For Whom Are Southeast Asian Studies?

Which audience, public, and people do Southeast Asianists address and serve? The question of “audience(s)”—real and imagined, intended and unintended—is arguably central to (re)conceptualizing the rationale, scope, efficacy, and limits of Southeast Asian Studies. It has an important bearing on what kind of topics are chosen for study and how the region is imagined and realized.

Caroline Hau, Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University, delivered the 11th Frank H. Golay Memorial Lecture on Oct. 25, 2019 at Cornell University.

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