Lee - Thesis.pdf (1.72 MB)
Download fileAn Incoherent Empire: Environment, imperial networks, and administrative disorder in British Malaya, 1786-1930s
thesis
posted on 2019-12-19, 01:28 authored by JOANNA WEN CHING LEEMany environmental histories of British Malaya have focused on the economic activities of rubber planting and tin mining, as well as their effects. In this thesis, however, I move away from these concerns to instead study how British colonial officials interacted with and perceived British Malaya's environment, c.1786-1930s. Doing so, I demonstrate how the colonial administration of British Malaya was more haphazard and disorderly than previously implied. In particular, I argue that this prevailing sense of administrative incoherence was facilitated by dysfunctional imperial networks and the presence of multiple, contradictory colonial projects.