Essential Outsiders: Chinese and Jews in the Modern Transformation of Southeast Asia and Central Europe - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0295976136 ISBN 13: 9780295976136

Publisher: University of Washington Press, 1997

Synopsis

Ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia, like Jews in Central Europe until the Holocaust, have been remarkably successful as an entrepreneurial and professional minority. Whole regimes have sometimes relied on the financial underpinnings of Chinese business to maintain themselves in power, and recently Chinese businesses have led the drive to economic modernization in Southeast Asia. But at the same time, they remain, as the Jews were, the quintessential “outsiders.” In some Southeast Asian countries they are targets of majority nationalist prejudices and suffer from discrimination, even when they are formally integrated into the nation. The essays in this book explore the reasons why the Jews in Central Europe and the Chinese in Southeast Asia have been both successful and stigmatized. Their careful scholarship and measured tone contribute to a balanced view of the subject and introduce a historical depth and comparative perspective that have generally been lacking in past discussions. Those who want to understand contemporary Southeast Asian and the legacy of the Jewish experience in Central Europe will gain new insights from the book.

About this title

About the Author

Anthony Reid is professor emeritus of Southeast Asian history at Australian National University. Among his many publications are A History of Southeast Asia (John Wiley & Sons, 2015), To Nation by Revolution: Indonesia in the 20th Century (NUS Press, 2011), and Imperial Alchemy: Nationalism and Political Identity in Southeast Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0295976136
• ISBN 13: 9780295976136
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368
• Editor: Chirot Daniel, Reid Anthony