Author: Angry Malay Woman

I like plants.

Non-veiling and down-veiling narratives in Malaysia

  Project statement in English It would be wise to establish that, in Malaysia, the dichotomy between the unveiled and veiled woman as oppositional and mutually exclusive is a reductive one, masking the shifting subjectivities of women who wish to unveil but cannot, women who remove the veil but choose to eventually re-veil, women who… Continue reading Non-veiling and down-veiling narratives in Malaysia

Book review: Eleanor Marx by Rachel Holmes

It is a curious thing when an illustrious offspring of someone so famous would remain eclipsed in the shadows of their parents. Perhaps this is warranted and justified in a meritocratic society we all aspire to where, with the exception of political dynasties and monarchies, famous parents do not always produce equally famous children. Begotten… Continue reading Book review: Eleanor Marx by Rachel Holmes

Thinking intersectionally about Malay women and the tudung

I have been thinking a lot about intersectionality and women who do not wear the tudung lately and it is not so much because the concept is de rigueur right now as I have been accused of not being intersectional enough in my viral article, Asal-usul obsesi Melayu dengan tudung (The origins of the Malay… Continue reading Thinking intersectionally about Malay women and the tudung

New column on the Malay Mail Online – Asal usul obsesi Melayu dengan tudung

For good reasons and bad, my article on the tudung was one of the most talked about pieces on gender, Islam, and feminism lately (social media metrics: 13,000 Facebook ‘Likes’, more than 6000 Facebook ‘shares’ and over 300 Twitter ‘tweets’). Piece is written in Bahasa Malaysia: Nampaknya perempuan yang tidak memakai tudung di Malaysia sudah… Continue reading New column on the Malay Mail Online – Asal usul obsesi Melayu dengan tudung

Guest blog: Why can’t women wear short skirts?

Today we have a guest blog by Kaberi Dutta. Kaberi who is a nineteen year old Malaysian studying Social Anthropology and Law at SOAS, and hoping to alert people to the importance of feminism, one argument at a time. ***** Having grown up as a Malaysian Indian girl, who studied at an International school in… Continue reading Guest blog: Why can’t women wear short skirts?

New column: Greetings from corporate academia

My new column in the Malay Mail online, published on 4th June 2015: Private higher education in Malaysia has evolved into a new kind of species. Like a forest-dwelling creature adapting to its new habitat in denuded wastelands, private higher education has learned to transform its identity, priorities, and raison d’être in the surreal world… Continue reading New column: Greetings from corporate academia

Academic style

Google ‘academic style’ and chances are you’ll get academic writing style and not academic sartorial style. How is a woman to know how to dress like an academic? Deciding what to wear for work as an academic is supposed to be exciting. The academic identity exudes authority and expertise, and so it should seem obvious… Continue reading Academic style

On Anis Sabirin the Malay feminist writer (and translation of my new column)

I cannot remember what I was doing in the British Library one fine afternoon in 2014, but I had found a who’s who of Malay literature published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. In it was a short biography of Anis Sabirin, a name I was faintly familiar with for being the singular critical voice against… Continue reading On Anis Sabirin the Malay feminist writer (and translation of my new column)