0000-0002-5248-8103 About
I am a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sabah and have been primarily working on Malaysian Literature in English with a particular interest in female life-writings. I have a keen interest in studies related to national discourse and the ways in which the norms and limits of gender contest dominant narratives about the nation. Along this line of inquiry, my research includes an investigation of ethnicity/race, diaspora, and transnationalism as compounding issues in the debate leading to nationalism and national identity. My article on contemporary nature writings by Malaysian female life-writers of multi-ethnic origin has been published in the Journal of Postcolonial Writing (2019). My work on the Malaysian Indian life-writer who straddles both the English and Tamil literary writing tradition has been published in Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities in February 2022. A book chapter on Malaysian English-language literature with Oxford University Press (ISBN 9780192855282) is slated for publication in 2024.
My current research interest is in areas related to postcolonial indigenous studies. I have an interest in the minority indigenous Lundayeh and lead several research grants that examine the indigeneity of this community from the lens of socio-culture which includes oral literature, traditional food system, and, the intersection of the community’s indigenous identity with the surrounding forest environment as well as the translocation of pre-Christian practices into the community’s current modern, post-Christian way of life. My article about the indigenous Lundayeh and their food systems has been published in James Cook's in-house journal, eTropic (2020). My chapter on Lundayeh native agency has been recently published in the Routledge Companion to Humanism and Literature (London) edited by Michael Bryson (2022). Another article on menstruation and its representation among the indigenous Lundayeh women is slated for publication in Johns Hopkins’ Journal of Women’s History in year 2023. My co-edited book with Dr Khoo Ying Hooi from Universiti Malaya, "Social and Political Deglobalisation: Covid-19, Conflict, and Uncertainties in Malaysia", is scheduled for publication with Springer Nature, Singapore (ISBN 9789819968220) in early 2024.
I recently won the Environmental Humanities month (November) for an online marketing event that discusses the Lundayeh native plant, tengayen, from the University of Helsinki. I also secured the SEA LIVES Small Grants Program with the University of California, Berkeley to conduct interviews with native Lundayeh women in Long Pasia, Sabah by focusing on their live histories.
I welcome postgraduate students who are interested to work in any areas related to Anglophone and/or Gender Studies, Literary Analysis, and Indigenous Studies.
Employment
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Universiti Malaysia Sabah Senior Lecturer2003 - Present
Education
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University of Nottingham PhD2010 - 2014
Projects & Funding
Projects & funding information is unavailable.
Publications (14)
- Book Review: The Postcolonial Millennium: New Directions in Malaysian Literature in English Save
- English-language literature of Malaysia Save
- English-language literature of Malaysia Save
- Lockdowns and food security: Embodying native wisdom in rice production among the indigenous Lundayeh in Sabah Save
- Social and political deglobalisation: Covid-19, conflict, and uncertainties in Malaysia Save
- THE MALAYSIAN NATIONALIST NOVEL IN ENGLISH: A READING OF ADIBAH AMIN’S THIS END OF THE RAINBOW Save
- Lockdowns and Food Security: Embodying Native Wisdom in Rice Production Among the Indigenous Lundayeh in Sabah Save
- Headhunting and native agency in Lundayeh oral literature: a humanist perspective Save
- Which tongue? The Imported Colonial Standard or Motherland Vernacular? Exploring "Death" as the Birth of Postcolonial Malaysia in Muthammal Palanisamy's Funeral Chant Save
- Environmental challenges and traditional food practices: The indigenous lundayeh of long pasia, sabah, borneo Save