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.

"Journal of Social Isuues in Southeast Asia", Vol.37, No.3, pp550-553
reviewed by Shamsul Amri Baharuddin

SODA Naoki is Professor at the Institute of Global Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He received his doctorate in area studies from Kyoto University. His research interests are modern Southeast Asian history and Malaysian history and politics.