Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Institute For Transpacific Cultural Research

Institute For Transpacific Cultural Research / Events / Social Biography of the Durian

The Social Biography of the Durian Through the Artistic Archives

A Talk by Professor Gaik Cheng Khoo

When: Thursday, April 23, 3-5 pm

Where: Harbour Centre Room 1600, SFU Vancouver, 515 West Hastings Street

Free and open to the public.

Event Description

Durians have existed long before the 21st century monocultural durian plantations. Since as early as the Shailendra Empire (778-850 AD), the durian has been recorded in stone (Borobudur), on paper (botanical drawings) and other artistic media (painting, photography, sculpture and film). Taking the view of the durian, this presentation asks, how has this tropical fruit been rendered in the visual and material arts by Southeast Asians and foreign visitors to the region? What meanings does it bear, and which meanings cohere over the centuries? What do these representations reveal about social discourses, economics, politics and national imaginaries and ideologies over the course of human history? The role of the durian as narrator allows the human subject to reflect on our relationship to the durian and to diverse socio-cultural and theoretical discourses surrounding the artwork. It may generate new interpretations of the individual artwork when curated under the theme of durian.

 

Speaker's Bio

Prof. Gaik Cheng Khoo is Deputy Dean of Research and Sustainability at Sunway University. Her research spans Malaysian and Southeast Asian cinema; food culture, cosmopolitanism and racialization, Korean migrants in Malaysia and the political economy of the durian. Book publications include Reclaiming Adat: Contemporary Malaysian Film and Literature (UBC Press, 2006), Eating Together: Food, Space and Identity in Malaysia and Singapore (with Jean Duruz, Rowman and Littlefield, 2014) and edited volumes Malaysia's New Ethnoscapes and Ways of Belonging (with Julian C.H. Lee, Routledge, 2016) and Southeast Asia on Screen: From Independence to Financial Crisis (1945-1998) (with Thomas Barker and Mary J. Ainslie, Amsterdam UP, 2020). She guest edited a special issue for Continuum journal called “Durian Matters” (Vol 39, issue 2, 2025) and is working with Penny Wong on a book on durian.