Postcolonial Education and Development in Peripheral Malaysia
Building Scientific Aspirations
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bristol University Press
Publishing:22nd Sep '26
£80.00
This title is due to be published on 22nd September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This book offers a compelling examination of Malaysia's ambitious ‘60:40 policy’ which prioritises science education as a pathway to national development.
Drawing on personal narratives and rural experiences, including the author's own family stories, this ethnographically rich study reveals how young Malaysians navigate aspirations for development through STEM education with profound ambivalence rather than wholesale acceptance. Aizuddin demonstrates how these experiences constitute critiques of development orthodoxy, challenging dominant narratives about science education's transformative power.
Essential for scholars of postcolonial studies, education policy and Southeast Asian development, this work provides nuanced insights into how peripheral communities negotiate the promises and contradictions of science-driven modernisation in postcolonial nation-building.
"This book is path-breaking as it captures the deep ethnographic narrative of an everyday defined perspective. A must read for those interested in anthropology, development studies and sociology of education." Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, the National University of Malaysia
“A beautifully written ethnography of young rural Malaysians alongside evocative intergenerational storytelling that challenges taken-for-granted assumptions in education and development policy.” Arathi Sriprakash, University of Oxford
ISBN: 9781529249651
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
240 pages