Islamic Nationhood and Colonial Indonesia: The Umma Below the Winds [Hardcover]

Michael Francis Laffan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0415297575 | ISBN-13: 978-0415297578

Drawing on previously unavailable archival material, this book argues that Indonesian nationalism rested on Islamic ecumenism heightened by colonial rule and the pilgrimage. The award winning author Laffan contrasts the latter experience with life in Cairo, where some Southeast Asians were drawn to both reformism and nationalism. After demonstrating the close linkage between Cairene ideology and Indonesian nationalism, Laffan shows how developments in the Middle East continued to play a role in shaping Islamic politics in colonial Indonesia.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'All readers should be duly impressed by the considerable achievements of this new book. Laffan's study demonstates impressive erudition, analytical skill, and a supra-regional breadth rarely found in Southeast Asian Studies.' - Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

About the Author

Michael Laffan obtained his doctorate from the University of Sydney, 2001. He is currently Assistant Professor at Princeton University, where he studies the history of Southeast Asia, focusing on the development of Indonesian nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the ongoing conversations between Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Michael Laffan is the winner of the ASAA President's Award 2002.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (December 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415297575
• ISBN-13: 978-0415297578
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,864,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars interesting but expensive, March 12, 2005

By 

Mr. Gelek (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Islamic Nationhood and Colonial Indonesia: The Umma Below the Winds (Hardcover)

This is a well-conceived and interesting book that provides the research to support Snouck Hurgronje's assertion (in "Mekka") that the Jawah -- pilgrims from the Malay world -- *were* forming a new archipelagic identity in the Middle East. Laffan counters Benedict Anderson's claim in "Imagined Communities" that the pre-national religious pilgrimages didn't set folks on new journeys but merely returned them to their old lives with elevated status. He charts the creation of a new identity that was politicized but not nationalist in the conventional sense.

Now if only I could afford to own the thing...