Recovering late-colonial Malay(si)a: 

Histories and Legacies of Resettlement 

Dates: March 17–18, 2026 

Imperial War Museum London, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HX, UK 

Overview 

Research on the “Malayan Emergency” (1948–1960) has often focused on military strategy or the role of Malayan communist guerrillas and their fight against Commonwealth troops and colonial police. However, as part of the colonial state’s counterinsurgency scheme, almost half a million rural residents of colonial Malay(si)a, most of them of Chinese ancestry, were forcibly moved into hundreds of resettlement camps in the 1950s in an attempt to undermine support for the communists. Hundreds of “New Villages” were created to house such people, with most of these sites surviving today as either rural communities or suburbs of Malaysia’s towns and cities. Despite their importance to the story of the Emergency, the dense sediments of histories, legacies and collective memories of the New Villages remain relatively underexplored. 

At this conference (organised through the AHRC-funded “Resettling the Colonial Lens” Project, and hosted by Imperial War Museums) we seek to foster an international and multidisciplinary dialogue about resettlement and the New Villages – one which focuses on unheard voices, subjugated knowledge, alternative epistemology and ground-up perspectives on resettlement and its legacies. We, therefore, welcome papers that move beyond (and challenge) the entrenched, social science-informed frameworks on Malay(si)a’s New Villages, and which are instead informed by fields such as cultural, social and oral history; memory studies; visual cultures (e.g., photography); film, media and literature; heritage studies; and other approaches. We also welcome papers which consider resettlement in Malay(si)a in a comparative perspective (e.g., displacement and resettlement elsewhere in the region and around the world during the late-colonial and Cold War period), as well as the ethics and sensitivities needed in studying resettlement in the context of decolonisation. 

During the conference, participants will have the opportunity to visit IWM London’s exhibition Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus, which will explore the wave of independence movements that followed the end of the Second World War through the lens of three significant conflicts fought in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus, and shedding light on the brutal and lasting impact on those involved. 

Instructions 

We welcome proposals for individual papers, as well as proposals for themed panels consisting of three papers. Early career researchers are especially encouraged to submit proposals. Some funding for travel and accommodation will be provided for presenters. 

Applicants are asked to submit a Word document which includes a paper title, a 300-word paper abstract and contact details (including institutional affiliation) of presenters to Colonial.Lens.Project@nottingham.ac.uk on, or before, September 30, 2025.