The UP Asian Center in collaboration with the International Consortium for Indian Ocean Studies will be holding the online roundtable "Rethinking the Indian Ocean World: Exchanges, Connections and Comparisons through Time" on 28 January 2025, 3:00 PM, PST (GMT+8), Online via Zoom. The event is free and open to the public.
ABOUT THE ROUNDTABLE
This forum brings together scholars from diverse institutions from across the globe with shared interests in the combined historical, geographical, environmental, religious, economic and cultural construct of the ‘Indian Ocean’, and innovative ways to study it. It builds on earlier conversations held in Zanzibar in 2018, Surabaya in 2024 and Dakar in 2025 with the aim to establish an international collaborative platform of individuals, institutions and research centres from the Indian Ocean region and beyond. The present forum puts spotlight on Southeast Asia and the Philippines, in particular, as a region which shares rich--yet understudied--connections with the broader Indian Ocean world.
Indian Ocean Studies has now transformed from a field dominated primarily by historians to a more interdisciplinary space with anthropologists, literary critics, natural scientists, artists, community activists and even policy makers taking an active role in shaping research and policy applicable questions. This forum composed of two panels delves into both historical and contemporary themes on the broader Indian Ocean world. The forum aims to initiate a platform through which diverse strata of academic and policy-related interests are brought together into meaningful conversations and develop the idea of the Indian Ocean into an embedded laboratory for the future.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
PANEL 1: CULTURES AND HISTORIES
ARSENIO NICOLAS, Ph.D.
Visiting Professor, Mahasarakham University
Dr. Arsenio Nicolas is a visiting professor at the College of Music at Mahasarakham University in Thailand. He obtained his Ph.D. from Cornell University. Dr. Nicolas is a musicologist, philologist, and historian of the performing arts from the Philippines, with a specialization in Southeast Asian musical forms and instruments. He has published several essays on Southeast Asian music and musical instruments, such as “Early Musical Exchange between India and Southeast Asia,” a chapter in the book Early interactions between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-Cultural Exchanges (2011) edited by PY Manguin, A. Mani, and G. Wade.
KATHLEEN BURKE, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, National University of Singapore
Dr. Kathleen Burke is a postdoctoral fellow in the Food Politics and Society Cluster at the National University of Singapore. She has obtained her Ph.D. in History and Food Studies from the University of Toronto, with a dissertation nominated for the Australian Historical Association General Thesis Prize. Dr. Burke currently works on her book titled Hearth of Empire: A History of Indian Ocean Cuisine, which sheds light on the role of mestiza women and enslaved cooks in the production of local cuisine in Jakarta as the colonial center of the Dutch East India Company.
ADRIAN PERKASA, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV)
Dr. Adrian Perkasa serves as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), Leiden, The Netherlands, with a specialization in ecological history. He currently works on a research project on Pranata Mångsa, a Javanese agricultural calendar, cultural heritage, and the politics of knowledge (re)production. Mr. Perkasa has just recently obtained his PhD at the University of Leiden, and is a Local Principal Investigator in Surabaya as part of the Southeast Asian Neighborhoods Network (SEANNET).
PANEL 2: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
AGASTYA WARDHANA
Lecturer, Universitas Airlangga
Mr. Wardhana serves as a lecturer at the Department of International Relations of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Airlangga. He also serves on the International Editorial Board of the Global Strategis journal in the same institution. He has recently published his article “Masculine Foreign Policy: Geopolitical Codes Interpretation of Donald Trump 2nd Term” in Jurnal Sosial Soedirman. His research interests include US foreign policy, foreign policy analysis, and the international system in the Indo-Pacific.
JOEFE B. SANTARITA, Ph.D.
Professor, Asian Center, UP Diliman
Dr. Joefe B. Santarita is a Professor at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. He earned his Ph.D. in South Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore in 2012, following an MA in Asian Studies with a focus on Southeast Asia from the same institution in 2004. Dr. Santarita began his academic journey with a BA in History-Community Development from the University of the Philippines in the Visayas in 1997. His extensive educational background has equipped him with a profound understanding of Asian cultures, histories, and political economies. Dr. Santarita has made significant contributions to these fields through his research and publications specializing in Indian studies, migration studies, Philippine culture and society, maritime history, and Southeast Asian political economy.
AMAAL SALIE
Postdoctoral Researcher, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV)
Amaal Salie is a Ph.D. researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) / Leiden University. Her doctoral project examines culinary change, memory, and “Cape Malay” foodways in South Africa, tracing historical continuities from the VOC period through colonialism, apartheid, and the post-apartheid present. Her research interests include food studies, sensory and archival methodologies, memory and diaspora, creolisation, and the politics of heritage and identity in postcolonial urban contexts.
ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM
The International Consortium for Indian Ocean Studies is a global, transoceanic interdisciplinary network dedicated to reimagining how the Indian Ocean is studied, taught, and engaged with, within and beyond academia. Emerging from sustained conversations among scholars, institutions, cultural practitioners, and community organisations across the region, the Consortium serves as a collaborative platform for knowledge exchange, capacity building, and public engagement. Visit their website!