From the Editor

In addition to articles on Iran, Bali, India, and Japan, this issue includes a number of pieces on theatre in Malaysia. Nancy Nanney has graciously helped with the work as a reviewer with expertise in the area. She also contributed a bibliography on Malaysian theatre, something that was first suggested to her by my predecessor, Samuel Leiter, and that Nancy presented at an AAP meeting a number of years ago. I am delighted that we are able to publish her “roadmap” to resources in English. I hope it can serve as launchpad for scholars or students who might want to explore the issues of contemporary Malaysia and its theatre.

Faculty associated with the Cultural Centre at the University of Malaya contributed a number of pieces: Dr. Zainal Abdul Latiff, who was at University of Hawai‘i when ATJ was still a gleam in James Brandon’s eye, helped make the connection between the journal and these scholars. Dr. Mohd. Nasir Bin Hashim, who is director of the Cultural Centre, supported development of the articles in hopes of bringing contemporary Malaysian scholars more expansively into dialogue with the ATJ community. We hope this attempt will inspire you as researchers to delve into the diverse, dynamic, and dramatic debates that are ongoing. Terms that I as an American thought I knew—“multiculturalism,” “national identity,” “heritage arts,” “diasporic performance”—morphed when seen though the different lens which Malaysia’s history, ethnic diversity, and fraught cultural politics provide. I learned much as I put the Malaysian materials in this issue together. I hope you will as well.