Facilitating Policy: Redefining Terraced Housing in Malaysia

<p>The multi-ethnic tension among the three main ethnics in Malaysia has a great impact on tolerance and political unity. The Bumiputera Policy gives privileges to the Malay ethnicity, which further strains this issue, dividing the nation. Recognising this, the government introduced the 1Malaysia Policy as a possible solution to mitigate this issue to promote equality and attaining unity in diversity. This ultimate purpose is to integrate Malaysians to cooperate in a mutually respectful manner, towards the development of Malaysia. The inevitable consequences of short sighted government policy, development and westernisation in Malaysia have negatively affected the cultural uniqueness of the three main ethnic communities. In domestic architecture, terraced houses have been a direct translation of western terraced housing. The influences from the West have diverted Malaysia’s sense of Asian culture. The objective of this study is to support the aims of this current 1Malaysia Policy, by finding a solution to terraced housing, through the design of the 1Malaysia Home. This thesis looks at an adaptable home for multi-cultural families to live and practise their unique cultures in a multi-ethnic community. The implementation of this design, is through research on case studies of the respective traditional houses of Malaysia’s three main ethnic groups. The main design consideration of this flexible home is through a negotiated spatial organisation, in regards to the aims of the theories that informed the traditional houses. This study further explores the cluster design of terraced housing in a multi-ethnic neighbourhood community. The traditional programmes of shop house and other multi-cultural activities in Malaysia are reinstated for a common sense of belonging in the neighbourhood, which ultimately preserves Malaysia’s unique Asian culture and supports its international branding as ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’.</p>

Facilitating Policy: Redefining Terraced Housing in Malaysia

<p>The multi-ethnic tension among the three main ethnics in Malaysia has a great impact on tolerance and political unity. The Bumiputera Policy gives privileges to the Malay ethnicity, which further strains this issue, dividing the nation. Recognising this, the government introduced the 1Malaysia Policy as a possible solution to mitigate this issue to promote equality and attaining unity in diversity. This ultimate purpose is to integrate Malaysians to cooperate in a mutually respectful manner, towards the development of Malaysia. The inevitable consequences of short sighted government policy, development and westernisation in Malaysia have negatively affected the cultural uniqueness of the three main ethnic communities. In domestic architecture, terraced houses have been a direct translation of western terraced housing. The influences from the West have diverted Malaysia’s sense of Asian culture. The objective of this study is to support the aims of this current 1Malaysia Policy, by finding a solution to terraced housing, through the design of the 1Malaysia Home. This thesis looks at an adaptable home for multi-cultural families to live and practise their unique cultures in a multi-ethnic community. The implementation of this design, is through research on case studies of the respective traditional houses of Malaysia’s three main ethnic groups. The main design consideration of this flexible home is through a negotiated spatial organisation, in regards to the aims of the theories that informed the traditional houses. This study further explores the cluster design of terraced housing in a multi-ethnic neighbourhood community. The traditional programmes of shop house and other multi-cultural activities in Malaysia are reinstated for a common sense of belonging in the neighbourhood, which ultimately preserves Malaysia’s unique Asian culture and supports its international branding as ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’.</p>

The Impact Of South Asian Cultural Violence

<div>This study explores the experiences and perspectives of first/second generation South Asian Canadian women on the representation of South Asian culture and violence against South Asian women. Specifically, this study looks at the myth of South Asian cultural violence, which views South Asian culture as inherently oppressive toward women and South Asian men as violent; and as a result, South Asian women are seen as victims of these men and their culture.</div><div>This study does not undermine violence against South Asian women, but challenges the ways in which violence against South Asian women gets talked about through the myth or the discourse of South Asian cultural violence. Both the state and (trans)national media play an important role in circulating this myth to further socio-political agendas. Centering the narratives of South Asian women in this study will show the ways in which they make meaning of the myth, as well as how they challenge and resist it. This study involves a focus group with two first/second generation South Asian Canadian women using arts-informed narrative methodology. Findings demonstrate that the discourse of South Asian cultural violence has had a significant impact on their relationship to themselves, other South Asians, and to the South Asian culture due to the ongoing encounter with stories of violence against South Asian women. </div>

The Impact Of South Asian Cultural Violence

<div>This study explores the experiences and perspectives of first/second generation South Asian Canadian women on the representation of South Asian culture and violence against South Asian women. Specifically, this study looks at the myth of South Asian cultural violence, which views South Asian culture as inherently oppressive toward women and South Asian men as violent; and as a result, South Asian women are seen as victims of these men and their culture.</div><div>This study does not undermine violence against South Asian women, but challenges the ways in which violence against South Asian women gets talked about through the myth or the discourse of South Asian cultural violence. Both the state and (trans)national media play an important role in circulating this myth to further socio-political agendas. Centering the narratives of South Asian women in this study will show the ways in which they make meaning of the myth, as well as how they challenge and resist it. This study involves a focus group with two first/second generation South Asian Canadian women using arts-informed narrative methodology. Findings demonstrate that the discourse of South Asian cultural violence has had a significant impact on their relationship to themselves, other South Asians, and to the South Asian culture due to the ongoing encounter with stories of violence against South Asian women. </div>

The Associations among Moral Foundations, Political Ideology, and Social Issues: A Study of These Associations in an Asian Sample

This study examined the relationships among moral foundations, political ideology, and controversial social issues in an Asian culture. The study sample included 835 participants who completed a moral foundations questionnaire and three questions regarding attitudes toward social issues (i.e. nuclear power usage, the death penalty, and euthanasia), and a political ideology questionnaire. Results indicated that binding foundations (i.e. Ingroup, Authority, and Purity) were associated conservative tendencies, and individualizing foundations (i.e. Harm and Fairness) were associated liberal tendencies. Also, participants who scored higher on Authority showed higher approval of the death penalty, and those scored higher on Purity showed lower approval of the euthanasia. These results may provide a better understanding of the underlying differences for variations in opinions on social issues. Results also have implications for cultural differences in the associations among political ideology, social issues, and moral foundations.

British Asian Culture and Its Margins in East London

During the summer of 1999, references to South Asian culture abounded within London—from the painstaking recreation of Hindi film star Dimple Kapadia’s bedroom in the Selfridges department store to McDonald’s introduction of the Lamb McKorma sandwich. This so-called “Indian Summer” served as a backdrop to the prominent commercial and critical success of British Asian musicians such as Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney, and Asian Dub Foundation and the emergence of British Asians in the mainstream media as poster children for Britain’s campaign to present itself as a vibrant cosmopolis. However this celebration of British Asian musicians, writers, artists, and actors sat uneasily alongside the socioeconomic reality of the Bangladeshi population in East London. The author explores two concurrent events—the Arts Worldwide Bangladesh Festival and the 000: British Asian Cultural Provocation Exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery—and attempts to navigate the quagmire of geography, music, and cultural identity they exposed.