School of Arts and Social Sciences

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Dr Sharon A. Bong

Dr Sharon A. Bong

Senior Lecturer

Ph.D. (Religious Studies, University of Lancaster, UK)

M.A. (Women and Religion, University of Lancaster, UK)

M.A. (English Literature, University of Malaya, Malaysia)

B.A. (Hons) (English Literature, University of Malaya, Malaysia)

Email: sharon.bong@monash.edu

Phone No: +603 5514 6126

Fax No: +603 5514 6365

Room No: 2-6-13

Biography

From my foray into journalism as a Specialist Writer with the New Straits Times Press and programme officer (publications) with the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, I now anchor Gender Studies offered at the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Monash University, Malaysia. My qualifications include; PhD in Religious Studies and MA in Women in Religion (with Distinction) from Lancaster University, UK (which were funded by the British High Commissioner’s Award) and MA in English Literature and BA (Hons) majoring in English Literature from the University of Malaya, Malaysia. I am the proud recipient of the Pro Vice-Chancellor’s Community Service Award 2007 in recognition of my long-standing participation in the women’s movement globally, regionally and nationally through involvement with, among others, the 7^th Women’s Global Leadership Institute (Rutgers University), Amnesty-International Malaysia, All Women’s Action Society, Young Women’s Christian Association of Malaysia, National Council of Women’s Organisations and presently, the Ecclesia of Women in Asia; an academic forum of Catholic Asian women theologising in Asia.

Units Taught

Unit Code	Unit Name
ATS2560/3560	Contemporary Feminist Theory
ATS3857	Writing Techniques
ATS2906/3906	Gender, Sexualities and Religions in Southeast Asia
ATS3858	Writing Experiments
APG 4382	Contemporary Issues in Asia
ATS4727	Readings in Social, Political and Cultural Theory
ATS2744	Faculty of Arts Workplace Internship

Honours/Research Degrees Supervision

Student	Course	Thesis Title/Topic	Supervisor (s)	Status
Ng Siow San	PhD	Inner Guidance of Malaysian Buddhist Pilgrims	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Suoervisor,75%) Prof Padmasiri De Silva, (Associate Supervisor, 25%)	27 Feb 2012
Joseph Nocholas Goh Geok Lin	PhD	Piercing Transcendence: A Queer Theorising and Theologising of Non-Heteronormative Malaysian Men	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 75%) Dr Robert Shore-Goss (Associate Supervisor, 25%)	3 Jan 2012
Shafizan Mohamed	PhD	Blogging and Citizenship: the Lived Experience of Malaysian Bloggers	Dr Sharon A Bong (Associate Supervisor, 30%) Dr Andy Ruddock (Main Supervisor, 40%) Dr Brett Hutchins (Associate Supervisor, 30%)	July 2008
Alwyn Wing Wang Lau	PhD	An Evaluation of the work of the philosophy of Slavoj Zizek as a Catalyst for Revitalising the Church's role in Engaging in the state in Malaysia	Dr Sharon A Bong (Associate Supervisor, 20%) Dr Andrew Ng (Main Supervisor, 80%	12 Sept 2011
Jacqui kong Huiyi	PhD	Serving up Ethnicities: Asian Celebrity Chefs and the Search for Identity	Dr Sharon A Bong (Associate Supervisor, 20%) Dr Andrew Ng (Main Supervisor, 80%)	1 August 2011 -
Sheila Tan	PhD	Well-being amongst Malaysian Christians: The role of religiosity and spirituality	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 70%) Dr Carina Chan (Associate Supervisor, 30%)	20 April 2010 -
Cheah Wui Jia	Honours	Persuasion and Promises: the study of the cristian Pretestant Church in Malaysia and its Tithing Practices	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 100%)	Completed 2011
Chiam May Yen	Honours	Malleable Bodies: The Militarisation of Asian Women in Non-Fiction	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 100%)	Completed 2011
Syahirah Anwar	Honours	The Veiled Tension:Negotiating the Hijab in Singapore	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 100%)	Completed 2011
Ng Siow San	Postgraduate Diploma	Inter-generational Voices: Identity, Traditions and Modernity	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 100%)	Current
Jacqui Kong Huiyi	Honours	Feasting on 'the Other': The Commodification of Difference and the Performance of Authenticity in Food Adventuring Programs	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 100%)	Completed 2010
Ujval Singh Sidhu-Brar	Honours	The Twilight of Duality: Anti-religious Discourse and Eastern Spirituality in Vedic Metal	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 100%)	Completed 2007
Wong Jinny	Postgraduate Diploma	Malaysian Women in Computer Science Education: Confidence, Approach and Motivation	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 100%)	Completed 2007
Sarah Jane Cheong	Honours	Construction of Self: Subversion of Service Provider/Sex Worker Binarism through a Deconstructive Reading of Embodied Narratives	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 100%)	Completed 2006
Natalie Leow	Honours	Spiritual Persuasions: On Loving and Leaving the Church	Dr Sharon A Bong (Main Supervisor, 100%)	Completed 2005

Research Interests, writing projects and academic involvements

My on-going research interests include feminist standpoint epistemologies; women’s human rights and sexualities in religions; qualitative researching and analyses using ATLAS.ti (Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software). I am currently writing up my current research project that examines the ways in which GLBTIQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, intersex, queer or questioning) persons negotiate fully living out their religiosity and spirituality in same-sex partnerships in Malaysia and Singapore. Future research projects include religious discourses in cyberspace, asexuality and queering time and space. I am involved in global and regional academic forums such as the Forum for the Study of Sexuality, Gender, Race and Religion, Asian Regional Committee of the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church, and the Ecclesia of Women in Asia.

Publications

Book

Bong, Sharon A (2006). The Tension Between Women’s Rights and Religions: The Case of Malaysia. New York: the Edwin Mellen Press

Edited Book

Bong, Sharon A and Joseph, Pushpa (eds.) (2008) Re-imagining Marriage and Family in Asia: Asian Christian Women’s Perspectives. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: Strategic information and Research Development Centre (SIRD).

Book chapters

Bong, Sharon A (2012) ‘Theologies Of, For, And By Asians: Reformulating Dialogue’. Decolonizing The Body Of Christ: Theology And Theory After Empire? Edited by David Joy and Joseph F. Duggan. New York: Palgrave Macmillan: 79-106.

Bong, Sharon A (2011) 'The Narratives of GLBTQ Persons: Towards an Epistemology of the Body'. In Feminist Theology of Liberation Asian perspectives: Practicing Peace.Edited by Judette Gallares and Astrid Lobo - Gajiwala.Quezon City, Philippines: Claretion Publication: 81-100.

Bong, Sharon A (2010) ‘The Suffering Christ and the Asian Body’. In Hope Abundant: Third World and Indigenous Women’s Theology. Edited by Kwok Pui-Lan. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books: 186-193.

Bong, Sharon A (2009) ‘Sexualising Faith and Spiritualising Sexuality in Postcolonial Narratives of Same-Sex Intimacy’. In Persons and Sexuality. Edited by Allison Moore and Carlo Zuccarini. Oxford, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press: 33-44. Available at: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Pas5ver1170110.pdf#page=44

Bong, Sharon A (2009) ‘The Sexuality-Spirituality Project’. In Handling Qualitative Data, 2nd edition, Companion Website. Edited by Lyn Richards. Available at: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/richards/homeP8.htm.

Bong, Sharon A (2008) 'Going Beyond the Universal-versus-Relativist Rights Discourse and Practice: The Case of Malaysia'. In Violence and Gender in the Globalised World: The Intimate and the Extimate. Edited by Sanja Bahun-Radunović and V. G. Julie Rajan. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate: 25-40.

Bong, Sharon A (2007) ‘Queer Revisions of Christianity’. In Body and Sexuality: Theological-Pastoral Perspectives of Women in Asia. Edited by Agnes Brazal and Andrea Lizares Si. Manila, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Press: 234-249

Bong, Sharon A (2006) ‘Postcolonialism’. In Blackwell Companion to the Bible and Culture. Edited by John Sawyer. Blackwell: Oxford: 497-514

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘An Asian Postcolonial and Feminist Methodology: Ethics as a Recognition of Limits’. In Gender, Religion and Diversity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Edited by Ursula King and Tina Beattie. London and New York: Continuum: 238-249.

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘Bodies that Suffer, Resist and Heal (‘Körper, die leiden, sich wehren und heilen’)’. In Believing with Body and Soul (Frauen Glauben: Mit Leib und Seele). Aachen: Institute of Missiology [Desk of Women’s Studies in Religion and Feminist Theologies]: 14-15.

Bong, Sharon A (2003) ‘Suffering, Resisting, Healing: An Asian View of the Body’. In Feminism and Theology. Edited by Janet Martin Soskice and Diana Lipton. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 356-364.

Journal articles

Bong, Sharon A (2012) 'Decolonizing Malaysian Theologies'. In Asian Christian Review 6 (1): 67-89.

Bong,sharon A (2011) 'Beyond Queer: An Epistemology of Bi Choice'. In Journal of Bisexuality 11(1):39-63

Bong, Sharon A (2011) 'Negotiating Resistance/Resilience Through The Nexus Of Spirituality -Sexuality Of Same-Sex Partnerships In Malaysia And Singapore'. Marriage and Family Review, 47 (8): 648-665.

Bong, Sharon A (2009) ‘Not “For the Sake of Peace”: Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred Body’. In Asian Christian Review 3 (1): 50-68.

Bong, Sharon A (2007) ‘Debunking Myths in CAQDAS Use and Coding in Qualitative Data Analysis: Experiences with and Reflections on Grounded Theory Methodology’. In Historical Social Research: the official journal of Quantum and Interquant; an international journal for the application of formal methods to history, Supplement, 19: 258-275.

Bong, Sharon A (2002) ‘Suffering, Resisting, Healing: An Asian View of the Body’. In Concilium [International Journal of Theology and Religious Studies]. Edited by Regina Ammicht-Quinn and Elsa Tamez. London: SCM Press. Vol. 2: 122-129.

Bong, Sharon A (2002) ‘Debunking Myths in Qualitative Data Analysis [44 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social Research [Online journal], 3 (2). Available at: http://qualitative-research.net/fqs/fqs-eng.htm

Social Commentaries and industry engagement

Bong, Sharon A (2012) 'To Cut Or Not To Cut: That Is Not The Question' , The First (Newsletter of the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church), October: 6- 7.

Bong, Sharon A (2012) 'A Second Life', The First (Newsletter of the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church), May: 6-7.

Bong, Sharon A (2011) 'Odedient Wives,First-Class Prostitutes and Terrorism', The First (Newsletter of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church), October 2011: 6-7.

Bong, Sharon A (2010) ‘The Way of Love’, Catholic Asian News, December 2010/January 2011, 39 (11)/40 (1): 7-10.

Bong, Sharon A (2010) ‘The Future of Catholic Theological Ethics’ (Guest Editorial), The Herald, 15 August, 17 (31): 10.

Bong, Sharon A (2010) ‘Foreign Brides in Malaysia’. On BFM (The Business Station), 17 August. Available at: http://www.bfm.my/foreign-brides-purchase.html?searched=foreign+brides&advsearch=exactphrase&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1 (podcast)

Bong, Sharon A (2007) ‘Positions That Matter’ in http://www.kakiseni.com/articles/features/MTAzMw.html (30 January)

Bong, Sharon A (2007) ‘Re-imagining Marriage and Family Life’ in Catholic Asian News, March, 36 (3): 15-17.

Bong, Sharon A (2007) ‘Re-imagining Women, Marriage and Family Life in Asia’ in Herald: The Catholic Weekly, February 18, 2007, 14 (7): 28.

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘The Spirit of the Cheong Fatt Tze’ in Resource, 12 (2): 95-99.

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘To Develop or Not to Develop: That is the Question?’ in Resource, 11 (4): 85-90.

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘Restoration and Conservation of No. 8 Heeren Street’ in Resource, 11 (3): 65-68.

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘Moving Forward By Remembering Our Past: Conserving Malaysia’s Built Heritage’ in Resource, 11 (1): 61-67.

Employment Opportunities