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UID:393@harvard-yenching.org
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250325T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250325T130000
DTSTAMP:20250225T230857Z
URL:https://www.harvard-yenching.org/events/writing-tribal-in-english-post
 colonial-racial-modernity-and-indigenous-knowledge-in-malaysian-literature
 /
SUMMARY:“Writing Tribal in English”: Postcolonial Racial Modernity and 
 Indigenous Knowledge in Malaysian Literature
DESCRIPTION:Co-sponsored with the Asia Center\n\nIt is widely acknowledged 
 that the indelible influence of Anglo-American modernism on postcolonial l
 iteratures in English is marked by “anxiety and ambivalence” given tha
 t modernity’s association with the West relies on the denial of “subje
 ctivity\, language and history” of colonized peoples (Gikandi 1992\, 2).
  Yet\, in rapidly developing postcolonial Asia\, English is no longer view
 ed exclusively as a Western\, imperial tongue but embraced as a global lan
 guage. In Malaysia\, this re-signification of English is sustained by fram
 ing the language as a utilitarian vehicle for economic modernization whils
 t emphasizing Malay’s importance as the national language to preserve cu
 ltural sovereignty.\n\nThis seminar examines the implicit idea that the cu
 ltural and economic functions of language can be separated as such in the 
 production of Malaysian literature in English. We will consider the work o
 f Golda Mowe\, an Iban author from Sarawak\, Malaysia\, which grapples wit
 h the conundrum of what she calls “writing tribal in English\,” namely
 \, that fictional representations of Iban cultural knowledge tend to be ma
 de legible as fantastical and thus non-modern. Focusing on her novella Fai
 ry Con (2020)\, we will explore how the work plays with the genre conventi
 ons of speculative fiction to frame Indigenous epistemologies as contempor
 aneous with the economic forces of modern life.
CATEGORIES:Visiting Scholar Talks
LOCATION:Common Room (#136)\, 2 Divinity Avenue\, Cambridge\, MA\, United S
 tates
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