‘He was born. He thought. He died’ Heidegger on the ‘life’ of Aristotle A review of Derrida’s biography by Benoît Peeters in The Guardian today made me think about whether or not the biography is crucial or incidental to understanding a philosopher’s thought. Does knowing (or not knowing) about Derrida’s life enable us to… Continue reading Derrida, the life of the philosopher, and the ‘biopic’
Category: Books
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf – a review
There is something quite redemptive about the 2010 edition of Ntozake Shange’s experimental “choreo-poem,” For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf, which is published as a tie-in to Tyler Perry’s underwhelming film adaptation, For Colored Girls. Shange’s words restore the choreopoem’s original libratory message without the gloss and A-list names in… Continue reading for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf – a review
Between worlds: the jilbab and being transgender in Indonesia
It is a scene that wouldn’t be unfamiliar in France or Belgium: a woman’s hijab is snatched away by strangers on the street from her head despite her protest. She is told she shouldn’t wear it, or rather, she has no right to because her wearing it mocks other women and femininity itself. But it… Continue reading Between worlds: the jilbab and being transgender in Indonesia
Judge a book by its cover?: Women and sex on retro Malay book covers
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. But you might well be able to sell a book based on its cover. The world of Malay book jackets of the past (circa 1960’s to mid 1970’s) was a different place then, where nude women as decorative elements were apparently no big deal. Nowadays,… Continue reading Judge a book by its cover?: Women and sex on retro Malay book covers
An excerpt from my dissertation on ‘traditional’ same-sex eroticisms in Indonesian fiction – Part 2
First in the series of excerpts from my MA dissertation I looked at the tolerant attitudes toward homoerotic relations in Indonesian religious boarding schools as depicted in the novel Mairil. Below I explore the way the Indonesian tradition of the gemblak and warok relationship is framed in a novel by Enang Rokajat Asura. Unlike Mairil,… Continue reading An excerpt from my dissertation on ‘traditional’ same-sex eroticisms in Indonesian fiction – Part 2
Book review: The Rey Chow Reader
(Crossposted from Elevate Difference) Edited by Bowman, Columbia University Press Not many theorists would re-imagine Jane Eyre as a Maoist. However, postcolonial thinker Rey Chow does and with great aplomb. Furthermore, it’s not in the context of English literature in which Chow invokes the fictional heroine, but rather the issue of Orientalism in today’s academia.… Continue reading Book review: The Rey Chow Reader
Book review: The Material of Knowledge: Feminist Disclosures
By Susan Hekman, Indiana University Press This is a book for the post post-modernist thinker. Written by professor of political science, Susan Hekman, The Material of Knowledge: Feminist Disclosures seeks to alleviate the theorist’s conundrum with the material consequences in the event of natural disasters and destruction. Many theorists today are curiously silent on tsunamis,… Continue reading Book review: The Material of Knowledge: Feminist Disclosures
Forbidden Love: Indonesian LGBT book covers
The following are just a few of the many books I will have to plough through this summer. Cinta Terlarang – Sebuah Novel Untuk Dewasa (Forbidden Love – A Novel For Adults) by Andre Aciman. Synopsis (translated from Indonesian by yours truly): Elio, a young Italian man, has fallen head over heals for Oliver, his… Continue reading Forbidden Love: Indonesian LGBT book covers
Claudine, a transgender tragedy for girls: A critical review
From the start, a scene with a young child who steps into a psychiatrist’s salon because of a gender identity “problem” already seals the reader’s fate to a gloomy foregone conclusion. The young child is Claudine, the eponymous character of Ryoko Ikeda’s 1987 4-part manga and the central subject of much intrigue and heartbreak. The… Continue reading Claudine, a transgender tragedy for girls: A critical review
Privilege: A Reader
Edited by Michael Kimmel and Abby L. Ferber Westview Press A historian once said that the more one can know about something, the more you can control it. Michel Foucault was specifically talking about the control of psychiatric patients, prison inmates, and people’s sex lives, but we can certainly extend his thoughts to a plethora… Continue reading Privilege: A Reader
Alicia Izharuddin 