Interpreting the Narratives on Southeast Asia

Abstract

In the last few decades, Southeast Asia (SEA) has many success stories in many fields including economy, polity, and regional institutional cooperation. The region’s growing exposure to the major international economic powers has also produced newer aspects of its regionality. At this context, the introduction of several centres for studies on Southeast Asia in several universities testifies to its emergent significance. Though, the way SEA is interpreted in academic discourses lack clarity and often used as a compact cultural identity, at this backdrop this article argued that there is a cultural as well as socio-geographical diversity in SEA. From the geographical point of view, the conventional perception that consider SEA as consisting of two broad areas - mainland and maritime - is extensively untenable. The article argues that the Southeast Asian identity is a modern construct and it is associated with the formation of ASEAN.