In recent years, the study of psychogeography—a field exploring the intricate interactions between human emotions, experiences, and spaces—has predominantly centered on urban environments, leaving rural settings vastly underexplored. A groundbreaking article published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications challenges this urban-centric lens by delving deep into the psychogeographical narratives emerging from rural Malaysian madrasa communities. This research not only fills a significant academic void but also offers a provocative reimagining of place, identity, and belonging beyond the confines of metropolitan life.
Psychogeography, traditionally focusing on urban spaces, maps the subjective emotional and cognitive responses individuals have towards their environments. However, this study redirects attention from bustling cityscapes to the quiet, often overlooked landscapes of the Malaysian countryside, where madrasa communities serve as both spiritual and social hubs. By doing so, the researchers illuminate how personal narratives from these marginalized rural dwellers articulate profound connections with their surroundings that challenge sanitized, mainstream discourses about rural spaces and Muslim institutions.
At the heart of this investigation lies the concept of “de-urbanised psychogeography,” a theoretical framework that examines how marginalized rural individuals engage with their physical and social environments. Rather than being passive or disconnected from their places, inhabitants of the madrasa actively reinterpret and reimagine their landscapes, challenging prevailing stereotypes associated with poverty, religiosity, and rural isolation. This approach disrupts the dominant narratives shaped by authorities and media, offering a more nuanced and authentic glimpse into the lived realities of non-urban communities.
Notably, the study employs personal narratives collected from madrasa inhabitants to trace psychogeographical pathways—how individuals mentally and emotionally navigate their environments. These stories reveal that the madrasa functions beyond its physical infrastructure; it is a dynamic site where identity, community bonds, and spirituality converge. Through intimate accounts, participants reveal how the madrasa embodies their dual roles as home and workplace, intertwining sacred purpose with everyday domesticity, thereby reshaping traditional notions about rural religious spaces.
Drawing comparisons with contemporary studies by Holloway, Martin, Zhao, and others, the researchers find that these rural psychogeographical experiences share thematic resonances with urban psychogeography by employing “placeness” as a tool to contest dominant narratives and reframe emotional attachments. However, they also highlight unique divergences, such as a conscious preservation of social cohesion and environmental stewardship, reflecting the distinctive socio-cultural fabric of rural Malaysia’s madrasas.
An important thematic strand in the article is the subtle yet poignant portrayal of landscape degradation and economic decline, issues that reverberate globally across rural domains. Similar to Cooper’s 2020 findings on industrial decline, these narratives show an acute awareness of environmental fragility and the socio-economic challenges encircling the madrasa communities. Far from mere lamentations, these reflections spur calls for greater care and sustainable engagement with the natural world, underscoring the madrasa dwellers’ role as active custodians of their environment.
Central to the theoretical contribution of this research is its emphasis on the agency and resilience of impoverished rural inhabitants. Despite the hardships typically associated with economic marginality, the madrasa residents demonstrate perseverance through adherence to divine and sacred paths, while simultaneously envisioning transformative possibilities for their community life. Their narratives weave imaginative sociocultural trajectories that contest reductive depictions of rural Muslims, emphasizing dynamism and creativity within constraint.
This article also challenges problematic, often sensationalized portrayals of Muslim spaces in media and scholarship. Instead of conflict or isolation, the madrasa’s de-urbanised psychogeography foregrounds social integration and collective belonging, highlighting a vibrant communal ethos that transcends mere physical proximity. This reframing has significant implications for how religious minorities in non-urban contexts are perceived, inviting fresh discourses that appreciate complexity and nuance.
Methodologically, the study’s reliance on personal narratives opens avenues for richly textured qualitative inquiry. These stories serve as “psychogeographical tracings” which excavate the emotional landscapes of rural life, intertwining memory, identity, and locality. Such an approach underscores the importance of narrative multiplicity and reflexivity in capturing the lived dimension of geographical studies, particularly in spaces often neglected by mainstream academic investigation.
However, the authors acknowledge the provisional nature of their theorisation. They specify that the insights are contextually situated within Peninsular Malaysia’s de-urbanised madrasa settings and caution against overgeneralization. This humility signals the need for expanded comparative analyses incorporating diversified geographical and cultural contexts, including urban and mixed settings, to robustly map the psychogeographical spectrum.
Future directions proposed by the authors suggest incorporating literary media such as novels and short stories that address madrasa life. By blending personal narratives with literary representations, researchers can discern ideological frameworks—from authority-driven discourses to everyday lived identities—that shape perceptions and emotions connected to these spaces. This synthesis presents fertile ground for interdisciplinary explorations bridging human geography, literature, and cultural studies.
The article also powerfully contributes to broader discourses in rural studies and non-urban psychogeography by pushing back against the prevailing urban bias that dominates human geography. It aligns with calls from scholars like Sidaway for a reimagined psychogeography that mobilizes margins, centers, constraints, and encounters beyond traditional city boundaries. By centering rural madrasa dwellers’ experiences, this study reclaims a narrative space for those often sidelined in academic and public imagination.
Moreover, it spotlights the intricate interplay between spatial practices and environmental conservation, positioning rural madrasa residents as key actors in ecological sustainability. This orientation challenges the notion that rural spaces are passive backdrops, instead framing them as active socio-spatial assemblages where self, place, and environment co-constitute each other through everyday practices.
Finally, the investigation opens vital horizons for expanded exploration, advocating for analyses across varied religious institutions such as temples, synagogues, and churches within de-urbanised contexts. This pluralistic approach promises to enhance generalizability and foster richer understandings of how faith, space, and identity interface in non-urban arenas. Similarly, integrating diverse text types—ranging from digital media to journalistic forms—can deepen comprehension of evolving psychogeographical narratives.
In sum, this study disrupts the sanitized representations of rural madrasas by embracing a psychogeographical lens that foregrounds personal narratives, social integration, and environmental ethics. It not only reframes understandings of rural Muslim spaces but also advances humanities scholarship by highlighting the transformative potential of de-urbanised psychogeographical inquiry. As the boundaries between urban and rural blur in increasingly complex ways, such research stands poised to reshape our conceptual maps of place and self in the twenty-first century.
Subject of Research:
Psychogeographical exploration of de-urbanised madrasa communities in rural Malaysia through personal narratives.
Article Title:
Reimagining de-urbanised madrasa and self-place interaction through the lens of psychogeography.
Article References:
Idrus, M.M., Ahmad Mahir, N., Massari, N. et al. Reimagining de-urbanised madrasa and self-place interaction through the lens of psychogeography.
Humanit Soc Sci Commun 12, 1019 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05333-6
Image Credits: AI Generated
