The Making of a Periphery

Reviews / Votes

The incorporation of island Southeast Asia into the global capitalist economy was not one homogenizing process, as scholars from Immanuel Wallerstein to Daron Acemoglu would have it. Instead, local demographic, social, and political conditions determined the emergence of a variety of labor relations, migration patterns, and patterns of social inequality. In this pathbreaking book, Ulbe Bosma shows in great empirical detail how these diverse forms emerged centuries ago and continue to influence the connection between island Southeast Asia and the capitalist world economy to this day. -- Sven Beckert, Harvard University Not institutions but bonded labor and demography are the roots of the reversal of fortune of Island Southeast Asia (the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaya); these areas are not just the periphery of the West but a crucial ring in the global commodity chain. By revisiting the major theories and analyses of dependency, Ulbe Bosma provides new insights on the long history of Southeast Asia and well beyond it, he provides an original, decentralized perspective on the rise and transformations of global capitalism. -- Alessandro Stanziani, Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales Ulbe Bosma makes a subtle and convincing argument for a more nuanced approach to the "reversal of fortune" thesis. Primary exports can bring development, and deindustrialization has been exaggerated. Malaysia, where the colonial authorities remained relatively independent of estates and mines, was less affected than Luzon or Java, where colonial powers taxed and spent too little. Populist policies of independent states need to be taken into account. -- William Clarence-Smith, SOAS University of London This is a timely, important, and substantial book that makes a complex argument to explain long-term transformations in the economic performance of island Southeast Asia. -- Andreas Eckert, Humboldt University of Berlin This is a well-researched study of an important aspect of the economic history of these countries over the past two centuries. * Economic History Review * Scholars and practitioners in the field of history, international relations, agrarian and labor studies will find this book very useful. The research done for this book should inspire others to follow. * Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde * Will be interesting for scholars from the region and helpful in understanding and contextualizing their present conditions; but it will especially be interesting for scholars working on labour history, as labour and its processes are at the heart of the analysis. * Slaveries and Post-Slaveries *