Editor's Introduction

Abstract

The School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University, Sunway Campus established in 2010 a research niche broadly known as "Social Transformation in Southeast Asia." This title encompasses the variegated expertise of the school's staff that ranges across the humanities and social sciences, and, more importantly, reflects the school's emphasis on encouraging a critical and ethical attitude in negotiating with the many ideological issues (social, political, cultural, and economic) we encounter daily. Various activities were, and still are engendered and carried out by staff members to promote the School's research, and because of the multi-disciplinary make-up of the staff, each activity was also specific to the staff member's research field. My contribution was to run a one day, closeddoor workshop, where a select group of experts were invited to discuss the state of contemporary anglophone Malaysian literature and the local arts/literary scene.