Public Talk by Prof Gaik Khoo: “Multi-species Caring on Organic Durian Farms in Malaysia”
Date
23 May 2024 (Thu)
Time
2:30 – 4:00pm
Venue
MBG11
Language
English
The Department of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University recently hosted an engaging talk titled “Multi-species Caring on Organic Durian Farms in Malaysia.” Prof Gaik Cheng Khoo, Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, delivered a captivating presentation on sustainable alternatives to large-scale plantations and the importance of preserving durian diversity.
Prof Lisa Leung, Associate Professor of our department, effectively moderated the event, while Prof Daren Leung, Research Assistant Professor, provided valuable insights as a discussant. Attendees from diverse backgrounds actively engaged in the session, fostering interdisciplinary discussions and knowledge sharing.
The talk attracted individuals passionate about sustainable agriculture and environmental preservation, offering them a unique opportunity to explore the intersection of culture, agriculture, and sustainability.
Event Details:
Title: Multi-species Caring on Organic Durian Farms in Malaysia
Speaker: Prof Gaik Cheng Khoo, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, University of Nottingham Malaysia
Moderator: Prof. Lisa Leung, Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University
Discussant: Prof. Daren Leung, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University
Date: 23 May 2024 (Thu)
Time: 2:30 – 4:00pm
Venue: MBG11 (in-person only)
ILP: 1.5 units in Civic Education and Leadership Development
Abstract:
Malaysia has been scaling up durian production from traditionally 3-acre family orchards to 10,000-acre plantation to meet the insatiable China demand for its premium durian, Musang King since 2015. This has come at the cost of deforestation and concomitant social and ecological problems: decreased biodiversity, displacing Orang Asli (the Indigenous Peoples of Peninsular Malaysia), increasing flash flooding and intensifying human-wildlife conflict. However, turning away from the monocrop plantation where the durian is commodified and loses its personality and anthropomorphic status as children, this paper delves into the small to mid-sized durian orchards and farm stays in Peninsula Malaysia to discuss ‘the worlding’ (Tsing 2010) and multi-species relationships fostered between ecologically-oriented farmers, the durian and trees, pollinating agents, pests, soil and microbes. How might such a web of interconnected actants alleviate some of the issues that dog the large-scale plantation? Focusing mainly on organic durian cultivation on Penang Island, it argues for a practice that relies on preserving durian diversity, agritourism (durian tastings, farm stays) and small-scale production with a view of theorizing the possibility of an alternative more sustainable form of agriculture.
Biography:
Assoc Prof. Gaik Cheng Khoo (PhD University of British Columbia) teaches Southeast Asian Cinema and postcolonial theory and posthumanism at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. She has published mainly on Malaysian cinema and food (Reclaiming Adat: Contemporary Malaysian Film and Literature, Vancounver: UBC Press, 2006), space and identity in Malaysia and Singapore (co-authoring Eating Together: Food, Space and Identity in Malaysia and Singapore with Jean Duruz for Rowman and Littlefield, 2015), co-edited Southeast Asia on Screen: From Independence to Financial Crisis (1945- 1998), with Thomas Barker and Mary J. Ainslie (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020) and Malaysia’s New Ethnoscapes and Ways of Belonging (co-edited with Julian CH Lee for Routledge, 2015). As a cultural studies and film scholar, her interest ranges across a wide number of topics, beginning with independent filmmaking in Malaysia and beyond; to food, space and identity; democracy and civil society in Malaysia; Korean migrants and temporality in Malaysia; and currently, on the possible ecological consequences of scaling up durian production to meet the China demand. She is currently editing a special issue entitled “Durian Matters” for Continuum journal which includes her co-authored essay with Rusaslina Idrus, “Countering Durian Plantationocene Visuals and the erasure of natureculture histories in Malaysia,” Continuum, March 2024. She is also the founder of the Association of Southeast Asian Cinemas and is currently in talks to hold the 12th ASEAC conference next year in Chiang Mai.
Aside from being the director of the postgraduate taught program and postgraduate research director at the School of Media, Languages and Cultures, Gaik currently holds the post of Director of the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute, Malaysia.
Event Highlights
