Jose Monfred C. Sy – författare

This book promotes a novel and nuanced understanding of how the practices of comparative literature have engaged with the politics of nation-building in postcolonial Southeast Asia. It provides readings of Southeast Asian literatures in a comparative context, demonstrating how such readings enable texts to engage with issues connected to postcolonial nation-building across the region. Such issues include social exclusion, urbanization and environmental destruction, post-war traumas, animal narratives, migration, identity, gender, and literature, and politics. In doing so, this book moves beyond traditional comparative literature which is overwhelmingly rooted in Western literature and scholarship. To this end, it extends an invitation to decolonize comparative literature as a discipline. Few studies have attempted to examine the alternative non-western literary traditions that emerge from this specific Asian region, and so this book presents a rich combination of theoretical and critical studies that contribute to advancing the discipline of comparative literature in Southeast Asian geographies. It is relevant to scholars working in Asian literature, comparative literature, and in postcolonial frameworks in philosophy and cultural studies.

This book promotes a novel and nuanced understanding of how the practices of comparative literature have engaged with the politics of nation-building in postcolonial Southeast Asia. It provides readings of Southeast Asian literatures in a comparative context, demonstrating how such readings enable texts to engage with issues connected to postcolonial nation-building across the region. Such issues include social exclusion, urbanization and environmental destruction, post-war traumas, animal narratives, migration, identity, gender, and literature, and politics. In doing so, this book moves beyond traditional comparative literature which is overwhelmingly rooted in Western literature and scholarship. To this end, it extends an invitation to decolonize comparative literature as a discipline. Few studies have attempted to examine the alternative non-western literary traditions that emerge from this specific Asian region, and so this book presents a rich combination of theoretical and critical studies that contribute to advancing the discipline of comparative literature in Southeast Asian geographies. It is relevant to scholars working in Asian literature, comparative literature, and in postcolonial frameworks in philosophy and cultural studies.

This volume consolidates chapters from across Southeast Asia as a means of discussing alternative development pathways. It presents radical re-imaginings of how development might look, considered alongside the growing disillusionment over mainstream development models. In suggesting alternative models of development, it reframes participatory processes from the developing world, discussing practices of decolonization, anti-capitalism, plurality, anti-racism, effacing patriarchy, and ecological sustainability, designed and executed by grassroot communities and civil society organisations (CSOs). The grassroots and social movement paradigms highlighted in this collection seek to challenge and change the dominant model of development instituted in ASEAN, which have largely failed in meaningfully addressing the issues faced by different sectors. That the book project springs from an engagement between scholars and on-the-ground practitioners means that several chapters combine reflective, case-based viewpoints. To this end, the book is relevant to scholars, students, and practitioners working in areas related to Southeast Asian politics, economy, and culture.