Brief Introduction
Having completed my Bachelors and Masters degrees at the National University of Singapore, I went on to do my PhD in history at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. In late 2013, I was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at Columbia University, New York. From 2017-2018, I was appointed as Professor and Malaysia Chair of Islam in Southeast Asia, Georgetown University, USA. My primary area of specialization is on the social and intellectual history of Islam in Southeast Asia. To date, I have published seven books touching on the themes of orientalism and colonialism, and more recently, on cosmopolitanism and reformism in Islam. I am currently working on a book that examines the long history of Sufism in Southeast Asia.
I welcome postgraduate students who are interested to work on any topics relating to the history of Islam in Southeast Asia, with a view of comparing the experiences of communities here with other groups in Asian and non-Asian societies.
My full cv is found here.
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Buy my books at Amazon and Book Depository.
Check out my articles at Google Scholar, Research Gate and Academia.
Publishers
Cornell University Press
Edinburgh University Press
Northern Illinois University Press
Amsterdam University Press
University of Chicago Press
Oxford University Press
Routledge
Teaching Areas
Religions in Southeast Asia, Colonialism and Decolonization, Social History and Historiography
Research Interests
History of Ideas; Religious Cosmopolitanism; Social Movements
Publications
BOOKS
- Islam in Malaysia: An Entwined History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019)
- Hamka and Islam: Cosmopolitan Reform in the Malay World (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2018)
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Muslim Cosmopolitanism: Southeast Asian Islam in Comparative Perspective (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016).
- Radicals: Resistance and Protest in Colonial Malaya (Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2015).
Reviewed in: Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 89, 1 (2016); Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 17, 1 (2016), Choice, 53, 5 (2016) and Postcolonial Text, Vol 11, No 4 (2016).
“This new and very well-written history provides an incredibly useful resource for scholars working on Southeast Asia, and Malaysia in particular. The book examines the emergence of Malay left-wing or radical politics from the colonial period to independence, as well as its continuities and discontinuities. In writing this history, Aljunied (National Univ. of Singapore) reclaims what has often been overlooked or pushed aside in Malaysia’s history, i.e., a historical narrative outside of what the current United Malays National Organisation (UNMO) ruling elite have established over time.” - Professor Sarah Maxim, University of California, Berkeley, Choice, 53, 5 (2016).
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Colonialism, Violence and Muslims in Southeast Asia: The Maria Hertogh Controversy and Its Aftermath (London: Routledge, 2009 [hardback] and 2010 [paperback]).
Reviewed in:
Aseasuk (Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the United Kingdom) Newsletter, 46 (2009);
Journal of the Malaysian Branch of Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS), 82, 2 (2009); Journal of Contemporary Islam, 1, 4 (2010); Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford), 21, 3 (2010); Immigrants and Minorities, 26, 1 (2011); Asian Ethnicity, 12, 2 (2011); Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 43, 1 (2012).
"...a timely contribution and represents a new approach to the Maria/Natra issue. Not only does the author's style convey the occasionally confusing and contingent nature of the case's ramifications, but the topics that interest him most reflect an engagement with contemporary scholarly theories.", Clive Kessler, American Historical Review, 166, 4 (2011).
EDITORIAL WORK ON BOOKS
ARTICLES IN JOURNALS
- “Not Just a House to Honour God”: Mosques in the Malay World as Cosmopolitan Spaces,” Global Journal Al-Tsaqafah 8, 1 (2018): 43-55.
- See more articles by Khairudin Aljunied
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"In Defense of Guided Reason: Hamka and the Reconstruction of Southeast Asian Islam," History of Religions 57, 2 (2017), pp. 107-128
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“Reorienting Sufism: Hamka and Islamic Mysticism in the Malay World”, Indonesia, 101, 1 (2016), pp. 67-84.
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“Recasting Gendered Paradigms: An Indonesian Cleric and Muslim Women in the Malay World”, Islam and Muslim-Christian Relations, 27, 2, (2016), pp. 175-193.
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“Demarginalizing the Sharia: Muslim Activists and Legal Reforms in Malaysia”, ReOrient: Journal of Critical Muslim Studies, 1, 2 (2016), pp. 127-146.
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“Political Memoirs as Contrapuntal Narratives: Said Zahari’s Dark Clouds at Dawn, Interventions: Journal of Postcolonial Studies ,18, 4 (2016), pp. 512-525.
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"Writing Reformist Histories: A Cleric as an Outsider History-Maker", The Public Historian, 37, 3 (2015), pp. 10-37.
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“Coffeeshops in Colonial Singapore: Domains of Contentious Publics”, History Workshop Journal, 78, 1 (2014), pp. 65-85.
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"Against Multiple Hegemonies: Malay Female Anti-Colonialism in British Malaya", Journal of Social History, 47, 1 (2013), pp. 153-175.
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(with Rommel Curaming), "Mediating and Consuming Violence in the Philippines: The Case of Jabidah Massacre", Critical Asian Studies, 44, 2 (2012), pp. 227-250.
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(with Rommel Curaming), "Social Memory and State-Civil Society Relations in the Philippines: Forgetting and Remembering Jabidah ‘Massacre’", special issue of Time and Society, 21, 1 (2012).
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“The Prison and the Anti-colonialist in British Malaya”, Journal of Historical Sociology, 25, 3 (2012), pp. 386-412.
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“The Other Muhammadiyah Movement: Singapore, 1958-2008”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 42, 2 (2011), pp. 281-302.
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“A Theory of Colonialism in the Malay World”, Postcolonial Studies, 14, 1 (2011), pp. 7-21.
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“Micro-history and the Study of Minorities”, Social History, 35, 1 (2011), pp. 22-35.
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"Ethnic Resurgence, Minority Communities and State Policies in a Network Society", Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 17, 2&3 (2010), pp. 304-326.
- "Rethinking Riots in Colonial South East Asia", South East Asia Research, 18, 1, (2010) , pp. 105-131.
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“British Discourses and Malay Identity in Colonial Singapore”, Indonesia and the Malay World, 37, 107, (2009), pp. 1-21.
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“The Role of Hadramis in Post-World War Two Singapore – A Reinterpretation”, Immigrants and Minorities, 25, 2, (2007), pp. 163-183.
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"Making Sense of an Evolving Identity: A Survey of Studies on Identity and Identity Formation of Malays in Singapore", Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 26, 3, (2006), pp. 371-382.
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Dayang Istiaisyah Hussin (co-author), "Estranged from the Ideal Past: Historical Evolution of Madrasahs in Singapore", Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 25, 2, (2005), pp. 249-260.
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“Films as Social History - P. Ramlee's ‘Seniman Bujang Lapok’ and Malays in Singapore (1950s-60s)”, Heritage Journal, 2, 1 (2005), pp. 1-21.
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"Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles’ Discourse on the Malay World – A Revisionist Perspective", Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asian Studies, 20, 1, (2005), pp. 1-22.
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"Edward Said and Southeast Asian Islam: Western Images of Meccan Pilgrims (Hajjis) in the Dutch East Indies, 1800-1900", Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies (Special Issue on the Life and Legacy of Edward Said), 11, 1-2, (2004), pp. 159-175.
CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
- “The Uneven Topography of Personal Memory”, in Alistair Thomson et. al, Historical Fragments in Southeast Asia (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). [co-written with Rommel Curaming]“The Uneven Topography of Personal Memory”, in Alistair Thomson et. al, Historical Fragments in Southeast Asia (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). [co-written with Rommel Curaming].
- “Introduction to Figures of Singaporean Modernity”, in Erik Harms, Joshua Barker and Johan Lindquist (eds.), The Figures of Southeast Asian Modernity (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2013).
- “The Scholar-Musician”, in Erik Harms, Joshua Barker and Johan Lindquist (eds.), The Figures of Southeast Asian Modernity (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2013).
- “Muslims and Heritage in George Town”, in Johan Saravanamuttu and Francis Hutchinson (eds.), Catching the Wind: Penang in a Rising Asia (Singapore: ISEAS, 2013).
- “Tools of conflict, levers of cohesion: Culture and religion in Muslim Southeast Asia”, Sven Schottman and Joseph Camilleri (eds.), Culture and Religion and Conflict in Muslim Southeast Asia (London: Routledge, 2012), pp. 179-191.
- (with Timothy P. Barnard), "A Century of Hope, Experiment and Change", in Aileen Lau (ed.), Malay Heritage in Singapore (Singapore: Malay Heritage Foundation, 2011), pp. 40-56.
- (with Timothy P. Barnard), "Temasek, Singapura and Singapore: From Ancient to Colonial Port", in Aileen Lau (ed.), Malay Heritage in Singapore (Singapore: Malay Heritage Foundation, 2011), pp. 20-31.
- “Perils and Prospects of Researching the Maria Hertogh Controversy in Singapore”, in Loh Kah Seng and Liew Kai Khiun (eds.), The Makers and Keepers of Singapore History (Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society, 2010), pp. 139-146.
- “Hadhramis within Malay Activism: The Role of Al-Saqqaf (s) in Post-War Singapore”, Ahmed Ibrahim Abushouk and Hassan Ahmed Ibrahim (eds.), The Hadhrami Diaspora in Southeast Asia: Identity Maintenance or Assimilation?, (Leiden: Brill, 2009), pp. 225-244.
- “Beyond the Rhetoric of Communalism”, in Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied and Derek Heng (eds.), Reframing Singapore: Memory, Identity and Trans-Regionalism (ICAS Series) (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009).
BOOK REVIEWS
- Review of Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir, Alexius Pereira and Bryan S. Turner, Muslims in Singapore: Piety, Politics and Policies (London: Routledge 2010), Asian Journal of Political Science, 18, 2 (2010), pp. 224-226.
- Review of Engseng Ho, The Graves of Tarim (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), Journal of Islamic Studies, 20, 2 (2009), pp. 270-271.
- Review of Loh Kah Seng, The Making and Unmaking Asylum (SIRD: Kuala Lumpur, 2009), World Health Organization Newsletter, (2009).
- Review of Nicholas Tarling, Nationalism in Southeast Asia (New York: Routledge, 2004), Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 38, 3, (2007).
- Review of Joel Kahn, Other Malays: Nationalism and Cosmopolitalism in the Modern Malay World (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2006), Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 38, 2 (2007).
- Review of Yoginder Sikand, Bastion of Believers: Madrasas and Islamic Education in Indian (New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2005), Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 27, 1, (2007).
- Review of Peter Borschberg, Iberians in the Singapore-Melaka Area (16th to 18th Century), (Harrassowitz Verlag: Germany, 2004), Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde, 161, 2, (2005).
- Review of Abu Talib Ahmad and Tan Liok Ee (eds.), New Terrains in Southeast Asian History, (Singapore University Press; Singapore, 2003), Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 36, 1, (2005).
- Review of Alijah Gordon (ed.), The Propagation of Islam in the Indonesian-Malay Archipelago, (Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Sociological Research Institute (MSRI), 2001), Asian Journal of Social Science, 31, 3, (2004).
SHORTER ARTICLES/COMMENTS IN JOURNAL
- “Islamic Education – Singapore”, in John Esposito, Oxford Islamic Studies Online, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/ (2012).
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"On the Revival and Commitment to Malay Studies", Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 82, 2, 97 (2009), pp. 201-205.
- “The Majlis Bercukur Survives the Tests of Time, Modernization and Social Change”, SangSeng (UNESCO), 20, (2007), pp. 48-49.
- "Arabs in Singapore" and "Abdullah Bin Abdul Kadir (Munshi Abdullah)", in Encyclopedia of Singapore (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2006).
Other Information
1. EDUCATION
§ BA Hons (2nd Upper) and MA (National University of Singapore)
§ PhD (School of Oriental and African Studies)
2. WORK EXPERIENCE
§ General Education Officer, Ministry of Education (July 2003-July 2004)
§ Teaching Assistant, Department of Malay Studies (July 2004-April 2005)
§ Assistant Professor, Department of Malay Studies (April 2008-January 2013)
§ Associate Professor, Department of Malay Studies (January 2013-Present)
3. AWARDS, MEDALS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
§ Fulbright Visiting Scholar Grant, Columbia Univerisity, USA (2013)
4. PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANCY WORK
§ Georgetown (Penang) Muslim Enclave Rejuvenation Project (2010- 2011)