Border Crossing and Search for New Perspectives : Southeast Asian Studies, 2012~2015

Abstract

The studies of Southeast Asian history in Korea in 2012-2015 have achieved ‘development’ in scholarship, responding to new theories and approaches in the field of (Southeast) Asian studies and other disciplines. While producing in-depth research on political and legal changes in premodern Southeast Asian societies, scholars of Southeast Asian history also sought to find answers to contemporary scholarly trends in the field, such as search for more interdisciplinary approaches, growing interest in more contemporary histories and more diverse topics, the critiquing of the idea and power of nation and nationalism, and quest for more international and transnational perspectives in interpreting Southeast Asian history. These new trends were encouraged by the interdisciplinary Southeast Asian studies initiated by the Humanities Korea Project and the participation of scholars outside the field of Southeast Asian history. Such an approach helped scholars study it as an integrated area rather than a collection of individual states. The rise of “New” Cold War history also contributed to the growth of studies on contemporary Southeast Asia based on transnational perspectives. As such, during the last four years the field of Southeast Asian history has communicated with diverse voices of scholars of other regions and disciplines in and outside Korea, and paved the way for a more integrated yet multidimensional study of Southeast Asian history.