Citizenship in the Peripheries: Identities in SE Asia (Mini-Conference 2/3)

Session Submission Type: Created Panel

Session Description

Under what conditions do coethnics in the periphery cease to identify as citizens of the larger nation-state? There is a trend in the extant literature to focus empirically on groups where we already observe demands or non-institutional behavior. Alternatively, scholars tend to examine groups that are ethnically distinct for that of the dominant, majority group. We contend these empirical strategies are plagued with selection biases – thereby limiting our understanding of the broader phenomenon. In our mini-conference, we propose to address these theoretical and empirical shortcomings. This mini-conference brings together fifteen scholars, each examining a different administrative region within a country in Southeast Asia. These papers employ a diverse set of methods – including comparative historical analysis, conjoined experiments, surveys, and text analysis. Theoretically, these papers also speak to the literature on populism – one of the APSA themes for this year’s conference. Understanding the relationship between regionalism, citizenship, and populism is imperative. As a final note, we constructed each panel to reflect some gender balance. No panel has fewer than two women presenting. Additionally, there is at least one female discussant on each panel.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 52: Migration and Citizenship

Cosponsor

• Related Groups / Southeast Asian Politics Group

Individual Presentations

• The Sundanese Citizenry in Indonesia - Sana Jaffrey, University of Chicago

• Why Nationalism Fails: The South Maluku Republic Movement in Indonesia - Jessica Soedirgo, University of Toronto

• The Batak Citizens of Indonesia - Risa Toha, Yale-NUS

• Singapore Citizenship and Malaysia Nationalism - Amy H. Liu, University of Texas at Austin; Jiayun Elvin Ong, University of British Columbia

Chair

• Risa Toha Yale-NUS

Discussants

• Johanna Kristin Birnir University of Maryland, College Park

• Kikue Hamayotsu Northern Illinois University