A Visit to University of Madras, Chennai, India, 26-28 March 2018

With the invitation and sponsorship from Department of Anthropology, University of Madras, KITA Principal Research Fellow, Prof. Dr. Mansor Mohd. Noor, and Senior Associate Fellow, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chang Peng Kee presented their papers at the International Conference on Ethnology of Minorities and Tribes that held at the said university on 26-28 March 2018.

The conference convener Prof. Dr. S. Sumathi who is also the Head of Department of Anthropology thanked both KITA UKM and University of Passau, Germany for a prolific discourse on both European and Asian perspectives. University of Passau is headed by the Chair of Centre for East Asian Studies Prof. Dr. Ruediger Korff. Another representative from University of Passau was Prof. Dr. Dagmar Hellmann-Rajanayagam.

Prof. Mansor presented his paper on “Ethnic Group and Nation: The Dynamic of Development and Nation-Building in Malaysia,” and Dr. Chang shared his research findings on “Hate Speech in the Digital World: Malaysia’s Perspective.”

In conjunction with this conference, the scholars had called on the Vice-Chancellor of University of Madras, Prof. P. Duraisamy and the Vice-Chancellor of Utkal University of Culture, Prof. Kamal Kant Misra. The Director of International Centre for University of Madras, Prof. Dr. V Bharathi Harishankar was asked to look into the possibility to enter into a memorandum of understanding with KITA UKM.

Prof. Mansor and Dr. Chang had also made an effort to visit the following institutions and their representatives for possible future collaborations: Madras Institute of Development Studies (Director: Prof. Shasanka Bhide), Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies (Founder-Director: Prof. Dr. Felix Wilfred), Tribal Research Centre (Director: Dr. P. Subramaniam), and Pondicherry University (Head of Department of Anthropology: Prof. Dr. A. Chellaperumal). It was indeed a fruitful trip for KITA team with a very packed schedule for three days in Chennai.

Reported by:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chang Peng Kee
KITA Senior Associate Fellow