Muslim Rulers and Rebels

This account of the Muslim separatist rebellion in the Philippines challenges prevailing anthropological analyses of nationalism as well as their underlying assumptions about the interplay of culture and power. It examines Muslim separatism against a background of more than 400 years of political relations among indigenous Muslim rulers, their subjects and external powers seeking the subjugation of Philippine Muslims. The book also explores the motivations of the ordinary men and women who fight in armed separatist struggles, and investigates the formation of nationalist identities.