Modernity as a foundational analytic concept has so far received inadequate attention in Southeast Asian Studies. This collection of essays is a long overdue reiteration of efforts to rethink the concept of modernity, particularly in relation to Indonesia and Malaysia. It offers fascinating case studies that demonstrate the complexity of the notion of the modern. The themes highlighted in this multi-author volume include the deep cultural roots of many contemporary developments; the intercivilisational foundations of modernity (as opposed to being of purely Western origin); the emphasis on the darker side of modernity (as opposed to the tendency to celebrate its progressive aspirations); and the importance of ethnographic and phenomenological views. It is no accident that these themes are germane to co-editor Joel Kahn's earlier works (Constituting the Minangkabau: Peasants, culture, and modernity in colonial Indonesia, 1993; Culture, multiculture, postculture, 1995; Modernity and exclusion, 2001; Other Malays: Nationalism and cosmopolitanism in the modern Malay world, 2006), and that the contributors are his close associates and former students.
The introductory chapter is persuasively argued. It is admirable for its clear exposition, cogent argumentation, strong empirical support and theoretical and conceptual sophistication. Echoing the idea popularised by Bruno Latour (We have never been modern, 1993), that even the West did not live up to the conceptual definition and normative expectations of the modern, this chapter suggests that the persistent East/West divide misleads, and the sense of a ‘modernity deficit’ that unduly pressures many countries to play a catch-up game with the West, often with adverse consequences, is wrong-headed and unnecessary. It insists that contemporary developments in Asia are ‘fully modern’ (p. 1). The editors also assert that modernity must be understood not as an objective reality, but rather as an ‘objectifying story that self-designated moderns tell about themselves and their societies' (p. 7).
Kahn's chapter (‘Islam and capitalism in the frontiers and borderlands of the modern Malay world’) shows the intercultural or intercivilisational roots of modernity and capitalist practices in the Malay world. By highlighting the features of commercial or entrepreneurial practices of ‘modernist’ Muslims, it argues against the long-standing perception of Islam's incompatibility with or aversion towards capitalism and modernity. The picture that emerges is that of dynamic intermixing or interaction between the old and the new, and Western and Eastern or local elements. Goh Beng Lan's chapter (‘Dilemma of progressive politics in Malaysia’) offers a penetrating analysis of the manifestations and roots of the dilemma of liberal politics in Malaysia. The exposition effectively conveys the gravity and complexity of the problem as it highlights progressive politics occupying a key position in the ambiguous and problematic nature of modernity.
Thung Ju-lan's piece (‘Ethnicity, nation-state and citizenship among Chinese Indonesians’) extends or applies a number of Kahn's ideas (Culture, multiculture, postculture, 1995) to the case of the Indonesian Chinese, particularly the ‘culturalisation of everyday life’ (p. 149). As in the chapters by Goh and Kahn, it shows that cultural difference cannot be outside of, or opposite to modernity, but rather it is a constituting element of modernity as clearly manifest in the state-formation process. By comparing the case of the Indonesian Chinese with the Tutsi–Hutu conflict in Rwanda, and by drawing from Mahmood Mandani's (1998) idea of creating a ‘single political community’, the chapter argues well that the solution may lie in political rebirth for all citizens through institutional reforms. Such analysis foregrounds the question of accountability, which is a major strength of this chapter.
Maila Stiven's chapter (‘The youth, modernity and morality in Malaysia’) offers a fascinating and nuanced picture of the discourses on youth ‘problems’ in Malaysia. It is the most ethnographically grounded among the contributions in the volume with its analysis of loafing, ‘easy pick-ups’ for sex and illegal street racing. Whereas other contributions challenge the conventional notion of modernity by emphasising the close imbrication between the modern and traditional, this piece complicates this relationship even further by hinting on differences it might make when aspects of gender and class, and also ethnicity and mass consumption, are factored in.
Another judiciously argued and empirically strong contribution comes from Oh Myung-Seok (‘The relevance and limits of the model of small commodity production’). This chapter well demonstrates the entwined relations between ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’ elements in economic practices as well as in the accompanying social practices and self-conception. Its emphasis on the microeconomic sphere — e.g. commoditisation — reinforces nicely Kahn's chapter on capitalism. It underscores that even in an economic sphere where modernity is perhaps the most visibly ‘modern’, it cannot be readily assumed to be so.
As is common in edited volumes, unevenness was unfortunately not avoided. The chapter by Kenneth Young (‘Malay social imaginaries’) which focuses on nationalist and other collective identities in Indonesia as forms of social imaginary seems empirically thin and conceptually rather unwieldy. Yekti Munakti's chapter (‘Networking the Pan-Dayak’) is empirically grounded and the cases she covers are interesting and relevant, but it lacks explicit analysis and sustained exposition of the argument beyond the now common claim that identity is constructed. Lastly, the overall design and argument of Wendy Mee's closing chapter (‘Technology, cultures and modernity’) seem seriously flawed. It relies on data derived from a non-representative sampling technique to support a national-level analysis. In addition, the chapter's attempt to nuance the experience and evaluation of the use and impact of technology through the impressionistic views of the respondents seems contrived.
The volume would have benefited from more careful editorial intervention, as some spelling and other errors may be distracting to readers. Despite this and other shortcomings, the volume is a truly commendable contribution. Against the stark materiality and structural embeddedness of the much-maligned ‘Western’ conception of modernity in everyday life, some might misconstrue the whole effort as opaque, or worse, irrelevant. This volume is a fitting reminder that many of our most serious problems are so deeply rooted; they are traceable to the elementary stages when early humans made conceptual choices. This volume nudges us to rethink those choices.
