EXCAPE-URMI Research Collective Seeks to Engage in Transformative Action with Urban Poor Malaysian Indian Women

“We won political Merdeka from the British but we never achieved biographical and ethnographical liberty.” Ooi Kee Beng, Merdeka for the Mind: Essays on Malaysian Struggles in the 21st Century. How can we sincerely celebrate Malaysia’s Independence Day when not everyone has the opportunity to live a dignified life in this land?

The EXCAPE-URMI research collective, a collaboration between the Open University (UK) and the University of Malaya, funded by the British Academy, is seeking Malaysian Indian women residing in Kuala Lumpur and Penang to participate in a research project. The acronym EXCAPE-URMI is a wordplay intended to reflect the transformative action we aim to facilitate through the project. “Urmi” is a common Indian name for women, and “ur(u)mi” is also a percussion instrument used in Tamil folk music.

This project aims to explore the legacies of colonialism and precarity in relation to urban poverty. Dr. Geetha Reddy, along with Malaysian colleagues Dr. Nithiya Guna Saigaran, Enbah Nilah, and Rupa Subramaniam, is conducting this two-year exploratory study to understand how colonialism continues to impact the descendants of indentured Indian laborers in Malaysia.

Dr. Geetha Reddy, Lecturer in Psychology, explained: “Colonial powers, such as Britain, imposed imperialist values and beliefs across their empires while depriving Indigenous communities of their lands, cultures, languages, and wisdom. While many regions have gained some form of independence, such as self-governance, the social order and everyday life in former colonies are still shaped by coloniality—the legacy of colonialism—which established racial, political, gender, and class hierarchies, favoring some groups while marginalizing others. For the descendants of Indian indentured laborers, this manifests as everyday racism and discrimination, which deprives them of opportunities for education, employment, and good health.”

This transdisciplinary research project will investigate the impact of colonialism, which created hierarchies of racial, political, gender, and class control, favoring certain groups while marginalizing others in Malaysia. Despite various efforts by government and international aid programs to improve their social conditions, many Indians who arrived as indentured laborers during British colonization continue to face poverty and lag behind other ethnic groups in terms of social mobility.

Extensive research has documented the contemporary challenges faced by Malaysian Indians in overcoming poverty, but the link to historical foundations remains unexplored. This project aims to bridge that gap by using decolonial theories to analyze social issues. The findings are expected to inform public policy and future initiatives aimed at addressing the inequalities experienced by urban poor Malaysian Indian women.

By combining academic research with storytelling, EXCAPE-URMI seeks to uncover the historical and current challenges affecting this community. The project aims to offer practical recommendations to address policy gaps and foster lasting change.

EXCAPE-URMI is one of the three Malaysian projects among the 28 successful research initiatives supported under this British Academy program for the humanities and social sciences. Professor Simon Goldhill, Foreign Secretary and Vice-President of the British Academy, welcomed the announcement of the 2024 cohort of award recipients, stating:

“We are delighted to announce the new ODA International Interdisciplinary Research Project awards. These exciting two-year programs bring together international early-career researchers across a wide range of disciplines to explore ODA-eligible research topics. The funding will not only support advanced knowledge exchange and policy development but also encourage new ways of communicating and collaborating in multilingual environments.”

Hence, EXCAPE-URMI project team is looking for:

Malaysian Indian women or femme, aged 18-60
Fluent in Tamil, Malay, or English
Household income falls under the B40 category (KL & Penang)
Able to commit to 15 days (workshops) spread across August 2024, April, August, and October 2025
Possess a functioning smartphone with internet and camera access
Click HERE to sign up.

Benefits of Participation:

Participants will receive an honorarium of RM200 per day in appreciation of their invaluable insights and time.

This initiative, EXCAPE-URMI, represents a significant step towards understanding and addressing the deep-rooted impacts of colonialism on urban poverty among Malaysian Indian communities. By participating in this project, you will contribute valuable insights that could shape future policies and drive meaningful change. We urge Malaysian Indian women to join this important study, which offers not only an opportunity to voice your experiences but also a chance to make a lasting impact on the fight against systemic inequality.