CMS Seminars Archive (2006)
"Recent Malay Religious Magazines as Approaches to Islamic High Culture"
Joint Centre for Malaysian Studies and Centre of Southeast Asian Studies seminar
Thursday 26th October 2006, 11.00 am - 12.30 pm
Manton Room SG02, Ground Floor, Menzies Building (11) South, Monash University Clayton campus,
Speaker: Dr Dennis Walker, Honorary Research Associate Centre for Malaysian Studies, Monash Asia Institute
The Malays urbanized under Dr Mahathir. There is however a sense of crisis in their society, culture and identity that makes some young, modern professional Malays open to accepting new elaborate interpretations of Islam from Malaysia or from the Middle East. The paper stresses, as a source for new liberal Islamism, not inter-ethnic relations, but problems in internal Malay culture, and also the inherent weight and quality of the new visions of Islamic identity and civilization. Post modernity rejects binary opposites and calls for the synthesis of clashing discourses. This fosters attempts in Malaysia to grant a hearing to the communist tradition in Malayan history. Even very liberal Islamists resist this. The Islamists try to distance Malaysia to some extent from Arab Islamism. The uproar that the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed caused amongst Arabs did not stop the Malaysian Islamists from seeing some good things in Westerners. Although the Arabs are being distanced to some extent in these discussions, all such controversies bring about a novel influx of modern Arabic terms into Malay. Both ultrist and liberal Islamists want to slim down classical Islam to leave mainly the Quran which will then be streamlined to function in post modernity.
This study reviews the recent responses in Malay religious magazines of liberal Islamist intellectuals in Malaysia to events in Patani, Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine.
Dr Dennis Walker graduated with First Class Honours in English and Arabic from Melbourne University. From 1969 he studied Hindi, Bengali and Urdu in South Asia and Arab-oriented Muslim revivalist movements. He obtained his MA from Melbourne University with a thesis entitled " al-Jahiz and the National Dispute in Classical Arabic Literature" and a PhD from ANU on "Islamic and Pan-Arab Identities and Acculturated Muslim Egyptian Intellectuals 1892-1952" He has lectured in Islamic Studies and Arabic in the Department of Middle East Studies, Melbourne University, ANU and Deakin University.
His book Islam and the Search For African-American Nationhood: Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam was published in Atlanta City in 2005 and his research on Lebanese Maronite history is being published as articles and a monograph by Kaslik University, Lebanon and by the German Orient Institut in Bayrut.
"Cinematique-intent: Visual culture and the discourse of multiculturalism in Malaysia and Australian cinemas"
Joint National Centre for Australian Studies/Centre for Malaysian Studies/Centre for Southeast Asian Studies Seminar
Thursday 28 September 2006, 11.00 am - 12.30 pm
Manton Room SG02, Ground Floor, Menzies Building (11) South, Monash University Clayton campus
Mr Badrul Abu Hassan, Australia-Malaysia Fellow with Monash University's National Centre for Australian Studies.
Chair: Dr Wendy Smith, Director, Centre for Malaysian Studies, Monash Asia Institute
This seminar explores to what extent visual narratives and aesthetics have been deployed by Australian and Malaysian filmmakers in visually constructing the realities of their respective multicultural societies. It examines how selected features of a film's visual narrative or images can engage its audience into thinking about their subjectivities and everyday experience of living within a multicultural society. It aims to enhance our understanding about multicultural society in Australia and Malaysia from a cinematic perspective.
Biodata
Badrul Redzuan ABU HASSAN is an academic at the School of Media and Communication Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Malaysia (UKM). He currently teaches undergraduate courses such as Media Discourse, Media Semantics and Audience Analyses. He was formerly affiliated with the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, where he taught literary courses under the domain of Postcolonial Literature. This grounding in literary scholarship (corpus, theories and criticism) has given him a multi-disciplinary focus, which is advantageous in teaching and researching media and cultural studies. His research interests are in Visual and Mobile Cultures, Postcolonial Literatures and Films.
Enquiries:
Dr Wendy Smith 9905-9250 wendy.smith@buseco.monash.edu.au
"Managing Collateral Damage: An Anthropologist's Viewpoint of the Abdullah-Mahathir Controversy"
A seminar hosted by the Malaysian Studies Centre and the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash Asia Institute
Thursday 13 July 2006, 11.00 am
Room W204, Menzies Building (11), Monash University Clayton campus
(Please note the change in venue from Room SG02 to Room W204)
Professor A. B. Shamsul, Professor of Social Anthropology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Abstract
Since Tun Dr Mahathir, the Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years, handed over power to his chosen successor, Dato' Seri Abdullah Badawi in October 2003, the world has waited curiously to see what role the ex-PM would choose to play. Despite having no official government role, would he cast himself as the "elder statesman" like Lee Kuan Yew, try to be the power behind the throne, or just fade from the scene? For a time, PM Abdullah implemented slow but steady reform with seemingly little interference, but recently Mahathir emerged with his old acerbic style, accusing his successor of reversing his policies and mishandling the Malaysia Singapore causeway issue.
The seminar will examine the controversy which has shaken Malaysia's "state of stable tension" and which has understandably been causing serious concern within the business sector, just when Malaysia was receiving renewed investor confidence through Abdullah's trajectory of reform and his sincere international diplomacy.
About the Speaker
Shamsul A.B., who was awarded his PhD at Monash University, is Professor of Social Anthropology and Director, Institute of the Malay World & Civilization (ATMA) and the Institute of Occidental Studies (IKON) at the National University of Malaysia (UKM). His research over the last two decades has focussed on politics, culture and economic development in Southeast Asia, with an empirical focus on Malaysia. He is consulted frequently as a social analyst on Malaysian current affairs by BBC London, Radio Australia, Radio Netherlands, Radio Singapore International, Far Eastern Economic Review and Asian Wall Street Journal.
"Muslims in Malaysia: Identities, Issues and Concerns"
Joint seminar hosted by the Centre for Malaysian Studies, Centre of Southeast Asian Studies and Monash Asia Institute
Wednesday 12 July 2006, 10.00 am
Room S822, Level 8 South, Monash Asia Institute
Menzies Building (11), Monash University Clayton campus
Dr. Patricia A. Martinez,
Associate Professor, University of Malaya
Senior Research Fellow, Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya
In the paternalism prevalent in many younger states such as Malaysia, elites - whether in government, politics, academia or civil society - speak on behalf of and appropriate the voice of ordinary citizens. The discourse of what 'Muslims are…' 'Islam wants…' 'Muslim women need…' is rarely if ever premised on research, surveys or other modes of enabling the voice of a sufficiently broad, representative base of the population.
In a two week period in December 2005/January 2006, a survey was conducted of 1,000 Malaysian Muslims in Peninsular Malaysia using a random sample based on the 2000 population census of Malaysia. The survey sought information on Malaysian Muslims' identities, issues and concerns. The data includes respondents defining their Muslim identity, their perspectives on an Islamic state, women as Shari'a court judges, their resources and influences regarding Islam, interfaith dialogue, living amongst non-Muslims and attitudes towards Australia, the USA and Europe. Dr. Martinez will discuss the Malaysian context and her survey findings in this seminar.
Background Information
Read more about the findings of this survey in an article published under the Opinion Column in the New Straits Times on 10 August 2006.