Overview

In these lie my story - of separation from my tribe, so to speak. Of culture, its constructions, and complexities. The strange and the familiar has become me. Of the anthropology of the self, globalized in all its absurdities In the following recollections, divided into several chapters, Azly Rahman presents a mixed-genre memoir-snippets of growing up in a world rooted in the pastoral-ness and ruralness of things. The world of his kampong or the Malay village. These are stories of separation - of a mind from the body. Of the body from consciousness. Of spiritual consciousness from the reality of things. In these lie the author's story - of separation from his tribe, so to speak. Of culture, its constructions, and complexities. The strange and the familiar has become me. Of the anthropology of the self, globalized in all its absurdities. The central theme is 'growing up gangsta' in a Malay village that offered the realism and the supernaturalism of things, seen through the lens of a boy in his early teens. Through the shifting of the narration of the here and then, through poems, rapping verses, and ethnographic notes, he makes the stories accessible to readers of the English-speaking world, primarily in the United States where the author now resides and teaches. It is a story of 'boy meeting the strange part of his Malay world' yet rooted in his mother's love as an inner guide, and sanity.

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9789814882118

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Rock questioned everything young Azly had assumed central to his world and his future. It dislocated him from his society and even the people he loved, and certainly from the educational system that constrained his days-secular in the morning, an Islamic madrasa in the afternoons. Rock and roll, especially the genre of classic rock, filled his free hours. The Malaysia of the 1960s and 1970s that he brings to such vivid life in these essays includes a rouges' gallery of 'gangstas'-assassins, tricksters, addicts, ghost stories, ritual dances, ceremonies, 'possessed' young girls in a boarding school, incipient radical Muslims. Beyond the clashes of cultures and traditions, the exposure to other beliefs and values allows the boy to realize the prejudices and injustices around him-abuse of the poor, ethnic oppression, political corruption. This awareness has been the source of the many books of political commentary written by the adult Azly Rahman, a man with a doctorate and several master's degrees, who possesses a deep analytical understanding of the wrongs and failures of those in power and of what must be accomplished to achieve fairness for all. Walter Cummins, PhD, Emeritus Professor of English and Creative Writing, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Author, Publisher Emeritus at Serving House

Rock questioned everything young Azly had assumed central to his world and his future. It dislocated him from his society and even the people he loved, and certainly from the educational system that constrained his days-secular in the morning, an Islamic madrasa in the afternoons. Rock and roll, especially the genre of classic rock, filled his free hours. The Malaysia of the 1960s and 1970s that he brings to such vivid life in these essays includes a rouges' gallery of 'gangstas'-assassins, tricksters, addicts, ghost stories, ritual dances, ceremonies, 'possessed' young girls in a boarding school, incipient radical Muslims. Beyond the clashes of cultures and traditions, the exposure to other beliefs and values allows the boy to realize the prejudices and injustices around him-abuse of the poor, ethnic oppression, political corruption. This awareness has been the source of the many books of political commentary written by the adult Azly Rahman, a man with a doctorate and several master's degrees, who possesses a deep analytical understanding of the wrongs and failures of those in power and of what must be accomplished to achieve fairness for all. --Walter Cummins, PhD, Emeritus Professor of English and Creative Writing, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Author, Publisher Emeritus at Serving House

Author Information

Dr Azly Rahman grew up in Johor Bahru, Malaysia and holds a Columbia University (New York City) doctorate in International Education Development and Masters degrees in six fields of study- Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies, Communication, Creative Non-Fiction, and Fiction Writing. He has written more than 350 analyses/essays on Malaysia. His 30 years of teaching experience in Malaysia and the United States spans over a wide range of subjects, from elementary to graduate education. He is a frequent contributor to scholarly online forums in Malaysia, the USA, Greece, and Montenegro. He has edited and authored seven books; Multiethnic Malaysia- Past, Present, Future (2009), Thesis on Cyberjaya- Hegemony and Utopianism in a Southeast Asian State (2012), The Allah Controversy and Other Essays on Malaysian Hypermodernity (2013), Dark Spring- Essays on the Ideological Roots of Malaysia's General Elections-13 (2013), a first Malay publication Kalimah Allah Milik Siapa?- Renungan dan Nukilan Tentang Malaysia di Era Pancaroba (2014), Controlled Chaos- Essays on Mahathirism, Multimedia Super Corridor and Malaysia's 'New Politics' (2014), and One Nation under God, Bipolar (2015), a joint publication between Gerakbudaya and World Wise Books of New Jersey, USA, being a compilation of essays on Malaysian Cultural, Creative, and Critical Studies.

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