Southeast Asia Program
Abby Cohn
Professor, Linguistics
Abby Cohn is a professor of linguistics and Southeast Asian studies. Her research interests include the Austronesian languages of Indonesia, with a particular focus on their phonetics, phonology, and morphology.
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Andrea Bachner
Professor, Comparative Literature
Andrea Bachner is a professor of comparative literature. She was the director of the East Asia Program for the term 2019-22 and a member of the East Asia Program steering committee and the CEAS editorial board.
She holds an MA from Munich University, Germany, and a PhD from Harvard University. Her research explores comparative intersections between Sinophone, Latin American, and European cultural productions in dialogue with theories of interculturality, sexuality, and mediality.
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Program
Role
- Faculty
- EAP Core Faculty
- SEAP Faculty Associate
Contact
Email: asb76@cornell.edu
Phone: 607-255-6795
Eric Tagliacozzo
Director, Southeast Asia Program
Eric Tagliacozzo is the John Stambaugh Professor of History at Cornell University. He is the director of the Einaudi Center's Southeast Asia Program, and a core faculty member of the Southeast Asia Program and South Asia Program.
His research centers on the history of people, ideas, and material in motion in and around Southeast Asia, especially in the late colonial age.
Geographic Research Area: Southeast Asia, South Asia
Teaching/Research Interests: Migration and trade, material history, Silk Road, Indian Ocean
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Program
Role
- Faculty
- SAP Core Faculty
- SEAP Core Faculty
- SEAP Director
- Einaudi Faculty Leadership
- Executive Committee
Contact
Email: et54@cornell.edu
China Deepens Its Foothold in Post-Coup Myanmar
Aung Thura Ko Ko, SEAP
China has long held strategic interests in Myanmar, ranging from border stability and resource security to access to the Indian Ocean. Since the 2021 coup, Beijing has adapted its approach, practising selective intervention through multi-actor engagement, ceasefire management, security outsourcing and border pressure. Though it speaks the language of non-interference, China is actively shaping developments in its neighbour to advance its strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific.
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Thai Conversation Hour
August 5, 2026
7:00 pm
Join us on Zoom this summer to practice your Thai skills and meet new people. Conversation Hours provide an opportunity to use the target language in an informal, low-pressure atmosphere. Have fun practicing a language you are learning! Gain confidence through experience! Just using your new language skills helps you learn more than you might think. Conversation Hours are open to any learner, including the public.
Join Thai Conversation Hour on Zoom!
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Program
Southeast Asia Program
2026 Lisa Sansoucy Language Scholar Award
Awarded to Evelyn Fettes for her studies of Indonesian.
The 2026 Lisa Sansoucy Language Scholar Award has been awarded to Evelyn Elmer Fettes, a Ph.D. candidate in linguistics. Evelyn completed advanced studies of Indonesian through the Shared Course Initiative (SCI) and is currently conducting field research in Indonesia for her dissertation on syntactic microvariation in nominal phrases of Western Malayo-Polynesian languages.
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Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest: Audience-led Archives and Contemporary Vietnamese Art
June 19, 2026
9:30 am
Hanoi Grapevine's Finest (HGF) — an annual, audience-nominated recognition of outstanding contemporary art projects in Vietnam, running since 2019 — is now hosted on the Southeast Asia Digital Library. This conversation marks the launch and explores what it means for a grassroots, bottom-up archive to enter an international digital library consortium. A cultural practitioner, an anthropologist, and a digital librarian think through questions of whose knowledge counts, how digital archives shape research narratives, and what happens when an audience-led record meets the infrastructure of international scholarly preservation.
Speakers:
Nguyễn Tú Hằng - Director of Hanoi GrapevineEmily Zinger - Southeast Asia Digital LibrarianĐỗ Tường Linh - Director, Nguyen Wahed Gallery and Art Curator Vincom Center for Contemporary Art
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Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Southeast Asia Program
Cornellians Accept Fulbright U.S. Awards
17 Awardees to Research, Study, Teach
A new group of students and alumni have accepted Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards. Einaudi supported them through the application process.
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In Memory of Erik Thorbecke
H. E. Babcock Professor of Economics Emeritus
The Einaudi Center mourns the passing of Professor Erik Thorbecke, H. E. Babcock Professor of Economics Emeritus. A pioneering scholar of poverty, inequality, and development economics, he leaves a lasting legacy through his scholarship, teaching, and mentorship. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, and former students.