Dr. FRANCES TAY (鄭愛蓮)
In brief
I completed my PhD in History at the University of Manchester under the supervision of Prof. Yang-wen Zheng, Dr Ana Carden-Coyne, Dr Jean-Marc Dreyfus and Dr Pierre Fuller in 2015. My thesis was titled Making Malaysian Chinese: War Memories, Histories and Identities. My external examiners were Dr Tim Harper (University of Cambridge) and Dr Steven Pierce (University of Manchester). I am grateful for their guidance and assistance, and to the university for granting me a school award to do so, and in particular, to Dr Carden-Coyne for championing this research topic.
The longer yarn
I graduated from Australian National University with a Bachelor of Economics degree in 1994 and obtained a Masters in Social Development and Sustainable Livelihoods at the University of Reading in 2008. Between 2008 and 2011, I was involved in a project with Holocaust survivors in Lithuania. This culminated in a documentary, which I co-produced, titled Surviving History: Portraits from Vilna. This short film received the Audience Poll Award at the Imperial War Museum Film Festival 2009 and the Winton Train Award 2009. As part of the project, I also co-produced a touring exhibition. This exhibition was hosted at Holocaust museums in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, at University College Dublin, Shropshire Council's Shire Hall, the Central Synagogue London, London Jewish Cultural Centre, and at Biddenham Upper School in Bedfordshire. In conjunction with these exhibitions, I co-developed and facilitated teachers seminars in Vilnius and Cape Town and a youth workshop at Biddenham Upper School.
In part, the impetus for my research on Japanese war crimes in British Malaya and British Borneo emerged from my experience with this project. I became a firm believer in history 'from below', i.e. through the lens of personal recollections and witness testimonies. I've had a pretty varied career, from editor of a magazine, freelancing as a business development consultant to running a bookshop. My most recent projects include co-writing a film script with Shivaun Woolfson which is loosely based on her memoir, Home Fires, published by Atlantic Books (2002).
Publications:
"Transmutations of Chinese War Memory from Postwar Malaya to Contemporary Malaysia"
Memory Studies in Southeast Asia: A Handbook
Edited by Elsa Clavé and Quan Tran [In preparation] Memory Studies in Southeast Asia. A Handbook, Leiden, Brill (under contract for publication)
"Remembering the Japanese occupation massacres: mass graves in post-war Malaysia"
Human Remains and Identification: Mass Violence, Genocide and the 'Forensic Turn'
Edited by Elisabeth Anstett and Jean-Marc Dreyfus, University of Manchester Press, 2015. [2017 Update: Available as open access here.]
Spanish edition
Restos humanos e Identificación .Compilado y dirigido por: Sévane Garibian, Élisabeth Anstett y Jean-Marc Dreyfus, Mino y Davila, 2017.
Papers Presented:
"Former Enemies, Current Friends: The Unaddressed Legacy of War Violence and its Effects on Modern Malaysia."
6th INoGS (Intl. Network of Genocide Scholars) Global Conference on Genocide, Aix-Marseille University, 4-7 July 2018
"Forgetting Wars, Remembering Heroes, Martyrs and Victims: Chinese Postwar Memory-Work in Malaysia."
Annual Conference 2018: Identity and Memory in War and Peacebuilding, The Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies, Liverpool Hope University, 2 July 2018
“Forgotten War: The Japanese Occupation of British Malaya, 1941-1945.”
28th Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK) Conference, University of Brighton, 12-14 September 2014
“The Japanese Occupation of British Malaya, 1941-1945, in Malaysian History and Historiography.”
Violence and Conflict Graduate Conference, University of Cambridge, 30 May 2014
“Forgotten War: The Japanese Occupation of British Malaya, 1941-1945.”
In the Shadow of the First World War: Social and Cultural Dimensions of Conflict in Global Perspective, University of Manchester, 15-16 May 2014
“Multiple Exhumations in Malaysia.”
2nd Annual & International ERC Conference of the Research Programme ‘Corpses of Mass Violence and Genocide,’ University of Manchester, 9-11 September 2013
“Huaqiao or Mahua? Persistent Challenges of Self-Identification among Contemporary Malaysian Chinese.”
7th Asian Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 16-20 July 2012
Other:
Stepping up to ASEAN Challenges: Catalysing Youth Collaboration
Workshop Mentor, CUSEAC (Cambridge University Southeast Asian Conference) 2017, 25 March 2017
"Philanthropy and Development”
Guest speaker, Event hosted by British Asian Trust and The Prince’s Trust, Clarence House, 18 February 2009
I completed my PhD in History at the University of Manchester under the supervision of Prof. Yang-wen Zheng, Dr Ana Carden-Coyne, Dr Jean-Marc Dreyfus and Dr Pierre Fuller in 2015. My thesis was titled Making Malaysian Chinese: War Memories, Histories and Identities. My external examiners were Dr Tim Harper (University of Cambridge) and Dr Steven Pierce (University of Manchester). I am grateful for their guidance and assistance, and to the university for granting me a school award to do so, and in particular, to Dr Carden-Coyne for championing this research topic.
The longer yarn
I graduated from Australian National University with a Bachelor of Economics degree in 1994 and obtained a Masters in Social Development and Sustainable Livelihoods at the University of Reading in 2008. Between 2008 and 2011, I was involved in a project with Holocaust survivors in Lithuania. This culminated in a documentary, which I co-produced, titled Surviving History: Portraits from Vilna. This short film received the Audience Poll Award at the Imperial War Museum Film Festival 2009 and the Winton Train Award 2009. As part of the project, I also co-produced a touring exhibition. This exhibition was hosted at Holocaust museums in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, at University College Dublin, Shropshire Council's Shire Hall, the Central Synagogue London, London Jewish Cultural Centre, and at Biddenham Upper School in Bedfordshire. In conjunction with these exhibitions, I co-developed and facilitated teachers seminars in Vilnius and Cape Town and a youth workshop at Biddenham Upper School.
In part, the impetus for my research on Japanese war crimes in British Malaya and British Borneo emerged from my experience with this project. I became a firm believer in history 'from below', i.e. through the lens of personal recollections and witness testimonies. I've had a pretty varied career, from editor of a magazine, freelancing as a business development consultant to running a bookshop. My most recent projects include co-writing a film script with Shivaun Woolfson which is loosely based on her memoir, Home Fires, published by Atlantic Books (2002).
Publications:
"Transmutations of Chinese War Memory from Postwar Malaya to Contemporary Malaysia"
Memory Studies in Southeast Asia: A Handbook
Edited by Elsa Clavé and Quan Tran [In preparation] Memory Studies in Southeast Asia. A Handbook, Leiden, Brill (under contract for publication)
"Remembering the Japanese occupation massacres: mass graves in post-war Malaysia"
Human Remains and Identification: Mass Violence, Genocide and the 'Forensic Turn'
Edited by Elisabeth Anstett and Jean-Marc Dreyfus, University of Manchester Press, 2015. [2017 Update: Available as open access here.]
Spanish edition
Restos humanos e Identificación .Compilado y dirigido por: Sévane Garibian, Élisabeth Anstett y Jean-Marc Dreyfus, Mino y Davila, 2017.
Papers Presented:
"Former Enemies, Current Friends: The Unaddressed Legacy of War Violence and its Effects on Modern Malaysia."
6th INoGS (Intl. Network of Genocide Scholars) Global Conference on Genocide, Aix-Marseille University, 4-7 July 2018
"Forgetting Wars, Remembering Heroes, Martyrs and Victims: Chinese Postwar Memory-Work in Malaysia."
Annual Conference 2018: Identity and Memory in War and Peacebuilding, The Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies, Liverpool Hope University, 2 July 2018
“Forgotten War: The Japanese Occupation of British Malaya, 1941-1945.”
28th Association of Southeast Asian Studies in the United Kingdom (ASEASUK) Conference, University of Brighton, 12-14 September 2014
“The Japanese Occupation of British Malaya, 1941-1945, in Malaysian History and Historiography.”
Violence and Conflict Graduate Conference, University of Cambridge, 30 May 2014
“Forgotten War: The Japanese Occupation of British Malaya, 1941-1945.”
In the Shadow of the First World War: Social and Cultural Dimensions of Conflict in Global Perspective, University of Manchester, 15-16 May 2014
“Multiple Exhumations in Malaysia.”
2nd Annual & International ERC Conference of the Research Programme ‘Corpses of Mass Violence and Genocide,’ University of Manchester, 9-11 September 2013
“Huaqiao or Mahua? Persistent Challenges of Self-Identification among Contemporary Malaysian Chinese.”
7th Asian Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 16-20 July 2012
Other:
Stepping up to ASEAN Challenges: Catalysing Youth Collaboration
Workshop Mentor, CUSEAC (Cambridge University Southeast Asian Conference) 2017, 25 March 2017
"Philanthropy and Development”
Guest speaker, Event hosted by British Asian Trust and The Prince’s Trust, Clarence House, 18 February 2009