[Book Launch] The Making of A Muslim Feminist

➽ Details

The Making of a Muslim Feminist

Speaker: Wazir Jahan Karim
in conversation with Ooi Kee Beng
moderated by Gareth Richards

Date and Time:
Monday 6 October 2025
8.00–9.30pm

Location:
Penang Institute, 10 Jalan Brown, 10350 George Town, Pulau Pinang

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Feminism Undaunted: 50 Years as a Muslim Feminist offers a candid account of Wazir Jahan Karim’s life, from childhood to retirement, against a backdrop of Malaysia’s cultural, academic and political dynamics. At its heart is the complexity of being a Muslim feminist in a divisive society. Her narrative demonstrates that each woman can successfully negotiate the boundaries between patriarchy, family and modernity if they believe that being a woman is synonymous with being a feminist. Her frank and refreshing memoir demonstrates confidence, individuality and charisma – catharsis in discovering the power of womanhood.

➽ The author

Prof Emerita Dato’ Seri Dr Wazir Jahan Karim is an anthropologist who has worked extensively on women and gender, Orang Asli, the anthropology of food and the cultural conservation of Muslim communities. She is the founder of a number of research and civil society organisations, including Gender Studies in Malaysia at Universiti Sains Malaysia, the Centre for Research on Women and Gender, the Southeast Asian Association for Gender Studies and the Jawi Peranakan Heritage Society. She has authored and edited several books including, most recently, Boria: From Passion Play to Malay-Jawi Peranakan Parody (2019), Feasts of Penang (2020), The Global Nexus: Political Economies, Connectivity and the Social Sciences (2020) and Malay Garden to Table: Familiar Fragrances, Favoured Flavours (2024).

➽ The discussant

Dato’ Dr Ooi Kee Beng is the Executive Director of Penang Institute, and was previously the deputy director of ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, where he remains a senior visiting fellow. While his major research interests have been in language philosophy and ancient Chinese political and strategic thinking, he has made his name as a foremost political biographer, with works including the award-winning The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr Ismail and His Time (2007), In Lieu of Ideology: An Intellectual Biography of Goh Keng Swee (2010), Yusof Ishak: A Man of Many Firsts (2017) and As Empires Fell: The Life and Times of H.S. Lee, the First Finance Minister of Malaya (2020). He is a prolific essayist and his most recent collection is Signals in the Noise: Notes on Penang, Malaysia and the World (2023).

➽ The moderator

Gareth Richards is a writer, editor and bookseller. His most recent book (as co-author) is Discourses, Agency and Identity in Malaysia: Critical Perspectives (2021).

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Penang Institute, 10 Jalan Brown, George Town, Malaysia