“Can there be Southeast Asians in Southeast Asian Studies” redux
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24230407 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thiti Jamkajornkeiat (0009-0003-3726-4130, University of Victoria) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-21 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-08 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian Ethnicity (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1463-1369 • E-ISSN: 1469-2953 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14631369.2026.2745173 |
| OpenAlex | W7221032049 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 44 |
This article revisits Ariel Heryanto’s seminal essay ‘Can there be Southeast Asians in Southeast Asian Studies’ to investigate the forms of coloniality and exteriority specific to the disciplinary formation of Southeast Asian Studies. It argues that the relevant problematics for Southeast Asian Southeast Asianists (SASAs) today involve identifying the intellectual parameters of and, subsequently, giving form to ‘Southeast Asian Studies by and for Southeast Asians.’ To counteract the coloniality of the field, this decolonial configuration starts with collaboration to produce trans-local knowledge specific to the history and geography of Southeast Asia. To make Southeast Asian Studies relevant to Southeast Asians, the new framework adopts a public humanities direction that collaborates with communities to generate research inquiries driven by the needs and livelihoods of Southeast Asians. The article contributes to the accelerating momentum of the decolonizing Southeast Asian studies movement worldwide.
academic disciplines · Ethnic identity · Southeast Asian studies · Cultural Studies and Colonialism · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies
Decolonizing Comparative Literature
‘At Home in the World’
Epistemic Racism/Sexism, Westernized Universities and the Four Genocides/Epistemicides of the Long Sixteenth Century
Southeast Asian Studies in Asia in the Age of Disruption
Inter-Asia and Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore
Radicalizing “Bandung” in Cairo
Studying Women and Gender in Southeast Asia
Irregular Migrants and the Sea at the Borders of Sabah, Malaysia
How Britain Underdeveloped the Caribbean
History, Culture, and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives
Worlds of War
Can There Be Southeast Asians in Southeast Asian Studies
Refugees or Border Residents from Myanmar? The Status of Displaced Ethnic Kachins and Kokangs in Yunnan Province, China
Weapons of the weak in a border zone
Indonesia’s original sin
Gendering Chinese diaspora
Speaking Nearby
Cold War scripts
The Nexus of Asian Indigeneity, Refugee Status, and Asian Settler Colonialism in the Case of Indigenous Cham Muslim Refugees
Filipino Studies
Experiencing Southeast Asian Studies in China
From solidarity to resistance
Academia in a time of genocide
Cold War Anthropology
Views from the Ground
Causes of lingering communist movement after Indonesia’s September Thirtieth Movement
Decolonizing methods
Fourth World Approaches to International Law (FWAIL) and Asia's Indigenous Struggles and Quests for Recognition under International Law
Asian Studies across Academies
Problems, Perspectives, and Paradigms
| Highly cited | No |
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