Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University (NIU) for a talk by Kanjana Thepboriruk, Associate Professor at NIU’s Department of World Languages and Cultures, who will discuss her work conducting oral history interviews with Thai Americans.

Join NYSEAN and the Southeast Asia Coalition for Academic Freedom (SEACAF) for a conference examining attacks on intellectual and academic freedom in Southeast Asia and the United States. Scholars, journalists, and activists will gather to look at how universities and intellectuals often become the first target of rising authoritarianism, the costs and benefits of collective action, and the strategies for resistance. The conversation will address the impact of funding cuts, strengthened immigration enforcement, and assaults on higher education in the United States as well as the lessons learned from crackdowns in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Turkey.

Join the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University for a talk by Anocha Suwichakornpong, Associate Professor of Film from Columbia University, who will discuss how fictional narrative filmmaking can serve as a form of resistance under authoritarian regimes, with a focus on her own practice as a filmmaker and artist working in Thailand.

Join NYSEAN and NYU MAIR for a talk by Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Benjamin Tausig about the way that music features in their new books and how they engage with songs in their various writings. Benjamin will give a brief introduction to his latest book, Bangkok After Dark. Jeffrey will then discuss a chapter in his new book, The Milk Tea Alliance.

Margaret Scott, NYSEAN co-founder, will moderate the discussion.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa for a panel on Southeast Asia’s responses to the economic, political, and social impacts of U.S. tariff policies. Speakers include Dr. Jayant Menon, Senior Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute; Herawati, Researcher in the ASEAN Studies Program at The Habibie Center, and Dr. Tong Bui, Distinguished Chair in the Department of Information Technology Management at UH-Mānoa. Dr. Micah Fisher will moderate the discussion.

Join the Thailand Studies Program at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a talk by Dr. Puangthong R. Pawakapan, Professor of International Relations at Chulalongkorn University, and Supalak Ganjanakhundee, advisor to the Military Affairs Committee of Thailand’s House of Representatives. They will discuss potential solutions for addressing the Thailand-Cambodia conflict.

Join the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University for a talk by Aditya Bhattacharjee, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow from Asian Studies at Cornell University, who will discuss how new trends in popular Thai religion have influenced the beliefs and business practices of residents in New York state’s primary Thai enclaves.

Join the Harvard University Asia Center for a talk by Jiaporn Laochaoroenwong, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at Chulalongkorn University, who will discuss the supply chain of square oxen at the Myanmar-Thailand border.

Join the Stimson Center for the launch of a report on the 11th Policy Dialogue of the Mekong-US Partnership covering areas  such as trade, information and communication, and AI. Speakers include Rachel Coleman, Government Affairs & Public Policy Lead for Platforms & Devices, Google; Mario Masaya, Vice President of Research, Technology and Financial Services at U.S. ASEAN Business Council; and Phonesavanh Sitthideth, Deputy Director General, Lao Academy of Social and Economic Sciences. Courtney Weatherby, Southeast Asia Deputy Director at the Stimson Center, will moderate the discussion.

Join the Asia Society Museum for a screening of Independencia (2009) by Raya Martin, preceded by a screening of the short film The Anthem (2006) by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and followed by an extended conversation with Dennis Lim, Artistic Director of the New York Film Festival,  about his critical perspectives and career in film.

Join ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a panel examining Thai and Indonesian youth’s perceptions on wellbeing and development, social attitudes and values, and other trends in civic engagement. Featured speakers include Voradon Lerdrat, Director of Research and Policy Partnerships at 101 Public Policy Think Tank (Thailand), and Dr. Iim Halimatusa’diyah, Visiting Senior Fellow at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute and Professor of Sociology at Islamic State University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah.

Join Engage Thailand for their new online talk “The Deep Dive,” which brings a diverse range of people to provide perspectives on pressing issues in Thai politics and human rights. Their first guest is Dr. Paul Chambers, a renowned scholar on the Thai civil-military relationship who was recently arrested on lèse-majesté charges for allegedly insulting the monarchy.

Join the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) for a conversation with regional experts on the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict. The panel will include Sophal Ear, Associate Professor and former Senior Associate Dean in the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, Supalak Ganjanakhundee, advisor to the Thai House of Representatives Military Committee, former Visiting Fellow in the Thailand Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, and former editor of The Nation, and Benjamin Zawacki, senior program specialist at The Asia Foundation. Bryanna Entwistle, Press and Program Officer at ASPI, will moderate the conversation.

Join Asian CineVision for the New York City Premiere of Softshell (2024) as part of the Asian American International Film Festival. The screening will be followed by a filmmaker Q&A.

Join the Thailand Studies Program at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute for a webinar by Dr. Veerayooth Kanchoochat about Thailand’s industrial policy and its evolution, from the Thailand 4.0 initiative to current efforts supporting electric vehicles and semiconductor production. The webinar will discuss Thailand’s policy in comparison to Korea and Taiwan, China’s role in reshaping its model, and whether Thailand should adopt its strategy in response to shifting geopolitical dynamics.

Join the ASEAN Studies Center and the Regional Economic Studies Program at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute for a panel on the current state of play in the US trade policy and its impact on multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in Southeast Asia as the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs lapses in early July 2025. Featured speakers include Marc Mealy, Isamu Wakamatsu, and Dr. Dan Wang.

Join Book Culture and the SUNY/CUNY Southeast Asia Consortium on Wednesday, July 9th at 7pm for a conversation with Benjamin Tausig, author of Bangkok after Dark: Maurice Rocco, Transnational Nightlife, and the Making of Cold War Intimacies, and Rianne Subijanto, author of Communication against Capital: Red Enlightenment at the Dawn of Indonesia. 

Join the Regional Strategic and Political Studies Program at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute for a talk by Senior Fellow Dr. Ian Storey, who will discuss his new book on Russia’s role in Southeast Asia. Dr. Jittipat Poonkham, Vice Dean for Academic and International Affairs and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Political Science at Thammasat University, will moderate the discussion.

Join the Asia Society for a film screening of R.D. Pestonji’s surreal, freewheeling comedy Country Hotel (1957). The screening will be followed by a discussion with Palita Chungsaengchan, film scholar and Assistant Professor of Southeast Asian cinema and media cultures in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at University of Minnesota.

Join the LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre’s annual Southeast Asia Forum in 2025, which brings together leading specialists worldwide to discuss the implications of global trends and ongoing geoeconomic contestation for Southeast Asian economies, polities, and societies. Featured speakers include Evelyn Goh (Australian National University), Henry Wai-chung Yeung (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Selina Ho (National University of Singapore), and Alvin Camba (Association of Universities, Inc.).

Join ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute for a talk by Dr. John Lee, senior fellow at Hudson Institute, for a talk on Trump’s policies and their far-reaching global consequences. He will explore their impact on the US Indo-Pacific strategy and security alliances in Asia, the potential for strategic realignments among Asian nations, and how countries can navigate the uncertainties and challenges in the turbulent years ahead.

Join New York City Council Speaker Adrienne E. Adams and fellow Council Members for a vibrant celebration of Songkran (Thai New Year) and Thingyan (Burmese New Year). These joyous holidays, traditionally observed in mid-April, are renowned for their water festivals symbolizing renewal and fresh beginnings.

Please RSVP by Friday, April 25, 2025.

Join Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Apicha Community Health Center, OCA-NY, and Thai Community USA-NYC in celebrating the 2025 Songkran Festival. Come together to welcome the Thai New Year and honor Queens’ vibrant Southeast Asian communities with an evening of cultural performances, delicious food, and more.

Join the Council on Southeast Asia Studies at Yale University for a talk by Benjamin Tausig, Associate Professor of Critical Music Studies at SUNY-Stony Brook University, who will discuss his forthcoming book on Maurice Rocco, a queer Black American jazz pianist murdered in 1976 Bangkok. The talk explores how Rocco’s life and death reflect profound shifts in the definitions and valuations of race, sex, and gender identity in Cold War-era Thailand.