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Embargoed until 2015-02-28
Copyright: Doukakis, Anna Maree
Embargoed until 2015-02-28
Copyright: Doukakis, Anna Maree
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Abstract
This thesis focuses on Malay women teachers and girls’ schooling in British
Malaya during the 1920s and 1930s, when educational opportunities for Malay
girls were expanding. It discusses the teachers’ agendas, their roles as leaders,
authors and publishers, and their participation in national politics and women s
movements following World War II. The thesis addresses whether and how
Malay female pioneers for girls’ education are treated in general and in specialist
academic literature. The research also explores the increasing impact of global
forces of modernisation in Malaya. It draws on primary and secondary sources in
English, Malay and Jawi Malay for case studies of: the pioneer of girls’
schooling, Zain bte Sulaiman, who was supervisor of Malay girls schools in
Johor between 1926 and 1948; the professional association of Malay women
teachers in Johor, which she founded, and its publication Bulan Melayu; and the
Malay Women s Training College, the first Malaya-wide residential teacher
training institute for Malay female students. Malay women teachers contributed
to the form and content of the schools instructing girls using the Malay
vernacular. They negotiated with Malaya s royal and colonial administrators to
achieve positions of leadership and influence, and they contributed to the
formation of a peninsula-wide Malay identity. Study of the roles and experiences
of Malay women in the 1930s contributes to the understanding of Malay
nationalism, Malay Islam and the public place of Malay women in the Federation
of Malaysia today.