Mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the Malaysian social sciences

Recent theoretical and methodological innovations have given rise to novel approaches for conducting investigations in the multitude of disciplines and topics within the social sciences. This paper seeks to explore how poststructuralist theory, as one representative of these approaches, can contribu...

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Main Author:	Ahmad, Khairil Izamin
Format:	Conference or Workshop Item
Language:	English English English
Published:	2014
Subjects:	H Social Sciences (General) JC Political theory
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/2/LETTER_OF_ACCEPTANCE_-_P_16-1.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/3/Conference_Schedule_-_FINALE_1.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/10/P16_-_Mapping_a_poststructuralist_contribution_to_debates_on_multiculturalism_in_the_Malaysian_so.pdf

id	iium-37914
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-379142018-06-19T07:57:50Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/ Mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the Malaysian social sciences Ahmad, Khairil Izamin H Social Sciences (General) JC Political theory Recent theoretical and methodological innovations have given rise to novel approaches for conducting investigations in the multitude of disciplines and topics within the social sciences. This paper seeks to explore how poststructuralist theory, as one representative of these approaches, can contribute to debates surrounding multicultural politics in the Malaysian social sciences. Such debates cover the different aspects of multicultural politics in Malaysia, from trying to understand the changing nature of the country’s plural society, to trying to explore different ways to manage the multicultural society, to trying to think of the appropriate policy responses to specific problems relating to cultural or religious relations, to exploring the ‘best’ model under which people and groups who make up the multicultural society should live. It is argued in this paper that, on the one hand, participants within these debates would often veer towards the embracement of unrequired normativism and essentialism. That is to say, exchanges within such conversations would assume a form of clash of perspectives – i.e. a ‘my solution is better than yours’ situation – by which we are served with participants’ uncompromising standpoints. On the other hand, we could also face an approach which believes that complete neutrality and objectivity can be assumed in researching phenomena within the dynamics of Malaysia’s multicultural politics. According to this perspective, the job of the analyst, or the social scientist, is simply to explain these phenomena based on findings from gathered data. The poststructuralist approach to the social sciences could bridge the gap between these assumptions, by furnishing us with innovative tools to work with in both understanding the various issues surrounding multicultural politics in Malaysia, which is undoubtedly at a crossroads today, as well as in developing critical insights to present to others, without succumbing to normativism and essentialism. The result of the intervention of this paper would be a means to contribute towards the betterment of Malaysia’s multicultural society. 2014-06-06 Conference or Workshop Item PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/2/LETTER_OF_ACCEPTANCE_-_P_16-1.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/3/Conference_Schedule_-_FINALE_1.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/10/P16_-_Mapping_a_poststructuralist_contribution_to_debates_on_multiculturalism_in_the_Malaysian_so.pdf Ahmad, Khairil Izamin (2014) Mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the Malaysian social sciences. In: 6th Interntional Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences, 6-7 June 2014, Kuala Lumpur. http://ichiss.upnm.edu.my
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English English English
topic	H Social Sciences (General) JC Political theory
spellingShingle	H Social Sciences (General) JC Political theory Ahmad, Khairil Izamin Mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the Malaysian social sciences
description	Recent theoretical and methodological innovations have given rise to novel approaches for conducting investigations in the multitude of disciplines and topics within the social sciences. This paper seeks to explore how poststructuralist theory, as one representative of these approaches, can contribute to debates surrounding multicultural politics in the Malaysian social sciences. Such debates cover the different aspects of multicultural politics in Malaysia, from trying to understand the changing nature of the country’s plural society, to trying to explore different ways to manage the multicultural society, to trying to think of the appropriate policy responses to specific problems relating to cultural or religious relations, to exploring the ‘best’ model under which people and groups who make up the multicultural society should live. It is argued in this paper that, on the one hand, participants within these debates would often veer towards the embracement of unrequired normativism and essentialism. That is to say, exchanges within such conversations would assume a form of clash of perspectives – i.e. a ‘my solution is better than yours’ situation – by which we are served with participants’ uncompromising standpoints. On the other hand, we could also face an approach which believes that complete neutrality and objectivity can be assumed in researching phenomena within the dynamics of Malaysia’s multicultural politics. According to this perspective, the job of the analyst, or the social scientist, is simply to explain these phenomena based on findings from gathered data. The poststructuralist approach to the social sciences could bridge the gap between these assumptions, by furnishing us with innovative tools to work with in both understanding the various issues surrounding multicultural politics in Malaysia, which is undoubtedly at a crossroads today, as well as in developing critical insights to present to others, without succumbing to normativism and essentialism. The result of the intervention of this paper would be a means to contribute towards the betterment of Malaysia’s multicultural society.
format	Conference or Workshop Item
author	Ahmad, Khairil Izamin
author_facet	Ahmad, Khairil Izamin
author_sort	Ahmad, Khairil Izamin
title	Mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the Malaysian social sciences
title_short	Mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the Malaysian social sciences
title_full	Mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the Malaysian social sciences
title_fullStr	Mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the Malaysian social sciences
title_full_unstemmed	Mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the Malaysian social sciences
title_sort	mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the malaysian social sciences
publishDate	2014
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/2/LETTER_OF_ACCEPTANCE_-_P_16-1.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/3/Conference_Schedule_-_FINALE_1.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/37914/10/P16_-_Mapping_a_poststructuralist_contribution_to_debates_on_multiculturalism_in_the_Malaysian_so.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:54:22Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:54:22Z
_version_	1777410205184688128

Mapping a poststructuralist contribution to debates on multiculturalism in the Malaysian social sciences

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