As I mentioned earlier, John Smail put forward his “autonomous
history” paradigm in 1961 as a response to the challenge of nationalist
historiography. This “problem” arose when historians who had rejected “pure
colonial history” began “with varying degrees of enthusiasm and conviction”
to espouse the ideal of an Asia-centric history of Southeast Asia. This change
in point of view, says Smail, was “a painful and confusing business and has
barely began. The crisis is very much with us.” What brought about his crisis?
The immediate “great changes” in Smail’s time consisted of “the rise of new
and sovereign states where before there were colonies.” Historiography was
bound to reflect these changes: colonial historiography was fast being
displaced by Asia-centric and nationalist historiography. Smail paraphrases
the famous Italian historian Benedetto Croce: “the only true history is
contemporary history. It follows from this that when there occur great changes
in the contemporary scene, there must also be great changes in
historiography, that the vision not merely of the present but also of the past
must change.”