Saif/26/02/2025
A T THE International Conference of Historians of Asia (IAHA) in Bangkok (1996), there was a panel on nation-building at which it was debated whether it was time for historians to write nation-building histories for Southeast Asia. This appeared rather unadventurous because in 1996 there was much more debate about globalization and transnational developments, even speculation about the end of n…
In recent years, European and American historians of Asia have spoken increasingly of the need to avoid Euro-centric views of Asian history. The need, they have observed, is to write from an Asian point of view. The history written by European colonial officials about native peoples and imperial governments has obviously had its day. Although there were some notable exceptions, such authors wer…