Dr Sharon A Bong

My multi-disciplinary academic background stems from my shift from dead poets to living communities in moving away from literary studies to Women’s Studies and Religious Studies over a decade ago. This leap of faith was in part, precipitated by my involvement in women’s non-governmental organizations at international, regional and national levels that compelled me to seek a greater resonance between theoretical aspirations and practical needs in building bridges between academia and society at large.

I remain indebted to the board of the British High Commissioner’s (Chevening) award that enabled me to realise these aspirations.

The culmination of this journey as an academician and activist finds expressions in my first book (Bong 2006) where I showcase how Malaysian-based feminists (25 women and two men) negotiate the tension between the rhetoric and practice of rights as contained in human rights conventions and their lived realities within multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious contexts.

In my present research project on sexuality and religion through narratives of persons in same-sex partnerships in a Southeast Asian context, I aim to re-imagine not only the meaning of ‘marriage’ in religion but also religion in ‘marriage’.

My next research project involves a multi-disciplinary study of feminism and pedagogy where I consider the impact of Gender Studies units of Monash University on the lived experiences of students with regard to the deconstruction of gender roles, sexualities and subjectivities.

As a technophobe, I am particularly pleased with my acquired expertise in qualitative researching using Grounded Theory Methodology and ATLAS.ti, a Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software that has made analyzing qualitative data such an enriching process. I zealously share this obsession with unsuspecting students.

My career path involves lecturing for the Gender Studies Programme at University of Malaya on Women, Culture and Religion; working as a Programme Officer (publications) with ARROW, the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, a regional-based NGO that focuses on reproductive health and sexuality rights; and being a specialist writer (features) with the New Straits Times.

In terms of community service, I was invited to act as the National Expert on CEDAW that involved researching and writing the Third Report of the government of Malaysia on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). At a regional level, I am privileged to serve as the Coordinator of the Ecclesia of Women in Asia, a forum for Catholic Asian women theologians. And I am the First Vice–President of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) of Malaysia. In recognition of these services, I received the Pro Vice-Chancellor’s Community Service Award 2007 of Monash University.

A future aspiration is to come out of the closet as a playwright.

Academic publications:

Book

Bong, Sharon A (2006). The Tension Between Women’s Rights and Religions: The Case of Malaysia. New York: the Edwin Mellen Press

Edited Book

Bong, Sharon A and Joseph, Pushpa (eds.) (2008) Re-imagining Marriage and Family in Asia: Asian Christian Women’s Perspectives. Petaling Jaya,

Malaysia: Strategic information and Research Development Centre (SIRD).

Book chapters

Bong, Sharon A (2009) ‘The Sexuality-Spirituality Project’. In, Handling Qualitative Data, 2nd edition, Companion Website, Edited by Lyn Richards.

Available at:  http://www.uk.sagepub.com/richards/homeP8.htm.  

Bong, Sharon A (2008) 'Going Beyond the Universal-versus-Relativist Rights Discourse and Practice: The Case of Malaysia'. In Violence and Gender in

the Globalised World: The Intimate and the Extimate. Edited by Sanja Bahun-Radunović and V. G. Julie Rajan. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate:

25-40. 

Bong, Sharon A (2007) ‘Queer Revisions of Christianity’. In Body and Sexuality: Theological-Pastoral Perspectives of Women in Asia. Edited by Agnes

Brazal and Andrea Lizares Si. Manila, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Press: 234-249

Bong, Sharon A (2006) ‘Postcolonialism’. In Blackwell Companion to the Bible and Culture. Edited by John Sawyer. Blackwell: Oxford: 497-514

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘An Asian Postcolonial and Feminist Methodology: Ethics as a Recognition of Limits’. In Gender, Religion and Diversity: Cross-

Cultural Perspectives. Edited by Ursula King and Tina Beattie. London and New York: Continuum: 238-249.

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘Bodies that Suffer, Resist and Heal (‘Körper, die leiden, sich wehren und heilen’)’. In Believing with Body and Soul (Frauen

Glauben: Mit Leib und Seele). Aachen: Institute of Missiology [Desk of Women’s Studies in Religion and Feminist Theologies]: 14-15.

Bong, Sharon A (2003) ‘Suffering, Resisting, Healing: An Asian View of the Body’. In Feminism and Theology. Edited by Janet Martin Soskice and Diana

Lipton. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 356-364.

Journal Articles

Bong, Sharon A (2009) ‘Not “For the Sake of Peace”: Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred Body’. In Asian Christian Review 3 (1): 50-68.

Bong, Sharon A (2007) ‘Debunking Myths in CAQDAS Use and Coding in Qualitative Data Analysis: Experiences with and Reflections on Grounded

Theory Methdology’. In Historical Social Research. Edited by Günter Mey and Katja Mruck. Cologne: Center for Historical Social Research: 258-275.

Bong, Sharon A (2002) ‘Suffering, Resisting, Healing: An Asian View of the Body’. In Concilium [International Journal of Theology and Religious Studies].

Edited by Regina Ammicht-Quinn and Elsa Tamez. London: SCM Press. Vol. 2: 122-129.

Bong, Sharon A (2002) ‘Debunking Myths in Qualitative Data Analysis [44 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social

Research [Online journal], 3 (2). Available at: http://qualitative-research.net/fqs/fqs-eng.htm

Social Commentaries

Bong, Sharon A (2007) ‘Positions That Matter’ in http://www.kakiseni.com/articles/features/MTAzMw.html  (30 January)

Bong, Sharon A (2007) ‘Re-imagining Marriage and Family Life’ in Catholic Asian News, March, 36 (3): 15-17.

Bong, Sharon A (2007) ‘Re-imagining Women, Marriage and Family Life in Asia’ in Herald: The Catholic Weekly, February 18, 2007, 14 (7): 28.

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘The Spirit of the Cheong Fatt Tze’ in Resource, 12 (2): 95-99.

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘To Develop or Not to Develop: That is the Question?’ in Resource, 11 (4): 85-90.

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘Restoration and Conservation of No. 8 Heeren Street’ in Resource, 11 (3): 65-68.

Bong, Sharon A (2004) ‘Moving Forward By Remembering Our Past: Conserving Malaysia’s Built Heritage’ in Resource, 11 (1): 61-67.