Malay Studies

The Malay studies are mainly concerning the Malay world, which refers to the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, southern Thailand, and the southern Philippines. It also includes areas with Malay minorities such as Singapore, and countries to which the Malay diaspora had spread such as Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and South Africa. The titles under Malay Studies revolve around three core areas: social development and political economy, history and literature/linguistics. In each of these core areas, attention is also paid to Islam in terms of its historical development in the Malay world, its interaction with social and political processes, and its various intellectual and literary expressions.