Looking at the past from an anthropological perspective, this book deploys and analyses a variety of anthropological concepts to understand the history of Cocos Malay society. Around 400 Cocos Malays reside on their remote Indian Ocean atoll, the Cocos Islands. Possessing a unique culture and dialect, they could be considered Australia's oldest Muslim and oldest Malay group. Yet their society only developed over the past two centuries. In the early 1800s, a European gathered about one hundred slaves from around Southeast Asia. After settling on Cocos, a dynasty of rulers tried to distinguish themselves as European kings. Under them, the Southeast Asians in the group toiled in the export of coconuts. But despite this, these Southeast Asians influenced and intermarried with the rulers. As a result, a Eurasian society developed. The Cocos Malays were initially implicated in Southeast Asian and wider Indian Ocean trade and communication networks. Later, this connectivity intensified through technologies such as telegraph cable and the Internet. This book uses the history of the Cocos Malays to explore questions of broader interest to anthropologists, such as how concepts from the overlap of history and anthropology ‘unlock’ the history of societies; how we can usefully combine the ‘indigenous’ concepts like “kerajaan” with internationally accepted concepts like class; and what is obscured when we use the concepts from the anthropology-history crossover to understand the past.
Author(s): Nicholas Herriman
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 211
City: Cham
Places in This History
People in This History
Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Maps
Chapter 1: Introduction: An Englishman in Southeast Asia (1801–1816)
Europeans in Southeast Asia (1500–1800): The Age of Commerce and the Companies
Merchant in Malacca (1801–1811): Merchant Adventurers and Country Traders
Planning the Invasion of Java (1811): French Revolution and European Wars
1812 Moluko Land Grant: Kingdom
Plans for Borneo: Pirates
Raffles’ Instructions (1813–1814): Convicts
Moluko: White Rajahs
Summary
Chapter 2: Across the Indian Ocean (1814–1826)
Moluko 1814–1816: Liberalism
Returning the Settlers (1816): Legitimacy
The End of Moluko (1818): Dutch-British Rivalry
Java-Lombok (1819): Background of Slavery
1820 Bencoolen: Emancipation and Liberty
Anchored at Cape Town (June 1820): Malayness
On the Cape (1820–1826): Anti-Slavery
To the Cocos Islands (1826): Indian Ocean History
Summary
Chapter 3: Rule and Rebellion (1826–1871)
On Cocos (1826–1829): Social Banditry
Claiming Cocos (1829–1830): Sovereignty and Protection
Start of the Dynasty (1831–1836): A ‘Big Man’?
1837 Revolt: Social Contract
1857 Annexation: Reluctant Colonialism
Bantamese Riot (1864, 1870, or 1871): Primitive Rebels
Summary
Chapter 4: Age of Empire (1875-WWI)
Coolies (1875–1908): Indentured Laborers
1886 Indenture: Imperialism
The Coconut Operation: Plantation and Hacienda
Cultural Change: Plural or Mestizo society?
Christmas Island (1888–1900s): Mining
Cable (1901) and Wireless (1910): Global Communications
Summary
Chapter 5: World Connection and Conflict (WWI-1952)
Merging of the Cocos Malays 1914–1920: Isolation and Connection
Village Authority (1920s and 1930s): Race and Gender
The Japanese Advance (1941–1942): Anti-imperialism
WWII and Cocos (1942–1946): Cargo
1948 Labor Strike: Class Struggle
Exodus (1949–1951): Malay Diaspora
Summary
Chapter 6: The Last Clunies-Ross Ruler (1952–1978)
Transfer to Australia (1952–55): End of Empire?
Flotilla (1957) and Emigration to Christmas Island (1958–1959): Southeast Asian Ideas of Power
1959–1974 Australia Gets More Involved: Neocolonialism?
1974 UN Visit: Decolonization
1978 Buy Out: ‘People without History’
End of Clunies Ross Rule: Internal and External Factors
Summary
Chapter 7: Integrated in Australia? (1984–2020s)
Act of Self-Determination 1984: Individual and Community
1980s and 1990s: Seeking the State
Language Controversy (2009): Language and Identity
Indigenous Cocos Malays (2017): Indigeneity
2020s: Current Issues
Summary
Chapter 8: Conclusion
References
Index
