Introduction

Abstract

This book brings together theoretical debates on the concept of modernity on the one hand, and the study of Indonesian and Malaysian modern social and cultural formations on the other. It represents a contribution to a much broader and ongoing project, namely, the critical engagement with the concept of modernity in the analysis of Asian economic, political and cultural processes. The contributors to this volume are highly sceptical of arguments in favour of Asian exceptionalism, in which a theoretical engagement with the western concept of modernity is rejected outright on the grounds of a radical diff erence between East and West. Instead, all argue that contemporary economies, polities, s..