Product Description
Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships.

Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include:

* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* do's, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken

"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel

"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel

"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer

"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine

"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times ... Read more

Product Description

Home to approximately one-fifth of the world’s Muslim population, Indonesia and Malaysia are often overlooked or misrepresented in media discourses about Islam. Islam is a religion but there is also a popular culture, or popular cultures of Islam that are mass mediated, commercialized, pleasure-filled, humorous, and representative of large segments of society. During the last forty years, popular forms of Islam, targeted largely towards urbanized youth, have played a key role in the Islamisation of Indonesia and Malaysia. This book focuses on these forms and the accompanying practices of production, circulation, marketing, and consumption of Islam. Dispelling the notion that Islam is monolithic, militaristic, and primarily Middle Eastern, the book emphasizes its dynamic, contested, and performative nature in contemporary South East Asia. Written by leading scholars alongside media figures, such as Rhoma Irama and Ishadi SK, the case studies although not focused on theology per se, illuminate how Muslims (and non-Muslims) in Indonesia and Malaysia make sense of their lives within an increasingly pervasive culture of Islamic images, texts, film, songs, and narratives.

Product Description

Culture and Customs of Singapore and Malaysia examines all aspects of contemporary life in these two geographically close and historically and culturally connected nations, starting with the people fighting to maintain a balance between the new and the traditional.

The book shows how religion has evolved through time in the two nations and examines how literature and traditional crafts thrive today. It highlights the performing arts and entertainment, noting how Western culture has influenced and shaped new customs. Housing and architecture, both modern and traditional, are discussed, along with cuisine and fashion. Students can use the book to analyze gender roles and family life. They can also read about the ways in which festivals are celebrated and can compare and contrast leisure activities of Singapore and Malaysia with their own. The volume concludes with a look to the future of these two evolving countries, both moving toward modernity, but still holding on to the traditions of the past.

Product Description

With over three million copies in print, CultureShock! is a bestselling series of culture and etiquette guides covering countless destinations around the world.For anyone at risk of culture shock, whether a tourist or a long-term resident, CultureShock! provides a sympathetic and fun-filled crash course on the do's and don'ts in foreign cultures.Fully updated and sporting a fresh new look, the revised editions of these books enlighten and inform through such topics as language, food and entertaining, social customs, festivals, relationships, and business tips. CultureShock! books are packed with useful details on transportation, taxes, finances, accommodation, health, food and drink, clothes, shopping, festivals, and much, much more.
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Customer Reviews (3)

Dreadfully useless
I bought this book shortly before moving to Malaysia for a year.Reading it filled me with absolute terror.It made the country sound uncompromisingly alien and rather unpleasant.Thankfully I ignored the book and discovered Malaysia to be a very pleasant and incredibly inviting place.

The problem with the book (apart from the writer's continually negative attitudes to everything) is her very narrow perspective.Before coming to Malaysia, she admits, she spent her whole life in a small Swiss town.Thus, she finds everything that is slightly different from her upbringing horrifying and worth commenting on.The fact that not everyone in Malaysia is European and that they don't eat European food is considered worth several awe-inspired mentions . For anyone who has ever travelled, or who has a more cosmipolitan background, most of these comments are useless and are in fact rather nauseating.

Even worse, however, is the fact that she is only writing for those likely to live in her very specific situation - namely as the wife of a rich ex-pat.She spends a whole chapter lamenting the difficulty of choosing a good maid.She also points out the importance of finding things to do when you are at home and your husband is at work.

For me, as someone working in Malaysia full-time for a relatively modest salary, all this was completely useless.In fact, I'd imagine that for the bulk of people coming to Malaysia, much of this information will be either off-putting or superfluous.

Thus, I'd recommend avoiding this book - otherwise you might decide not to come at all.

excellent
this book was an excellent guide to malaysia, it not only helped my camping trip there, it was enjoyable as a book as well

Excellent!! Highly reccomended
This book an invaluable resource for anyone traveling to Malaysia. Did you know it's highly offensive to hand someone an object with your left hand? This book explains the local customs and cultures, so you will be a welcome guest, not one who is just tolerated. ... Read more

Product Description

This book presents a comprehensive, full-length analysis of the uses of media and communication technologies by different social actors in Malaysia. Unlike other studies of the media in Malaysia which concentrate on "political economy" or "freedom of the media" approaches, this book focuses on the ways in which different media forms have constituted cultural practices and power relations amongst particular audiences and publics. It also examines the ways in which technologies of varying scales and range have been appropriated for various subaltern purposes and counter-hegemonic agendas. Drawing upon recent case studies on the deployment of different media – including mainstream and independent films, television programming, black metal music, community rituals, political advertising, the internet, and artistic visual installations – it provides valuable insights into the complex, vibrant ways in which these different media forms have negotiated with the dominant cultural representations of Malaysian society. The book makes an important contribution to the emergent disciplines of media studies and cultural studies in Malaysia.

Product Description
You'll never feel intimidated and awkward about the customs and etiquette of another country again. With the insights provided in this CULTURE SHOCK! Guide, you'll learn to see beyond the stereotypes and misinformation that often precede a visit to a foreign land. Whether you plan to stay for a week or for a year, you'll benefit from such topics as understanding the rules of driving and monetary systems, religious practices and making friends. There are tips on political traditions, building business relationships, and the particular intricacies of setting up a home or office.Great for the business traveler, the foreign exchange student, or the tourist who makes a sincere attempt to cross the bridge into a new and exciting culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Culture Shock
I was disappointed in the book, because I thought the title was misleading. I expected more of an in depth analysis between Malaysian culture and the west. This is written as a travel guide. It is very informative if someone should go and live in Malaysia, but it should have been presented in that way.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at Your Door
Unfortunately the book was not available and not sent to me. ... Read more

Product Description
"Fragmented Vision" provides vivid descriptions and authoritative analyses of current social and cultural movements in Malaysia, especially as these relate to political developments in the country. It contains accounts of Malay political culture, the emergence of feminism, Chinese social and cultural movements, popular culture in Malaysia, ethnicity and the Left, and ethnic minorities. Drawing on recent developments in social theory, the contributions to the volume provide innovative perspectives on the Malaysian scene. The book points to the emergence of a new scholarship of Malaysia marked as never before by a strong Malaysian voice, by a sophisticated awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of recent theories of the cultural dimensions of modernity, and by a critical and committed stance. The authors and editors are all established experts on Malaysian politics, sociology and anthropology, and are either Malaysians themselves or are academics in Australia with long-standing commitment to Malaysia.This book is essential reading for all who are not satisfied with existing attempts to analyze Malaysian culture and society in the terms provided by traditional Western social science, and who are interested in the perspectives being developed by critical scholars on and in Malaysia. MARKET. "Joel S. Kahn, currently Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at Monash University, was previously a Lecturer and Reader in the Department of Anthropology, University College London. Francis Loh Kok Wah is currently a Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia Minden in Penang. He has also lectured in politics at Monash University. Both authors have been widely published.". ... Read more

Product Description

Malaysia is a beautiful country withrich culture waiting to be explored. Now readers can delve into the specifics of twelve countries—examining among other things, the customs, religions, music, and fashion—that makes each so unique. All topics are expos

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Customer Reviews (1)

Risking Malaysia: Culture, Politics, and Identity
This book will be of interest to readers in cultural and political studies, especially those who are keen to understand some of the developmental dynamics that affect ordinary Malaysians and issues which constitute the basis as well as the nascent elements for contemporary dissent against entrenched ideologies, rubrics and systems.

The book explores the vexing question of Malaysian nation-building, governance and development by focussing on issues produced by the intersections of identity politics, ethnicity, civil society and modernization

Definately recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
This work is a major contribution to the understandingof the demography of Malaysia--a country abundant in land and natural resources, but with a long history of a shortage of people and human resources. The book looks at changes and differentials in fertility behavior, the causes, and the consequences. It outlines the modern history of changes in Malaysia's population and the economic, social, political, and cultural context within which the changes have occurred. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1990, shortly after a Malaysian politician announced that the boundaries of Kinabalu Park, a primary tourist destination, were to be expanded to include the species-rich tropical forest known locally as Bukit Hempuen, most of the area was burned to the ground, allegedly by local people. What would motivate the people who had for generations hunted and gathered forest products there to act so destructively?

In this volume, Amity Doolittle illuminates this and other contemporary land-use issues by examining how resources were used historically in Sabah from 1881 to 1996 and what customary rights of access to land and resources were enjoyed by local people. Drawing upon anthropology, political science, environmental history, and political ecology, she looks at how control over and access to resources have been defined, negotiated, and contested by colonial state agents, the postcolonial Malaysian state, and local people.

The study is grounded in methodological and theoretical advances in the field of political ecology, merging the traditions of human ecology and political economy and looking at environmental conflicts in terms of the particulars of place, culture, and history. Doolittle assumes that environmental problems have causes that are complex and changing and that solutions must be specific to time and place. Using a political ecology perspective allows her to focus on the root causes of environmental degradation, exposing the underlying political, economic, and social forces at work. The challenge in the twenty-first century, she writes, is to move beyond blaming local people for resource degradation and to find ways to achieve equitable access to natural resources and more sustainable land use practices.

Property and Politics in Sabah, Malaysia has great relevance to development studies, political ecology, environmental planning, anthropology, and legal studies in natural resource management. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
The scene is set as Khadijah Hussein, a westernized, fashionable, Malaysian fashion model and the mother of two turns up at her local Mosque dressed in a Burqa complete with a veil. She is unable to communicate except to utter Muslim prayers. Khadijah's frantic husband contacts her Singapore alumni group including psychiatrist, Dr. Linda Belgrove, who diagnoses Khadijah as having suffered 'Identity Fracture, the worst case she have ever seen.' Members of Khadijah's alumni group decide to take her on a voyage of rediscovery to well known healing sites in Asia, Europe and America to restore Khadijah's identity and allow her to return to her children and husband. The result is a tongue-in-cheek look at Identity issues in Muslim Malaysia following the invasion of Iraq. Culture-clash, thousands of years old religious traditions, and the meaning of life are all examined in this fast-paced Humor Novel set in Malaysia, Singapore, Hawaii, France, Arizona, and the former North Borneo.

Writer's Digest says "I like the humor of this book and the underlying seriousness of the subject."

... Read more

Product Description
Introduces the geography, history, religious beliefs, government, and people of Malaysia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"Deep Southeast Muslim Asia"
I have to say after reading the recently updated version of this book in this series, is that explains everything exactly in detail from politics and the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia, which include (the Malaysian Muslim Malays, Chinese Malaysians and the Indian Malaysians) and their influence on the history of the nation for the past few centuries. The dominance of religion is also explained in the book in precise order from the dominant and offical state religion being Islam (accounting for around sixty percent of the populatin), as well as the other religions practiced in Malaysia, which include Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Traditonal Chinese Religions, and Tribal Religions and their impact on the people,cuisine, holidays, and culture of present-day Malaysia.

I give the (Cultures of the World Series) book on Malaysia a 10 out of 10. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

history of wine in malaysia
i just want 2 know about history of wine in malaysia ,when malaysain start drinking wine ,why malaysian peaple want to drink,what malaysian people drinking.if this not seach like this point i dont want !!!thank you ... Read more

Product Description
The scene is set as Khadijah Hussein, a westernized, fashionable, Malaysian fashion model and the mother of two turns up at her local Mosque dressed in a Burqa complete with a veil.She is unable to communicate except to utter Muslim prayers.Khadijah's frantic husband contacts her Singapore alumni group including psychiatrist, Dr. Linda Belgrove, who diagnoses Khadijah as having suffered 'Identity Fracture, the worst case she have ever seen.' Members of Khadijah's alumni group decide to take her on a voyage of rediscovery to well known healing sites in Asia, Europe and America to restore Khadijah's identity and allow her to return to her children and husband. The result is a tongue-in-cheek look at Identity issues in Muslim Malaysia following the invasion of Iraq.Culture-clash, thousands of years old religious traditions, and the meaning of life are all examined in this fast-paced Humor Novel set in Malaysia, Singapore, Hawaii, France, Arizona, and the former North Borneo. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Writer's Digest 15th. Annual International Self-Published Book Awards Commentary Sheet
What did you like best about this book?

"I like the humor of this book, and the underlying seriousness of the subject.Your passion for identity issues pulls the reader into the book, and I like the way you keep coming back to the dangers of development.I enjoyed the way everyone promises at the end to do something to help with overdevelopment, such as Indira's promise to have her company donate half a million toward turning part of that development into a park.The different settings of this novel are also nicely done and I especially liked the section that takes place in Malaysia.You obviously know these places well, and it is enjoyable for the reader to learn about them."

Vaguely entertaining
I bought this book as I was trying to find novels taking place in Malaysia (preferably written by Malaysian authors) before going on a holiday to the country, and wasn't finding very many when I came across this one (not written by a Malaysian). It turned out to be a badly written, silly story that only kept me vaguely entertained as the characters traveled around the world to various "sacred" sites, some of which I have visited hence the slight source of interest. I did manage to finish it, but wouldn't really recommend it. ... Read more