Diffractive spaces
An analysis of Malaysian cyberpunk
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2179508 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Netty Mattar (0000-0002-0506-5431) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 694-708 |
| Publication date | 2021-09-03 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Postcolonial Writing (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1744-9855 • E-ISSN: 1744-9863 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17449855.2021.1975409 |
| OpenAlex | W3203052678 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 24 |
The impact of new information technologies on Malaysian spatiality today is complicated by the ongoing processes of colonialism, which have violently disrupted old attachments to the land, leading to the imbrication of racial divisions and global capitalism. Malaysian cyberpunk, an emergent literature, “maps” these new spaces of global informational capitalism. While theories of hybridity and syncretism have been used to explain the assimilation and negotiation of culture in Malaysia, this article proposes an alternative approach. It reads the nation’s fundamentally polyvalent nature through the concept of diffraction, arguing that reading diffractively allows us to be attentive to how spaces connected to diverse ontologies impede, pass through, or interfere with one another, with differences being upheld rather than reduced. Analysing a selection of Malaysian cyberpunk short stories, this article shows how diffractive entanglements are constitutive of Malaysia’s complex spatial identity, offering an alternative spatial imaginary
Aesthetics · Art · Capitalism · Colonialism · Hybridity · Identity (music · Linguistics · Media studies · Negotiation · Political science · Reading (process · Social science · Sociology · Syncretism (linguistics · The Imaginary · Anthropology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Asian Studies and History · Psychology · Socioeconomic Development in Asia · Law · Philosophy
World-Systems Analysis
Comparative American Studies
Positions and Presuppositions in Science Fiction
Family
Debating Cultural Hybridity
The Confucius connection
Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
England, Slaves and Freedom, 1776–1838
Sino-Malay Relations in Peninsular Malaysia before 1942
The making of race in colonial Malaya
What Do We Mean When We Say "Global Science Fiction"? Reflections on a New Nexus
Postcolonialism and globalisation
Climate Fiction
The Postcolonial Aura
The Perceptions of Women's Roles and Progress
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2004 - 2026 (23) |
| Highly cited | No |