Springer The Southeast Asian Woman Writes Back: Gender, Identity and Nation in the Literatures of Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines: 6 (Asia in Transition, 6)

This collection of essays examines how Southeast Asian women writers engage with the grand narratives of nationalism and the modern nation-state by exploring the representations of gender, identity and nation in the postcolonial literatures of Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Bringing to light the selected works of overlooked local women writers and providing new analyses of those produced by internationally-known women authors and artists, the essays situate regional literary developments within historicized geopolitical landscapes to offer incisive analyses and readings on how women and the feminine are imagined, represented, and positioned in relation to the Southeast Asian nation.The book, which features both cross-country comparative analyses and country-specific investigations, also considers the ideas of the nation and the state by investigating related ideologies, rhetoric, apparatuses, and discourses, and the ways in which they affect women’s bodies, subjectivities, and lived realities in both historical and contemporary Southeast Asian contexts. By considering how these literary expressions critique, contest, or are complicit in nationalist projects and state-mandated agendas, the collection contributes to the overall regional and comparative discourses on gender, identity and nation in Southeast Asian studies. Review “This book is not just significant for women readers, but also Southeast Asian scholars and feminist scholars in general. … this book is still rich in analyzes of how heteronormative patriarchal countries uphold gender expectations and the concept of femininity in Southeast Asia.” (Azalia Muchransyah, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Vol. 176 (2-3), 2020) From the Back Cover This collection of essays examines how Southeast Asian women writers engage with the grand narratives of nationalism and the modern nation-state by exploring the representations of gender, identity and nation in the postcolonial literatures of Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Bringing to light the selected works of overlooked local women writers and providing new analyses of those produced by internationally-known women authors and artists, the essays situate regional literary developments within historicized geopolitical landscapes to offer incisive analyses and readings on how women and the feminine are imagined, represented, and positioned in relation to the Southeast Asian nation.The book, which features both cross-country comparative analyses and country-specific investigations, also considers the ideas of the nation and the state by investigating related ideologies, rhetoric, apparatuses, and discourses, and the ways in which they affect women’s bodies, subjectivities, and lived realities in both historical and contemporary Southeast Asian contexts. By considering how these literary expressions critique, contest, or are complicit in nationalist projects and state-mandated agendas, the collection contributes to the overall regional and comparative discourses on gender, identity and nation in Southeast Asian studies. About the Author Dr Grace V. S. Chin is a senior lecturer in the English Language and Literature Studies programme at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang. Previously, she taught English Literature at Universiti Brunei Darussalam and The University of Hong Kong. In 2016, she was awarded senior fellowship by the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian & Caribbean Studies (KITLV) in Leiden, The Netherlands. Her areas of interest include the literatures of postcolonial Southeast Asia and Asian women’s writings, with focus on race and gender in contemporary societies and diasporas. Her articles have appeared in refereed journals such as The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, World Englishes, Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, and T