Whither Gender Studies in Sarawak?

This chapter reviews gender research in the field of sociology and anthropology in Sarawak. The discussion is contextualised in the wider debates of women and gender studies and explores the development of anthropology of women to a feminist anthropology and a feminist ethnography. The chapter argue...

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Main Author: Hew, Cheng Sim
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Springer Singapore 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15761/
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author Hew, Cheng Sim
author_facet Hew, Cheng Sim
author_sort Hew, Cheng Sim
building UNIMAS Institutional Repository
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description This chapter reviews gender research in the field of sociology and anthropology in Sarawak. The discussion is contextualised in the wider debates of women and gender studies and explores the development of anthropology of women to a feminist anthropology and a feminist ethnography. The chapter argues three salient points. First, research that disaggregates women and men and discusses their differential experience of a social phenomenon is not necessarily a gender study because, for the purposes of this chapter, gender studies is defined as research with an explicit feminist agenda. Second, anthropologists studying indigenous societies in Sarawak often point out that gender is unmarked and therefore gender relations are of little interest. I argue instead that gender is deeply implicated in processes of social transformation and the black box of gender relations requires unpacking in the context of rapidly changing Sarawak. Third, the future of gender studies in Sarawak in the field of anthropology and sociology is challenging, as there is no critical mass of researchers and academics in this specific field for capacity building among students and young scholars.
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spelling unimas-157612017-05-25T00:18:47Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15761/ Whither Gender Studies in Sarawak? Hew, Cheng Sim HM Sociology This chapter reviews gender research in the field of sociology and anthropology in Sarawak. The discussion is contextualised in the wider debates of women and gender studies and explores the development of anthropology of women to a feminist anthropology and a feminist ethnography. The chapter argues three salient points. First, research that disaggregates women and men and discusses their differential experience of a social phenomenon is not necessarily a gender study because, for the purposes of this chapter, gender studies is defined as research with an explicit feminist agenda. Second, anthropologists studying indigenous societies in Sarawak often point out that gender is unmarked and therefore gender relations are of little interest. I argue instead that gender is deeply implicated in processes of social transformation and the black box of gender relations requires unpacking in the context of rapidly changing Sarawak. Third, the future of gender studies in Sarawak in the field of anthropology and sociology is challenging, as there is no critical mass of researchers and academics in this specific field for capacity building among students and young scholars. Springer Singapore 2017 Book Chapter PeerReviewed Hew, Cheng Sim (2017) Whither Gender Studies in Sarawak? In: Borneo Studies in History, Society and Culture. Asia in Transition, Part 2 (4). Springer Singapore. ISBN Online ISBN 978-981-10-0672-2 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306079789_Whither_Gender_Studies_in_Sarawak DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0672-2_11
spellingShingle HM Sociology
Hew, Cheng Sim
Whither Gender Studies in Sarawak?
title Whither Gender Studies in Sarawak?
title_full Whither Gender Studies in Sarawak?
title_fullStr Whither Gender Studies in Sarawak?
title_full_unstemmed Whither Gender Studies in Sarawak?
title_short Whither Gender Studies in Sarawak?
title_sort whither gender studies in sarawak?
topic HM Sociology
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15761/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15761/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15761/