As an emerging academic field of study, ASEANOLOGY must draw from empirical evidence in order for it to become fully established. Regardless of the research design, the evidence that will be gathered will contribute to the body of knowledge in this new subject matter. While ASEANOLOGY is relatively unknown on…

Community based resource management or CBRM is becoming a trend among developing countries. Towards the end of the 20th century, individual communities have become increasingly independent in terms of claiming responsibility as well as gaining the profit made from the raw materials that can be found within their area. A…

Rivers play a huge part in the Southeast Asian landscape. Indeed, Gupta (2005) has said that the region has surplus water, owing to the widespread rainforests that have once littered the area, as well as the massive rainfall in the region that averages 2000mm annually. The major rivers of the…

Forests, regardless of their form and location, have long been considered to be crucial in Southeast Asia’s ecosystem. As the home of ⅕ of the world’s species and spanning 204 million hectares, much of the region heavily depends upon this ecosystem for resources, tourism, and even environmental security. Unfortunately, due…

The material world has long been tied to Southeast Asian spirituality. Unlike in Western faiths, where objects were assigned a representative role, Southeast Asia’s indigenous belief systems have long associated the divine through the use of handmade goods, ritualistic movements, or even nature itself. Indeed, these “religious subjectivities” have become…

To say that colonialism influenced the nations it once victimized is an understatement. Pels (1997) has noted that there are three ways to think of this historical happenstance, at least from an anthropological perspective: As an essential stepping stone towards modernization; As a way to exploit and dominate underdeveloped yet…

Scholars primarily agree that Southeast Asia’s three significant influencers are the Indians, Chinese, and West Asians. Yet, there is always that question of which among these three made a significant mark on the region as a whole. …

For anyone alive for the past decade, the meme “We live in a society!” is certainly one that they may have heard of, over and over again. Yet despite its association with internet jokes, it also holds a painful truth. Society influences us in almost every aspect of our life…

The great Singaporean statesman Lee Kwan Yew once said this about democracy: “Now if democracy will not work for the Russians, a white Christian people, can we assume that it will naturally work with Asians?” And perhaps, there may be a ring of truth to it, especially considering that within…