Author Description

Fragmented Vision provides descriptions and analyses by leading social scientists of current social and cultural movements in Malaysia, especially as these relate to recent political developments in the country. The topics examined include Malay political culture, the emergence of feminism, Chinese social and cultural movements, popular culture in Malaysia, ethnicity and the left, and ethnic minorities. Drawing on recent developments in social theory, this study provides innovative perspectives on the Malaysian scene, in language which does not suffer from being either jargonistic or esoteric. This important new book points to the emergence of a new scholarship of Malaysia marked as never before by a strong Malaysian voice, by a sophisticated awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of recent theories of the cultural dimensions of modernity and by a critical and committed stance. All those who have contributed to the volume are established experts on Malaysian politics, sociology and anthropology. They are either Malaysians themselves, or academics with a long-standing commitment to Malaysia. This book is essential reading for academics, students, teachers, journalists, teachers and others who are not satisfied with existing attempts to analyse Malaysian culture and society in terms provided by traditional western social science, and who are interested in the perspectives being developed by critical scholars on and in Malaysia.