Indo-China and Malaya: Four Books
| Date | 01 September 1959 |
| Published date | 01 September 1959 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1959.tb01939.x |
| Author | F. G. Carnell |
| Subject Matter | Article |
296
NOTES
AND REVIEW ARTICLES
Moreover, it is of interest to note that the top six marginal constituencies in terms of
agricultural indexes (ranging from
15.7
per cent. to
29.6
per cent.) are all from East Anglia,
four of them in the county of Norfolk. This is an area of erstwhile Liberal strength and is
generally recognized as being politically atypical. Two of its constituencies are now repre-
sented by Labour members, one
of
them having the distinction
of
being the only Division
in the whole United Kingdom
in
which a Labour candidate displaced an incumbent Con-
servative in
1955.
It is also the only area in the country in which agricultural labour is
highly organized,
a
further factor contributing to Labour strength and hence to themarginal
character of this agricultural area. Since other agricultural areas of the country do not have
this combination of characteristics, the likelihood that the future may see a marked increase
of marginal agricultural constituencies is to that extent diminished.
One can only conclude that the voting power of British agriculture
is
very slight, and is
likely to become even less, as industry continues to expand and the efficiency
of
agriculture
to increase. If political parties support agricultural subsidies because they think such a
policy is sound for the country as a whole, that is a matter with which we are not presently
concerned. But if they do
so
in the hope of increasing their representation in Parliament,
they have little to gain.
INDO-CHINA AND MALAYA:
FOUR
BOOKS‘
F.
G.
CARNELL
Institute of Commonwealth Studies. Oxford
THESE
four books illustrate some
of
the problems confronting Westerners who have the
itch to write or rewrite Asian history now that the rise and fulfilment of nationalism have
raised doubts about the validity of the old-style ‘European-centred‘ colonial approach.
Much
of
South-East Asia’s history has been written
by
European colonial officials, most of
whom have painted tiny canvases with a very fine brush. Immersing themselves in the
minutiae
of pre-history, archaeology, ethnology, and linguistics, they have seen themselves,
in the main, as Orientalists rather than as historians. When they have turned to history they
have either lost themselves in the by-paths of exotic specialisms or simply extolled the
mission civilisatrice
of Europe in Asia. There is now a general feeling that the time is ripe
for a reassessment
of
the printed material which will take account of the neglected history
of Asian peoples themselves, and which will at the same time present that history in read-
able form. The main problem is exactly how this
is
to be done.
The two books
on
Indo-China are by transatlantic authors who are very critical of the
old closed shop of South-East Asian scholarship. As an attempted piece of historical
revision, Mr. Buttinger’s full-scale history
of
Veitnam from pre-historic times to
1900
is
the more interesting of the two. It will undoubtedly irritate the South-East Asian ‘specialists’
who accuse new-comers of undue levity if they dare to
go
into print without
a
working
*
THE SMALLER DRAGON: A POLITICAL HISTORY
OF
VIETNAM.
By
JOSEPH
BLTITINGER.
(Stevens, Atlantic
Books.
Pp.
535.
45s.)
A SHORT HISTORY
OF
CAMBODIA.
By
MARTIN
F.
HERZ.
(Stevens, Atlantic
Books.
Pp.
141.
25s.)
INDIGENOUS POLITICAL SYSTEMS
OF
WESTERN MALAYA.
By
J.
M.
GULLICK.
(Athlone Press, University of London; London School
of
Economics Monographs on
Social
Anthropology.
Pp.
151.
25s.)
MALAYA: A POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC APPRAISAL.
By
LENNOX
A.
MILLS.
(Minnesota University Press; London, Oxford University Press.
Pp.
234.
30s.)
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