The transmission of colonial knowledge in british malaya
47 pages - 2 MB
By s naoki · 2001 · cited by 38 — above-mentioned textbooks in the context of the development of malay literature or historiography [zainal abidin 1940; 1941; khoo 1979; maier 1988; ...
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Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 39, No.2, September 2001The Malay World in Textbooks: The Transmission ofColonial Knowledge in British MalayaSODA Naoki*AbstractThis paper examines the transmission of colonial knowledge about the Malay world fromthe British to the Malays in pre-war colonial Malaya. For this purpose, I make a textualanalysis of school textbooks on Malay history and geography that were used in Malayschools and teacher training colleges in British Malaya.British and Malay writers of these textbooks not only shared a "scientific" or positivistapproach, but also constituted similar views of the Malay world. First, their conceptions ofcommunity understood Malay as a bangsa or race and acknowledged the hybridity of theMalays. Second, their conceptions of space embraced the idea of territorial boundaries,understanding Malay territoriality to exist at three levels-the Malay states, Malaya andthe Malay world, with Malaya as the focal point. Third, in conceptualizing time, theauthor...