Gatty Rewind Podcast

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan interviews Michał Lubina, Associate Professor of Political Science at Jagiellonian University, Poland. Together, they explore the evolving relationship between Russia and Myanmar, particularly since the 2021 military coup, and how these growing ties have influenced Myanmar's foreign policy and its relationship with China .Dr. Lubina also shares his insights on the future of Russia-Myanmar-China relations and on navigating the complexities of conducting research in Myanmar. Tune in to learn more!

Lightning round (Lecture Summary): 3:02

Main interview:

6:14 - What drew you to study international relations? Did you start by focusing on Myanmar/Burma?

11:30 - After the coup in 2021, the ties between Russia and Myanmar grew closer. What do you think contributed to this?

16:09 - During Aung San Suu Kyi's tenure, how was the relationship between Russia and Myanmar?

18:57 - How much has Russia influenced Burma's foreign policy?

22:13 - Does the rapprochement between Russia and Burma change Burma's relationship with China?

26:17 - Do you think the foreign relations between Burma and Russia, and between Burma and China, have strengthened the Tatmadaw after 2021?

29:28 - In 2023-2024, the Tatmadaw faced obstacles from the civil war. In your opinion, is there still any optimism that the resistance will prevail?

34:20 - What do you think about the future of the triangular relationship between China, Burma, and Russia in the next 5 to 10 years?

39:00 - Can you tell us about how you navigate complexities in conducting research in Burma?

Advice for researchers and recommendations: 42:38

Dr. Lubina's top recommendation:

• The Burmese Harp - Kon Ichikawa

• The River of Lost Footsteps - Thant Myint-U

• Making Enemies - Mary P. Callahan

• Soldiers and Diplomacy in Burma - Renaud Egreteau, Larry Jagan

• Network Myanmar, an academic and archival research platform

The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.

Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan interviews Professor Emeritus Amitav Acharya from American University. Together, they discuss how Southeast Asia Studies offers an alternative perspective in the field of international relations. They also explore how ideas and theories from the region can challenge conventional, Western-centric approaches to global politics. Tune in to learn more!

Lightning round (Lecture Summary): 3:45

Main interview:

06:05 - What drew you to study international relations?

07:30 - Does the study of international relations change or shape how you view the world?

09:22 - What led you to explore how non-Western societies and local actors developed and articulated their ideas of international order in their own terms?

11:45 - How can the field of Southeast Asia Studies contribute to the study of International Relations?

17:31 - Can you please explain the works of Cornell scholars—George Kahin, O.W. Wolters, and Benedict Anderson—shaped your scholarship?

22:34- Regionalism has been your central focus. How did your interest in regionalism develop? What are the main questions you have when you study it?

27:52 - Looking back to when you just started your career, how far has the IR field developed? Is there still a gap that scholars must address?

31:20 - What divides do you see between area studies and disciplines? What are the stakes, and how do scholars bridge them together?

Advice for researchers and recommendations: 39:02

Dr. Acharya's top recommendation:

• Michael Leifer

• Donald E. Weatherbee

• Donald K. Emerson

• Sheldon W. Simon

• Journal of Asian Studies

The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.

Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan is joined by co-host Valentina Guerrero Chala, a PhD student in Anthropology, for a conversation with Professor Juno Salazar Parreñas about her ongoing research on global capitalism from nonhuman perspectives. In the Gatty lecture, Parreñas offers one example: the story of polar bears transported from Canada to the Singapore Zoo, shedding light on Singapore's rise in the global economy and the harmful effects of militarization and global capitalism. In the podcast, she shares several additional examples. The conversation also explores the current direction of multispecies ethnography. Tune in now to learn more!

Lightning round (Lecture Summary): 3:40

Main interview:

6:25: Why did you become an anthropologist?

9:33: What are the key takeaways from the class that you took in undergrad?

15:15: What drew you to the study of human and non-human relationships?

19:20: In your new project, how many animals are you examining and why?

25:08: Who is your intended audience for this project?

29:07: There is a trend in anthropology that calls for "a return to the past" as the best solution for current environmental problems. Do you think this is a viable option? If not, what vision for the future do you imagine through your work?

32:37: What is your take on multispecies ethnography? What do you think of multispecies ethnography as a field? Where is it going?

35:06: As scholars, we always write against ideas that frustrate us. What do you find frustrating? What are you writing against?

Advice for researchers and recommendations: 38:48

Dr. Parreñas's top recommendation:

• Daniel Lie, Contemporary Visual Artist

• Tommy Kha, Photographer

The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.

Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan is joined by Anke Wang, a PhD candidate in the Department of History, to speak with Dr. Thuy Ling Nguyen, an Associate Professor of History at Mount Saint Mary College, on her new book: "From Sand Dunes to Exotic Hard Timber Forests: An Environmental History of Coastal Vietnam." Together, they unpack how Thuy Linh traces the origin of phi lao, a plant that exemplifies the scenery of Vietnam's present-day coast, back to French colonialism. To serve the growing coal mining industry, the French introduced phi lao to Vietnam. Tune in to learn how this reforestation displaced indigenous knowledge and monopolized forestry expertise!

Lightning round (Lecture Summary): 4:48

Main interview:

6:23: How did you become interested in modern Vietnamese history? What inspired you to pursue a doctoral degree?

9:16: How did you transition from your first book, which focuses on gender, medicine, society, and ordinary people, to focus on environmental history in your second book?

11:54: What made you pivot to examine the timber industry in relation to the coal mining industry in Vietnam?

18:59: What kind of primary source did you use, and how many archives did you travel to for this project?

20:54: How did the landscapes you have seen and the people you have talked to influence your writing?

23:40: Can you walk us through the options that the French considered, and how did they choose between planting timber and Phi lao?

31:48: Did the reforestation of Phi lao in central Vietnam lead to any destruction of any native plants or native landscape at the time?

36:24: In general, how do you evaluate the actions of the French Colonial Regime and the impact they brought to the landscape of Vietnam?

40:57: How different is the indigenous knowledge of the land compared to the French knowledge of the land?

44:46: Did the plantation of Phi lao, introduced by the French, monopolize the knowledge about forests?

47:56: Since the French succeeded in planting Phi lao in Vietnam, did they also use this method for other colonies? How does the transnational connection that you see in Phi lao illuminate the history of colonizing at large?

51:44: Can you introduce what you are working on for your next project?

Advice for researchers and recommendations: 53:44

Dr. Nguyen's top recommendation:

• Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858-1954 by Pierre Brocheux and Daniel Hémery

• Viet Nam: Borderless Histories by Nhung Tuyet Tran and Anthony Reid

The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.

Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan and co-host Chunhao Luo, a PhD student in History and co-chair of the SEAP Graduate Committee, speak with Professor Bradley Davis about his new project on the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam (1802-1880). Together, they discuss how a multicultural and interdisciplinary approach could shed new light on the understandings of modernity in Vietnam. They also discuss how conversations with local communities can offer new ways to understand archival sources and produce historical knowledge. Tune in to learn more!

Lightning round (Lecture Summary): 5:29

Main interview:

10:35: How did you become interested in Vietnamese history, and what inspired you to pursue a doctoral degree?

12: 23: What is your PhD project about?

15:15: Your doctoral project focuses on a space situated between Southeast Asia and East Asia. How do you situate Vietnamese history within these two regional frameworks? What are the advantages and limitations of thinking about Vietnamese history in these terms?

18:20: Do you see differences between the perspectives of scholars studying Vietnam in the Anglophone world and those studying Vietnam within Vietnam?

21:18: You discuss how textual practices shaped the categorization of people and other species. Were there particular epistemological or intellectual developments among Vietnamese-speaking elites during this period that prompted greater production of ethnographic knowledge?

23:48: What are the primary sources for your project?

27:00: Can you tell us about your experience conducting ethnographic research?

32:18: Can you tell us more about how people perceive and understand elephants(in the ongoing new project)?

34:10: What does it mean to be a multicultural society?

36:11: When we talk about modernity, we often think primarily about Western modernity, particularly in the context of Southeast Asia. How did internal factors within Southeast Asia shape processes of reform and Vietnam's own pathway toward modernity?

Advice for researchers and recommendations: 39:03

Dr. Davis' top recommendation:

• Keith Weller Taylor, Li Tana, Alexander Woodside's books

The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.

Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu

In this special episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan flips the script by interviewing co-host Win Kyaw, a PhD student in Asian Literature, Religion, and Culture and co-chair of the SEAP Graduate Committee. This episode is inspired by Sean Evan's Hot Ones series, where they eat progressively spicy wings with hot sauce. To add a touch of Southeast Asia, Namfon and Win take on spicy sauces from Thailand and Malaysia. Win shares a snippet of his doctoral work and his experience as an integral part of the Cornell Southeast Asia Program. Tune in to discover hot sauces from Southeast Asia and find out if Namfon and Win can handle the heat!

Lightning round (Lecture Summary): 5:53 – Thai Sweet and Spicy Chili Sauce

Main interview:

13:12 – น้ำจิ้มแจ่ว (Nam Jim Jaew); What would be the title of your Gatty Lecture?

16:08 – Sriracha; What inspires you to stay in academia and pursue a PhD? 20:26 – น้ำจิ้มซีฟู้ด (Nam Jim Seafood); What made you become interested in 19th Century Burmese literature?

26:22 – Extra Spicy Sukiyaki Sauce; Why did you choose to come to Cornell? What's the best part of being in Cornell Southeast Asia Program (SEAP)?

30:34 – Sambal Gepuk; What is your favorite moment of being a co-chair of the SEAP Graduate Committee? 35:35 – Sambal Belacan; What is your favorite Gatty lecture and why?

Advice for researchers and recommendations: 42:18 – Brown Sugar Boba Mochi

Win's top recommendation:

• Gatty Rewind Podcast by Cornell Southeast Asian Program

• Spotify

• Apple Podcast

• Kiss My Cat by Nightingale Music

The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.

Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan is joined by co-host Win Kyaw, a PhD student in Asian Literature, Religion, and Culture and co-chair of the SEAP Graduate Committee. Together, they speak with Aurore Candier, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Center for Burma Studies at Northern Illinois University. Professor Candier shares her journey into Southeast Asian studies and discusses her theoretical and methodological approaches, including the use of postcolonial frameworks and the reading of Burmese sources to challenge Eurocentric perspectives. Tune in to learn more!

Lightning round (Lecture Summary): 4:27

Main interview:

9:00 – How did you become interested in Burmese history and culture? What inspired you to pursue a doctoral degree?

10:50 – How did you become interested in your current project? 12:20 – How is your experience serving as the Director for the Center for Burma Studies at Northern Illinois University?

15:58 – Can you walk us through the basic assumptions of Burmese Historiography?

19:55 – Can you give us more information about why you split Konbaung history into two periods? 23:30 – Can you give us a brief preview of French scholarship on Myanmar?

28:59 – How do you use a decolonial approach while also using some theoretical frameworks from European scholars? 31:48 – Can you tell us about your experience doing archival research in Myanmar? 34:25 – Can you give us the source that you use to examine the contact and circulation of the ideas between the British and Burmese elite?

Advice for researchers and recommendations: 36:06

Dr. Candier's top recommendation:

• Buddhist Backgrounds of the Burmese Revolution by Emanuel Sarkisyanz

The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.

Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan speaks with Arnisson Andre Ortega, Associate Professor from the Department of Geography and the Environment at Syracuse University. First, they discuss his current project, "City of Imperialism," which examines the legacy of former U.S. military bases in the Philippines. Then, they unpack his lecture, "Geonarratives of Hope and Resistance," which is a part of a collaborative project with human rights defenders in Negros Island. It shows that mapping is more than a technical tool, but can be used to support resistance and justice, especially in a place suffering from authoritarian violence like the Philippines. Tune in to find out more about how Prof. Ortega and his colleagues turn cartography into a tool of care and resistance!

Lightning round (Lecture Summary): 3:33

Main interview:

8:13 –Could you tell us about your intellectual journey—how you became interested in geography, colonialism, and what ultimately led you to pursue a PhD?

15:15 –How does the tradition of mapmaking connect to the history of colonialism in the Philippines? In what ways does countermapping challenge or push back against those inherited frameworks? 19: 20 –Could you share more about your current book project—its central arguments and what you hope it contributes to the field?

24: 41 – Your work involves collaboration beyond academia. How did these partnerships come about, and what does meaningful collaboration look like in your project?

27:36 – What drew you specifically to Negros Island as a focal point for your research? 34:13 – Could you walk us through the process of your project? Who are the key participants, and how do they shape the knowledge that emerges? 36:40 – In your lecture, you discuss how violence operates within everyday, seemingly mundane life. This brings to mind Hannah Arendt's idea of the "banality of evil." How does this concept help us understand the normalization of violence in the Philippine context? And how do human rights defenders resist within these conditions? 44: 48 – Finally, what advice would you give to students or scholars who want to use academic work to build infrastructures of care and support justice-oriented initiatives?

Advice Advice for researchers and recommendations: 44:40

Dr. Ortega's top recommendation:

• Urban Ecologies on the Edge: Making Manila's Resource Frontier by Kristian Karlo Saguin

The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.

Produced by Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong, Adam Farihin, and Cecilia Liu

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan speaks with Courtney T. Wittekind, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Purdue University. Together, they discuss Dr.Wittekind's lecture, which is part of her forthcoming book, City of Speculation: Unsettled Futures in Urban Myanmar (Stanford University Press), and explore how speculation unfolds amid political, economic, and social instability. Focusing on Southwest Yangon, Dr. Wittekind examines everyday practices of speculation and gambling in a suburb where the Myanmar government proposed a plan to build a new city that never came to fruition. The conversation reflects on navigating the unexpected and uncertainty during fieldwork, especially the pandemic, and how these challenges reshaped her methodology and her scholarly work. Tune in to learn more!

Lightning round (Lecture Summary): 1:15

Main interview: 6:36

6:50 – What did you do before you started a PhD, and what made you pursue a doctoral degree?

9:54 – Did you have a topic in mind when entering grad school, and how did it change?

14:21 – Did you intend to choose Southwest Yangoon as your research focus in your first fieldwork, or did it come afterward?

25:43 – Your research deals with instability. Meanwhile, speculation involves futurity. How do you think of speculation in Southeast Asia, which is fraught with political instability?

31:55 - Who speculates? What does this speculation reveal about Southwest Yangon?

35:03 – Your lecture mentioned the organizing movement advocating for the New City plan. This challenges my understanding of the grassroots movement, which usually organizes against real estate developers. What does this organizing movement reveal about the politics of urbanization in the context of Myanmar?

39:42 – One audience member asked about how to identify the people's desire in the movement, and you admitted that it is hard to identify the real agrarian desire, and one of your chapters discusses the two categories of authentic and inauthentic farmers. How do you distinguish between the two? Are the lines fixed, or are they more fluid? And how do you examine whether the movement stemmed from the real agrarian desire?

44:13 – How did the Coup in 2021 complicate the speculation you're looking at?

47:44 - Since speculation is about futurity, it is always a process involving hope. Given the context of political instability, would speculation be possible without hope?

Advice Advice for researchers and recommendations: 50:28

Dr. Wittekind's top recommendations:

• Yangon Film School: an institution based in Myanmar, making cutting-edge films

• Purin films: a film fund that supports independent cinema in Southeast Asia

Don't forget to check out Dr. Wittekind's forthcoming book: City of Speculation, Unsettled Futures in Urban Myanmar.

Description:

In 2018, amidst a celebrated political transition, Myanmar's first democratically elected government since 1962 proposed a built-from-scratch "new city" just outside Yangon, the country's former colonial capital and current economic center. 20,000 acres of once-barren rice fields became the site of extraordinary developmental dreams. Farmers on Yangon's outskirts traded cultivation for speculation on land and property, betting on uncertain futures and weighing what, exactly, was worth risking for a chance at transformation. As plans for the new city stalled amid political turmoil, economic liberalization, a pandemic, and a military coup, speculation became both a source of hope and a means of survival when urban dreams faded.

Drawing on three years of site-based fieldwork and digital ethnography, Courtney T. Wittekind shows how speculation reshapes citizens' contemporary demands and forward-looking dreams—for themselves as well as their country—in times of crisis. Adopting the lens of "vernacular speculation," she reveals how ordinary people create value, interpret ambiguity, and act on possible futures, even as the promises of democracy and development collapse around them. A powerful account of how hope, anticipation, and uncertainty reconfigure everyday life, City of Speculation captures what it means to imagine—and gamble on—the future in the wake of profound upheaval.

The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.

Produced by Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong, Adam Farihin, and Cecilia Liu

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan and Carrie Mo, a master's student in Asian Studies, interview Taomo Zhou, Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore, about her research on the life of Francisca Casparina Fanggidaej, an Indonesian transnational activist in the Afro-Asian movement and the mother of seven. Because of her involvement with the Communist Party of Indonesia (Partai Komunist Indonesia, PKI), Francisca went into exile in China after the 1965 Indonesia massacre, forcing her to separate from her family for many decades. By examining Francisca's life and activism in Indonesia, China, and the Netherlands, Prof. Zhou tells us how contested international politics shaped gender roles and expectations, redefining what motherhood meant.

Lightning round(Lecture Summary): 4:20

Main interview: 8:12

8:12 – How did you first discover Francisca Casparina Fanggidaej, and how did you piece together her story through archival materials and oral history interviews?

10:17 – Can you walk us through Francisca's background and life trajectory? What led her to political activism?

11:26 – How did Francisca become involved in politics, and what shaped her early political commitments?

13:44 – How does Francisca's life reflect shifting gender ideologies, particularly across the Sukarno and Suharto eras in Indonesia?

16:54 – During her exile after the 1965 political violence, Francisca arrived in Beijing. How should we understand China's role within a more rigid gender framework at the time?

19:54 – In her diaries, Francisca attempts to tell her story to her daughter. How do you interpret these writings in relation to the politics of maternal absence?

23:17 – Why is motherhood a critical lens for rethinking internationalism?

26:27 - How does the case of Francisca become useful to think about the gender roles and expectations in the present, especially for mothers?

27:38 – Your upcoming book, Made in Shenzhen, shifts focus geographically—what drew you to Shenzhen, and are there connections between this project and Francisca's story, particularly around migration?

31:33 – How does the concept of maternal absence reshape our understanding of domestic labor and caregiving?

Advice Advice for researchers and recommendations: 33:50

Dr. Zhou's top recommendations:

• The Majesties: A Novel by Tiffany Tsao

The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.

Produced by Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong, Adam Farihin, and Cecilia Liu