Making a nation: The colonial university as contact zone in the novels of Adibah Amin
In the 1950s, cities such as Singapore, Johor Bahru, and Kuala Lumpur were sites of intellectual and political ferment as Malaya and Singapore moved towards independence from British rule. Along with the struggle for independence, notions of identity, nation and belonging were also being played out...
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| Format: | Proceeding Paper |
| Language: | English English |
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2017
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| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/62269/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/62269/8/62269-Abstract.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/62269/9/62269-Making%20a%20nation.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848785817102712832 |
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| author | Ahmad, Siti Nuraishah |
| author_facet | Ahmad, Siti Nuraishah |
| author_sort | Ahmad, Siti Nuraishah |
| building | IIUM Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In the 1950s, cities such as Singapore, Johor Bahru, and Kuala Lumpur were sites of intellectual and political ferment as Malaya and Singapore moved towards independence from British rule. Along with the struggle for independence, notions of identity, nation and belonging were also being played out in the cities, as the various ethnic communities remained divided. The Malaysian writer Adibah Amin (1936 - ) explores these issues in two of her novels, Tempat Jatuh Lagi Dikenang (1983) and This End of the Rainbow (2006), from the point-of-view of a young, female, Malay student in Singapore in the early ‘50s. This paper thus examines the city in Adibah’s novels as a site where competing visions of a future post-colonial nation are laid out and debated, and how the conflicts in the novels reveal the role of discourses on ‘race’ and identity in imagining the nation. Of particular interest is Adibah’s depiction of the university as a contact zone where young Malayans challenge colonialism and imagine a future nation whose members enjoy equal rights. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T16:59:10Z |
| format | Proceeding Paper |
| id | iium-62269 |
| institution | International Islamic University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T16:59:10Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | iium-622692018-03-02T02:34:03Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/62269/ Making a nation: The colonial university as contact zone in the novels of Adibah Amin Ahmad, Siti Nuraishah PR English literature In the 1950s, cities such as Singapore, Johor Bahru, and Kuala Lumpur were sites of intellectual and political ferment as Malaya and Singapore moved towards independence from British rule. Along with the struggle for independence, notions of identity, nation and belonging were also being played out in the cities, as the various ethnic communities remained divided. The Malaysian writer Adibah Amin (1936 - ) explores these issues in two of her novels, Tempat Jatuh Lagi Dikenang (1983) and This End of the Rainbow (2006), from the point-of-view of a young, female, Malay student in Singapore in the early ‘50s. This paper thus examines the city in Adibah’s novels as a site where competing visions of a future post-colonial nation are laid out and debated, and how the conflicts in the novels reveal the role of discourses on ‘race’ and identity in imagining the nation. Of particular interest is Adibah’s depiction of the university as a contact zone where young Malayans challenge colonialism and imagine a future nation whose members enjoy equal rights. 2017 Proceeding Paper NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/62269/8/62269-Abstract.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/62269/9/62269-Making%20a%20nation.pdf Ahmad, Siti Nuraishah (2017) Making a nation: The colonial university as contact zone in the novels of Adibah Amin. In: 17th Biennial AsiaPac Symposium on Literature and Culture, 22nd-24th November 2017, Mutiara Damansara, Selangor. (Unpublished) |
| spellingShingle | PR English literature Ahmad, Siti Nuraishah Making a nation: The colonial university as contact zone in the novels of Adibah Amin |
| title | Making a nation: The colonial university as contact zone in the novels of Adibah Amin |
| title_full | Making a nation: The colonial university as contact zone in the novels of Adibah Amin |
| title_fullStr | Making a nation: The colonial university as contact zone in the novels of Adibah Amin |
| title_full_unstemmed | Making a nation: The colonial university as contact zone in the novels of Adibah Amin |
| title_short | Making a nation: The colonial university as contact zone in the novels of Adibah Amin |
| title_sort | making a nation: the colonial university as contact zone in the novels of adibah amin |
| topic | PR English literature |
| url | http://irep.iium.edu.my/62269/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/62269/8/62269-Abstract.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/62269/9/62269-Making%20a%20nation.pdf |