Author: Angry Malay Woman

I like plants.

Scholarship on the scrap heap of an ailing higher education

First published in The Malay Mail on 29th January 2014. As someone in the business of reading, writing, and reviewing academic articles, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Writing academic articles is not easy and it rarely gets any easier after years, even decades (so I’m told) in academia. So when… Continue reading Scholarship on the scrap heap of an ailing higher education

In supermodernity, is the subaltern a cyborg?

First published in The State on 20th January 2014. When I lived in South Jakarta, my initial access to the internet was in the nearby warnet, a portmanteau word composed of ‘warung’ (cafe or stall) and internet. The warnet was tiny and had no chairs. Planks of wood were used as benches for a dozen… Continue reading In supermodernity, is the subaltern a cyborg?

Towards a Viridian feminist future

This piece is part of the 5 year Viridian retrospective organised by Tim Maly, published in The State on 13 December 2013: Viridian Design was an avant-garde bright green design movement engineered by Bruce Sterling and intended to address climate change. It ran from 1998-2008. Five years later, we reflect. The vision of a Viridian… Continue reading Towards a Viridian feminist future

What is teh tarik enlightenment?

This is my first column on The Malay Mail, published 3rd December 2013 Jamal Al-Din Al-Afghani was something of a charismatic maverick and crusader of anti-colonial ideas in late nineteenth century Egypt. His informal engagement with the public evokes a scene not dissimilar to a small forum led by Socrates. Surrounded by earnest disciples in… Continue reading What is teh tarik enlightenment?

The geography of urban intellectual culture in the Malay archipelago

First published in THE STATE magazine, 10th October 2013 Everyday for six months last year, I took the mikrolet from a major bus stop in South Jakarta to my home. A kind of share taxi, the blue mikrolet—number 36—would take around fifteen passengers at a time, following a looping route that covered one small area… Continue reading The geography of urban intellectual culture in the Malay archipelago

Rethinking the discourse of sexual harassment

Published on The F-Word UK blog on 14th August 2013   After following Everyday Sexism on Twitter and reading its website for nearly a year, there are times when reading their continuous flow of sexual harassment stories becomes too painful an experience. I have contemplated unfollowing Everyday Sexism’s Twitter account because there are entries that… Continue reading Rethinking the discourse of sexual harassment

Mapping gender in public toilets of the non-Western world

First published on The State Magazine on 10 July 2013 Toilets: we need them as we all pee and shit. It seems as if our most basic homeostatic functions exist outside of time and space, abiding by their own internal laws. This article, however, is about the laws that are external to the corporeal vessel:… Continue reading Mapping gender in public toilets of the non-Western world