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The Long Shadow of the 19th Century: Critical Essays on Colonial Orientalism in Southeast Asia
The Long Shadow of the 19th Century: Critical Essays on Colonial Orientalism in Southeast Asia is a critique of colonialism’s knowledge-power complex which become a legacy of colonials, through the writings of the like of Stamford Raffles, James Brooke, John Crawfurd and Anna Leonowens, and many more 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.
Over the past three decades, the author has worked and written on the historical development of Southeast Asian politics, parties and social movements; but his primary interest has always been the impact of colonialism in the 19th century and how events and developments that took place during that period have had a lasting impact on the manner in which Southeast Asia was discursively constructed—initially as colonies that bore the imprint of a decidedly Eurocentric sensibility that brought with it a train of tropes, metaphors and stereotypes that framed Southeast Asia and Southeast Asians in terms that were exotic, strange and at times threatening. Related to this critique of the Orientalist framing of Southeast Asia as the constitutive Other to the West has been the accompanying critique of how such Orientalist tropes and imaginings of the Southeast Asian Other remain in circulation until today, in domains such as the tourism campaigns of the respective countries of Southeast Asia to the very vocabularies that are used in the management of society and everyday statecraft between the states of present-day Southeast Asia.
Notwithstanding the occasional bout of conscience among the powers-that-be in this part of the world, and the occasional attempt to project an alternative Southeast Asian understanding of political praxis among the elites of the region, the political landscape of present-day Southeast Asia is clearly one that owes its origins to the colonial era, down to the very political borders that divide the states of the region—almost all of which happen to be colonial borders determined by the colonial powers in the capitals of Western Europe, not in Southeast Asia.
CONTENTS
Introduction
The Long Shadow of the 19th Century: Empire 2.0 Today
Essay I
Innocents Abroad? The Erasure of the Question of Race and Power in Contemporary ‘Feminist’ and ‘Nostalgic’ Travelogues
Essay II
‘Pirate’ is What I’m Not: The Trope of the ‘Southeast Asian Pirate’ in the Discourse of Legitimation for European Colonial Adventurism
Essay III
Nothing Left to Know: Stamford Raffles’ Map of Java and the Epistemology of Empire
Essay IV
Anti-Imperialism in the 19″ Century: A Contemporary Critique of the British Invasion of Java in 1811
Essay V
You Are Under Arrest: Epistemic Arrest and the Endless Reproduction of the Image of the Colonised Native
Essay VI
The Woman with the Bayonet: America’s 1832 Attack on Kuala Batu and the Debate over the Sumatran Woman as Victim-Combatant
Essay VII
Don’t Mention the Corpses: The Erasure of Violence in Colonial Writings on Southeast Asia
Essay VIII
Mea Culpa: Re-reading 19TH Century Colonial-era Works on Southeast Asia as Confessional Texts
Afterword by Peter Carey, Emeritus Fellow Trinity College, Oxford, and Visiting Professor Universitas Indonesia
Over the past three decades, the author has worked and written on the historical development of Southeast Asian politics, parties and social movements; but his primary interest has always been the impact of colonialism in the 19th century and how events and developments that took place during that period have had a lasting impact on the manner in which Southeast Asia was discursively constructed—initially as colonies that bore the imprint of a decidedly Eurocentric sensibility that brought with it a train of tropes, metaphors and stereotypes that framed Southeast Asia and Southeast Asians in terms that were exotic, strange and at times threatening. Related to this critique of the Orientalist framing of Southeast Asia as the constitutive Other to the West has been the accompanying critique of how such Orientalist tropes and imaginings of the Southeast Asian Other remain in circulation until today, in domains such as the tourism campaigns of the respective countries of Southeast Asia to the very vocabularies that are used in the management of society and everyday statecraft between the states of present-day Southeast Asia.
Notwithstanding the occasional bout of conscience among the powers-that-be in this part of the world, and the occasional attempt to project an alternative Southeast Asian understanding of political praxis among the elites of the region, the political landscape of present-day Southeast Asia is clearly one that owes its origins to the colonial era, down to the very political borders that divide the states of the region—almost all of which happen to be colonial borders determined by the colonial powers in the capitals of Western Europe, not in Southeast Asia.
CONTENTS
Introduction
The Long Shadow of the 19th Century: Empire 2.0 Today
Essay I
Innocents Abroad? The Erasure of the Question of Race and Power in Contemporary ‘Feminist’ and ‘Nostalgic’ Travelogues
Essay II
‘Pirate’ is What I’m Not: The Trope of the ‘Southeast Asian Pirate’ in the Discourse of Legitimation for European Colonial Adventurism
Essay III
Nothing Left to Know: Stamford Raffles’ Map of Java and the Epistemology of Empire
Essay IV
Anti-Imperialism in the 19″ Century: A Contemporary Critique of the British Invasion of Java in 1811
Essay V
You Are Under Arrest: Epistemic Arrest and the Endless Reproduction of the Image of the Colonised Native
Essay VI
The Woman with the Bayonet: America’s 1832 Attack on Kuala Batu and the Debate over the Sumatran Woman as Victim-Combatant
Essay VII
Don’t Mention the Corpses: The Erasure of Violence in Colonial Writings on Southeast Asia
Essay VIII
Mea Culpa: Re-reading 19TH Century Colonial-era Works on Southeast Asia as Confessional Texts
Afterword by Peter Carey, Emeritus Fellow Trinity College, Oxford, and Visiting Professor Universitas Indonesia
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
391 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2021
15 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Farish A. Noor
25 books106 followersDr. Farish Ahmad Noor (born 15 May 1967 in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia) is a Malaysian political scientist and historian and is presently a Senior Fellow at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. At the NTU he is part of the research cluster on the contemporary development of trans-national religio-political networks across South and Southeast Asia, where he is studying the phenomenon of Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Buddhist religio-political mobilisation in the public domain.
He was formerly attached to Zentrum Moderner Orient (Centre for Modern Oriental Studies) in Berlin, Germany, Sciences-Po Paris, the Institute for the Study of Muslim Society (ISIMM, Ecole des haute etudes et sciences sociale, EHESS), Paris and the International Institute for the Study of the Muslim World (ISIM), Leiden, Netherlands. Dr. Noor's teaching credits include the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University of Malaya, the Institute for Islamic Studies, Free University Berlin, Sunan Kalijaga Islamic University (Jogjakarta), Muhamadiyah University Surakarta and Nanyang Technological University presently.
At NTU/RSIS he teaches two courses: (1) History, Society and Politics of Malaysia and (2) Introduction to Discourse Analysis. The first is part of the RSIS area studies curricula (which also covers Indonesia) while the second is a foundational course in Philosophy of Language, Linguistics and Semiotics with a heavy emphasis on Critical Theory as developed by the Essex School of Discourse Analysis.
He received his BA in Philosophy & Literature from the University of Sussex in 1989, before studying for an MA in Philosophy at the same University in 1990, an MA in South-East Asian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, before completing his PhD at the University of Essex in 1997 in the field of governance and politics.
Dr Noor also runs a research site www.othermalaysia.org along with Dr Yusseri Yusoff, which looks at the history of Malaysia from an alternative, deconstructive angle and which attempts to demonstrate the constructiveness and contingency behind historical development, particularly of nation-states from the pre-colonial to post-colonial era.
Over the past ten years he has also been researching the phenomenon of transnational and translocal religio-political movements, including missionary movements such as the Tablighi Jama'at and its networks from South to Southeast Asia; as well as the development of religio-politics in South and Southeast Asia, looking at the rise of Muslim, Christian and Hindu political-religious revivalism in particular.
His other interests include antiques and material history, and he has written about the plastic arts of Southeast Asia, focusing on things such as the Indonesian-Malaysian keris to the development of woodcarving and architecture.
Farish has also appeared in the semi-documentary film The Big Durian (film), directed by Amir Muhammad.
He was formerly attached to Zentrum Moderner Orient (Centre for Modern Oriental Studies) in Berlin, Germany, Sciences-Po Paris, the Institute for the Study of Muslim Society (ISIMM, Ecole des haute etudes et sciences sociale, EHESS), Paris and the International Institute for the Study of the Muslim World (ISIM), Leiden, Netherlands. Dr. Noor's teaching credits include the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University of Malaya, the Institute for Islamic Studies, Free University Berlin, Sunan Kalijaga Islamic University (Jogjakarta), Muhamadiyah University Surakarta and Nanyang Technological University presently.
At NTU/RSIS he teaches two courses: (1) History, Society and Politics of Malaysia and (2) Introduction to Discourse Analysis. The first is part of the RSIS area studies curricula (which also covers Indonesia) while the second is a foundational course in Philosophy of Language, Linguistics and Semiotics with a heavy emphasis on Critical Theory as developed by the Essex School of Discourse Analysis.
He received his BA in Philosophy & Literature from the University of Sussex in 1989, before studying for an MA in Philosophy at the same University in 1990, an MA in South-East Asian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, before completing his PhD at the University of Essex in 1997 in the field of governance and politics.
Dr Noor also runs a research site www.othermalaysia.org along with Dr Yusseri Yusoff, which looks at the history of Malaysia from an alternative, deconstructive angle and which attempts to demonstrate the constructiveness and contingency behind historical development, particularly of nation-states from the pre-colonial to post-colonial era.
Over the past ten years he has also been researching the phenomenon of transnational and translocal religio-political movements, including missionary movements such as the Tablighi Jama'at and its networks from South to Southeast Asia; as well as the development of religio-politics in South and Southeast Asia, looking at the rise of Muslim, Christian and Hindu political-religious revivalism in particular.
His other interests include antiques and material history, and he has written about the plastic arts of Southeast Asia, focusing on things such as the Indonesian-Malaysian keris to the development of woodcarving and architecture.
Farish has also appeared in the semi-documentary film The Big Durian (film), directed by Amir Muhammad.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 3, 2023
My first attempt to read anything that is at all related to postcolonial studies was two years back, and it was actually from a poetry book, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan's debut Postcolonial Banter. Since then, I never tried picking up another book on the subject, let alone one which discusses from a perspective that is closer to home. That is, until this book came up.
The Long Shadow of the 19th Century is a fascinating collection of academic essays on the legacy (mostly infamy) of colonial rulers in Southeast Asia, and the trails and traces, both materially and culturally, that they left behind.
Essay I - Innocents Abroad: The Erasure of the Question of Race and Power in Contemporary 'Feminist' and 'Nostalgic' Travelogues
On the seemingly innocent accounts of white women travelers (one of them being Anna Leonowens, the 1956 The King and I / 1999 Anna and the King's Anna) and their myopic Anglocentric attitudes towards the "exotic" natives.
Essay II - 'Pirate' is What I'm Not: The Trope of the 'Southeast Asian Pirate' in the Discourse of Legitimation for European Colonial Adventurism
On the portrayal of natives as pirates, thus suggesting their barbaric nature that needs to be warred against, to justify colonial penetration in maritime Southeast Asia.
Essay III - Nothing Left to Know: Stamford Raffles' Map of Java and the Epistemology of Empire
On colonial cartography and the construction of extensive imperial maps as a manifestation of equally extensive conquests of the land, and the maps' role as the colonial power's data reservoir about the area.
Essay IV - Anti-Imperialism in the 19th Century: A Contemporary Critique of the British Invasion of Java in 1811
On William Cobbett as a dissident voice in Britain who spoke fervently against his country's colonial project, indicating that there has never been a simple, generalised coloniser/colonised dichotomy.
Essay V - You Are Under Arrest: Epistemic Arrest and the Endless Reproduction of the Image of the Colonised Native
On the incessant reproduction of stereotypical drawings of the natives (e.g.: Muslims with turbans, Chinese with 'Chinese hats') for a neat categorisation of the colonised Other, "arresting" them as static visuals and rendering them "dead, still and therefore knowable".
Essay VI - The Woman with the Bayonet: America's 1832 Attack on Kuala Batu and the Debate over the Sumatran Woman as Victim-Combatant
On the account of America's first military expedition in Southeast Asia (Kuala Batu attack) and the public's debate over the violence perpetrated by their own country against women in distant land.
Essay VII - Don't Mention the Corpses: The Erasure of Violence in Colonial Writings on Southeast Asia
On the intentional sidelining of violent acts in the works of some colonial writers and the depiction of the white saviour trope therein.
Essay VIII - Mea Culpa: Re-reading 19th Century Colonial-Era Works on Southeast Asia as Confessional Texts
On the fact that colonial writings not only divulge information about their subject (i.e. the colonised), but also indirectly expose much about their respective authors (i.e. the coloniser), making them useful for present-day postcolonial and area studies.
While all the essays are very brilliant in illustrating the reality that Southeast Asia still in a way dwells under the "long shadow" casted by the colonial rulers of the 19th century, essays which I find particularly interesting are Essay I, Essay III, Essay V and Essay VIII. I have my own reservations about Peter Carey's afterword though as it seems a little bit out of place, but it was overall a very satisfying and insightful read indeed.
The Long Shadow of the 19th Century is a fascinating collection of academic essays on the legacy (mostly infamy) of colonial rulers in Southeast Asia, and the trails and traces, both materially and culturally, that they left behind.
Essay I - Innocents Abroad: The Erasure of the Question of Race and Power in Contemporary 'Feminist' and 'Nostalgic' Travelogues
On the seemingly innocent accounts of white women travelers (one of them being Anna Leonowens, the 1956 The King and I / 1999 Anna and the King's Anna) and their myopic Anglocentric attitudes towards the "exotic" natives.
Essay II - 'Pirate' is What I'm Not: The Trope of the 'Southeast Asian Pirate' in the Discourse of Legitimation for European Colonial Adventurism
On the portrayal of natives as pirates, thus suggesting their barbaric nature that needs to be warred against, to justify colonial penetration in maritime Southeast Asia.
Essay III - Nothing Left to Know: Stamford Raffles' Map of Java and the Epistemology of Empire
On colonial cartography and the construction of extensive imperial maps as a manifestation of equally extensive conquests of the land, and the maps' role as the colonial power's data reservoir about the area.
Essay IV - Anti-Imperialism in the 19th Century: A Contemporary Critique of the British Invasion of Java in 1811
On William Cobbett as a dissident voice in Britain who spoke fervently against his country's colonial project, indicating that there has never been a simple, generalised coloniser/colonised dichotomy.
Essay V - You Are Under Arrest: Epistemic Arrest and the Endless Reproduction of the Image of the Colonised Native
On the incessant reproduction of stereotypical drawings of the natives (e.g.: Muslims with turbans, Chinese with 'Chinese hats') for a neat categorisation of the colonised Other, "arresting" them as static visuals and rendering them "dead, still and therefore knowable".
Essay VI - The Woman with the Bayonet: America's 1832 Attack on Kuala Batu and the Debate over the Sumatran Woman as Victim-Combatant
On the account of America's first military expedition in Southeast Asia (Kuala Batu attack) and the public's debate over the violence perpetrated by their own country against women in distant land.
Essay VII - Don't Mention the Corpses: The Erasure of Violence in Colonial Writings on Southeast Asia
On the intentional sidelining of violent acts in the works of some colonial writers and the depiction of the white saviour trope therein.
Essay VIII - Mea Culpa: Re-reading 19th Century Colonial-Era Works on Southeast Asia as Confessional Texts
On the fact that colonial writings not only divulge information about their subject (i.e. the colonised), but also indirectly expose much about their respective authors (i.e. the coloniser), making them useful for present-day postcolonial and area studies.
While all the essays are very brilliant in illustrating the reality that Southeast Asia still in a way dwells under the "long shadow" casted by the colonial rulers of the 19th century, essays which I find particularly interesting are Essay I, Essay III, Essay V and Essay VIII. I have my own reservations about Peter Carey's afterword though as it seems a little bit out of place, but it was overall a very satisfying and insightful read indeed.
January 13, 2023
Reading history is not an easy task. However, the author's articulation on historical events can be easily understood as simple words were used. The author clearly had his reader in his mind while writing on the subject. I keep turning the pages of the book and felt so involved in the discussion that was brought it in the book.
The image of the natives as depicted by the colonial or outsiders attracted me to grab this book from the shelves. It continues and expanded what Syed Hussein Alatas had wrote before. Anyone interested in colonial and post-colonial history would love the discussion in this book.
The image of the natives as depicted by the colonial or outsiders attracted me to grab this book from the shelves. It continues and expanded what Syed Hussein Alatas had wrote before. Anyone interested in colonial and post-colonial history would love the discussion in this book.
March 10, 2024
This collection of essays is a fascinating collection of micro-histories and controversies that I didn't even know existed. I especially loved his look at the writings of white, female travellers in the 19th century and of the Americans who wrote of their attempts to rid Southeast Asia of "piracy." The author makes a strong argument for how these early perspectives helped create an Asian "other" reinforced by scientific racism in the minds of the West.
February 16, 2023
Certain parts of the book are nice but it can be too dry and too academic with too many footnotes at the bottom. As if you are back to the unis. It's can also be annoying when you read on the part of how the western imperialists think and judge the locals--too lazy, etc etc.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews