ABSTRACT
It goes without saying that one of the principal issues of Southeast Asian history during the 1930s and 1940s was the national question. At the turn of the century the people of the region exhibited scant national self-awareness, but during the following decades nationhood emerged as the dominant mode of organising group identity and community in Southeast Asia, as in the world as a whole. The area became one of national cultures, standardised national languages, national civic associations, nation-centric historiographies, national education systems, national governments, national currencies, national transport and communications networks, and so on. Within a matter of some fifty years the national principle had moved from the margins to the centre of social life. Understandably, much historical investigation has focused on this fundamental shift in social structure: how and why did Southeast Asia become ‘nationalised’? 2
