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Rotary International's ‘acid test’: multi-ethnic associational life in 1930s Southeast Asia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2012

Su Lin Lewis
Su Lin Lewis*
Affiliation:
University of California–Berkeley, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, 7233 Dwinelle Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The social history of colonial Southeast Asia has often been narrated through the lens of ‘plural societies’, where various ethnic groups rarely mixed. This article challenges that narrative by pointing to traditions of multi-ethnic interaction, particularly in port cities, dating back to an early modern age of commerce. Although colonialism introduced new racial hierarchies that reinforced stark ethnic divides, it also created arenas where these could be transgressed. In the interwar era, international organizations, such as Rotary clubs, provided a way of breaking the colour bar of colonial society and a venue for multi-ethnic representation in a shared associational space. They converged with existing notions of civic duty, while promoting a public intellectual culture in cities for both men and women, as well as a new sense of regionalism. In ethnically divided Malaya, Asian Rotarians questioned the importance of race and debated the possibilities of a multi-ethnic future for the nation. While such cosmopolitan ideals were more vulnerable in the post-colonial era of nation-states, the organizations of the interwar era left important legacies for civil society in the region.

Keywords

civil societyphilanthropyport citiesRotarySoutheast Asia
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Global History , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , July 2012 , pp. 302 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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