Fieldwork and the Self: Changing Research Styles in Southeast Asia

This book presents new perspectives on Southeast Asia using cases from a range of ethnic groups, cultures and histories, written by scholars from different ethnicities, generations, disciplines and scientific traditions. It examines various research trajectories, engaging with epistemological debates on the ‘global’ and ‘local’, on ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, and the role played by personal experiences in the collection and analysis of empirical data. The volume provides subjects for debate rarely addressed in formal approaches to data gathering and analysis. Rather than grappling with the usual methodological building blocks of research training, it focuses on neglected issues in the research experience including chance, error, coincidence, mishap, dead ends, silence, secrets, improvisation, remembering, digital challenges and shifting tracks. Fieldwork and the Self is relevant to academics and researchers from universities and international organisations who are engaged inteaching and learning in area studies and social science research methods.

“A rich and compelling set of writings about fieldwork in, and beyond, Southeast Asia”. ― Lyn Parker, Emeritus Professor, University of Western Australia

“A must-read for all, especially emerging scholars on Southeast Asia, and a refreshing read for critical ‘old hands’ on the region”. ― Abdul Rahman Embong, Emeritus Professor, Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

“An impressive collection of essays by two academics who have devoted their academic life to anthropological fieldwork in Southeast Asia”. ― Shamsul A.B., Distinguished Professor and UNESCO Chair, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

“The contributors share an unquenchable and passionate curiosity for Southeast Asia. They have survived the uncertainties and disillusionment of their fieldwork and remained first-grade scholars”. ― Marie-Sybille de Vienne, Professor, National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations, Paris

“A penetrating reflection on current social science research on Southeast Asia”. ― Hans-Dieter Evers, Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow, University of Bonn

Jérémy Jammes is Professor of Anthropology and Southeast Asian Studies at Lyon Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po Lyon) and Research Fellow of the Lyon Institute of East Asian Studies (IAO), France. He has published widely on Southeast Asian geopolitics and religions, including a monograph on Vietnamese Cao Đài religion (2014), and coedited volumes on evangelical networks, Chrétiens évangéliques d’Asie du Sud-Est: Expériences locales d’une ferveur conquérante (Evangelical Christians in Southeast Asia: Local experiences of conquering fervour, 2016, with Pascal Bourdeaux), on Islam, Muslim piety as economy: Markets, meaning and morality in Southeast Asia (2020, with Johan Fischer), and on contemporary geopolitical issues in Southeast Asia. He was previously Director of the Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, and also Deputy Director and Head of Publications of the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC), Thailand.He is coeditor-in-chief of the Routledge ‘Studies in Material Religion and Spirituality’ series.

Victor T. King is Professor of Borneo Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam and Emeritus Professor in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds, UK. He has long-standing interests in the sociology and anthropology of Southeast Asia. His recent publications are UNESCO in Southeast Asia: World Heritage Sites in comparative perspective (ed., 2016), and coedited books on Human insecurities in Southeast Asia (2016), Borneo studies in history, society and culture (2017), Tourism and ethnodevelopment (2018), Tourism in East and Southeast Asia (2018, 4-volume reader), Tourism in South-East Asia (2020), Indigenous Amazonia, regional development and territorial dynamics: Contentious issues (2020), Continuity and change in Brunei Darussalam (2021) and Origins, history and social structure in Brunei Darussalam (2021).