The Relevance and Resilience of Asian Studies in Today's World - A Discussion

The enduring strength of Asian Studies lies in its deep contextual knowledge, the kind that comes only through language learning, fieldwork, and sustained engagement over time. Yet these foundations are increasingly difficult to sustain amid tighter funding and the practical challenges of conducting research across the region. This comes at a moment when questions arising from Asia have rarely been more consequential. Shifting regional relationships, evolving expressions of national identity, the politics of technology, and emerging research approaches are all pressing concerns. Understanding them calls for the very networks of expertise that area studies have long cultivated, networks that narrow disciplinary boundaries can sometimes overlook. Led by Professor Edmund W. Cheng, this discussion considers how the field can preserve its depth while continuing to speak clearly to other disciplines and to funders, rather than simply celebrating itself.

 

 

Edmund W. Cheng is a Professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs and Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the City University of Hong Kong, where he directs the Center for Public Affairs and Law, the Computational Social Sciences Lab, and the Summer Methods School. His research explores how society, science, and government intersect, with particular attention to political sociology, digital governance, the sociology of science, and computational methods. He has written award-winning books published by Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press, as well as more than 60 peer-reviewed articles in political science, sociology, and area studies. From 2020 to 2025, Stanford University ranked him among the top 2% of scientists worldwide, and his work has been supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, the French National Research Agency, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He holds a PhD in Government from the LSE and has held visiting positions at Oxford, Michigan, ANU, and Waseda.

  

Jacques Bertrand (Chair), is David Chu Professor (Chair) in Asia-Pacific Studies and Political Science at the University of Toronto, as well as Director of David Chu Program. He is also the co-founder of the Postcor Lab at the University of Toronto, a research hub for the study of civil wars and war-to-peace transitions.

Professor Bertrand has worked for many years on issues of ethnic conflict, nationalism and secessionism in Southeast Asia. His research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the United States Institute of Peace, as well as the International Development Research Centre. His most recent books include State and Sub-State Nationalism in Southeast Asia (Cambridge UP, 2025) and Winning by Process: The State and Neutralization of Ethnic Minorities in Myanmar (w/ Ardeth Thawnghmung and Alexandre Pelletier, Cornell UP, July 2022). He is also the author of Democracy and Nationalist Struggles in Southeast Asia: From secessionist mobilization to conflict resolution (Cambridge UP, 2021); Political Change in Southeast Asia (Cambridge, 2013) as well as Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia (Cambridge, 2004). Finally, Professor Bertrand has co-edited two volumes: Multination States in Asia: Accommodation or Resistance (Cambridge, 2010); and Democratization and Ethnic Minorities: Conflict or Compromise? (Routledge, 2014), in addition to numerous articles and book chapters.

His work has been funded by several grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and twice by the United States Institute of Peace. Professor Bertrand was also co-investigator and executive member of a SSHRC Major Collaborative Research Initiative on Ethnicity and Democratic Governance. He was the recipient in 2024 of the Dean’s Research Excellence Award recognizing sustained excellence and achievement in research. In 2022-23, he was the Lee Kong Chian Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and the National University of Singapore (2022-23). He has also been a visiting professor at the London School of Economics.