The Paradigm of Malayness in Literature.

Bahar, Ida Baizura

Abstract

This study is a study on the paradigm of Malayness in literature, taking as its point of departure the understanding of Malayness in Malaysia. A prominent Malaysian social anthropologist, Shamsul Amri Baharuddin (Shamsul A. B.), has outlined a contemporary understanding of Malayness in Malaysia based on an authority-defined social reality: the three pillars of Malayness comprising Bahasa/language (Malay), agama/religion (Islam) and raja/monarchy (the Malay rulers). I hypothesised in this study, however, that a broader understanding of Malayness is reflected in the works of literature in the form of an everyday-defined social reality consisting also of adat/culture, ethnicity and identity apart from the Malay language, Islam and the Malay rulers. The focus of this study centres on an exploration of the paradigm of Malayness in a body of English and Malay literary works on the Malay World based on six elements of the paradigm of Malayness I hypothesised, namely the Malay language, Islam, the Malay rulers, adat/culture, ethnicity and identity. The hypothesised paradigm of Malayness is employed as a conceptual framework where analyses of selected works in both English and Malay literature are conducted based on a close textual analysis approach. The results from the analyses are then compared and contrasted. This study has determined that Shamsul's three pillars of Malayness as an authority-defined social reality cannot be corroborated in the works of literature because I found that the paradigm of Malayness in literature is in fact an everyday-defined social reality. It is understood to refer to not only the three pillars but to a broader understanding comprising adat/culture, ethnicity and identity as I hypothesised. The paradigm of Malayness is found to be an everyday-defined social reality based on a local and broad understanding and therefore contests the current understanding of Malayness as an invented tradition conceptualised ideologically during colonial times.

Citation

Bahar, I. B. The Paradigm of Malayness in Literature. (Thesis). SOAS University of London

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 12, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 12, 2020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00033701
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2010