Biography Biography I am a historian of empire, covert operations, and international power projection in Southeast Asia during the twentieth century. My work explores how the post–World War II world order emerged not through unilateral Western design but through contested, multilinear interactions among U.S. agents, European interlocutors, and Southeast Asian political elites. I focus especially …
Biography Biography I am Bhikkhu Kai Sophea, a Theravada Buddhist monk. I was born and ordained as a novice in Cambodia in the aftermath of the civil war, shaped by the Cold War and Vietnam War. My journey has taken me across various countries in Southeast Asia, where I have lived and pursued my education. …
Biography Biography I first subscribed to my Teochew Chinese immigrant identity from the periphery of Thai-Lao polities before acquiring academic uniforms of anthropologist and historian of Theravada Buddhism and mainland Southeast Asia. This background encompasses my primary attention towards border, migration, religion and ethnic identity. My extensive fieldwork experience at Buddhist sites in India and …
Biography Biography I am a scholar of intellectual history and religion in transnational perspective. My research is primary focused on modern France and its empire, with particular attention to colonial ventures in East and Southeast Asia. My dissertation examines the place of Christian missionaries — Catholic as well as Protestant — and other religious actors …
Biography Biography Edwin Pietersma (he/him) is a History PhD student originally from the Netherlands but trained in the Netherlands, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. He specializes in the modern and colonial history of Japan, Siam/Thailand, and the Dutch East-Indies/Indonesia between the 1840s and 1942. In particular, he is interested in questions of migration versus nation-state and …
Biography Biography I am a story-teller and a student of the history of religion. I am interested in gods, ghosts, myths, monsters, spirits, and religion making (and the occasional dragon). Education M.A., History, University of Wisconsin Madison, 2023 M.A., Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2019 B.A., English Language & Literature, Universitas Udayana, 2011 Field …
Biography I completed my Bachelor’s degree in History as part of the first undergraduate cohort at Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV). In my graduate project, I seek to examine the transnational connection between Vietnamese Buddhism and the global Buddhist world. Specifically, I look at how prominent Vietnamese Buddhist intellectuals and reformers like Mai Tho Truyen, Thich …