Conceptualizing the Malay World explores the interrelations between
the indigenization of "colonial knowledge" and the quest for pan-Malay
identity in Malaya. In what way, to what extent, and for what purpose
did the colonized accept, modify, and adapt the colonizer's worldview?
To answer these questions, this study examines textbooks produced by
British and Malay authors for teaching Malay history and geography to
the local populace in teacher training colleges, then conducts a case
study of one of these students who would go on to become a prominent
nationalist activist. It shows that while the colonizers brought new
concepts of Malayness to Malaya, the indigenization of colonial
knowledge entailed significant reinterpretation, transformation, and
appropriation.