Through a broad range of case studies spanning from imperial monuments to rural residences, Malayan Classicism puts forward a fundamentally new understanding of classical architecture in the Asian colonial context. Across Malaysia and Singapore, thousands of historic buildings are richly ornamented with motifs drawn from Ancient Greece and Rome - as plump volutes, lush acanthus leaves, and neat rows of dentils decorate mosques, palaces, government buildings and innumerable terraced shophouses. These classical details jostle with ideas drawn from other architectural traditions from across Asia in a style that is unique to the region. Presenting the first comprehensive account of what was, prior to World War II, Malaya's most widespread architectural style, Malayan Classicism explores how the classical architecture of the British Empire was transmitted, translated, and transformed in the hands of local builders and architects. Addressing a critical gap in the scholarship, this book charts the metamorphosis of an imperial language of power into a local vernacular style, and provides a new way of reading classical architecture in a post-colonial context that will be applicable throughout the Global South.

Houses in Motion: The Experience of Place and the Problem of Belief in Urban Malaysia is about the transformation of urban space and the reordering of the demographic character of Brickfields, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Kuala Lumpur. Baxstrom offers an ethnographic account of the complex attempts on the part of the state and the community to reconcile techno-rational conceptions of law, development, and city planning with local experiences of place, justice, relatedness, and possibilities for belief in an aggressively changing world. The book combines classic methods of anthropological research and an engagement with the work of theorists such as Gilles Deleuze and Henri Lefebvre, and moves beyond previous studies of Southeast Asian cities by linking larger conceptual issues of ethics, belief, and experience to the concrete trajectories of everyday urban life in the region.

Street names are a many-layered thing – crystallising various eras of history and celebrating multiple generations of people. As the federal capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur’s street names reflect its rich mix of cultures and its journey from colonial past to nationhood. This encyclopedic A-to-Z guide explains the meanings and origins of KL’s street names – those named after notable persons, after prominent landmarks, after local flora and fauna, etc. Themed street names within a particular area are also identified, e.g. the cluster of streets in Taman Sri Bahtera named after traditional Malay boats. Of particular interest is the renaming of streets over the years, ranging from literal translations (e.g. “Church Road” becoming “Jalan Gereja”), to completely new names (“Parry Road” to “Jalan P Ramlee”). Drawing on extensive research into the National Archives, the authors present their wealth of findings in a concise and easy-to-read way that will engage readers of all levels.