ABSTRACT
Through a historiographic account of the construction of Indigeneity in both Peninsular and East Malaysia from the nineteenth century to the present, I trace how concepts of Indigeneity and Indigenous cultural heritage have taken on different frames of meaning and actions in Malaysia over the past two centuries. The sense of difference between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples was actively constructed and perpetuated through early colonial literature and later colonial policies for governance and administration, which, in turn, were influenced by changing anthropological constructions of the colonial subject. The idea of what constituted Indigeneity was neither homogeneous nor static across time and space, but was rather multiple and fluid, constantly shaped and reshaped by historical processes underpinning the need for colonial governance and prevailing anthropological trends. Collectively, these processes inscribe, produce, and maintain the ‘differences’ between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in relation to their physical bodies and social positionings, as well as their entitlements to lands, territories, and resources. This continues to influence how Indigenous people are perceived and treated in contemporary Malaysia.
