Changing Family in Asia closed as of December 2021

Cluster leader: Gavin JONES, Wei-Jun Jean YEUNG

To be the global thought leader on how and why Asian families have been changing and the consequences of these changes. The cluster researches on different dimensions of family lives such as family formation behaviour, family structure, family functioning, family ideologies, family relations, and family policies. The cluster aims to create new knowledge and pose innovative questions about family changes in Asia and their implications for individual and family well-being and for the society at large. In the past years, we have greatly expanded the scope of research in this cluster to focus on emerging trends such as the rise of one-person households (the fastest growing household type), increase in stepfamilies, changing values of children and marriage, barriers to youth transitioning to adulthood, how migration affects children and young adults, productive aging, the trend of delay in retirement age, how economic uncertainties have affected families, and changes in family policies.

The Cultural Studies cluster closed as of July 2016

Cluster leader: CHUA Beng Huat

The Cultural Studies in Asia as a field of academic research challenges conventional disciplinary boundaries to address new concerns thrown up by the rapid changes in the era of global capitalism driven significantly by transformative changes in communication and media technologies. These changes have engendered a new environment that both frames and enables new forms of cultural practices. Cultural Studies at ARI focuses on social media mediated changes and practices in the economy, politics and society in contemporary Asia from new angles engendered by multidisciplinary perspectives. It re-examines the very idea of Asia and its current reconfiguration in view of the intense traffic of social media products and practices, crisscrossing national and cultural boundaries within the continent and beyond.

The Open cluster closed as of June 2014

Cluster leader: Prasenjit DUARA

While any research institute must focus its work on certain particular frontiers on which it hopes to make a difference, ARI has also kept its doors open to talented people, exciting ideas and worthwhile projects across the whole spectrum of the social sciences. Many of our most exciting visitors have been in what we call the 'open' cluster, to ensure this openness to ideas remains.

The Southeast Asia-China Interactions cluster closed as of 30 June 2009

Cluster leader: Anthony REID

The revival of the links which had long tied Southeast Asia with China is one of the most obvious of recent regional trends. Understanding the changes now taking place, as well as the growing interdependencies and alliances which are emerging, demand that we examine these linkages through both contemporary and historical lenses. Professor Anthony Reid leads this cluster, which has sponsored a number of innovative workshops, conferences and lectures. To assist in publishing the results of such research both within and beyond the University, a new publication series entitled Southeast Asia and China: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives has been launched in collaboration with NUS Press. Since 2006 the cluster has developed a particular focus on The Cold War as it affected Southeast Asia, and has established a partnership with Peking University to pursue the documentation of these issues across the former ‘bamboo curtain’.

There are also projects on Southeast Asian archeology and on Aceh which have developed their own dynamic under the nurturing umbrella of the cluster.