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Ganakumaran Subramaniam is Deputy Director of the Office of International Relations, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and senior lecturer at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He has a Ph.D from the University of Nottingham, UK and is the recipient of the Fulbright Award in the year 2002. His publications include the books Teaching of Literature in the ESL/EFL Contexts (2003), Reclaiming Place and Space: Issues in New Literatures (2003), Voices of Many Worlds: Malaysian Literature in English (2004), Oracy in Focus (2005), Literature and Nationhood (2005), Reconstructing Realities: Occident-Orient Engagements (Longman Pearson 2007) and Ideological Stylistics and Fictional Discourse. Cambridge Scholars Publication (forthcoming 2009). He is also President of the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA).
Literary Studies for Non-literary Disciplines: Nurturing Humanistic Connections The advent of globalization has forced upon us the need to rethink and re-shape conceptualizations of and about the world. The world is increasingly seen as a global community rather than a physical entity made up of bordered countries each distinctly different from the other through features such as language, culture and values. This shift has created the need for us to re-examine roles and engagements from the perspective of the humanities thus enabling us to develop a more holistic understanding of mankind. The focus it is argued has to be the understanding and appreciation of similarities and in the viewing of differences not as points of tension but as issues for resolution. This paper looks at the role of literature and literary education not only as a conduit for human understanding but also in enabling universally shared human values and creating the awareness for the need of their amalgamation into science and technology education. This counter-philosophy has developed particularly in advanced nations who have learned through the flaws in society resultant from an erroneous mechanistic-dehumanized view of man and the world. Consequently, there has emerged an appreciation for humanly-based values to be restored particularly to the non-human and impersonal features of the sciences, politics and industry. In discussing these issues, the paper will share outcomes of two initiatives where literary studies have been introduced to medical and engineering students at two Malaysian universities as a test case. The findings highlight both the issues and challenges involved in this curriculum innovation and the perceived value of literary studies in engaging students of science and technology to the humanistic concerns of knowledge in their areas of study and the applied implications of their work and products on humanity with a focus on ethics and social responsibility.

The advent of globalization has forced upon us the need to rethink and re-shape conceptualizations of and about the world. The world is increasingly seen as a global community rather than a physical entity made up of bordered countries each distinctly different from the other through features such as language, culture and values. This shift has created the need for us to re-examine roles and engagements from the perspective of the humanities thus enabling us to develop a more holistic understanding of mankind. The focus it is argued has to be the understanding and appreciation of similarities and in the viewing of differences not as points of tension but as issues for resolution.

This paper looks at the role of literature and literary education not only as a conduit for human understanding but also in enabling universally shared human values and creating the awareness for the need of their amalgamation into science and technology education. This counter-philosophy has developed particularly in advanced nations who have learned through the flaws in society resultant from an erroneous mechanistic-dehumanized view of man and the world. Consequently, there has emerged an appreciation for humanly-based values to be restored particularly to the non-human and impersonal features of the sciences, politics and industry. In discussing these issues, the paper will share outcomes of two initiatives where literary studies have been introduced to medical and engineering students at two Malaysian universities as a test case. The findings highlight both the issues and challenges involved in this curriculum innovation and the perceived value of literary studies in engaging students of science and technology to the humanistic concerns of knowledge in their areas of study and the applied implications of their work and products on humanity with a focus on ethics and social responsibility.