ABSTRACT
What did imperialism do in Southeast Asia? lis evils were long taken for granted, made into political rhetoric, and used by nationalist movements in their struggles against European and US domination. This rhetoric continued during the Cold War when "neocolonialism" was challenged in (brums such as the Nonaligned Movement (established in 1961 but prefigured in die Asia-Africa Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia, in April 1955). Hie 1980s and 1990s saw a revival of the debates about imperialism through the arrival of postcolonial theory and its obverse: nostalgia for the "good old days" of life in the colonies. Anti-imperialist language continues in die 21st century in evocations of "Asian values" against "the West." Yet gauging the effects of imperialism on the everyday lives of people in Southeast Asia requires an analysis that goes beyond the assumptions underlying this rhetoric.
