About
I’m currently an Honorary Associate Professor at the Humanities Research Centre based in Canberra at the Australian National University.
Research Affiliate with the School of Media, Languages and Cultures at the University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM). I was previously Head of School and an Associate Professor (Film and Television). Prior to joining UNM in 2012, I was a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
I am a cultural sociologist with expertise in cultural and creative industries, especially cinema, with a focus on Malaysia and Indonesia. I have written on Islamic pop culture, new media, cinema, film, creative labour, Chinese transnationalism, and cinematic history of Southeast Asia.
Previously I was a Visiting Research Fellow at National Cheng Chi University (2018), Visiting Scholar at the Department of Theater, Film and Television at UCLA (2016), a Visiting Researcher at PUSKAKOM Universitas Indonesia (2015), and a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Sociology National University of Singapore (2011). Education
PhD (Sociology) National University of Singapore – 2011 Publications
2021 The real culture war: China vs U.S.: Soft power in the age of Covid,
IAI News, 22 July.
2021 Indie Cinema and the Short Film Assemblage: An Essay on Dewi Pulang,
Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 177, pp. 1-13.
2021 Cinema and the cultural cold war: US diplomacy and the origins of the Asian cinema network (book review),
South East Asia Research, 14 June 2021.
2020 Transnational Exploitation Cinema in Southeast Asia: The Cases of Indonesia and the Philippines (with Ekky Imanjaya), in
Southeast Asia on Screen: From Independence to Financial Crisis (1945-1997), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
2020 Southeast Asia on Screen: From Independence to Financial Crisis (1945-1997), (co-editor with Gaik Cheng Khoo and Mary Ainslie), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
2020 Censorship by another name,
The Malay Mail, 22 July 2020.
2020 An uncreative creative industries policy,
The Malay Mail, 6 June 2020.
2019 Indonesian Cinema after the New Order: Going Mainstream, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
2019 Making National Culture: Sindhis in Indonesia’s Media Industries,
The Handbook of Diasporas, Media and Culture, edited by Roza Tsagarousianou and Jessica Retis, Wiley Blackwell, pp. 295-309.
2018 Creating within constraints: Creative industries policy in Malaysia (with Adrian Lee Yuen Beng),
Routledge Handbook of Creative and Cultural Industries in Asia, edited by Lorraine Lim and Lee Hye-Kyung, London: Routledge, pp. 13-26.
2018 Coming soon in 2019, a year to watch in Indonesian cinema,
The Conversation, 13 December.
2018 Screen Connections between Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
Issues & Studies. 54(1).
2017 Colonial Mobility and Ambiguity: The Life of Filmmaker Hinatsu/Huyung,
TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, 5(2), pp. 197-215.
2017 The Real Source of China’s Soft Power,
The Diplomat, 18 November.
2017 Travels and Travails: Cosmopolitan Muslims in Indonesian Cinema,
Cinema Poetica, 27 May.
2017 Unpacking Malaysian Cinema, an 8-part radio series for BFM 89.9 FM Malaysia.
2016 Can we Defend The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence? Cinema Poetica, 31 March.
2015 Questioning Film Nasional,
Cinema Poetica, 29 November.
2014 Sex on Indonesia’s screens,
Sex and Sexualities in Indonesia: sexual politics, diversity and representations in the Reformasi era, London: Routledge. pp. 253-272.
Memberships
Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA): Member
Australia Indonesia Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP): Alumna 2001-2002
Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS): Alumna 2002-2003
Foreign Correspondents Club Malaysia (FCCM): Member
Higher Education Academy (HEA): Fellow
Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society (IACSS): Member
Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (MBRAS): Member
Malaysian Documentary Association (MyDocs): Member
