In a society recognized for its multi-racial constitution, the relative homogeneity of Kelantan has inspired numerous researchers to seek the "essence" of "Malay-ness" in the traditional ethnic events and distinctive form of Islam practiced there. Drawing on the research conducted during more than ten site visits to the Kelantan community over a 30-year period, One Malay Village is a comparison of Tsubouchi's initial and final surveys. Through the juxtaposition of two "snapshots" taken twenty years apart, he reveals a process of change occurring in the community which even the locals are at risk of overlooking. The rapid changes experienced by this Malay community expose the limitations of analytic frameworks such as urban-rural community, modernization, and urbanization. In fact, these changes are of such a magnitude as to challenge the classification of Malaysia as a "developing" nation.

About Editors and Authors

TSUBOUCHI Yoshihiro is Professor Emeritus at Kyoto University. His field of study is sociology focusing on Southeast Asia. He graduated from the Faculty of Letters, Kyoto University, and went on to complete a PhD at the same graduate school. After serving as Assistant Professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, he became Professor there in 1982. In 1998, he transferred to the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University, where he was Dean of the Graduate School. He served as Professor in the Faculty of Letters at Konan Women's University from 2001 and as President during 2005–10.