Notes on the future of Southeast Asian studies

Looking Back

When done poorly, efforts to understand and explain other cultures and societies earn justified and withering critique. Where scholarly appreciation lacks empathy, depth or context it is not a surprise that opposition should emerge. The charge of orientalism is one that still echoes through the halls of knowledge. It is a blunt rebuke to those accused of reifying the Other. Avoiding the common tendencies to essentialize complex subject matter requires skill, breadth and compassion. The political situation in which studies of human societies occur is crucial, and the difficult reality is that neutral enquiry, of the type imagined in some methodological textbooks, always proves an illusion. Academic analysis, of whatever type, should begin with an appreciation that power and knowledge sit in uneasy and permanent conversation. Knowledge of society, politics, culture, history, language and economics, in whichever disciplinary tradition, should therefore start with questions about how the world works, including through close scrutiny of scholarly practices and mentalities.