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(In)Formal memoryscapes and the unma(s)king of a M alaysian war heroine
Author(s) -
Muzaini Hamzah
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
singapore journal of tropical geography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1467-9493
pISSN - 0129-7619
DOI - 10.1111/sjtg.12077
Subject(s) - politics , ideology , honor , state (computer science) , white (mutation) , sociology , resistance (ecology) , history , gender studies , media studies , political science , law , biology , operating system , ecology , algorithm , computer science , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
The geographical literature on the politics tied to formal commemorations of the past is a burgeoning one. Yet, there has been less attention paid to similar practices undertaken by nonstate agents seeking to ensure that what is written out of official history is not forgotten. This paper explores how and why the story of S ybil K athigasu, a woman who played a salient role in the resistance movement against the Japanese during the S econd W orld W ar in P erak, M alaysia, has been peripheralized within formal memory making even as it has been informally revived elsewhere. It specifically suggests that, while the sidelining of her story may be the product of the tendency of the state of P erak to downplay its war past, S ybil's gender, race and political ideologies have also made it more difficult for her to be embraced as a ‘national’ heroine. Drawing on a private museum that was set up in her honor in P apan, the paper also reveals how factors impeding her formal remembrance also have implications for alternative efforts to recover her story. More broadly, the paper offers insights into women's absences in M alaysian public memory, and argues the need for more emphasis on memoryscapes ‘from below’ as a means of nuancing local remembrance politics.