The Postcolonial Moment in South and Southeast Asia

[A] welcome addition to the emerging scholarship on history of the postcolonial period. Therefore, I strongly recommend this as essential reading for young scholars, students, and anyone interested in understanding the current political and social climate of the new South and Southeast Asian nation states that emerged in the middle of the twentieth century. * Canadian Journal of History *
This large collection of excellent essays on decades of transition from empire to nation in southern Asia is particularly valuable today when retrograde nationalist demogogues feed so freely on crudely simplified stereotypes of national identity and historical experience. This wonderfully creative work should stimulate more serious scholarship exploring the questions left open here: did the "post-colonial moment" ever end? * David Ludden, Professor of History, New York University, USA *
Delving beyond the rhetoric of post-colonialism, this important book traces the practical way societies in South and South East Asia built institutions in the wake of empire’s end. It draws from an impressive range of local archives to show what citizens of Asia’s independent states did to transcend the colonial condition they’d been subject to until World War II. In a series of elegantly-written essays, it’s distinguished authors trace the sense of restlessness and novelty, but also the fragility and violence which shaped the beginning of democracy in South and South East Asia. This is an essential book which founds the comparative study of post-colonial history in South and South East Asia. * Jon Wilson, Reader in Modern History, King’s College London, UK *