Abstract:

This paper provides a re-evaluation of the first general sole-authored text on the sociology of Southeast Asia and the wider field of Southeast Asian Studies (The Sociology of South-East Asia: Transformations in a Developing Region (King 2008a). Other region-wide volumes have been usually edited or co-edited projects and compilations of reprinted readings. The introductory book was published just under two decades ago and obviously much has changed in our thinking about Southeast Asia since then*. Although the volume was subsequently reprinted (2011) and digitised (2016) and the possibility of a revised edition contemplated, this has not happened. If it had been revised, what would the edition look like, based on subsequent research? After a contextual introduction, there is an examination of some of the most significant general work in the sociology of Southeast Asia during the past two decades with attention to ways in which we might think about the current state-of-play. One possible pathway is the movement towards the related and, in sociology, relatively neglected concepts of culture and identity and the sociology of everyday lives in the context of globalisation and transnationalism. It is also necessary to take up some of the ideas of Professor Aihwa Ong in regard to concepts, methods and the definition of region.