We’re pleased to share a new article, “Collaboration as Method: Field Lessons from South Sulawesi, Indonesia and Khon Kaen, Thailand”, published in the June 2025 issue of Forest and Society (Vol. 9(1): 358–375). This insightful work, co-authored by faculty and students, stems directly from the LuceSEA Transitions: Environment, Society and Change project—a five-year initiative supported by the Henry Luce Foundation and led by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, in partnership with the East-West Center.
Read the full published paper here
Exploring Experiential Learning in Southeast Asia
The paper reflects on the inaugural Collaborative Southeast Asia Summer Field School (June–July 2023), where students from UHM, Universitas Hasanuddin (UNHAS), and Khon Kaen University (KKU) explored field-based research methods in rural parts of Indonesia and Thailand. The program emphasized hands-on, collaborative learning to better understand environmental and social transitions in the region.
2023)
Participants worked closely with local communities—interviewing peanut farmers in South Sulawesi and meeting with village leaders in Khon Kaen—while experimenting with methods such as live photo mapping and participant observation. These experiences pushed students to adapt to unfamiliar settings, question their own positionality, and reflect on the power relations embedded in international research.
More than just a training exercise, the field school helped shape new relationships among students, faculty, and local partners. It also sparked important conversations around co-producing knowledge and rethinking how fieldwork is done across cultures and institutions.
The LuceSEA project and CSEAS continues to support this kind of interdisciplinary, community-engaged learning as part of its broader goal to prepare the next generation of scholars in Southeast Asia studies.
Read the full published paper here