Description: Nationalism, cultural identity, the politics of representation, culture wars, cultural globalization -- these are some of the themes explored in this collection of essays on Southeast Asia. Instances of cultural identity formation in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are examined by authors from the region as well as Australia and Canada. They draw on insights developed in the relatively new fields of cultural and post-colonial study, but at the same time attuned to the rather specific histories of Southeast Asian cultures and society. At the same time, by making the very notion of "culture" upon which such identities are based problematic, these essays offer important criticisms of those regimes of power that point to the unique cultural features of the region in order to ward off all challenges to their authority.

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