An article I wrote with Clarissa Lee, Dahlia Martin and Fiona Lee, published on The Malaysian Insider, The B-Side, and Loyar Burok. A recent BFM podcast episode, “The New Brain Drain,” discussed the relatively low rate of women’s participation in the Malaysian workforce, focusing specifically on the challenges faced by mothers working outside the home.… Continue reading Women’s exodus from the work force: Not a simply matter of brain drain
Category: Culture
Field work food: Sundanese cuisine in Jakarta
During my field research in Jakarta last year, I became a fan of bakso urat (large meatballs made with bits of offal packed with collagen goodness), buntut sapi belado (oxtail cooked with chillies), road side nasi uduk (fragrant rice and uncooked herbs typically served with fried catfish or chicken), Sate Khas Senayan restaurant (best chicken… Continue reading Field work food: Sundanese cuisine in Jakarta
On skodeng visual culture
Marshall McLuhan perhaps never foresaw how the global village would one day become like a Malay village where a person’s code of morality was carefully circumscribed and their private life is everybody’s business. One aspect of the online Malay village is the exchange of saliva-inducing moral tut-tutting and cruel assassination of character between internet users… Continue reading On skodeng visual culture
On the viability of ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’ as categories in Malaysia
The first thing that would be useful when thinking about genders and sexualities in Malaysia is that the categories of ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’ are far from native and natural in the national language, Bahasa Malaysia. What is meant by ‘native’ and ‘natural’ refers to the fact that gender and sexuality are relatively recent loanwords. And… Continue reading On the viability of ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’ as categories in Malaysia
The street as stage: Muslims participating in peaceful protests
While in Denmark and Indonesia this year, I found myself standing alongside people who took to the streets to demand the end of oppression against Muslims. In Copenhagen in late summer was a protest against the retainment of the Danish armed forces in Afghanistan. In Jakarta on Valentine’s Day feminist and Muslim activists and members… Continue reading The street as stage: Muslims participating in peaceful protests
Pengajian tinggi diperniagakan, mutu pendidikan dipermangsakan
Disiar di Merdeka Review pada 26hb Jun 2012. Siaran iklan di panggung wayang sebelum mulanya filem untuk sebuah universiti swasta yang menawarkan huruf-huruf azimat atas selembar kertas – BA, MA, PhD – ialah sesuatu yang sangat membimbangkan. Dahulu kala, iklan yang mempromosikan minuman keras sering disajikan buat penonton/konsumer. Kini, pengajian tinggi didagangkan seperti kereta dan… Continue reading Pengajian tinggi diperniagakan, mutu pendidikan dipermangsakan
Mainstreaming Islam in the Indonesian public sphere: Ummi Aminah as a case study
The film premiere of Aditya Gumay’s newest film, Ummi Aminah (Mother Aminah) in Jakarta last January 2012 was situated at the crossroads of events in Indonesian film industry. Prior to the screening of the film, the film director’s address to the audience expressed a plea to the public to consume locally-made films. As I write… Continue reading Mainstreaming Islam in the Indonesian public sphere: Ummi Aminah as a case study
Notes on power and the difficulties of theorising gender in Indonesian film-making
Talking about gender in Indonesian cinema is actually quite hard when you get down to establishing a sort of link between gender as an analytical construct and gender as understood in public discourse. What was always frustrating, was that when one began to talk about gender in film, the conversation turns into a discussion about… Continue reading Notes on power and the difficulties of theorising gender in Indonesian film-making
Pendidikan seks untuk memupuk nilai bertanggungjawab
First published on Merdeka Review, 23rd March 2012. Zaman remaja merupakan masa yang paling jahil, menakutkan, dan mengujakan bagi mereka yang masih muda. Sewaktu di bangku sekolah menengah perempuan beribu tahun dahulu, saya, dengan perasaan penuh malu, bertanya kepada rakan sekelas yang lebih ‘berpengetehuan’ tentang perkara-perkara intim apakah maksudnya ‘klimaks’ atau orgasme. Jawab rakan saya… Continue reading Pendidikan seks untuk memupuk nilai bertanggungjawab
Lecture notes: Trans identities and queer acceptance in Indonesian cinema?
The following are notes from my final lecture for Sex and the City: Gender and Sexuality in Southeast Asia on trans identities in Indonesian cinema. Disclaimer on the use of ‘definitions’ Since I am teaching this class in English, to students in a British institution with a largely unproblematised epistemological culture that privileges western ways… Continue reading Lecture notes: Trans identities and queer acceptance in Indonesian cinema?
Alicia Izharuddin 