Title: The Changing Face of the Real Malay 1890-1930: the evolution of racial stereotypes in British Malaya and their role as an adjunct to policy formationSubmitted by: Diana Carroll, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National UniversityThis paper is part of a study aimed at developing a periodization for "Orientalism" in Malaya. Based on field trip narratives, it will look the changes over time in British notions of "the Malay" and how these notions were used as a "standard" when discussing other races of the region. Until 1800 British interests "beyond the Ganges" were focussed on China. The stereotypical picture of the Malays was of a warlike race much feared by European navigators and traders. However, after 1800 East India Company servants like Raffles and Crawfurd wanted to interest the British in expanding trade with the East Indian islands and Malay Peninsula. They therefore sought to play down ideas of Malays ferocity. Europeans began to portray Malays as a compliant and placid people who welcomed European influence. While nuanced over time this rhetoric was inherited by the Malayan civil and scientific services. Return to Abstracts menuCarol Burnett Phone: 61 - 3 - 9349 1899 Email: c.burnett@asialink.unimelb.edu.au
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