For the fourth lecture series, we are proud to present Associate Professor Dr. Maznah Mohamad, a prominent academic figure in the field of Gender and Sexuality, Malay Manuscripts as Medium and Method for Alternative Histories, Bureaucratic Islam, and Women’s Political Leadership. During the event, she presented her lecture entitled “A Micro-History of Gender in the Malay-Indonesian World Through the World of Manuscripts”.
There is no recording during this lecture session as per requested by the speaker. However, Dr. Maznah will provide the lecture note for our future publication.
Date: 23 May 2023
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Dewan Kuliah D, Fakulti Sastera & Sains Sosial, Universiti Malaya, KL
Lecture Abstract:
Gender, and sexuality have been represented and constituted in particular ways throughout a marked history of the Muslim, Malay-Indonesian world. The lecture will trace how the conception of gender could have evolved over time, as reflected through textual sources produced and circulated before the entrenchment of European colonialism. The underlying question of this lecture is to understand what makes a particular notion and practice of gender more dominant in one period over the other through the lens of a micro-history of emotions and relationships, rather than through the macro-history of rulership, organized religion, law and governance. From this, how can one understand paradoxes and contradictions of ‘doing and enacting gender’ in contemporary Muslim Southeast Asia?
Speaker’s Biodata:
Maznah Mohamad is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Malay Studies at the National University of Singapore. Her areas of research are Gender and Sexuality, Malay Manuscripts as Medium and Method for Alternative Histories, Bureaucratic Islam, and Women’s Political Leadership. Her recent published articles have been on sexuality in early Malay writings (Religions, 2021), monetisation of politics in Malaysia (Journal of Contemporary Asia, 2020), and women’s political representation in Malaysia (Southeast Asian Studies, 2018). Her book, The Divine Bureaucracy and Disenchantment of Social Life was published in 2020 (Palgrave-Macmillan). She is currently working on research towards the completion of two book manuscripts, namely, Visual Representations of Femininities in the Malay World (joint-authored, forthcoming, Amsterdam University Press) and Sexuality and Islamic Spirituality in Early Malay Writings (forthcoming, I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury Press).
Moderator’s Biodata:
Dr. Rusaslina Idrus is a Senior Lecturer at the Gender Studies Programme, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, University of Malaya. She is also one of the board members of Pusat Sejarah Rakyat (PSR) since 2015.