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?
Research and publications
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
Sexist men and the people who love them
First published on Loyar Burok on 12th August 2013 This article is about the men who walk amongst us whom we admire, whom we call our friends, lovers, husbands, fathers, brothers. If you prefer, this article may also be about the ‘other’ men out there, the rapists, child abusers, sexual harassers, and other shadowy characters… Continue reading Sexist men and the people who love them
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
On blogging or how my life presents itself online
The frightful genius of Charlie Brooker’s first episode of Black Mirror has got several things right about social media and new telecommunication technologies: how we choose to present ourselves to the world is highly selective and based on narcissistic drives. Those of us who are more decorous in our internet use would loath to reveal… Continue reading On blogging or how my life presents itself online
Why did the independent Islamic film community fail in Indonesia?
Last year when I lived in Jakarta, I chased down people of the Indonesian film community – producers, directors, critics, scholars, festival organisers – to talk about the boom years of ‘Islamic cinema’ following the success of Ayat-ayat Cinta (2008, dir. Hanung Bramantyo). In the following interview, I spoke with the film scholar Katinka van… Continue reading Why did the independent Islamic film community fail in Indonesia?
All singing and dancing – Islamic pop music in Indonesia
First published on The State Pop singers like Vidi Aldiano are nothing like the nasyid* groups, the more conventional all-male singers of Islamic ditties. Young, fresh-faced and nary a skullcap in sight, he dresses like any other young man in urban Indonesia in ubiquitous t-shirt and slim-fitting jeans. The music is like any other unoriginal… Continue reading All singing and dancing – Islamic pop music in Indonesia
Women’s exodus from the work force: Not a simply matter of brain drain
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
Direct address in Asrul Sani’s Para Perintis Kemerdekaan
In my doctoral research on the poetics of Islam and gender in Indonesian cinema, I found a few inventive cinematic devices and techniques used in the Islamic film genre to achieve various desired effects. In the case of the Indonesian Islamic film, the main desired effect is the use of film as a medium for… Continue reading Direct address in Asrul Sani’s Para Perintis Kemerdekaan
Alicia Izharuddin 