THE LONG SHADOW OF THE 19TH CENTURY
Author | : Farish A. Noor |
Publisher | : Matahari Books |
Total Pages | : 483 |
Release | : |
ISBN-10 | : 9789672328629 |
ISBN-13 | : 9672328621 |
Rating | : 4/5 (29 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Stamford Raffles, James Brooke, John Crawfurd and Anna Leonowens were some of those who came from Europe or the United States to Southeast Asia in the nineteenth century — and then wrote about what they saw. Their writings deserve to be read now for what they truly were: Not objective accounts of a Southeast Asia frozen in imperial time but rather as culturally myopic and perspectivist works that betray the subject-positions of the authors themselves. Reading them would allow us to write the history of the East-West encounter through critical lenses that demonstrate the workings of power-knowledge in the elaborate war-economy of racialised colonial-capitalism. Many of the tropes used by these colonial-era scholars and travellers, such as the indolence or savagery of the native population, are still very much in use today — which means we still live in the long shadow of the 19th century. (Matahari Books)