Call for Manuscripts: Workshop for Critical, Multidisciplinary Area Studies, Kyoto | 1–4 February 2027

Workshop dates: 1–4 February 2027
Venue: Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University, Japan

The journal Southeast Asian Studies (SEAS), published by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University, invites applications for a four-day manuscript-development workshop entitled “Reorienting Southeast Asian Studies: Manuscript-development Workshop for Critical, Multidisciplinary Area Studies.” The workshop seeks to support early- and mid-career scholars based in, or conducting research on, Southeast Asia. It will provide participants with a structured opportunity to develop full-length research papers through sustained engagement with SEAS editors, who will serve as mentors, discussants, and referee-style readers.

Themes and Areas of Interest

Applications are welcomed from across the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. However, papers should address questions of broad regional relevance and demonstrate the value of multidisciplinary dialogue through methodology and practice.

Priority themes include, but are not limited to:

Energy transition
Resource extraction
Environmental and climatic change
Artificial intelligence and technological transformation
Migration and mobility
Labour, care, and demographic change
Social, political, and economic transformation
Other emerging issues of significance within Southeast Asia

We are especially interested in papers that cut across these themes, or that bring different disciplinary approaches into conversation.

Papers may focus on a single country or locality. However, applicants should explain how their analysis contributes to wider conceptual or regional debates and advances understanding of Southeast Asia beyond individual national cases.

Workshop Format

Approximately four participants will be selected.

Before the workshop, each selected participant will be assigned one or more SEAS editor-readers. Editors will read submitted papers in advance and prepare detailed feedback on its:

Conceptual framing
Structure and organisation
Analytical contribution
Engagement with regional and multidisciplinary debates
Suitability for submission to Southeast Asian Studies

The four-day programme will include paper presentations, editorial feedback sessions, discussions concerning the aims and expectations of the journal, collaborative manuscript-development sessions, and individual mentoring meetings.

Following the workshop, participants will continue revising their papers in consultation with editors, with the aim of submitting completed manuscripts to SEAS by early March 2027. The workshop may also explore whether selected papers could form a thematic cluster or contribute to a future special issue. Participation in the workshop is intended to support manuscript development and submission to SEAS. All manuscripts submitted to SEAS will remain subject to the journal’s regular editorial assessment and peer-review procedures.