Worlding Sinophone Malaysian Literature Towards a Paradigm of the Global South

This article explores the potential of a Sinophone Global South paradigm by first adopting the concept of "worlding" literature to deconstruct and reconstruct how marginal literature or literature from the periphery negotiates its status within a system of recognition in the production and circulation of knowledge. This existing system of knowledge has for too long been dominated by a western epistemology. Using the works of Sinophone Malaysian writer Chang Kuei-hsing [Zhang Guixing], the article then folds this rethinking of Sinophone Malaysian literature through an act of literary cartographic design into the current debates of the Global South. By thinking Sinophone literature through the lens of the Global South, the article examines the viability of a Sinophone Global South paradigm that could offer insights to how issues of global capitalism and indigenous sovereignty are cogently discussed. This prevents indigenous representations from being treated simply as plotlines to elevate the identity politics of Sinophone communities. It is though this paradigm that Sinophone studies reinforces its critical vitality in identifying, addressing, and critiquing the multiple axes of power operating as origins of oppression and exploitation.