Current News
- Call for Fellowship｜’Cohesion Under Crisis’ Research Fellowship (Application Deadline: June 15)
Submission deadline: June 15, 2026 - Fall 2026 Southeast Asia Focused Course| ASAN – MUS Ensemble Courses
UH Mānoa offers a wide range of Fall 2026 courses that center on the Southeast Asian region, ranging from history and politics to languages, art, dance, and more. MUS 311M: Register for MUS 311M to build and play your own musical instruments from repurposed rubbish. A chance to get involved in a local sustainability initiative… Read more: Fall 2026 Southeast Asia Focused Course| ASAN – MUS Ensemble Courses - “Kani Ka ʻŌpala: Take a Sad Song & Make it Better” exhibition featured on UH News
Available through August 10, the “Kani Ka ʻŌpala: Take a Sad Song & Make it Better” exhibit by ethnomusicology lecturer Benjamin Fairfield combines ecomusicology with place-based learning and encourages examination of consumptive habits. “The idea of accepting a label of trash as worthless primes us to see things as having no further utility and value,” said… Read more: “Kani Ka ʻŌpala: Take a Sad Song & Make it Better” exhibition featured on UH News - Annual Report 2023-2024The Center is pleased to announce the release of our annual report covering 2021-2022 academic year!
- 2026 Spring LuceSEA Webinar #4: Imagining Borders: Nationality, Mobility and Belonging in Southeast Asia
Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 3:00–4:30 PM (HST) | Registration: https://go.hawaii.edu/7AD Join us for the second webinar of the 2026 Spring LuceSEA Webinar Series on Imagining Borders: Nationality, Mobility and Belonging in Southeast Asia. The webinar discusses how Southeast Asian borderlands live, negotiate, and challenge national boundaries. From disputes to statelessness. By discussing Stateless populations, informal… Read more: 2026 Spring LuceSEA Webinar #4: Imagining Borders: Nationality, Mobility and Belonging in Southeast Asia - UH Mānoa Students and Faculty highlight Southeast Asia Research at the 2026 Association for Asian Studies Conference
Last March, the 2026 Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Conference was held in Vancouver, Canada. The CSEAS is delighted to share the participation of two UH Mānoa students, Areerat Worawongwasu and Xiaoyun Neo, who joined others to present Southeast Asian research at the AAS. In Summer 2025, the pair joined a group of students from… Read more: UH Mānoa Students and Faculty highlight Southeast Asia Research at the 2026 Association for Asian Studies Conference - 2026 Spring Colloquium on ‘Operation Babylift’ featured on UH News
On March 3, CSEAS hosted a colloquium on Operation Babylift, a U.S-led effort to evacuate children from Vietnam at the end of the war. Devaki Murch, a Vietnam War adoptee and raised in Hawai’i shared how this experience have shaped how history of Vietnam War is remembered. Drawing from her work building the Operation Babylift… Read more: 2026 Spring Colloquium on ‘Operation Babylift’ featured on UH News - 2026 Teacher Training Program: Pamana Ng Lahi
Join us for the 2026 Pamana Ng Lahi Teacher Training Program hosted by Markee Angelo Micu and Pia Arboleda. This program is a collaboration among UH Mānoa Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Pamana ng Lahi Project, Mindanao State University General Santos Departamento ng Filipino, and the UH Mānoa Filipino and Philippine Culture Program. Register for… Read more: 2026 Teacher Training Program: Pamana Ng Lahi - 2026 Spring Colloquium: ‘Exiled!’ documentary by Pollie Bith-Melander(In-person)
Friday, April 17th, 2026, 12:00–1:30 PM (HST) | Hamilton Library Room 306 - Javanese Gamelan Ensemble in Concert at UH Mānoa
Join us for an evening of Javanese gamelan music performed on Gamelan Kyai Gandrung, presented by Javanese Gamelan Ensemble at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Date: Saturday, April 25, 2024Time: 7:30 PMVenue: Barbara Smith Amphitheater, UH Mānoa Music DepartmentTickets: $15 | $10 | Students Free (Bring Student ID) Don’t miss this unique opportunity to… Read more: Javanese Gamelan Ensemble in Concert at UH Mānoa - 2026 Spring Talk: Songs from the Ruins: Music, Memory, and the Reconstruction of a Nation in the Philippines’ Historical Data Papers, 1951 -1953
April 24, 2026, 2:00 – 4:30 PM (HST) | Center for Korean Studies Auditorium, UH Mānoa - 2026 Balinese Wayang Listrik: Panji & The Lost Princess
April 17 – 26, 2026 | John F. Kennedy Theatre Mainstage Co-Directed by Kirstin Pauka and I Madé MojaAdapted from a traditional Balinese folktale by Ketut Wirtawan and Madé Moja Panji and the Lost Princess is a large-scale Balinese shadow puppetry performance in the tradition of wayang listrik. The story is based on the Balinese interpretation… Read more: 2026 Balinese Wayang Listrik: Panji & The Lost Princess - Support Friends of Southeast Asia on UH Giving Day, April 8
Aloha ‘Ohana & Friends of Southeast Asia, Wednesday, April 8, is Giving Day for the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. This year, UHCSEAS is focusing our Giving Day efforts on raising funds to support programs and events that will benefit the SEA faculty, students and community. CSEAS has faced severe reductions due to the recent… Read more: Support Friends of Southeast Asia on UH Giving Day, April 8 - Kani Ka ‘Ōpala: Take a Sad Song & Make it Better Exhibition
Dates: April 6, 2026-August 10, 2026 Location: Bridge Gallery, Hamilton Library, UH Mānoa Kani Ka ʻŌpala logo with simplified human shape holding a long stick above a trashcan made into a drum. The ʻoʻ in ʻŌpala is a recycling symbol. The Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) is delighted to highlight a new exhibition, ‘Kani… Read more: Kani Ka ‘Ōpala: Take a Sad Song & Make it Better Exhibition - 2026 GETSEA event: Simulcast Film Screening
Monday, April 6th , 2026, 11:00–1:00 PM (HST) | Moore Hall 155A Join us for the 2026 GETSEA Simulcast Film Screening on Sotong (2022) & Against The Messy World (2023). These two short films highlight the challenges to art and expression in Malaysia’s complex political, legal, and societal landscape. Date, Time & Location: About the… Read more: 2026 GETSEA event: Simulcast Film Screening - 2026 Spring Colloquium Book Talk: The Trade-Offs of Legal Status: Safe Migration, Documentation, and Debt in Southeast Asia
Wednesday, April 8, 2026, 3:00–4:30 PM HST | Online Register https://go.hawaii.edu/D59 Join us for a conversation with Maryann Bylander, Professor at Lewis & Clark College, as she discusses her latest book, The Trade-Offs of Legal Status (University of Hawai’i Press). About the book: The Trade-Offs of Legal Status explores the costs, risks, and unfreedoms produced… Read more: 2026 Spring Colloquium Book Talk: The Trade-Offs of Legal Status: Safe Migration, Documentation, and Debt in Southeast Asia - 2026 Spring LuceSEA Webinar #3 Recording Available! Smart Cities in Southeast Asia? Present Realities and Future Ventures.
The recording of our 2026 Spring LuceSEA Webinar Series on Smart Cities in Southeast Asia: Present Realities and Future Ventures is now available online. This webinar explores Southeast Asia’s fast-evolving smart city initiatives – from data governance to climate adaptation. This session asks, “Are Southeast Asia’s smart cities truly serving public needs – or reproducing old… Read more: 2026 Spring LuceSEA Webinar #3 Recording Available! Smart Cities in Southeast Asia? Present Realities and Future Ventures. - Benjamin Moseley’s Dissertation Defense｜Conversion and Power at the “Ends of the Earth”: Islam, Christianity, and Localization in Southeast Asia’s Eastern Archipelago, 1450 – 1650 (April 9)
Please join us for Benjamin Moseley’s dissertation defense on April 9th from 9:30-11:30 AM (HST). - Olivia Meyer’s Dissertation Defense｜Plastic Panacea: Circular Economies and the Political Ecology of Plastic Waste in Thailand (April 9)
Please join us for Olivia Meyer’s dissertation defense on April 9th from 1-3pm. - Professor Barbara Andaya receives a prestigious award in Asian Studies
We are proud to celebrate Professor Emeritus Barbara Watson Andaya on receiving the Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies Award from the Association for Asian Studies (AAS). Professor Andaya’s expertise centers on the Malay-Indonesian world. Since 2014, she has published more than 30 works, including The Flaming Womb, which was recognized as an outstanding academic title.… Read more: Professor Barbara Andaya receives a prestigious award in Asian Studies - 2026 GETSEA event: How to Do Research in the Philippines
Tuesday, March 31, 2026, 3:00–4:30 PM (HST) | Online Join us for the 2026 GETSEA Event on How to do Research in the Philippines. This event highlights opportunities and challenges doing research in the Philippines by bringing together individuals with unique and extensive backgrounds on Philippine research. Date, Time & Location: Speakers: Register here Free… Read more: 2026 GETSEA event: How to Do Research in the Philippines - Call for Papers｜Ecofeminist Drama: Theatre, Performance, and Ecological Futures (Submission Deadline: March 30)Submission deadline: April 15, 2026
- Call for Submissions｜2026 Indonesia Consul General’s Prize for Best Scholarly Writing on Indonesia (Submission Deadline: April 15)
Submission deadline: April 15, 2026 - Call for Submissions｜2026 International Interdisciplinary Conference on Myanmar’s Borderlands (Abstract Deadline: April 15)
Submission deadline: April 15, 2026 (11:59 PM EST) - Call for Submissions｜2026 Southeast Asia Digital Library Undergraduate Paper Award (Submission Deadline: June 30)
Submission deadline: June 30, 2026 - Public lecture ‘Saints, Companions, and Sinners’ by Dr. Teren Sevea (Harvard Divinity School) featured on Manoa Mirror
On February 5, CSEAS and Department of Religion hosted a public lecture, titled ‘Saints, Companions, and Sinners’ by Dr. Teren Sevea, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, Harvard Divinity School. The lecture explores interspecies histories from Islamic Asia, learning from communities’ narratives about the entangled relationships among animals, humans and trees. Highlights… Read more: Public lecture ‘Saints, Companions, and Sinners’ by Dr. Teren Sevea (Harvard Divinity School) featured on Manoa Mirror - Bringing Vietnamese Cinema to global audiences
We are pleased to announce the completion of Southeast Asian film project led by the Center Southeast Asian Studies. Recently, in partnership with Vietnam Film Institute in Hanoi, more than 70 classic Vietnamese feature films have been digitized and subtitled in English. For more on this exciting project, read the full story on UH News… Read more: Bringing Vietnamese Cinema to global audiences - 2026 Spring Colloquium: On Record: Telling the Stories in Our Voices (In-person)
Tuesday, March 3, 2026, 3:00–4:30 PM (HST) @ Moore Hall 319 Join us for the Spring 2026 Colloquium on On Record: Telling the Stories in Our Voices. This colloquium draws on archival materials, exhibitions, and research related to the 1975 Operation Babylift evacuation. Drawing from the speaker’s work developing Operation Babylift Collection, this talk explores… Read more: 2026 Spring Colloquium: On Record: Telling the Stories in Our Voices (In-person) - SEAREG Pre-Dissertation Fellowship
Open for applications until February 27, 2026. - 2026 Spring LuceSEA Webinar #2 Recording Available Online! Arts and Resistance: Cultures of Expression, Censorship, and Resilience in Southeast Asia.
The recording of our 2026 Spring LuceSEA Webinar Series on Arts and Resistance: Cultures of Expression, Censorship, and Resilience in Southeast Asia is now available online. This webinar explores how artists across Southeast Asia resist censorship through music, performance, and visual arts. This session highlights creative resilience and the power of art under restrictive political… Read more: 2026 Spring LuceSEA Webinar #2 Recording Available Online! Arts and Resistance: Cultures of Expression, Censorship, and Resilience in Southeast Asia.