which to bring the region into wider conversation with critical theory and postcolonial studies' Professor Rachel Harrison, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Farish A. Noor is Professor of Southeast Asian History at the Faculty of Arts, University Malaya.