Identity and the State in Malaysia

Identity and the State in Malaysia examines the formation of national identities in post-colonial states. In particular, it demonstrates the importance of the connection between lived experience and identity and belonging. It focuses on the case study of the Kadazan of Sabah in the Malaysian section of Borneo. The author employs an approach that sees collective identification as an expression of everyday practices and that stresses the importance of participation and familiarity between forms of identification and lived experience. In this context, he considers anthropological debates about state-minorities relations and issues of 'dignity' and 'respect'. The book gives a deeper and fuller explanation of the apparently contradictory conflict between different collective forms of identification and the way in which they are employed in reference to everyday situations. Explaining state-minority relations in Malaysia and more generally in other post-colonial realities,the insights presented are highly relevant to other cases of conflicting allegiances and identity politics in settings of post-colonial nation-building.