This workshop is organized by the Department of Chinese Studies, with support from the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. This event is funded by the Wan Boo Sow Research Centre for Chinese Culture.
Chinese associations and traditional networks have played pivotal roles in Chinese diasporic communities, particularly during the 19th and early 20th centuries when these communities were growing, consolidating, and negotiating their position in the social fabric of colonial and post-colonial nation states in Southeast Asia. Increasingly viewed as shrinking and antiquated social institutions, these associations in Southeast Asia are, in fact, undergoing complex, multi-dimensional changes, driven by many internal and external forces. Although not yet the subject of major academic investigation, these contemporary changes are significant and would offer fresh insights into the reconfiguration of ethnic Chinese communities in Southeast Asia as well as their renewed transnational connections with China in the contemporary era. In this planning workshop, scholars will present their ongoing research and chart new research directions, while featuring field reports and interviews of some leading members of Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese associations.
PARTICIPATION
Please note that participation in this closed-door workshop is by invitation only.
WORKSHOP CONVENORS
Prof Kenneth Dean | Department of Chinese Studies & Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Dr Wang Koon Lee, Dean | Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore
