For ethnic Lao living along the Mekong River and its tributaries, hydropower dams have negatively impacted their lives and livelihoods. Many impacts, however, remain invisible in social and environmental impact assessments but have profound repercussions for the well-being of these communities. This talk  by Akarath Soukhaphon, Geography PhD Candidate at University of Wisconsin-Madison, makes visible some of these impacts among ethnic Lao communities in and around the Pak Mun Dam in northeastern Thailand, the Don Sahong and Xe Pian Xe Namnoy Dams in southern Laos, and the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in northeastern Cambodia.

Ashley Thompson, the Hiram W. Woodward Chair of Southeast Asian Art at SOAS University of London, uses Buddha’s life story—his return from heaven and the socio-political order organized around the dissemination of his image afterwards—to contemplate how ideas of absence, return, and transformation shape identity and cultural restitution in Southeast Asia today.

This event was hosted by the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University, a NYSEAN Partner.

Andrew Mertha, Director of the China Global Research Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, discusses his new book. Bad Lieutenants explores the surprising endurance of the Khmer Rouge as a political force in Cambodia for decades after Vietnam’s 1979 invasion. How did the Khmer Rouge retain power, and why were they ultimately unsuccessful in forming a legitimate governing structure? What role did their leadership and political strategies play in their success and failures?

Wen-Qing Ngoei, Associate Professor of History at the Singapore Management University, examines the ramifications of the intimate strategic and economic relationship between the United States and Singapore.

This talk was hosted by the Harvard University Asia Center.

Is Southeast Asia edging toward greater unity on the global stage, or are entrenched national interests reinforcing division? Huong Le Thu, deputy director of the Asia Program at International Crisis Group; and Pita Limjaroenrat, former prime minister-designate of Thailand, discuss how the region’s leaders are balancing between China and the United States. James Crabtree, non-resident distinguished fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, moderates the conversation.

This panel was hosted by the Asia Society, a NYSEAN Partner.

Chiara Formichi discusses her new book, Domestic Nationalism (Stanford University Press, 2025), asserting that Muslim women in Java and Sumatra in the early to mid-20th century were central to Indonesia’s progress as guardians and promoters of health and piety through gendered activities of care work. While sidelined in the Dutch colonial project of hygienic modernity, women’s labor of social reproduction became increasingly visible during the Japanese Occupation and early years of independence. Women from all walks of life were called upon to fulfill domestic and motherly roles for the production and socialization of laborers, soldiers, and citizens.

This discussion was moderated by Sidney Jones and was hosted by NYSEAN.