2002 ~ 2006 |
THE PIONEERS
Culture and Communication at MUM
2001-2004: Memoirs of a Wallaby in KL
Associate Prof. Allison Craven
Many Congratulations SASS on 10 excellent years!
Selamat sejahtera!
12
Teaching
film at MUM
opened the
door to my
continuing
interest
in Asian
cinemas and
understanding
of the power
of screen
study as an
intercultural
knowledge
medium.
With warm thanks to Associate Professor Yeoh Seng
Guan, Dr Nicholas Chan and Dr Cyren Wong, I am
glad to share a brief memoir of the early days and
founding staff at the time when I was Arts Faculty
Coordinator of the Bachelor of Communication
degree at Monash University Malaysia – or ‘MUM’
as we used to know it!
Let me begin with a scholarly reflection on culture and
communication through the work of the sociologist
and critic, Raymond Williams. Williams’ ideas became
a bedrock of Communication and Cultural Studies,
and, by no coincidence, were also embedded in
Monash Communications. In The Long Revolution
(1992/1961), Williams examines culture and creativity,
arguing that ‘creativity’ forms the incremental
processes of shaping and transforming society
through learning and knowledge, processes in which
university learning is vanguard. ‘Process’ is a key word
for Williams, and the substance of creativity.
It inspires my recollections not only because the work
of a course coordinator – as will be clear from the
stories below – requires so much engagement with
institutional processes. More, it speaks to the ways in
which the role was an induction into the deep value
attached to education in Asian cultures, and insight
into the workings of transnational universities; and
how, through the interdisciplinary and intercultural
discourses of Communication Studies, formative
steps were taken towards today’s ongoing creative
processes of Arts teaching and research at
Monash Malaysia.
▲ Graduation 2003 (Left to Right) Khoo Siew Mun (Sunway
University College Head Librarian), Allison Craven, Valli
Bachelor (School of Business).
On the Wallaby
In 2001, the late Mr Neil Hanley, was stepping down
as Communication Coordinator at MUM. Neil had
been seconded from Monash Gippsland in the late
1990s to establish the Bachelor of Communication,
and he was fondly regarded by students and staff,
but his health was failing. Nominated to replace Neil,
in June 2001, I flew to KL chaperoned by Professor
Harry Ballis, the head of the Gippsland School of
Humanities, Communication and Social Sciences,
to sound out my prospects and meet the lecturers.
At that time, they were: Dr Patricia Goon Kin Leng
(Communication and Media Studies), Mrs Bavanee
Thiagarajan (International Relations), Dr Jaganathan
Marimuthu (Public Relations), Mr M Krishnamoorthy
(The Star journalist who taught Journalism part-
time), and Ms Joanna Kujawa (Writing). Ms Anna
Saminathan was the program secretary, and Ms Tan
Siew Gaik its astute Course Manager. They seemed
wonderful people and we hit it off well.
I also met dozens of people from all walks of MUM
– the various academic Schools, as well as the
administration, marketing, and facilities. I was busily
escorted around the old Monash campus adjoining
Sunway College, shown through the expatriate
staff accommodation in Palmville, shepherded
through the amazing Pyramid Shopping Centre,
and accommodated at the awesome Sunway Lagoon
Hotel. Undaunted by the recurring question, ‘Do you
like Malaysian food?’, I resolved to accept if the job
was offered to me.