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School of Arts & Social Sciences (SASS) Seminar Series
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Despite its “mythical” quality, and the difficulty of defining it adequately, nationalism, a product of the European Enlightenment, is often deemed, in the words of Benedict Anderson, “the most universally legitimate value in the political life of our time.” Bill Ashcroft et al are of the view that nationalism is “the most implacably powerful force in twentieth century politics,” while Dipesh Chakrabarty contends that nation-state is “the most desirable form of political community” in contemporary society. Notwithstanding such widespread emotional and political legitimacy of the concept, India’s myriad-minded poet and Asia’s first Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) – whom Ezra Pound described as a “flawless” poet, “greater than any of us,” and Bertrand Russell considered “worthy of the highest honour” – was fiercely critical of the ideology, considering it a “hideously profane cult” and a “cult of Devil worship.” In a diatribe on nationalism, in his poem “The Sunset of the Century,” Tagore, for example, described it as a viciously divisive and destructive doctrine that “has made the world its food/ And licking it, crunching it and swallowing it in big morsels.” In his essay “Nationalism in the West,” he spurned the principle as “a cruel epidemic of evil that is sweeping over the human world of the present age and eating into its moral fibre.” This presentation will investigate Tagore’s poems, songs, novels, short stories, letters, lectures, essays, and travel writings to show why and how he was opposed to the idea of nationalism, and how he responded to Gandhi’s swaraj and satyagraha movements in the early decades of the twentieth century. Moreover, it will examine how his critique of nationalism was received both in the East and the West, and how his anti-nationilatarian ideas compare with those of such post-colonial critics/thinkers as Frantz Fanon, Edward Said and Noam Chomsky. Finally, the paper will evaluate the alternative vision of globalisation offered by the writer in his works – or what Albert Einstein described as Tagore’s “ideal to bring nations together” – and the necessity of appropriating that vision against the backdrop of a world that is ridden with “moral cannibalism,” “logic of egoism,” and nationalist “jihadism,” and in which violence is spreading like a pandemic virus. Speakers ProfileMohammad A. Quayum is Professor of English at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). He was Visiting Professor of English and Asian Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University) in 2003-04. His previous affiliations include University Putra Malaysia (1996-2003), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (1993-96), University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (1991-93) and University of Chittagong, Bangladesh (1979-89). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaker: Dr Julian C. H. Lee
Title:
Mak Bedah in the 2008 Elections & a Phenomenological
Existential Anthropology…for Dummies
Date:
16 October 2008 (Thursday)
Time:
5.30pm
to 6.30pm
Venue:
Communication Lab Room 9508, Level 5, Building 9
Monash University, Sunway Campus
Abstract
This presentation will examine a women’s initiative during
Malaysia’s general elections in 2008. In these elections,
the Women’s Candidacy Initiative sought to raise awareness
amongst both voters and candidates of issues contributing to
the low participation of women in parliament in Malaysia.
This initiative’s innovative campaign will be described in
order to demonstrate the place that phenomenology and
existentialism has in helping us to understand social and
political phenomena. Although a phenomenological existential
anthropology may seem like a mouthful, this perspective will
be described in simple terms. This perspective will finally
be briefly used to shed light on other political issues in
Malaysia relating to Islam and the Constitution to
demonstrate its utility.
Speakers Profile
Julian C. H. Lee is lecturer in International Studies at
Monash University. He conducts research on civil society
movements in Malaysia. His current project examines moral
policing and women’s rights advocacy in Malaysia. He is also
editor of the column, Ini Budaya Kita, in the magazine Off
The Edge.
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Abstract Gender equity and equal opportunities in tertiary education enable women to acquire skills and participate in national development programs. In Africa, poverty for women, early marriages, cultural norms militate against girls accessing university education giving preference for boys. The Women’s University in Africa endeavors to enhance women’s capacity and confidence to enable them to fulfill leadership, social, political and economic roles and also make informed decisions about themselves in relation to human rights.
Speakers Profile Prof Sadza is an educationist and the founder of the Women's University in Africa (WUA), Zimbabwe. In 2007 she won 4 major international and national awards for opening the only women's university in Africa. These includes the award by the International Foreign Investment Networks (FIN) in Nigeria, the award as the "Director of the Year 2007" in Zimbabwe in the category of parastatals; and the 2 "Manager of the Year 2007" awards won, as the runner up in the Zimbabwe Institute of Management Awards 2007. She has also served, as the Parastatal Commissioner in the Ministry of Public Service, Zimbabwe for 10 years.
Sadza is a motivational speaker with interests in gender issues and leadership training and has presented over 30 major keynote papers at national and international workshops. She has published 6 major books on economic issues and reforms as they pertain to women, power and society. Her recent publication was in British/Zimbabwe Magazine on women's sustainable development. She has traveled extensively in Europe, Africa and Malaysia. She is currently a visiting professor at the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Monash University Sunway Campus. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaker: Dr Patricia Sloane White
Fulbright
Senior Scholar and Assistant Professor, University of Delaware
Title:
A Modern History of Malay Girlhood: From 'Sisters' to 'Sinners' in One
Generation
Date:
23 September 2008 (Tuesday)
Time:
12.00noon to 1.00pm
Venue:
Communication Lab Room 9508, Level 5, Building 9
Monash University, Sunway Campus
Abstract
This talk will address social perceptions of young
middle-class Malay females and their mothers between the
period of Independence and the present day.
Speakers Profile
Patricia Sloane-White, an assistant professor at UD since
2006, is an anthropologist specializing in Southeast and
East Asian culture and social change. She holds a doctorate
from Oxford University. She has spent a total of nearly five
years researching Islam, economy, and social change in
Malaysia, and has published a book, Islam, Modernity, and
Entrepreneurship among the Malays (Palgrave/Macmillan 1999),
as well as journal articles and book chapters on women in
Islam, the Malay Muslim middle class, Islam and business,
and Islamic politics. Her current research, sponsored by the
Fulbright Commission, is on "Corporate Islam" in Malaysia.
She is the winner of the University of Delaware's 2008
Excellence in Teaching Award.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Speaker: Chan Wan Lee of Female Magazine Title: Advertorials in Malaysian Women’s Magazines Date: 20 September 2008 (Saturday) Time: 4.00 pm to 5.00 pm Venue: Communication Lab Room 9508, Level 5, Building 9 Monash University, Sunway Campus Abstract The marriage of advertisement and editorial has become an effective marketing strategy for many companies and industries in reaching their targeted consumers. Following this mode, numerous fashion and beauty advertorials have recently graced the pages of our very own women’s magazines. Chan Wan Lee of Female will provide an overview of the magazine’s special projects and the basics of advertorial publication. She will also touch on the conceptualization and full production of beauty advertorials as well as the important process of selecting clients. Possible obstacles and solutions of advertorial-making will also be addressed. Speakers ProfileChan Wan Lee is a Senior Special Projects Writer of Female and a Senior Writer of Female Bride. A graduate of Institute of Advertising Communication Training, Chan began her writing career as a copywriter before moving into magazine journalism. Apart from Blu Inc.’s publications, her writings have also appeared in Campus Plus and Hot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaker: Mr Mesh Nair & Mr Junior Title: Radio and Blog Date: 20 September 2008 (Saturday) Time: 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm Venue: Communication Lab Room 9508, Level 5, Building 9 Monash University, Sunway Campus Abstract: Radio, being one of the oldest media of communication, is taking on an evolutionary role in this new and interactive era. The radio industry has come to realize that it cannot remain status quo to be competitive and gain steady interest of a new generation of listeners who are exposed to other media such as the TV, print, and specifically the Internet. In this evolutionary journey, the radio industry has found the Internet to be a useful complementary tool to boost its presence. Besides providing online streaming and such, radio stations are taking the blog space seriously as a value-add or marketing tool. One of the country's most popular radio stations, hitz.fm, is latching on firmly to this phenomenon, and has opened up space for its announcers to blog. Being already a broadcast medium which "shouts out loud", why is it necessary for a radio station to create that space for blogs? What kinds of benefits do the new rage of blogging bring to a traditional medium like radio? Is it just a fad? Our friends from hitz.fm will bring us more fascinating insights into the industry, technology and this trend. Speakers Profile: Mr Mesh Nair (hitz.fm’s Programme Manager) Mesh has been an integral part of AMP Radio Networks, joining the company 12 years ago. As a pioneer of AMP, he started off as an announcer on hitz.fm, then moving on to working behind-the-scenes as the Program Manager for both hitz.fm and MIX.fm. Mr Junior (AMP Interactive Manager) Junior kicked started his career in radio as an intern with Xfresh seven years ago. Followed by becoming a producer-in-training, part-time announcer, a part of the hitz Cruiser team, then he was promoted to become the producer for hitz.fm Morning crew and assistant Programme Manager for the station. His passion for all things techie has now lead him to managing AMP’s Interactive department. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaker’s Profile Meera Samanther is a practicing lawyer and president of the Women’s Aid Organization (WAO). She is an ongoing advocate for legal reform on gender issues, at one point being the co-chair for the Law and Policy Sub-committee of the Malaysian government's Steering Committee on Violence Against Women. She is also a committee member of Association of Women's Lawyers (AWL) and the Task Force Member on Violence Against Women, representing Malaysia, of the Asia Pacific Women Law & Development (APWLD) , which is a regional coalition. She is also a member of WCI, and was one of several people to play Mak Bedah. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additionally, Jay also lectures and writes. He has taken on short teaching assignments in MFA classes in Tempere Polytechnic, Tempere and Academy of Fine Art, Helsinki in Finland; National College of Art and Design, Dublin and Galway Media Institute of Technology, Galway, West Ireland, and conducted workshops in Sweden, Singapore, Vietnam and elsewhere. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaker:
Julian
Hopkins
PhD Candidate, School of Arts and Social Sciences
Monash University, Bandar Sunway
Title:
Blogwars – Authenticity and Value in the Blogosphere
Date:
29 July 2008
Time:
12.00noon to 1.00pm
Venue:
Communication Lab Room 9508, Level 5, Building 9
Monash
University, Sunway Campus
Abstract
A case study of a ‘blogwar’ centered around a short-lived
‘hateblog’ that occurred mostly in the Singaporean
blogosphere, with some input from Malaysia. In this case,
the renown of the protagonists, and the viciousness of the
attack, combined to make the hateblog a ‘productive’
temporary locus of online discursive activity.
Theoretically, the approach taken shall draw upon Bourdieu’s
concepts of social capital and practice; Bakhtin’s concept
of dialogics, prosaics and social change; Appadurai’s
concept of “commodity candidacy” as well as discussions of
value and authenticity. Miller & Slater are important in
shaping the ethnographic approach to the internet, rooting
online practices in offline contexts.
It is argued that through the posts and comments of those
who condemn, support, or merely wish to be entertained by,
the blogwar, it is possible to explore the underlying
practices and norms of blogging.
Speakers Profile
Julian Hopkins studied Sociology in Glasgow and Anthropology
in SOAS before coming to Malaysia. His interest has always
been in the areas of technology and development, and he is
currently doing a PhD with Monash University Sunway.
Through participant observation by blogging, as well as
joining with bloggers in offline events, his research hopes
to shed light on the process of change in the Malaysian
blogosphere by examining the increasing commercialisation of
blogs. You can visit his blog at
http://www.julianhopkins.net.
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Speaker: Prof Simon Adams, Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor (Int) & Head of School of Arts, Monash South Africa.
Title: The Challenge of Africa Date: 22 July 2008 Time: 12.00noon to 1.00pm Venue: Communication Lab Room 9508, Level 5, Building 9 Monash University, Sunway Campus Bio: Professor Simon Adams is the Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor (International) and Head of School of Arts in Monash University, South Africa. He will discuss on the challenges facing the continent and Southern Africa in particular. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Where Do We Go >From Here? The Way Forward for Malaysia Date: 9 May 2008 Time: 12.00noon to 1.00pm Venue: Communication Lab Room 9508, Level 5, Building 9, Monash University, Sunway Campus
Abstract: Of late there has been much talk of reform by the Barisan Nasional government. So much so that the words transparency, fairness and accountability have now become the catchwords of the day. But are these all just empty promises? Malik Imtiaz Sawar argues that if Malaysia is really to move forward then the more fundamental issues of race politics, the social contract and the deliberate weakening of key state organs such as the judiciary will need to be addressed. Bio: Malik Imtiaz Sarwar is a leading Malaysian human rights lawyer and activist and the current president of the National Human Rights Society (HAKAM). He has been actively involved in efforts to promote the rule of law and constitutionalism. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaker: Wong Chin Huat, Monash University, Sunway Title: Can Barisan Nasional Survive a two-party system? Date: 29 April 2008 Time: 12noon to 1.00pm Venue: Communications Lab
Bio: Wong Chin Huat is a journalism lecturer at the School of Arts and Science, Monash University Sunway Campus and a regular political commentator in the local media. He is at the final stage of his PhD from the University of Essex, the focus of which is the electoral and party system in West Malaysia. Beyond his academic interest, he serves as the resource person for the Coalition for Clean and Free Elections (BERSIH) and is also a member of Civil Society Initiative for Parliamentary Reform (CSI-Parliament). -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Reflections of a Malaysian Cartoonist Date: 16 April 2008 Abstract: Lat has seemingly done what no other politician has been able to do - break through the cross-cultural divide that continues to plague Malaysian society. How to explain Malaysia’s love affair with the Lat comic strip? Perhaps it’s the fact that nothing is sacred to Lat. Everything, from the foibles of family life to recalcitrant politicians has been the subject of his biting pen. The first Malaysian cartoonist to be truly cross-cultural in his appeal, Lat will talk about his life as a cartoonist and where he gets his inspiration from. He will also touch on the distinctive “Lat style” and what he thinks of the current crop of emerging cartoonists. Bio: Datuk Mohd. Khalid better known by his penname Lat, is Malaysia’s best known cartoonist. His signature drawing style and sharp, but always endearing take on Malaysian life and its quirks has endeared him to millions, turning his kampong boy and town boy series into perennial classics. After a few quiet years in semi-retirement, Lat has now returned to the pages of a local English daily, much to the delight of his fans. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaker: Professor Diane Stone, University of Warwick Title: The Rebranding of the World Bank: From Money Lender to Knowledge Provider Date: 25 February 2008
Bio: Diane Stone is a professor in the department of Politics and International Studies at University of Warwick in the United Kingdom and the Marie Curie Chair and Professor of Public Policy at the Central European University in Budapest. She is an authority on global public policy and the World Bank, having published extensively on these topics. Her forthcoming book is due out sometime in 2009 and is on global governance and transnational networks.
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Title: Eyewitness reporting: Reversing the information flow Date: 18 March 2008 Abstract: The media is full of pictures and images from where the cameras are concentrating: there is saturation coverage in the US about celebrity gossip; there is an obsession with Prince Harry carrying out his military duties in Afghanistan; there are 50 cameras outside the home of Britney Spears as she is taken away in an ambulance. Is this news? Stories have a habit of gathering momentum when a small number of western organisations focus on them. The rest of the media then follows suit. Technology means news is consumed moments after it happens. This can be the media’s saving grace, and also its curse. Al Jazeera aims to gather the news from where it matters – where the people are. There is no agenda – just the significance of the stories themselves. As a journalist of 15 years experience I will talk about witnessing the circus around Michael Jackson’s arrest in California, to journeying through Southern Iraq during the 2003 invasion – to today: directing news coverage across Asia. It is a fundamental role of journalists to bear witness to events, and faithfully report them. However every individual has their own perceptions of events, coloured by background and history – but also by geography. By having journalists based in Asia, we have the ability to see stories from the places the stories come from – not from faraway, but from the communities and the regions where the stories are playing out. As an organisation, we take that and apply it to our global newsgathering.
He has been based in Kuala Lumpur for two years, and was a key member of the launch team of the new Al Jazeera English channel. Al Jazeera is now broadcast to more than 110 million homes worldwide from its four broadcast centres. As well as KL, the channel is based in Washington DC, London, and its headquarters in Doha. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaker: Associate Professor Dr. Azmi Sharom, Law Faculty of Universiti Malaya Title: Malaysian Elections 2008: Prospects and Implications Date: 31 January 2008 Abstract: All signs point to the general elections being just around the corner, evident by the intense politicking and media speculation that’s going on at the moment. But what about for the average Malaysian? What does the election mean to them? And what issues will be on their minds when they cast their vote? Unlike Australia which has made it mandatory to vote, Malaysians are given a choice. A choice many choose not to exercise. Will the rise in oil prices, abuse of power by people in political office and the mismanagement of public funds – all of which dominated the headlines in 2007 – change all that and shape the outcome of the coming elections? Or will other factors play a deciding role? Bio: Associate Professor Dr. Azmi Sharom is a member of Universiti Malaya’s law faculty. A graduate of Sheffield University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, Dr. Azmi is well known for his outspoken views on law and politics in Malaysia and has a regular column with a local English daily. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Title: Plight of Migrant Workers in Malaysia Date: 17 September 2007
ABSTRACT: The
abuse and mistreatment of migrant workers in Malaysia has become a
concern that risks its international image. Participants of the talk
will be exposed to topics such as the types of abuses suffered by
migrant workers, current laws protecting their rights as workers and
human beings and what NGOs are doing to extend and implement these
rights. Bio: Miss Aegile Fernandez from Tenaganita who will speak on this subject will bring to the seminar her long and extensive experience dealing with migrant workers and mediating on their behalf with government authorities. Her deep insights and understanding of the plight of migrant workers in Malaysia will alter your views and perceptions on this issue ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaker: Tee May Yee Title: Exploring the Root Causes of Piracy Date: 24 August 2007 Abstract: Despite
the government's zealous efforts to stamp out piracy, the quick-talking
neighbourhood “Ah Beng” touting the latest dvd blockbuster has become
an indelible part of the Malaysian landscape. Operasi this-and-that
appear as quickly as they fade into oblivion. Do we explain this
unabated growth of piracy by way of simple market logic, or lax
enforcement? Or are there deeper social and political forces at work? Bio: Upon graduation, May Yee joined a global MNC in a valiant (if misguided) attempt to erase her memory of perplexing French theorists. Having quickly grown weary of the rat race, she recently broke away for a 4-month sojourn to Italy to study the language on a scholarship from the Italian government. A decent tan and many litres of wine later, May Yee is back rowing the corporate slaveship while biding her time before she fulfils her lifelong dream of running her own breakfast bar. She has also set her sights on a Masters-level research on any one of the following topics: feminist pop culture, alternative media, or the myspace/facebook phenomenon – if anyone will pay for it. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaker: Dr Yeoh Seng Guan, Monash University, Sunway Topic : Sidewalk Capitalism: Being a Street Vendor in Baguio City, The Philippines (Video documentary ; duration 70 mins) Date : 27 April 2007 Abstract: Why do people become street vendors in Baguio City? What daily challenges do they face? What are their hopes for the future? This video documentary was produced under the auspices of the API Fellowship (2005-2006) as part of a larger ethnographic project on mapping spatial and cultural politics in Baguio City. Bio: Dr Yeoh Seng Guan holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Arts Programme of the School of Arts and Sciences, Monash University, Malaysia. Between 1997-1999, he was elected an Evans Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Social Anthropology in the University of Cambridge. Recently, he was a Senior Fellow of the Asian Public Intellectual (API) Fellowship Programme funded by the Nippon Foundation for 2005-2006. This is his first ethnographic video documentary. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Emerging Immersive E-Culture: Four Moments in a Malaysian Ludology of Cellphone Use Date : 30 March 2007 Abstract: In the phenomenal growth of cellphone use everyday culture grows increasingly screen-mediated. Genders and generations can differ in the (call, data download, e-mail, short message service) phone functions they access. By drawing on the phenomenology of play (the ludic) and more recent work on game theory (ludology), we attempt to analyze this experience as engaging with an emerging immersive e-culture. The paper argues that there are four moments or aspects of cellphone use. Our (i) absorbing or immersing in content (perception-projection); (ii) recognizing and anticipating narrative; (iii) articulating a coherent text; (iv) appropriating cellphone or content to further our identity. Reference to this universally applicable fourfold ludology allows local owner accounts of employing this technology in Malaysia to be analyzed, showing them to ascribe game-like characteristics to a culturally specific experience. Broader issues of positivist versus phenomenological method in human research will be discussed (the paper is part of a book for Blackwell, Mass., USA to be published in August 2008). Bio: Tony Wilson is currently Senior Research Fellow, Australia - Malaysia Institute, enjoying hospitality from the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak until July, and otherwise Academic Director, MA International Communication, Macquarie University, Sydney. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Speaker: Dr. Wong Soak Koon Title: Malay-Muslim Identity-in-Flux: Analysing Select Contemporary Malaysian Fiction Date : 29 September 2006 Abstract : As in other postcolonial locales where nation-states are embarking on rapid economic development and are engaging with a world capitalist economy, the Malaysian state deploys discourses to reconstruct the identity of the Malay-Muslim citizen-subject. Identity reconstruction are often in line with the rhetoric of Vision 2020. As various scholars have pointed out ( cf Khoo Boo Teik, John Hilley, etc. ) Malaysia's modernising agenda has underlying paradoxes. It had to accomodate dialectical tensions eg between modernist and fundamentalist Islam, between "tradition" and "modernity" to name a few of these contradictory pulls. These tensions are rich materials for creative writers to use in delineating the dilemma of Malay-Muslim characters. Creative writers like Che Husna Azhari and Karim Raslan ( writing in English ) and Fatimah Busu who writes in Malay delves into their protagonists's inner lives revealing the coflicts each character, male and female alike, faces as they negotiate with the moulding discourses of collectives like family, community and the nation-state. I look at 3 works namely, "Ustazah Inayah" by Che Husna, "Go East" by Karim Raslan and Fatimah Busu's "Salam Maria" to demonstrate how these writers boldly uncover the anomalies underlying identities in a rapidly developing Malaysia. I do not use any one theorist but shall refer to Fanon, Bhabha, Stuart Hall. I am mainly indebted to John Hilley's incisive study of Mahathirism and Counter-hegemony (2004 Zed Books). Bio: Dr. Wong Soak Koon received her BA (1st class) and MA from the Dept. of English, University of Malaya. Her PhD ( English) was from the University of California (Berkeley ) where she studied under a Harvard-Yenching Doctoral Fellowship. In 1998 she was Fulbright Senior Fellow with the Women's Studies Programme, University of California (Santa Barbara) and Northwest Consortium of Unversities' Visiting Scholar in the University of British Columbia and the University of Washington (Seattle). 2001 saw her in the University of the Philippines ( Diliman campus ) where she researched on critical literacy and the teaching of literature under an API ( Asian Public Intelectual ) Fellowship.Soak Koon has published both in Malay and English on Conrad, Kipling, feminist literary theory, and contemporary Malaysian writers. In 1994 she co-edited "Feminism: Malaysian Critique and Experience" and in 2001 co-edited "Risking Malaysia: Identity, Culture and Politics. Before her retirement she taught in the School of Humanities, University of Science Malaysia. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Speaker: Mr Benjamin McKay, Monash University, Sunway Title: A Cinema of New Possibilities – Malaysian Independent Filmmaking Date : 28 July 2006 Abstract: The cinematic heritage of Malay language films from the 1950s and 1960s still resonates within the contemporary discourse on Malaysian cinema. Benjamin McKay has described that legacy broadly as a ‘Cinema of Possibilities’ – of the possibilities of new nationhood and embracive citizenship; of the possibilities of negotiating modernity with the established certainties of tradition. Dr Khoo Gaik Cheng has argued in her recent scholarly work, Reclaiming Adat: Contemporary Malaysian Film and Literature[1]that mainstream Malaysian cinema in the 1980s and 1990s was a ‘Cinema of Denial’. The presentation today will address whether some of the thematic and encoded possibilities that were inherent to films produced in the so called ‘Golden Years’ of Malay cinema are now being addressed or explored in the independent film movement here in Kuala Lumpur in the new millennium. Do “indie” films address new possibilities and directions for Malaysia and her dynamic and diverse communities? If they do, what might those possibilities be? This presentation will broadly speak to the research currently being done by Benjamin McKay and features a diverse cast of characters from P. Ramlee and M. Amin through to Amir Muhammad, Yasmin Ahmad and Ho Yuhang. [1] Khoo Gaik Cheng, Reclaiming Adat: Contemporary Malaysian Film and Literature, University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 2005 Bio: Benjamin McKay is currently writing up the final draft of his PhD dissertation entitled “A Cinema of Possibilities: Malay Films from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, 1947-1969”. His doctoral candidature is at Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia and the research for the thesis has been supported by the School of History at the National University of Singapore. Benjamin is currently working on a series of articles and papers regarding contemporary Malaysian independent film making. He is a Contributor to Criticine (Manila) and a writer for Kakiseni (Kuala Lumpur) and he has published works for journals such as Senses of Cinema (Melbourne). While teaching this semester at Monash Sunway in Visual Culture, Benjamin is also undertaking some preliminary research into a socio-cultural analysis of shopping malls here in Kuala Lumpur as part of a book project he is co-editing with Professor Rolando Tolentino of the University of the Philippines on Malls in Southeast Asia. He is also over the next twelve months interviewing prominent contemporary Malaysian cultural practitioners as part of a regular series to be published monthly by Kakiseni. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaker: Dr. Sumit Mandal, Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Topic : Arabs and Islam in 19th Century Java: Cultural Diversity, Race and the Colonial State Date : 26 May 2006 Abstract: The advance of "race" within the logics of 19th century European Imperialism is well known. Its substantive implications for socialhistory, especially in the case of Indonesia and South East Asia, have been less widely studied. In less than one hundred years, Dutch colonial rule in Java put into place racialised policies and ideas that have lasting implications. Dutch colonialists believe Islam and Arabs to be inseparable, and this causes a potential threat to their rule. In context of heightened colonial surve |
Speaker: Malik Imtiaz Sawar 
Speaker: Datuk Mohd. Khalid (aka Lat)
Abstract: 
Speaker
Speaker: Aegile Fernandez, 
Speaker: Dr. Tony Wilson,