Sharifah Aishah Osman – författare

This book investigates the ways in which the family unit is now perceived in South and Southeast Asia and the Asian diaspora: its numerous conceptions and the changes it has undergone over the last century and into the new one. The prevailing threads that run through a significant part of the literature and cinema emerging from these societies are the challenges that confront those negotiating changing forms of family, changes which are expressed historically, politically, and socio-culturally, and often in relation to gender, ethnic, or economic imbalances. Though regional and localized in many ways, they are also very much universal in the questions they ask, the lessons they teach, and the connections they make. Theoretically, and in terms of focus, the collection offers a broad range, embracing representation and analysis from scholars across the globe and across disciplines. It assembles written and visual texts from and about India, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, and the Asian diaspora. How have more fluid concepts of family in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries affected the understanding of family in Asia? How have families in Asia resisted or embraced change? How have they responded to trauma? What do other readings—gendered, feminist, queer, and diasporic—bring to modern debates surrounding family? To what extent are notions of family, community, society, and nation represented as interchangeable concepts in Asian societies? This book questions the power dynamics, ethical considerations, and moral imperatives that underpin families and societies within, and beyond, Asian borders.

This book offers a key analysis of the changing perceptions of family in East Asian societies and the dynamic metamorphosis of “traditional” family units through the twentieth century and into the new millennium. The book focuses on investigations of the Asian family as it is represented in literature, film, and other visual media emerging from within China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, and on contestations of the power hegemonies and moral codes that underpin such representations, while also assessing Western and global influences on the Asian family. Individually and collectively, these essays examine traditions and transformations in the evolving conception of family itself and bring together a range of scholars from within and beyond the region to reflect upon the social and cultural mores represented in these texts, the issues that concern Asian families, and projections for future families in their own societies and in a globalized world. Through the written text and the lens of the camera, what directions has the understanding of family in an Asian context taken in the twenty-first century? How have the multiple platforms of media represented, encouraged, or resisted transitions during this time? Amid broader and mutating referential frameworks and cross-cultural influences, is the traditional concept of the “nuclear family” still relevant in the twenty-first century? This book lends further prominence to the diverse literary and cinematic production within East Asia and the eclectic range of media used to represent these ideas. It will be essential reading for scholars of literature, film studies, and Asian studies, and for those with an interest in the cultural and sociological implications of the changing definitions and parameters of the family unit.