The Postcolonial Moment in South and Southeast Asia

"By exploring themes of fragility, mobility and turmoil, anxieties and agency, and pedagogy, The Postcolonial Moment in South and Southeast Asia shows how colonialism shaped postcolonial projects in South Asia including Burma, Indonesia and Pakistan. Through fascinating and original chapters, it unearths the contingency and contention that accompanied the establishment of nation-states and their claim to be postcolonial heirs. Key postcolonial moments - a struggle for citizenship, anxious constitution making, mass education and land reform - are placed against the aftermath of the Second World War and discussed within a global framework, relating them to the global transformation in political geography from Empire to Nation. The chapters analyse how futures and ideals envisioned by anticolonial activists were made reality, whilst others were discarded. Drawing on the expertise of eminent contributors, this is an excellent compilation of ground-breaking research on postcolonial South and Southeast Asia"--