"Unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected South and Southeast Asian writers

"Unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected South and Southeast Asian writers

This paper seeks to investigate the discourses of nationalism and national identity in the works of six Asian writers, three from South Asia and three from Southeast Asia. The South Asian writers to be discussed include Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) and Kazi Na...

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Main Author: Quayum, Mohammad Abdul
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
PE English
PI Oriental languages and literatures
PN0080 Criticism
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/45190/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/45190/1/45190.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/45190/2/45190_supplement.pdf
id iium-45190
recordtype eprints
spelling iium-451902018-01-03T07:54:08Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/45190/ "Unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected South and Southeast Asian writers Quayum, Mohammad Abdul PE English PI Oriental languages and literatures PN0080 Criticism This paper seeks to investigate the discourses of nationalism and national identity in the works of six Asian writers, three from South Asia and three from Southeast Asia. The South Asian writers to be discussed include Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) and Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976), while the Southeast Asian writers will include Lloyd Fernando (1926-2008), Adibah Amin (1936-) and Shirley Lim (1944-). The objective is to argue that although these writers wrote from different socio-political-cultural circumstances and historical periods, they all largely recommend a similar vision of nationalism and national identity for the society they represent/represented, whether it be colonial India or colonial/postcolonial Malaya/Malaysia. They all rejected a monocular, unilateral and exclusive view of national identity in favour of multiculturalism, multilateralism and inclusivism, and spurned “unity in uniformity” in support of “unity in harmony,” where cultures could co-exist in a spirit of sharing and mutual respect rather than being inimical, hierarchical or hostile towards one another. The discussion will focus on a body of Tagore’s writings, selected essays and stories by Rokeya, Nazrul’s third and final novel Kuhelika (Mystery; 1932, translated 2015), Lloyd Fernando’s second novel Green is the Colour (1993), Shirley Lim’s first novel Joss and Gold (2001) and Adibah Amin’s novel This End of the Rainbow (2013) – the symbol in the last title being quintessentially representative of all the works to be discussed in this paper. 2015-10-15 Conference or Workshop Item NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/45190/1/45190.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/45190/2/45190_supplement.pdf Quayum, Mohammad Abdul (2015) "Unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected South and Southeast Asian writers. In: Journeys of/toward Identity: A Colloquium, 15th October 2015, University of Malaya. (Unpublished)
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
language English
English
topic PE English
PI Oriental languages and literatures
PN0080 Criticism
spellingShingle PE English
PI Oriental languages and literatures
PN0080 Criticism
Quayum, Mohammad Abdul
"Unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected South and Southeast Asian writers
description This paper seeks to investigate the discourses of nationalism and national identity in the works of six Asian writers, three from South Asia and three from Southeast Asia. The South Asian writers to be discussed include Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) and Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976), while the Southeast Asian writers will include Lloyd Fernando (1926-2008), Adibah Amin (1936-) and Shirley Lim (1944-). The objective is to argue that although these writers wrote from different socio-political-cultural circumstances and historical periods, they all largely recommend a similar vision of nationalism and national identity for the society they represent/represented, whether it be colonial India or colonial/postcolonial Malaya/Malaysia. They all rejected a monocular, unilateral and exclusive view of national identity in favour of multiculturalism, multilateralism and inclusivism, and spurned “unity in uniformity” in support of “unity in harmony,” where cultures could co-exist in a spirit of sharing and mutual respect rather than being inimical, hierarchical or hostile towards one another. The discussion will focus on a body of Tagore’s writings, selected essays and stories by Rokeya, Nazrul’s third and final novel Kuhelika (Mystery; 1932, translated 2015), Lloyd Fernando’s second novel Green is the Colour (1993), Shirley Lim’s first novel Joss and Gold (2001) and Adibah Amin’s novel This End of the Rainbow (2013) – the symbol in the last title being quintessentially representative of all the works to be discussed in this paper.
format Conference or Workshop Item
author Quayum, Mohammad Abdul
author_facet Quayum, Mohammad Abdul
author_sort Quayum, Mohammad Abdul
title "Unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected South and Southeast Asian writers
title_short "Unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected South and Southeast Asian writers
title_full "Unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected South and Southeast Asian writers
title_fullStr "Unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected South and Southeast Asian writers
title_full_unstemmed "Unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected South and Southeast Asian writers
title_sort "unity in harmony": nationalism and national identity in the works of selected south and southeast asian writers
publishDate 2015
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/45190/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/45190/1/45190.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/45190/2/45190_supplement.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T21:04:19Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T21:04:19Z
_version_ 1777410831338700800

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