Adrift on the Ocean: a study of K.S. Maniam’s displaced characters

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Indian seafarers and other activists, 1945, reenact their small boat pursuit of Dutch ship to call on crews to mutiny. Scene from Indonesia Calling, courtesy Heritage Films.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5130/tfc.v4i2.1379
Keywords:
Maniam, Malaysia, identity

Main Article Content

Susan Philip
University of Malaya

Abstract

This paper analyses two plays by Malaysian Indian author K.S. Maniam, examining his ideas about the necessity to rearticulate state-authored, essentialising notions of cultural and ethnic identity towards the creation of a more hybrid and inclusive identity which does not demand allegiance to a single, rigidly defined culture. Maniam’s main concerns in this context will be examined through a close analysis of his plays The Cord and The Sandpit: Womensis. My analysis of these two plays will be framed by the ideas articulated in Maniam’s 2001 paper “The New Diaspora”.

Article Details

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2009): Ocean of Stories: Communication & Contested Identities across the Indian Ocean

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Articles
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References

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