Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute Affirms Importance of Southeast Asian Studies with Bangkok Conference
By Kathleen Pokrud
Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute affirmed the importance of Southeast Asian studies with the Bangkok conference “Bridging Communities and Building Legacies”, co-hosted by Nunthinee Tanner, in conjunction with the Columbia Alumni Association Bangkok. The event aimed to address the state of Southeast Asian Studies in the current higher education landscape.
The Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University, a distinguished hub for the study of modern East, Inner and Southeast Asia, presented a one-day program showcasing its commitment to the academic discipline of Southeast Asian Studies. Its partners in the series of talks and discussions were Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University and the National University of Singapore.
The conference was a feat of logistics and collaborative planning made possible by the contributions of Nunthinee Tanner, managing director of LBG Limited and co-founder of the Thai Polo and Equestrian Club, and Chatchai Piyasombatkul, president of the Columbia Alumni Association of Bangkok.
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Lien-Hang T Nguyen, director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, delivered a keynote address on “Thailand’s Role in Columbia’s Global Footprint”, which introduced the Institute and highlighted the importance of Southeast Asian Studies and their Masters in Regional Studies East Asia degree program (MARSEA).
Following Nguyen’s remarks, there were two panel discussions that brought together James Cheng, Director of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University; Weatherhead East Asian Institute Associate Director of External Affairs Sarah Jessup; Lee Cheng Ean, Advisor & Head of Global Relations, National University of Singapore Libraries; Natalie Pang, University Librarian of the National University of Singapore Libraries; and Neungreudee Lohapon, Director of the Digital Archive of Modernized Siam Project, Chulalongkorn University for a conversation on the necessity of establishing heritage collections and the challenges they entail.
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In the second panel discussion, James Cheng was joined by Weatherhead Artist-in-Residence and Columbia School of the Arts Adjunct Lecturer Tony Bui to engage historian and writer Daryl Yeap for a multifaceted look at the life of a book, from research to publication to the big screen. Yeap’s book, As Equals: The Oei Women of Java, tells the story of modernity at the turn of the 20th century through the lives of three remarkable women—Lucy Ho, Ida Oei and Oei Hui Lan—wife and daughters of Java’s first Sugar King, Oei Tiong Ham. Born between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they were super-rich, highly educated, fiercely independent, ultra-modern individuals who redefined conventional ideas of womanhood. The book explores how and why they became such trailblazers in the environment in which they were raised, the challenges they faced and the ways they carved out space in the public sphere. The closing remarks were made by Chatchai Piyasombatkul.
The Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University is an integrated centre for research and teaching that brings together faculty, research scholars and students while advancing knowledge and understanding of the region through academics, research programs, a renowned publications series and robust calendar of public events.
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