Cold War

Cold War Studies often finds itself mainly within the fields of Political Science, International Relations and History. In addition, conventional narratives of the Cold War and its historiographies is often associated with western contexts, positioned with having emanated from Europe and subsequently spilled into the Third World and Asia, at the initiatives of global superpowers then, namely the United States of America, and the then-Soviet Union. Against such a dominant narrative, a response within Southeast Asia was a refocus on the Asian-African Conference in 1955, which saw national leaders from many former colonial territories gathering in Bandung, Indonesia. Through international solidarities, these leaders attempted to seek a political third way, rather than choose between the ongoing polarised and binary ideologies of the ‘free world’ versus ‘communism’.

This section hopes to further collate recent works of scholars outside fields of Political Science, International Relations and History (but not necessarily excluding them) and working in/on Southeast Asia who have sought to give greater attention to local Southeast Asian contexts. Some such examples include how in Tuong Vu and Wongsurawat’s work, various Southeast Asian actors perceived of themselves, friends and enemies, which reflected their religious, racial and gender beliefs and attitudes; how cultural resources such as the arts and media were deployed, or how even with limited political and economic capabilities, these actors were neither puppets nor victims of US and the Soviet, but were also actively negotiating loyalties.

This section also hopes to bring together creative works that help to elucidate practices and experiences from the ground-up which complicate and contest ideological binaries and politics of Cold War. This could include how artists, musicians, intellectuals and other cultural actors worked outside of, or sought to negotiate the binary and polarising ideologies of the Cold War on a global front, and at the same time, were sensitive to their local contexts. Some other creative works also continue to explore legacies of Cold War in various forms in present-day Southeast Asia through comparative continuities beyond nation-state boundaries, explore geographies and ecologies traumatised and reshaped by bombs, landmines and chemical agents, to how families dealt with deaths and ghosts and remembering this aspect of their family history.