Event — Lecture

European Relations to Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi and Its Influence on Malay-Indonesian Literary Development. Some Preliminary Findings

 

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6 December 2010
15.00 - 16.30 hrs

Lecture by Dr Hadijah bte Rahmat

Venue: IIAS, Conference Room, Rapenburg 59, 2311 GJ Leiden

This talk is based on Hadijah Rahmat’s research as an Affiliated Fellow at IIAS from 15 Sep 2010 to 15 Dec 2010.  She attempts to revisit literary works by Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi (1796-1854), a prominent 19th century thinker and writer in the Malay world. Abdullah was employed by many European colonial officers, Christian missionaries, scholars and traders etc as their Malay language tutor and scribe and he established strong relationship with them. He recorded or wrote about some of these personalities in his writings. His writings were published and promoted by Europeans. The study intends to find out about Abdullah’s relationship with some British, Dutch and French individuals and how they had influenced and impacted on his thinking and writings.

Abdullah’s works had attracted numerous Dutch scholars such as J.J.de Hollander (1845), J.Pijnappel (1855), H.C.Klinkert (1867), R.B.Middle (1893),  H.A.F von der Wall (1860s),  Newbronner van der Tuuk (1890s), C. Hooykas (1952), R. Roolvink (1953) and A. Teeuw (1967). This talk will highlight some of her early findings using Dutch sources, which includes Abdullah’s literary legacy in Leiden, Abdullah’s views on Dutch; and Dutch scholars’ interests and contributions to his works and to modern Malay-Indonesian literary developments.

Associate Professor Dr Hadijah Rahmat is Deputy Head, Asian languages and Cultures, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.