Publication

Silent the Sea, Writing the Shores – Traveling over the South China Sea

dc.contributor.authorHendrik M.J. Maier
dc.contributor.editorProfessor Lian Kwen Fee
dc.contributor.editorDr. Koh Sin Yee
dc.date.accessioned2025-11-11T07:16:10Z
dc.date.available2025-11-11T07:16:10Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractHow to map the sea? ‘Silent the sea, writing the shores’ presents a series of reflections on the problems of maps and mapping, narrative and narration, as the background to a discussion of how older Malay writing dealt with the Sea, including the South China Sea – it is an entity beyond human understanding and beyond description. Given the historical fact that the South China Sea had been sailed by Malay – speaking mariners for centuries, it seems probable that they discussed the Sea in their conversations, mapping it out in words rather than in pictures. It is important to realize that the 17th century author Hamzah Pansuri makes explicit mention of the ‘China Sea’ in his poetry, a rare reference to the South China Sea that may have hung as a silent shadow over later Malay writing. Mapping an ever-moving space may be an impossible exercise, even in our human imagination.
dc.format.extent38
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.ubd.edu.bn/handle/123456789/3651
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInstitute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam
dc.relation.ispartofseries31
dc.subject.lcshSouth China Sea—In literature
dc.subject.lcshMalay literature—History and criticism
dc.subject.lcshSea in literature
dc.subject.lcshHamzah Fansuri—Criticism and interpretation
dc.subject.lcshNavigation—South China Sea—History
dc.titleSilent the Sea, Writing the Shores – Traveling over the South China Sea
dc.typeWorking Paper
dspace.entity.typePublication