The Henry Luce Foundation recently awarded $1 million to the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Miriam Stark, a professor in the College of Social Sciences’ Department of Anthropology and CSEAS director, will direct “LuceSEA Transitions: Environment, Society and Change” in partnership with the East-West Center to explore socioeconomic and environmental shifts that are transforming Southeast Asian societies in a time of accelerated climate and environmental change.
With support from the Luce Foundation, the UH/EWC team will:
- Enhance collaboration and equality with SEA-based research partners by embedding training and collaboration opportunities into research and professional opportunities.
- Support SEA-based workshops to share information and help early career researchers develop professional skills.
- Develop and make available college-level SEA curricular resources on environmental issues and agrarian transitions as Open Educational Resources (OER) and for-credit online courses available using digital technology.
This project will create close mentorship programs that transcend institutional boundaries through joint fieldwork, professional training, conference participation, and scholarly publication.
Nurturing collaboration that crosses boundaries is integral to addressing socio-environmental transformations and to helping Southeast Asia-based early career colleagues engage with the international academic world.
Additionally, the creation of digital online SE Asia scholarly resources will help students, SE Asia-based researchers, and non-specialists more easily incorporate SE Asia into their social sciences and humanities research. Coordinating efforts at UHM and EWC with SE Asia-based colleagues enhances the depth and breadth of UH’s activities in Hawai’i, and enhances SE Asia Studies in the United States.
Major project members include Pia Arboleda, Indo-Pacific Languages and Literature; Ashok Das, Department of Urban and Regional Planning; Jefferson Fox, East-West Center/Affiliate, Department of Geography and Environment; Mary Mostafanezhad, Department of Geography and Environment; Kirstin Pauka, UHM Theatre and Dance; Krisna Suryanata, Department of Geography and Environment; and Brian Szuster, Department of Geography and Environment.
