Dina Zaman has spent her life writing about identity, race, and religion. During the pandemic, she found herself thinking about Malaysians who expressed their disempowerment and sense of displacement from their own country. Where did all these feelings come from? How did we get here?
Nearly two decades after the publication of I Am Muslim, Zaman returns with Malayland to explore what it means to be Malay and Muslim in the 21st century. Part memoir and part observation, Zaman draws on her life-long fascination with identity, race, and religion as a third culture kid, who has seen the growth of post-colonial Malaysia ebb and flow for the past few decades.
Malayland aims to spark debate among readers on what the meaning of identity is, how class and rural-urban migration play a role in the ethnic chasm, and explore the many faces Malays and Malaysia have in different contexts.
