The Shifting Boundaries of Social Imaginaries in the Mekong:
Schooling, History, and Politics in an Era of Regionalization
Funded by:
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Post-Doctoral Fellowship (September 2015-March 2017)
Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up – KAKENHI (April 2017-March 2019)
Southeast Asia is building a regional community through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional body representing 11-member states. After successfully establishing an economic community in 2015, where capital and people can freely move across national borders, ASEAN and its partners now aim to build a socio-cultural community by 2020. ASEAN wants to build a regional identity, uniting over 600 million people, which the technocrats believe will be achieved partly through schools. Competing interests from outside the region, notably from Japan and China, have a geopolitical stake in the formation of ASEAN’s regional identity — will the region sympathize with Chinese or Japanese interests? The objective of this research is therefore to explore the tensions and borders between national and regional identity making inside state schools within the context of globalization and Asian international relations.
Press
This research project was highlighted in Modern Diplomacy, an e-magazine.
It was also highlighted by the Waseda Institute for Advanced Study.
Outputs
Publications
Brehm, W. (2019). “Researching National and Regional identity in Southeast Asian Schools.” WIAS Newsletter, vol. 18.
Brehm, W. (2018). “The challenges of multicultural education in the Mekong: Disputed histories, contested identities.” In Cha, Y.K, Ham, S., and Lee, M. (Eds.) Routledge International Handbook of Multicultural Education Research in Asia Pacific. (pdf)
Brehm, W. and Kitamura, Y. (Eds). (Forthcoming). Historical Memory in the Mekong: Struggles over regional identity inside schools.
Phuaphansawat, V. and Brehm, W. (forthcoming). “Whose kingdoms and whose settlement? Insights from Thai history textbooks.” Book chapter for Memory in the Mekong.
Duong, H.B. (forthcoming). “Vietnamese Citizenship in transition: a historical perspective.” Book chapter for Memory in the Mekong.
Metro, R. and Brehm, W. (forthcoming). “The paradoxes of the UNESCO shared histories project in Southeast Asia.” Book chapter for Memory in the Mekong.
Brehm, W. (forthcoming). “Constructing memory in Cambodia: Cautious resistance and calculated conformity.” Book chapter for Memory in the Mekong.
Brehm, W. (in preperation). Remembering to Forget Kor Pram: Historical Memory, Victimhood, and National Identity in Post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia.
Nanthanavone, T., Somsanit, L., Hirosato, Y., and Brehm, W. (in preparation). “Towards unity in diversity: Policy rhetoric, public opinion, and history curriculum in Lao PDR.” In W. Brehm and Y. Kitamura (eds.) Historical Memory in the Mekong: Schools, histories, politics.
Phattharathanasut, T. and Brehm, W. (in preparation). “Education and nationalism in Myanmar: Political rhetoric vs. policy reality.” In R. Hartely (Ed.) Aung San Syu Kyi, the National League for Democracy, and the Western Imagination: Burma’s First Democratic Term.
Presentations
Duong, H.B. (April 15, 2019). “Vietnamese citizenship and citizenship curriculum: An examination of peoplehood stories,” presented at the Comparative and International Education Society conference, San Francisco, USA.
Rose, M. (April 15, 2019). “The UNESCO shared histories curriculum: Paradoxes and possibilities,” presented at the Comparative and International Education Society conference, San Francisco, USA.
Brehm, W. (April 15, 2019).“Constructing memory in Cambodia: ‘Cautious resistance and calculated conformity’” presented at the Comparative and International Education Society conference, San Francisco, USA.
Brehm, W. (August 14, 2018). “Making ASEAN: Insights through Comparison” presented at the Comparative and International Education Research Network, University of Sydney, Australia.
Brehm, W. (June 22-24, 2018). “Towards an ASEAN Regional Identity? Balancing National and Regional Priorities in Cambodia’s Curricular Reform” presented at the Japan Comparative Education Society, Hiroshima, Japan.
Brehm, W. (May 10-12, 2018). “Historical memory in the Mekong: Towards a regional identity?” presented at the Comparative Education Society of Asia Conference, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Brehm, W. (May 2, 2018). “Collective memory in the Mekong: Schools, histories, politics” presented at Faculty of History, Hanoi National University of Education, Hanoi, Vietnam. [Translated into Vietnamese]
Brehm, W. (February 16, 2018). “History from below, censorship from above: Memory, identity, and schooling across the Mekong” The Asia Pacific Economic and Business History Conference, Hobart, Australia.
Brehm, W. (December 16-17, 2017). “The Trauma of Remembering: Politics and National Identity in Post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia” presented by Will Brehm at the Consortium for Southeast Asian Studies in Asia Conference, Bangkok, Thailand.
Phuaphansawat, V. (December 16-17, 2017). “Whose Kingdoms and whose settlement? Hegemonic historical memory inside Thai Textbooks” presented by Vong-on Phuaphansawat at the Consortium for Southeast Asian Studies in Asia Conference, Bangkok, Thailand.
Nanthanavone, T. (December 16-17, 2017). “Lao PDR: The Land in between” presented by Thongdeuane Nanthanavone at the Consortium for Southeast Asian Studies in Asia Conference, Bangkok, Thailand.
Brehm, W. (February 16, 2017). “Curricular challenges to multicultural education in the Mekong: Disputed histories, contested identities” presented by Will Brehm at the University of Canberra, Australia.
Brehm, W. (December 18, 2016). “Remembering to Forget Kor Pram: Politics and National Identity in Post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia” – presented by Will Brehm at the conference on Borders of memory: national commemoration in East Asia, Kyushu University