Elderly Southeast Asians experienced great changes in their lives - of war and violence, of the imposition of the nation-state, of economic development - and remember them in different ways. Their oral histories may bear the influence of state-sanctioned narratives, attempt to speak truth to power or reconcile individual and official memories. By taking an inter-disciplinary approach, "Oral History in Southeast Asia: Memories and Fragments" considers the relationship of these fragments of memory to dominant accounts; it unravels the complex ways through which people remember and make sense of their pasts.

Using the presence of the past as a point of departure, this books explores three critical themes in Southeast Asian oral history: the relationship between oral history and official histories produced by nation-states; the nature of memories of violence; and intersections between oral history, oral tradition, and heritage discourses.