Nationalism, cultural identity, the politics of representation, culture wars, cultural globalization ¾ these are some of the themes explored in this collection of essays on Southeast Asia. Drawing on insights developed in the relativity new fields of cultural and post-colonial study, but at the same time attuned to the rather specific histories of Southeast Asian cultures and society, the authors from the region, Australia and Canada examine instances of, and contests over, cultural identity formation in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. At the same time, by making the very notion of “culture” upon which such identities are best problematic, these essays also offer important criticisms of those regimes of power that point to the unique cultural features of the region in order to ward off all challenges to their authority. These essays provide clarity view about nationalism and globalization in modern Thailand, globalization and cultural of Islamic discourses, modern dreams: an enquiry into power, cityscape transformations and cultural difference in contemporary Malaysia, racial Singaporeans, and national difference and global citizenship