Here and There & The Indian-Malaysian diaspora in contemporary Malaysian fiction

Abstract

Creative Component
Here and There is a collection of fourteen short stories about diasporic Indian-Malaysians living in Northern Ireland (here) and Malaysia (there). The fictional characters in this collection belong to a fully-fledged diasporic community, with some residing in their homeland while others map the transnational world. They deal with contemporary issues both in their homeland as well as across national borders, demonstrating what it is like to live in a state of double displacement, in-between-ness and in two distinct worlds. Subjects range from facing the grave repercussions of a traditional coming of age ceremony, to losing the title of Manager of the English Department to native English speakers; from pining for a cup of hot, frothy ‘teh tarik’ on a wet, chilly winter morning, to facing online dating predators in a foreign country. Three stories showcase the lives of single mothers, the most underrepresented people in Malaysian fiction.

Critical Component
'The Indian-Malaysian Diaspora in Contemporary Malaysian Fiction' provides a study on the diasporic experiences of fictional ethnic minority Indian characters in modern-day Malaysia. This study critically analyses the contemporary diasporic consciousness presented in three short stories from Latha’s Christmas and other stories (2013) by Paul GnanaSelvam and four short stories from Jungle without Water and other stories (2017) by Sreedhevi Iyer. By exploring intergenerational traumas resulting from years of drudgery in plantations as indentured labourers during British-Malaya era, theorising Indian-Malaysian identity and examining the representations of both male and female genders, the findings of this study
establish that the Indian diaspora in Malaysia, as presented by both writers in their stories, is still in the state of “arriving,” never rooted and fundamentally unhappy.

Note: Creative component is embargoed until 31 July 2028.

Date of Award	Jul 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Glenn Patterson (Supervisor) & Daniel Roberts (Supervisor)