Open AccessAdrift on the Ocean: a study of K.S. Maniam’s displaced characters
Author(s) -
Susan Philip
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
trans/forming cultures ejournal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1833-8542
DOI - 10.5130/tfc.v4i2.1379
Subject(s) - allegiance , diaspora , identity (music) , context (archaeology) , ethnic group , state (computer science) , sociology , gender studies , aesthetics , history , anthropology , political science , law , philosophy , computer science , archaeology , algorithm , politics
This paper analyses two plays by Malaysian Indian author K.S. Maniam, examining his ideas about the necessity to rearticulate state-authored, essentialising notions of cultural and ethnic identity towards the creation of a more hybrid and inclusive identity which does not demand allegiance to a single, rigidly defined culture. Maniam’s main concerns in this context will be examined through a close analysis of his plays The Cord and The Sandpit: Womensis. My analysis of these two plays will be framed by the ideas articulated in Maniam’s 2001 paper “The New Diaspora”