Communities in Between: Redefining Social Spaces in Southeast Asian Borderlands

Dates: 3 - 4 November 2014

This workshop will revisit state-society relations through the perspective of the borderlands as they can be seen as products of a social and political negotiation of space. The participants will highlight the ongoing deep transformation of statehood, citizenship, sovereignty and identity formations along routes and borders across Southeast Asia. While globalization theories have put emphasis on the dissolutions of borders, the waning of the state power, as well as the destruction of local traditions and communities, this workshop seeks to unravel the ways in which everyday practices of peripheral subjects intersect with central powers, thus producing heterogeneous scenarios of maneuvering, negotiation, collaboration, and resistance. The contributions will show how peripheral subjects are increasingly engaging in processes of globalization and development, and concomitantly, how the state engages in projecting frontier areas into national territory, using the new spaces thus produced as means of reinforcement of state authority. The concerns are varied, ranging from migratory movements, transformations in cultural, linguistic and religious practices, to ethnic mobilization and conflict, marginalization, and environmental concerns, with a particular interest in comparing both lowlands/uplands and Mainland/Island Southeast Asia interactions. 

For full workshop details see: http://rethinking.asia/event/communities-between-redefining-social-spaces-southeast-asian-borderlands

This workshop is part of:

Rethinking Asian Studies in a Global Context
Forum 3 - Asian Spatialities 3: Across Southeast Asian Borderlands

"Rethinking Asian Studies in a Global Context" (2014-2016) is a three-year IIAS pilot programme funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (New York) aimed at reshaping the field of Asian studies by fostering new humanities-focused research.