World Making with Malay-Indonesian Manuscripts: Circulation, Contestation and Connection

What new framings emerge when we revisit the vibrant world of Malay-Indonesian manuscripts, moving beyond the frameworks imposed by colonial and nationalist scholarship? This volume considers texts in new ways, as dynamic instruments of meaning-making and cultural transformation. It uncovers multiple historical and cultural narratives within and between manuscripts, challenging established understandings of power, identity, and authorship.

Chapters explore themes ranging from the origins of kingdoms and intellectual traditions to the reinvention of contemporary lives through politicised readings of older texts. Social actors in the manuscript world engaged in a remarkable array of practices: they wrote, illustrated, copied, exchanged, and performed texts; they travelled with manuscripts, wielding them to assert authority, resist domination, or celebrate the sacrality of the written word.