Job Description

Project Title: Malay World Manuscripts: Medium and Method in Decentering Dominant Narratives

This research proposes to study manuscripts of the Malay world. Malay manuscripts form an important corpus of pre-imperial, pre-colonial and pre-national repository of knowledge production and representation. In this research we will utilize Malay manuscripts as a valuable archival resource in the search for medium and method in the project of ‘decolonizing knowledge’, or in the decentering of dominant narratives in knowledge production within the social sciences. Delving into texts is an exploration of past genealogies as much as it is in the interpretation of social meanings through the written word. Through a re-visit and re-reading of manuscripts the research aims to deconstruct the idea and concept of the Malay world, in relation to notions of power, gender, religion and aesthetics, and in the process, uncover an ‘other’, or alternative episteme.

We are keen to engage a Research Assistant for the above project for a period of one year – 2021-2022.

Job Requirements

The Research Assistant will be responsible for

1. identifying relevant manuscripts,
2. transliterating classical Jawi to Romanised Malay,
3. review secondary literature 
4. help organise a conference on Malay World Manuscripts
5. and any other related tasks

Qualifications

Pre-requisites for the hire are:

• Minimum Bachelor of Arts with Honours degree
• Proficient in reading and transliterating classical Jawi/Malay texts
• Good research and library skills
• Excellent in Malay and English languages, spoken and written
• Good writing and communication skills

More Information
Location: Kent Ridge Campus
Organization: Arts & Social Sciences
Department : Malay Studies
Employee Referral Eligible: No