Banishment and Belonging

Ronit Ricci is Sternberg-Tamir Chair in Comparative Cultures at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Associate Professor of Asian Studies at Australian National University. She is the author of the multiple-prize-winning Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arab Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia (2011).

• 1. Introduction; 2. Diasporic crossing: Malay writing in nineteenth-century Ceylon; 3. Remembering Java; 4. 'Ceyloned': the view from the other shore; 5. Exilic journeys in time, place and writing; 6. Nabi Adam: the paradigmatic exile; 7. Banishment and inter-religious encounters: a Malay Ramayana; 8. Ceylon Malays: military and literary paths; 9. Malay writing in Ceylon: roots and routes; Glossary.

'Challenging the boundaries that too often divide area studies, Ronit Ricci's linguistic skills and path-breaking research historicize the Malay presence in contemporary Sri Lanka. Juxtaposing the literary and imaginative world of travelling heroes and religious figures with the lives of individuals ranging from Java's princely exiles and their descendants to Malay soldiers in colonial armies, Banishment and Belonging is a true tour de force.' Barbara Watson Andaya, University of Hawai'i