Cover Image

From jungles and rivers: animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous literature in English

Recent developments in the local literary arts scene have seen the emergence of publications on folktales and fables of Malaysian indigenous people in English. Central to these publications is the presence of animals, whether as symbols, voices, or characters. Nonetheless, critical reaction to this...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abdullah, ‘Izzat Najmi, Zainal, Zainor Izat, Toh, Florence Haw Ching, Bahar, Ida Baizura
Format: Article
Published: Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2023
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/108058/
https://journalfbmk.upm.edu.my/ojs3/index.php/jlc/issue/view/74
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
id my.upm.eprints.108058
record_format eprints
spelling my.upm.eprints.1080582024-09-26T03:46:32Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/108058/ From jungles and rivers: animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous literature in English Abdullah, ‘Izzat Najmi Zainal, Zainor Izat Toh, Florence Haw Ching Bahar, Ida Baizura Recent developments in the local literary arts scene have seen the emergence of publications on folktales and fables of Malaysian indigenous people in English. Central to these publications is the presence of animals, whether as symbols, voices, or characters. Nonetheless, critical reaction to this presence has been sparse at best. As animals are paradoxically recognised as central to indigenous societies and their literatures yet marginalized in relation to human concerns, analysing texts to see how these animals function in literature, what they teach us about animals and what they reveal about humans and our relationships to animals seem critically crucial. Tapping into the field of animal studies, this paper investigates animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous folktales in English. To this end, folktale collections from such as Heidi Munans Sarawak Folktales (2017), Lim Boo Liat and Jefri Dylan Ongs Orang Asli Animal Tales (2016), Clifford Sathers Apai Alui Becomes A Shaman and Other Iban Comic Tales (2001), Robert Sulis Ridu, Ritikos Jitab and Jonas Noebs King Siliman and Other Bidayuh Folk Tales (2001), and Jayl Langubs Suket: Penan Folk Stories (2001) are examined. Using Mario Ortiz Robless framework of animal tropes, this research found that the majority of these animal tropes are anthropomorphized or shown as possessing human capacities, such as conversing, dancing, working, and interacting with others, indicating Malaysian literary animals as literary, cultural endeavours which largely involve a projection of humanity. Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2023 Article PeerReviewed Abdullah, ‘Izzat Najmi and Zainal, Zainor Izat and Toh, Florence Haw Ching and Bahar, Ida Baizura (2023) From jungles and rivers: animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous literature in English. Journal of Language and Communication, 10 (1). 25 -40. ISSN 2289-649X; ESSN: 2637-0875 https://journalfbmk.upm.edu.my/ojs3/index.php/jlc/issue/view/74 10.47836/jlc.10.01.02
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
description Recent developments in the local literary arts scene have seen the emergence of publications on folktales and fables of Malaysian indigenous people in English. Central to these publications is the presence of animals, whether as symbols, voices, or characters. Nonetheless, critical reaction to this presence has been sparse at best. As animals are paradoxically recognised as central to indigenous societies and their literatures yet marginalized in relation to human concerns, analysing texts to see how these animals function in literature, what they teach us about animals and what they reveal about humans and our relationships to animals seem critically crucial. Tapping into the field of animal studies, this paper investigates animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous folktales in English. To this end, folktale collections from such as Heidi Munans Sarawak Folktales (2017), Lim Boo Liat and Jefri Dylan Ongs Orang Asli Animal Tales (2016), Clifford Sathers Apai Alui Becomes A Shaman and Other Iban Comic Tales (2001), Robert Sulis Ridu, Ritikos Jitab and Jonas Noebs King Siliman and Other Bidayuh Folk Tales (2001), and Jayl Langubs Suket: Penan Folk Stories (2001) are examined. Using Mario Ortiz Robless framework of animal tropes, this research found that the majority of these animal tropes are anthropomorphized or shown as possessing human capacities, such as conversing, dancing, working, and interacting with others, indicating Malaysian literary animals as literary, cultural endeavours which largely involve a projection of humanity.
format Article
author Abdullah, ‘Izzat Najmi
Zainal, Zainor Izat
Toh, Florence Haw Ching
Bahar, Ida Baizura
spellingShingle Abdullah, ‘Izzat Najmi
Zainal, Zainor Izat
Toh, Florence Haw Ching
Bahar, Ida Baizura
From jungles and rivers: animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous literature in English
author_facet Abdullah, ‘Izzat Najmi
Zainal, Zainor Izat
Toh, Florence Haw Ching
Bahar, Ida Baizura
author_sort Abdullah, ‘Izzat Najmi
title From jungles and rivers: animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous literature in English
title_short From jungles and rivers: animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous literature in English
title_full From jungles and rivers: animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous literature in English
title_fullStr From jungles and rivers: animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous literature in English
title_full_unstemmed From jungles and rivers: animal tropes in Malaysian indigenous literature in English
title_sort from jungles and rivers: animal tropes in malaysian indigenous literature in english
publisher Universiti Putra Malaysia Press
publishDate 2023
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/108058/
https://journalfbmk.upm.edu.my/ojs3/index.php/jlc/issue/view/74
_version_ 1811685984790642688
score 13.211869

Similar Items