The Fiction Of Colonial Malaya Penerbit Usm

Author : Mohamad Rashidi Pakri
Publisher : Penerbit USM
ISBN 13 : 9838618683
Total Pages : 185 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Fiction of Colonial Malaya (Penerbit USM) written by Mohamad Rashidi Pakri and published by Penerbit USM. This book was released on 2014 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This highly original and – indeed bound to become seminal – study by Dr Mohammad RashidiPakri takes the student and scholar of Malaysian and world literature on a highly stimulating literary adventure as daring as those undertaken by the four authors he examines, Frank Swettenham, Hugh Clifford, George Maxwell and Anthony Burgess. For so long the unique case of colonial Malaya’s literary output, by these representatives of empire, have been harshly and simplistically judged merely because their works were penned at the height of Britain’s imperial project. Dr Pakri has now elevated the discourse and convincingly illustrated how these texts now become welcome additions to the postcolonial canon, once we begin to view the works on their own terms with the tools we have out our disposal today. The Fiction of Colonial Malaya makes an invaluable contribution to a more fulsome appreciation of the intricacies of colonial Malaya’s literary responses to its place in history and indeed to Malaysia’s place in world literature. Dr Wilhelm Snyman, Senior Lecturer in the School of Literatures and Languages, University of Cape Town, South Africa This is an important survey of a neglected chapter in literary history. The critical focus of postcolonialism has hitherto largely avoided a consideration of the considerable body of Anglophone fiction that emerged from pre-independence Malaya. This study rectifies that omission, offering an illuminating assessment of the work of four major writers, and arguing persuasively for the re-evaluation of their writing as part of a more general account of the development of Malaysian culture. This book makes a vital contribution to its field, and will be a valuable resource for scholars in search of an authoritative guide to the way the country was represented in the writings of its colonial masters. Dr Rob Spence, Associate Head of Department, English and History Edge Hill University, UK

Author : Mohamad Rashidi Pakri
Publisher : Penerbit USM
ISBN 13 : 9838619302
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Strengthening Local Knowledge Towards Globalization Issues And Practices (Penerbit USM) written by Mohamad Rashidi Pakri and published by Penerbit USM. This book was released on 2015-12-30 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the series of Local Knowledge publication, this book particularly deals with empowering local knowledge further, towards a more globalized vision. It is an anthology of copious articles that delves deeper into stabilizing the establishment of local knowledge and preservation of archaic knowledge, literature, traditions and culture in the Asia-Pacific region. This book pushes the boundaries of mediocrity by going to great lengths and course in its research to interpret and preserve certain dying knowledge of local cultures and literature. Mostly, the methods used in compiling these local wisdoms and memories is by immortalizing the knowledge though oral account where the gist of the research is transcribed and discussed in the articles presented in this book. This book also highlights the different perspectives of looking at local knowledge that it has subscribed to. This compilation presents how local knowledge of various disciplines is considered in different fields such as local art, political science, business and tourism and traditional folklore. The cosmic approach to looking at local knowledge through these various fields provides a holistic review of local knowledge.

Author : Mohamad Rashidi Pakri
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 126 pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Fiction of Colonial Malaya written by Mohamad Rashidi Pakri and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Editor Muhammad Haji Salleh
Publisher : Penerbit USM
ISBN 13 : 9838616575
Total Pages : 181 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Early History of Penang (Penerbit USM) written by Editor Muhammad Haji Salleh and published by Penerbit USM. This book was released on with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History states and defines rights. A history that is one-sided, that tends to be on the side of the colonizers and disregards the actual truths is an erred discourse, which nullities the rights, self-identity and pride of a nation This book aims to correct the lopsidedness and neglect. Penang and Seberang Perai have kept ancient proofs of population long before the arrival of Francis Light. For the sake of uncovering a history that reaches further in the past and unearths more truths, this book presents three scholars and well-known experts who reveal these early proofs. They are Dr Mokhtar Saidin, an archaeologist, Dr Mahani Musa, a historian and Dr Noriah Mohamed., a linguist. Their researches begin from the early proofs and lead us to the earlier decade of the arrival of East India Company.

Author : Claude Alvares
Publisher : Penerbit USM
ISBN 13 : 9838617539
Total Pages : 399 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Decolonising the University: The Emerging Quest for Non-Eurocentric Paradigms (Penerbit USM) written by Claude Alvares and published by Penerbit USM. This book was released on 2014-11-25 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book of essays is a sequel to the ‘International Conference on Decolonising Our Universities’ held in Penang, Malaysia from June 27 to 29, 2011. The Conference was jointly organised by the Universiti Sains Malaysia and Citizens International in cooperation with the Higher Education Leadership Academy of the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education. At the Conference, speaker after speaker pointed out that education in Asia and Africa is too Westcentric. It blindly apes European universities, European curricula and European paradigms. The papers in this volume examine possible ways of overcoming this problem of intellectual enslavement in Asian and African citadels of learning. It must be pointed out at the very outset that this book is not meant to be a tirade against the West. Its aim is not to ask Asian and African universities to shut out Europe and North America or to be insular or to wear blinds. Its aim is positive – to make Asian and African tertiary education truly global and at the same time socially relevant. This cannot be done unless the intellectual monopoly of the West is broken and European knowledge is made to make way for the review, teaching and expansion of the vast knowledge of other societies and cultures. European knowledge may supplement, but never replace, other valid knowledge systems and traditions. The book is divided into eight parts. Part I creates the setting, provides an overview of the state of our universities, reflects on decolonisation of our intellectual heritage and explains how colonial education was used to assault our cultures. Part II contains a wish-list of the decolonised university. There are essays on the philosophical basis of an African university and about how the sacred and the secular can be integrated and how the community can be brought back into the university. Part III critically examines the promise and performance of UNESCO in decolonisation of Asian and African institutions of higher learning. Part IV discusses eurocentrism in social sciences, in mathematics and in science curricula. Part V highlights the state of social sciences and the law today and provides an alternative discourse in social theory, history, psychotherapy, psychology, law and language education. Part VI discusses regional decolonising initiatives in the Philippines, Taiwan, Turkey and Iran. Part VII provides insights into some experiments in transforming academic pedagogy. Finally, Part VIII contains some personal journeys in decolonisation of the self. This book of essays is meant to coincide with Malaysia’s Independence Day on August 31, 1957. The hope is that the timing will underline the point that the stains of cultural and intellectual imperialism do not end with the attainment of political freedom. Freedom is a state of the mind and, regrettably, throughout Asia and Africa, the enslavement of the mind has continued long after the coloniser has gone back home. This humiliating state of affairs must end, not only to give meaning to political independence but also to improve the quality of our education by giving to our students a better panorama of world knowledge and thereby to increase their choices. Decolonisation of our universities is not an exercise in flag-waving nationalism. Its aim is ameliorative. Diversity and pluralism of knowledge systems are vital for meeting many of the moral, social and economic challenges of the times and for avoiding the frightening economic, educational and cultural consequences of Europe’s near-total intellectual and educational monopoly over Asia, Africa and Latin America. For example, Western models of development have proved to be a nightmare and have not served Asia and Africa well. Economic theories from the West have brought the whole world to the brink of an environmental catastrophe. Asian universities should offer a critique of the ethnocentrism of Western scholarship by pointing out that a middle class Western lifestyle and what that entails in terms of the nuclear family, the consumer society, living in suburbia and extensive private space may neither be workable nor desirable on a fragile planet. The humiliating story of intellectual enslavement in each field and in each region is best told in the words of the authors. What must be noted is the ways in which this subservience manifests itself. Our university courses reflect the false belief that Western knowledge is the sum total of all human knowledge. The books prescribed and the icons and godfathers of knowledge are overwhelmingly from the North Atlantic countries. Titles written by scholars and thinkers from Asia and Africa are rarely included in the book list. This may indicate a pervasive inferiority complex or ignorance of the contribution of the East to world civilisation. Any evaluation of right and wrong, of justice and fairness, of poverty and development, and of what is wholesome and worthy of celebration tends to be based on Western perceptions. Eastern ideas and institutions are viewed through Western prisms and invariably regarded as primitive and in need of change. Despite decades of political independence, the framework assumptions of our law, politics, economics, education, history, science, art and culture remain dictated by our former colonial masters. Our concept of the good life and our views on human rights have very tenuous links to our indigenous traditions. Our cultural values, domestic relations, music, food and dressing – indeed our whole Weltanschauung is constructed on a Western edifice of knowledge. Our concept of beauty has been socially constructed by Hollywood media. In our professions, most of the icons we look up to are Western. In our universities, the syllabi we draft, the books we prescribe, the theories we blindly ape, the new abodes of the sacred we worship have very little connection with our own intellectual and moral heritage. It is fashionable in Asian universities to import expatriate lecturers, external examiners and guest speakers exclusively from North Atlantic countries. Asian scholars are generally not regarded as fit for such recognition. The underlying assumption is that Asians and Africans matter little and in all aspects of existence we need civilisational guidance from the overlords of humankind in Europe and America. How did we fall into such depths of enslavement and reverse racism? An essay in the volume points out that the colonisers conquered our mind by dismissing and deriding our cultures, alienating us from our roots and putting us in awe of the culture of the masters. They used the colonial education system for the production of a competent but submissive class. They replaced local languages with the English language extinguishing along with local languages, the cultural and moral nuances and perspectives that surround a language. The colonisers falsified and obliterated historical records of intellectual achievements by Asian and African scholars and inventors. They borrowed extensively from the East but shamelessly failed to acknowledge that debt. In many cases they Latinised Eastern names to make them sound European. The world does not know that during the European Dark Ages, scintillating educational developments were taking place in Asia and Africa. While Europe slept, China, India, Persia and Egypt practised science, invented algebra, furthered mathematics, metallurgy, law and logic. They conducted complex medical operations, invented rockets, wrote treatises in philosophy, sociology and astronomy. A more recent form of Western hegemony is the yearly university ranking lists. Western education, Western science and Western achievements are subjected to evaluation on criteria that are rigged in their favour. A host of Western consultants and experts unabashedly glorify American and European achievements and certify and celebrate the unique quality of their education system. A recent claim was made that American society symbolised ‘the end of history’ implying thereby that no further human progress was necessary anywhere else. The book’s ultimate aim is to discover what needs to be done to liberate our minds and our souls; to end this academic colonialism; to restore our dignity and independence. We must shed the slavish mentality of blindly aping Western paradigms. We must stop sucking up to the Western academic system. We need to send Columbus packing back home. Not only the Columbus outside but also the Columbus within. We need to rediscover the suppressed knowledge of our civilisations and to reconnect with our rich heritage. We must embark on a voyage of discovery of our ancestors’ intellectual wanderings and rediscover the wonders and heritage of China, India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and other Eastern and African civilisations. We must combat the many fabrications and plagiarisms of Western ‘innovators’ and we must give credit where credit is due to those in Asia and Africa who pioneered the ideas. It must be clarified that it is not part of our agenda to ask European and American universities to include the treasures of the East in their syllabi. Whether their world-views should be enriched by the insights and reflections of the East, or whether they should remain insular and wear blinds, is their own problem. Further, it is not our aim to shut out the West but to end blind and exclusive reliance on it. We need to root our education in our own soil; to tap our own intellectual resources first and to make our education relevant to our societal conditions. No amount of imported academics or theories can do this, only us. We are aware that our endeavour will be mocked by many in the West. We will also be opposed by many elites in the East who believe that ‘West is best’ and whose capitulation to Europe perpetuates Western intellectual hegemony. Such opposition to the basic thesis of this book will only serve to confirm the phenomenon of ‘legitimation and false consciousness’ whereby the oppressed are so brainwashed that they cooperate with their oppressors. ‘It is the final triumph of a system of domination when the dominated start singing its virtues.’ In preparing this volume, we received invaluable help from many individuals and institutions. Universiti Sains Malaysia and Citizens International provided the funds for publication. Ayesha Bilimoria helped with the editing of the bulk of the pieces. Jenessey Dias performed brisk transcription of the presentations from the DVDs. Shafeeq, Sameera and Noor Aini Masri gave secretarial assistance. Professor Dato’ Dr. Md Salleh Yaapar and his team from the USM Press did everything else with great courtesy, speed and professionalism. Citizens International’s S.M. Mohamed Idris and Uma Ramaswamy assisted with the printing. To all of them we owe a debt of gratitude. We hope that this book will highlight what is on any measure a shameful condition and that it will inspire at least some Asian educators to think afresh, to chart new directions, to search for the best in their indigenous traditions, yet to keep the windows of their mind open to the world.

Author : Mohamad Rashidi Pakri, Simon Peter Hull, Elizabeth Joanny Openg
Publisher : Penerbit USM
ISBN 13 : 9674615369
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.69/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Agnes Keith and Other Colonial Woman Writers in Borneo written by Mohamad Rashidi Pakri, Simon Peter Hull, Elizabeth Joanny Openg and published by Penerbit USM. This book was released on 2021-12-09 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taking its cue from feminist-postcolonial studies of women’s writing in the colonial era, this book testifies to the great diversity of such writing. However, it uniquely does this by showing the existence of a richly varied and heterogeneous range of texts not only between man writers and woman writers, but, equally, amongst the women themselves. These are women, moreover, who are writing within the same relatively small region of South East Asia. As Agnes Keith, whose writing forms the focal point of this book, credibly surmises, Borneo remained, even towards the end of the colonial period, a dark and mysterious land to people in the West, largely populated, as they imagined, by tribes of headhunters. It was, therefore, to the lack of knowledge and curiosity of ordinary middle-class people in the West that Keith’s writing, and that of the other woman writers featured in this book, so engagingly responds.

Author : Nurul Farhana Low Abdullah
Publisher : Penerbit USM
ISBN 13 : 9674612025
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Dynamism of Local Knowledge Revisiting History and Culture (Penerbit USM) written by Nurul Farhana Low Abdullah and published by Penerbit USM. This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dynamism of Local Knowledge: Revisiting History and Culture give readers a critical view of history and culture through the lenses of contributors’ understanding of local knowledge and its epistemology. The essays in this volume explore the various facets of Malaysian traditions, culture, history and lifestyle. The perspectives of history and culture take a dynamic turn through exploring genres such as dance, literature, traditions and language. This book will highlight the new dynamic in local knowledge through its publication as the selected essays discuss a wide range of topics that reflect the transdisciplinary research perspectives of the respective contributors.

Author : Halimah Mohamed Ali
Publisher : Penerbit USM
ISBN 13 : 9838616834
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Orientalism from Within : Arundhati Roy and Her Contemporaries (Penerbit USM) written by Halimah Mohamed Ali and published by Penerbit USM. This book was released on with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores three Indian-English novels, which are Booker Prize nominees: Vikram Seth (1993). A Suitable Boy: Rohinton Mistry (1995). A fine Balance: and the winner of the prize Arundhati Roy (1997). The god of Small Things. The novels selected are aligned thematically by the theme of caste that runs supreme in each one. All other issues like mimicry, marriage and caste-passing, that deal with the Hindu caste movement , are considered to offer exotica. A neology has been created vis-à-vis this work. The created neology neology, 'caste-passing' is used to label the act of moving up or down the the caste ladder that is conducted in the fiction. It is based upon the act and term derived from African-American racial discourses called passing. It means taking up another identity. It has been shown via the chapters that contemporary Indian-English novels whether written within the Indian diaspora overseas or by Indians based in India have adopted Western style Orientalism. The authors make use of the Indian psyche, culture and religious worlds to regurgitate the Western bias against the Other and deliver it to the West for financial gain, which means fame and fortune for the writers. This book shows that Western Orientalsm did not end with post-colonialism in India. Neocolonialism is practiced by the West and is delivered by Indians to them. This work points out that three writers have adhered to a neocolonial Western framework. They have produced writings that pander and cater to the West since it craves for exotica and erotica from the East. Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia

Author : Sarjit Kaur
Publisher : Penerbit USM
ISBN 13 : 9838617032
Total Pages : 311 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Contemporary Perspectives in English Language Studies: Linguistics and Literature (Penerbit USM) written by Sarjit Kaur and published by Penerbit USM. This book was released on 2014-11 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discussing contemporary perspectives and new developments in the field of English language studies has gained ascendancy in view of the fact that such concerns about learning and teaching English make important contributions to society. Such discussions are of critical importance in today’s globalised societies and more needs to be done towards collaboratively presenting the growing wealth of quality research in linguistics and literature. Linguists and scholars continue to champion the need to interrogate the discourse of literary and language texts using a number of critical frameworks that help sensitise readers to the ideological nature of literary discourse and the ways in which certain dominant ideas of nation, race, ethnicity and gender are ratified or challenged. Readers need to be constantly challenged to think, interpret and evaluate differing views and perspectives. The collection of chapters in this book explores contemporary issues and perspectives in linguistics and literature among educators and researchers whose primary focus is to examine the manner in which English is used for various educational purposes from traditional curriculum demands to answering broader questions about human knowledge, global citizenship and social engagement.

Author : Nurul Farhana Low Abdullah
Publisher : Penerbit USM
ISBN 13 : 9838616907
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Retracing Tradition for a Sustainable Future: The Malaysian Experience (Penerbit USM) written by Nurul Farhana Low Abdullah and published by Penerbit USM. This book was released on 2012 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents a selection of articles aimed at introducing the field of local knowledge to a local and international audience. Based upon the theme “Retracing Tradition for a Sustainable Future,” the articles detail local practices that reflect local wisdom in various domains of knowledge such as literature, architecture, water management, tourism, dance and drama. This collection of articles embodies an important, tangible initiative by Universiti Sains Malaysia Local Knowledge Secretariat to identify and retrace indigenous local knowledge, besides documenting and conserving local wisdom for future generations. It presents an important resource for researchers and students interested in exploring the under-researched area of local knowledge and indigenous science in the Malaysian context.