Views from Pulau Pinang brings together the writings of members of the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS), Universiti Sains Malaysia, with the aim of providing critical and alternative perspectives at the nexus between academia and policy discourse. Divided into three parts, the book tackles issues of ‘Social Science, Development, and Countering Modern Orientalism’, ‘Othering Globalisation: Rights and the Image of Islam’ and ‘Education, Nation-building, and Society.’

Relating back to the history and intellectual traditions of Pulau Pinang it seeks to situate themes of knowledge production and social science research within a geographic space which has itself long been subject to forces of orientalism, colonisation, modernisation, developmentalism, globalisation, nationalism and intellectual captivity, but also forces of decolonisation, anti-orientalism and localism.

Views from Pulau Pinang explores these forces in the context of nation-building, development and education, calling for new approaches to urbanization and the relationship between the city and kampung, the university system and the digital revolution, and the nation-state and governance. Moreover it highlights the importance of innovative social science research to policy thinking for the future of Malaysia.