Keys to Southeast Asia

The First EUROSEAS Conference

By Ageeth van der Veen

Though EUROSEAS is still a young organization, -- the Association was founded in 1992-- the interest for this first international scholarly meeting was enormous. Obviously, a lot of European and Southeast Asian scholars feel the need to join an international network in order to be able to discuss their work with other European and Southeast Asian scholars, and to seek institutional backing for their international research.
The purpose of this first conference was for the scholars to meet each other and cross borders that have so long existed with regard to discipline and nationality, be it that of the researcher or of his or her country of study. Neither Southeast Asia nor Europe can any longer be seen as a set of nations connected only geographically with each other. Cultural, political, and economic links make the Southeast Asian area one that should be studied as an entity. As Victor King, one of the panel convenors, stated: "The panels brought together academics who were working in similar fields in Europe, but who were unaware of each other's research until it was presented in Leiden. Bringing scholars together with mutual interests was the major contribution of the conference."

A workshop in itself
The panel "State and Market Roles in the Development of Southeast Asia", for example, convened by Jean Luc Maurer and Philippe Régnier, both from IUED in Geneva, was attended by economists, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists and economic historians. Thus, new light has been shed on this topic which will influence the work of the participants.
The panel on "Shifting Identities" was quite a popular one. The discussions were so vivid that the convenor, Luc Nagtegaal from the KITLV in Leiden, stated that the panel was "More or less a workshop in itself". The themes were ethnicity, what lies at the bottom of it and the way several ethnic groups make themselves known as such in Southeast Asia. Anne Booth from SOAS in London was also struck by the lively participation of the audience in her panel on "Trade and Investment Flows and the Development of Entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia between 1880 and 1990". She regretted that there was not more time for the discussions engendered by the papers. This was also the complaint during the EUROSEAS General Meeting: three days obviously is too short a period to meet two hundred colleagues and compare research results without getting the feeling that one missed a lot of both of them.
The panel on "Human-Environment Interactions" was grouped into three sub-panels on respectively: the ecological history of Southeast Asia, forest-related issues; and modern issues of resource use and management. Most participants could illustrate their topics with case study material. Victor King from the University of Hull, was very enthusiastic about the work of his panel's participants: "The panel demonstrated how well the participants from different European countries can contribute to a genuinely collaborative venture. Discussions were lively, informed, and constructive."
To the convenors of the "Uneven Development" panel, David Drakakis Smith and Chris Dixon from Liverpool University, it became clear in the context of the discussions that unevenness within the development process can be identified at both spatial and social levels. These horizontal and vertical inequalities often overlap and form a complex matrix within which certain groups find themselves doubly disadvantaged. Uneven development is becoming an even more complex process as labour demands and improvements in transport induce population movements across international borders as well as over increasing distances within individual countries. The papers in the "Uneven Development" panel examined these trends at varying degrees of complexity over the whole region, from the advanced economy of Singapore to the relatively quiet backwaters of Laos.
In the panel on "Religious Revival" twenty-three papers were presented. Though the size of the panel brought about the decision to split up in two groups, the participants reunited after two sessions, because the discussions proved to be better in the larger group. Bernhard Dahm from Passau University, who convened the panel, was charmed by the quality of the papers presented and the actuality of the topics. The participants of the "Religious Revival" panel intend to publish a book containing the material presented on their panel.

New contacts
Thanks to financial support given by sponsors, the conference organization was able to invite quite a number of scholars from Russia and from Southeast Asia itself, who would not have been able to come if they had been made to pay the full amount of fees, fares, and accommodation costs. Their presence gave an extra dimension to the international outlook of the conference and to the discussions.
The conference was sponsored by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), the University of Leiden Foundation (LUF), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology (KITLV).
Apart from the discussions, the meeting of colleagues and the making of new contacts was certainly an important aspect of the conference. During lunches, receptions, and dinners, the atmosphere was cheerful and friendly. The sunny weather made it possible for the publishers to display their books out in the sun, and become a meeting point in itself for the panels during their tea and coffee breaks.
Most panel convenors are considering publication of the papers presented at the conference. The Book of Abstracts of Keys to Southeast Asia is still available at the EUROSEAS Secretariat at costprice: Dfl. 35. A list of addresses of all of the registered conference participants will be sent along with the next issue of the ENSEAS Newsletter to all scholars who attended the conference. All non-members will receive this list by mail.
By the end of this year, the EUROSEAS Board will meet in order to draw plans for a new EUROSEAS Conference within three or four years. Suggestions made during the first EUROSEAS Conference will of course be taken into serious consideration, as well as proposals for panels and topics for the next one. "Keys to Southeast Asia" demonstrated that the demand for international contact and cooperation among European Southeast Asianists and their Southeast Asian counterparts is still growing.

For more information, contact:
Ageeth van der Veen
EUROSEAS
c/o KITLV
P.O. Box 9515
Leiden, The Netherlands
Tel: +31-71-5272295
Fax: +31-71-5272638
E-mail: kitlv@let.leidenuniv.nl