Research and publications

New piece on New Mandala: Rape and the pantomime of misogyny

I have a new piece up on New Mandala published on 19th February where I try to grips with the violent misogyny in Malaysian politics. It is a mere platitude to argue that these male politicians are misogynistic. What’s more pertinent to ask is, why are they are using their platforms to air these views,… Continue reading New piece on New Mandala: Rape and the pantomime of misogyny

New column on the Malay Mail: Are we ready for post-nationalism?

I have a new column out on the Malay Mail, Are ready for postnationalism?, published on 13th February 2015. It’s nice to see the dust settling after a week of nationalistic confabulation. In its wake, the political appropriation of the life and achievements of Tunku Abdul Rahman last week left a distinct kind of aftertaste.… Continue reading New column on the Malay Mail: Are we ready for post-nationalism?

New column on the Malay Mail: The economics of virginity in patriarchal Malaysia

My column on the Malay Mail, The economics of virginity in patriarchal Malaysia, published 2nd February 2015: Let’s forget that the hymen is central to the idea of (female) virginity. Focus instead on virginity as a cultural and social form of control. When we do this, we will discover that virginity is only a construct… Continue reading New column on the Malay Mail: The economics of virginity in patriarchal Malaysia

Against fluff feminism

Every so often, ‘feminism’ would bubble up to the surface of the Malaysian mediasphere. It would be shared and retweeted on social media, but it would not stimulate a lengthy (documented) discussion on what it really is, what its aims are, and how people often get it ‘wrong’. This post is on the latter concern;… Continue reading Against fluff feminism

New essay on The New Inquiry

The New Inquiry has kindly published an essay I’ve written on Islamic astronomy, ritual, and outer space in their January issue on ‘Stars’. Here is an excerpt: Astrological and cosmological inquiry by medieval Muslim and Arabian scholars (that is, they wrote in Arabic) were concerned with the link that connected the earth and the night… Continue reading New essay on The New Inquiry

Mahasiswa – a universal identity or a Malay masculine one?

The figure of the mahasiswa or male university student is in the news again, demanding the liberation of Malaysian academia from draconian government intervention. There is also a ‘rising star’ of student activism: 23 year old Fahmi Zainol, a young Malay man of utopian political and intellectual ambition. As the president of University of Malaya’s… Continue reading Mahasiswa – a universal identity or a Malay masculine one?

Social mobility versus social climbing

I’ve recently written and submitted a research proposal on social mobility amongst the Indian female underclass (mostly plantation workers and their descendants) in pre and post-independence Malaya. Despite the predominating narrative that the life potential of the Indian underclass is impeded by caste inequality, ethnicity, and by being female, I was nonetheless interested in channels… Continue reading Social mobility versus social climbing

Published
Categorized as Malaysia

Feminism without women

The title of this blog post is a reference to Tania Modleski’s 1991 book [1] which has a pointed retort to the postmodernist turn in feminism and its impact on solidarity and political mobilising. The retort had a more specific aim; in 1988, Denise Riley had published Am I That Name? [2], a sort of… Continue reading Feminism without women