Malay studies, autonomous knowledge and decolonial thought

ANU Malaysia Institute Seminar Series

Seminar by Professor Syed Farid Alatas, National University of Singapore.

Syed Hussein Alatas' call for an autonomous social science tradition has influenced scholars for two generations.

Scholars and writers of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore such as Chandra Muzaffar, Shaharuddin Maaruf, Wan Zawawi Ibrahim, Noor Aisha Abdul Rahman, Syed Farid Alatas, Norshahril Saat, Azhar Ibrahim, Teo Lee Ken, Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib, Pradana Boy Zulian and Okky Puspa Madasari are all part of this autonomous social science tradition.

Young scholars of the next generation in the Malay world are incorporating this critical tradition in their scholarship as they embark on dissertations and other projects. This presentation looks at the problems of the coloniality of knowledge and the response to it in the form of the idea of autonomous knowledge.