This article explores processes of cultural and ethnic revitalization among mainland Southeast Asian Tai borderlands people. Using the lens of cultural politics, the article argues against optimistic views that transnational flows weaken the nation-state by positioning Tai identities as sites of “cultural difference”. This case study demonstrates, rather, that the meaning of Tai-ness is contested during the process of cultural and ethnic construction and that transnational flows actually strengthen nationalist projects by reinforcing an elite notion of Thai nationalism. The paper then situates the presence of plural identities within broader questions of “cultural difference”. By linking plural identities with theories of multiculturalism, it seeks to foreground awareness of “cosmopolitan multicultural concepts”. It argues for the importance of the public’s understanding of significant terms with reference to diverse cultures, values, and traditions within society. The paper concludes by elaborating on the principle of “equality over difference”, manifested in the call for poly-ethnic rights, group self-determination, and the strengthening of hybrid and multiple identities compatible with notions of global justice.

Indigenous peoples have been marginalized in national narratives. As they evolve through new spatio-temporal contexts, they generate narratives of self-identification. This study focuses on the Igorots of Northern Luzon, Philippines. The collective Igorot identity has evolved through contexts mediated by colonialism, the project of nation-building, and globalized space. The Igorot has produced a plurality of narratives to assert identity as well as to contest the narrative of nation. This study surveys the breadth of narratives across spatio- temporal contexts.

With respect to the issue of organizing social differences according to ethnicity, the plural identity of minority ethnic groups stemming from social amalgamation has been historically seen as an anomaly that negatively affects the stability of a homogenous society. As many societies in this globalized era increasingly become more pluralized ethnically, the need to find the glue that holds society together towards unity is imperative. This is where Southeast Asia’s ethnic diversity since antiquity may offer a new paradigm in the discourse of social amalgams. The notion of plural identity in today’s contemporary society is explored in this article by examining selected Peranakan communities in Peninsular Malaysia. It is found that while Peranakan identity conveys the spirit of “diversity in unity”, the polemic of plural identity becomes an issue when the society, especially at the State level, does not recognize or is ill-prepared to manage and negotiate their (dis)position in the present-day legislation system.

This paper discusses the challenges that ethnic minority groups in Vietnam have faced in their attempt to conserve their identities, promote national development, and engage in modernization. It concludes that these challenges are primarily rooted in definitions of ethnic identity and modernity that take Kinh culture as the standard for other groups to follow. This has marginalized different ethnic minority groups in terms of developmental processes as the groups do not have the necessary resources to pursue these goals.

The objective of this paper is to explain the dynamics of transgender identity in Indonesian media. With the democratization process where political regimes have changed from authoritative to more democratic ones, and also regimes with different perspectives about gender identity in social practice, the identity of the transgender is socially transformed in many different directions. This article explores the concept and practice of transgenderism in Indonesia. It describes and provides examples of transgenderism in local literature and media in the context of gender theories. It also shows the contradictions and symbiosis between the politics of nationalism and transgenderism in two different political eras. The continuity and discontinuity of the practice of transgenderism is demarcated by the Suharto and Reformasi political eras. Ultimately, the article concludes that, in their programs, the media exploits transgender persons to serve business interests, but at the same time enables transgender persons to express and expose their self-identity in the public domain.

This paper examines recent discussions about cultural identity and nationalism that have been raised in Vietnam’s political discourse and scholarship. It suggests that the veneration of ancestor worship, which is a popular belief in Vietnam, is problematic when associated with national identity. On the one hand, this reflects a crisis of belief in Vietnam after the world communist system collapsed. On the other hand, it suggests that there is a widespread interest in nationalism and in finding a theoretical foundation for development in an age of reintegration into the world economy. Promoting the moral values of ancestor worship and referring to this as a cultural model “full of national identity” seems to be a safe solution for the Communist Party. However, such an approach no longer seems valid because it ignores the diversity and differences among ethnicities, religions, languages, and customs prevalent in contemporary Vietnam.

Maria Serena I. Diokno is Professor of History at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Professor Diokno is a co-founder of the SEASREP Foundation. Her interests span the colonial period of Southeast Asia, about which she has published. Among her publications are "Corruption and the Moral Imperative, through the Lens of Rizal" (2011), "Expeditions of Knowledge: Supporting Southeast Asian Studies in the Region" (2010), and "Southeast Asia: Imperial Possession and Dispossession in the Long Twentieth Century" (2006).

Ma. Mercedes G. Planta is Associate Professor of History at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her research and publications are in the fields of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (STM) and Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies in colonial Southeast Asia, particularly Spanish and American Philippines. Her current research examines the development of modern medicine in Dutch Indonesia, British Malaya, and American Philippines. She is the author of Traditional Medicine in the Colonial Philippines, 16th to the 19th Century (University of the Philippines Press 2017).

Maitrii Aung-Thwin is an area-studies specialist of Southeast Asia, with particular expertise in Myanmar history, politics, and society. His research engages conversations from the fields of postcolonial studies, socio-legal studies, intellectual history, public history, and transnational studies. His publications include: A History of Myanmar since Ancient Times: Traditions and Transformations (2013), The Return of the Galon King: History, Law, and Rebellion in Colonial Burma (2011), and A New History of Southeast Asia (2010). He is currently Associate Professor of Myanmar/Southeast Asian history and Convenor of the Comparative Asian Studies PhD Program at the National University of Singapore.

Joseph M. Fernando is Associate Professor of History at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He obtained his PhD in History from Royal Holloway College, University of London. His areas of specialization are Malaysian political and constitutional history, British imperialism in Southeast Asia, and modern history of Southeast Asia. Dr. Fernando was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University in 2004-2005. His publications include The Making of the Malayan Constitution (2002); The Alliance Road to Independence (2009); and "British and Commonwealth Legacies in the Framing of the Malayan Constitution, 1956-1957", Britain and the World, Vol. 8, No. 2, September 2015.

Rieyen D. Clemente is a graduate student of the Department of History, University of the Philippines Diliman. He is a member of the Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society for Social Sciences and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Patricia Anne Y. Asuncion is a BA Comparative Literature graduate from the University of the Philippines Diliman. She is currently pursuing her second degree (BA Linguistics) in the same university.

Jeanne Therese L. Maling is a graduate student at the University of the Philippines, Diliman (UPD).

Dr. Charnvit Kasetsiri, former Rector of Thammasat University, is secretary of the Foundation for the Promotion of Social Sciences and Humanities Textbooks Project in Thailand. He holds an MA in Diplomacy from Occidental College, Los Angeles, California, and a PhD in Southeast Asian History from Cornell University. He specializes in Thai history (Ayutthaya, Thai political history, and contemporary Thai politics) and history of Southeast Asia.

Dr. Taufik Abdullah is a retired Professor of History at the Gadjah Mada University. He was Chair of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). He also chaired the Indonesian Historical Society and was a Director of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. He received his Doctorandus from Gadjah Mada University, and MA and PhD degrees from Cornell University. Dr. Taufik has worked on the political history of Indonesia and Islam.

Dr. Ruth McVey, Emeritus Reader in Southeast Asian Politics at the University of London, received her PhD in Government at Cornell University in 1961 and subsequently held research and teaching positions at Yale University, the Center for International Studies at MIT, Cornell University, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her early work concentrated on the history of the Indonesian Communist movement and the general relationship between ideology and social change in Indonesia. Later, she studied social and ideological transformation in rural southern Thailand, and the rise of the Southeast Asian business-political elite.