Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 09:20:19 +0800 (SST)
Subject: Re: postcolonial theorising about Indonesia



Dear Michael

I suppose all postcolonial theorizing on Indonesia should begin with
Benedict Anderson's _Imagined Communities_ (perhaps you have this work
already in mind) and other works written by him.  It is quite often
forgotten that Anderson is an Indonesianist, and began his academic career
with his studies of Indonesia. 

I myself made use of Anderson's book in my discussion of the Singaporean
novel _The Shrimp People_ by Rex Shelley, which is forthcoming in the
collection _Ideas of Home: Literature of Asian Migration_ ed. by Geoffrey
Kain.  It is indeed an accident of history that Singapore is now not part
of Indonesia (or part of the 'imagined community' now known as
'Indonesia'), and this is mentioned in one of the Anderson's footnotes.
However, the wide socio-economic gulf which now separates the two
countries does not make this accident of history readily evident today. 


        Best regards
 
        Ismail S. Talib
 
        Dept of English Language & Literature
        National University of Singapore
        10 Kent Ridge Crescent
        Singapore 119260
 
        Organiser, Online Postcolonial Theory Conference
        http://www.nus.sg/NUSinfo/FASS/ELL/poco/
        Conference e-mail: <poco-AT-nus.sg>
 
        Associate Editor, World Literature Written in English
        http://www.nus.sg/NUSinfo/FASS/ELL/wlwe/
 
        Home Page: <http://www.nus.sg/Courses/ELL/talib.html>
 
        Personal e-mail: <ellibst-AT-nus.sg>
 



     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---