Engaging Modern Brunei

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. An Overview of the Language, Literature and Culture of Brunei Darussalam

   • David Deterding, Hannah Ming Yit Ho

   Pages 1-17

3. Language

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19

      PDF

   2. A Comparative Media Discourse Investigation of Hard News Texts in English and Malay Language Newspapers in Brunei: The Role of Culture and Language

      • Sharifah Nurul Huda Alkaff, James McLellan, Najib Noorashid

      Pages 21-33

   3. Comparison of Malay and English Texts in Brunei

      • David Deterding, Aznah Suhaimi

      Pages 35-47

   4. Online Communication by the Brunei Government in Malay and English

      • Mayyer Ling, David Deterding

      Pages 49-65

   5. Chinese Dialects in Brunei: Shift, Maintenance or Loss?

      • Debbie G. E. Ho

      Pages 67-93

   6. Weaving Critical Discourse Analysis into Brunei History: Examining Shifts in Brunei-Britain Political Discourse

      • Badriyah Yusof

      Pages 95-109

4. Literature

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 111-111

      PDF

   2. Urih Pesisir: A Reflection of the Political History of the Sultanate of Brunei in the Nineteenth Century

      • Haji Awg Asbol bin Haji Mail, Najib Noorashid

      Pages 113-125

   3. Localisation of Malay Muslim Identity in Brunei Darussalam: A Modern Nation’s Cultural and Economic Goals

      • Hannah Ming Yit Ho

      Pages 127-143

   4. Examining the Imagined Environments in Contemporary Bruneian Fiction: Developing Southeast Asian Ecocriticism

      • Rinni Haji Amran

      Pages 145-162

   5. Constructs of the Modern Home: Negotiating Identity in Anglophone Bruneian Literature

      • Hannah Ming Yit Ho, Rinni Haji Amran

      Pages 163-175

   6. A Case Study of Key Processes Experienced in an English “A” Level Literature Classroom

      • Alwin Kai Shiang Chong

      Pages 177-195

5. Culture

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 197-197

      PDF

   2. Defining Bruneian Cultural Identity Through Contemporary Artistic Practice

      • Rui Oliveira Lopes

      Pages 199-214

   3. A Cultural Enterprise: A Study of Contemporary Bruneian Films

      • Yong Liu

      Pages 215-237

   4. Symbolism in Brunei Malay Wedding Customs

      • Haji Ramlee Bin Haji Tinkong, Nur Raihan Mohamad

      Pages 239-253

   5. Local Social Media Responses to Sharia Law in Brunei

      • Chester Keasberry

      Pages 255-267

6. Back Matter

   Pages 269-277

   PDF

This book explores issues shaping and defining modern Bruneian identity. It addresses the research gap regarding Brunei studies in terms of the language, literature, and culture of Brunei which, with its bilingual education, is uniquely positioned at the intersection of the Malay and western worlds. 


The book analyses the linguistic, literary, and cultural modes that provide the backdrop for modern-day instantiations of local identity, as expressed through printed and online materials, film, art, and social practices. It compares Brunei English and Brunei Malay in the context of the literature and culture of Brunei.

Readers will find it useful as an essential resource for academic scholars, university students, and others interested in the study of Brunei Darussalam's language, literature, and culture. It provides critical insights from an insiders' perspective into the local identity of the culturally diverse Bruneian society.

• Brunei language
• Brunei literature
• Brunei culture
• Malay word and Brunei
• Modern Brunei
• Brunei's digital humanities
• Media studies
• Brunei's film industry
• Brunei's Islamic religion
• Muslim Burmat
• modern Bruneian identity
• Brunei Malay and Brunei English
• Southeast Asian culture

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam

  Hannah Ming Yit Ho, David Deterding

Dr. Hannah Ming Yit Ho is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). Her teaching includes postcolonial literature, gender and literature, applied literature, and critical literary theories. She also supervises research in Southeast Asian literature. She has a Ph.D. from the University of York, an M.A. in Contemporary Studies in Literature and Film, and a B.A. (Hons) in English literature from Newcastle University. She has held postdoctoral fellowships at King’s College London and the University of California, Berkeley. Her publications appear in various international peer-reviewed journals. Her current research addresses Bruneian works of literature. 


David DETERDING is Visiting Professor at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, where he taught phonetics, forensic linguistics, Malay–English translation, and research methods in linguistics from 2007 till 2020. His research focuses on acoustic phonetics, the description of English in Brunei, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China, and analysis of the pronunciation of Malay.

Policies and ethics