Gatty Rewind Podcast

In this episode, host Francine Barchett teams up with co-host Lijun Zhang, a Cornell PhD student in history, for a riveting conversation with Dr. Martina Nguyen, Associate Professor of History at Baruch College, City University of New York. Dr. Nguyen shares the story of a provocative newspaper column penned by prominent Vietnamese intellectual Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh, under a female pseudonym! She explores how the column stirred debates around masculinity, femininity, and national identity in early modern Vietnam. Plus, listeners get a sneak peek at an upcoming museum exhibition she's co-curating on the iconic ao dài (Vietnamese national garment) during the Vietnam War, which will open at the Cantor Art Gallery in Worcester in fall 2025.   Lightning round: 4:10  Research and Lecture Summary: 13:14 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 55:23  Dr. Nguyen's top recommendations: Songs by Trịnh Công Sơn and Quang Lê Đất Khổ (Land of Sorrows) by Hà Thúc Cần White Lotus by Mike White   The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan is joined by Francine Barchett, former host of the Gatty Rewind Podcast and a Cornell PhD candidate in Natural Resources & the Environment. Together, they interview Lydia O'Meara, a postdoctoral fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Lydia studies how diets in coastal communities can reveal links between human nutrition and marine ecosystem health. Her research focuses on Timor-Leste in the Coral Triangle, a biodiversity hotspot where many people rely on fish but face growing threats from climate change and biodiversity loss. Using mobile phones to collect frequent dietary data, she works to fill important data gaps and track changes over time. Tune in to learn more about how her work connects nutrition and environment!    Lightning round(Lecture Summary): 3:45 Main interview: 9:36 9:55 – How did you become interested in nutrition and food security, particularly with a focus on women and children? 13:39 – Why did you decide to focus on Timor-Leste? How did your research experience in Uganda help you navigate research in the context of Timor-Leste? 17:27 – What does fish species diversity look like in the region? 20:16 – Are there differences in fish consumption between men and women? 22:57 – What are the dynamics of mobile phone use, and how is the system structured? 26:38 – How did you develop the method of using mobile phones to collect data? 29:46 – How did the technical process work? What recommendations do you have for scholars using technology in their research? 31:59 – What languages are used in the project? 33:40 – Who are the main stakeholders in the current project? Did your experience collecting data in Uganda help you use or interpret the data differently in this context? 36:46 – What does development and growth look like in Timor-Leste? 38:00 – What are the implications if we overlook the data and marginalized women in Timor-Leste? Advice for researchers and recommendations: 40:34 Dr. O"Meara' top recommendations:  The End Of The Line by Charles Clover My Octopus Teacher Books by Naila Kabeer The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.     Produced by Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong, Adam Farihin, and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan is joined by Trifosa Simamora, a PhD candidate from the New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, to interview Patrick Daly, a research scientist for sustainability and resilience in the Department of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Daly gave us a rundown of his lecture, Using Archaeology, History, and Geology to Build a Paleo-Tsunami History for Southeast Asia. We discuss his 20-year endeavor to craft a long history of tsunamis in this region through collaboration between the arts and sciences. Tune in to find out more!  Lightning round(Lecture Summary): 3:27 Main interview: 6:58 6:58  - Remembering the 2004 Tsunami in North Sumatr 15:50 - What is Paleo-tsunami history? Why is it important in and for Southeast Asia 19:55 - Scholarly disciplines involved in the project? 23:34 - Involvement with Aceh community 26:35 - Oral history about the 2004 Tsunami, check out https://maritimeasiaheritage.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ 30:10 - Data from the research and the prediction of natural disasters Advice for researchers and recommendations: 35:48 Dr. Patrick Daly' top recommendations:  Beyond Nature and Culture - Philippe Descola The Will to Improve: Governmentality, Development, and the Practice of Politics -  Tania Murray Li Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith: New Orleans in the Wake of Katrina - Vincanne Adams   The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.   Produced by Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong, Adam Farihin, and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan is joined by Elissa Domingo Badiqué, a recent doctoral graduate from the Department of Performing and Media Arts. Together, they interview Mark John Sanchez, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Sanchez recapitulates his lecture on the legal tactics used by the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) to defend civil liberties during the martial law era under Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. He then reflects on how his personal journey and positionality have shaped his research. The conversation further explores the ongoing challenges of historical revisionism and collective amnesia. Tune in to learn more! Lightning round(Lecture Summary): 4:06 Main interview: 13:24 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 53:01 Mark Sanchez' top recommendations:  Incomplete Conquests - Stephanie Joy Mawson Beauty Regimes - Genevieve Alva Clutario Spiderweb Capitalism - Kimberly Kay Hoang  Betting on Macau - Tim Simpson The Profligate Colonial - Lisandro E. Claudio Bibliotactics - Cindy Anh Nguyen   The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong, Adam Farihin, and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan speaks with "Mai" Anocha Suwichakornpong, independent filmmaker, producer, founder of Electric Eel Film, and Associate Professor in Film at Columbia University. Anocha shares how films and filmmaking can be a form of resistance by rethinking the boundary between truth and fiction. They discuss how her previous and upcoming features have engaged with the politics of remembering and forgetting of state violence in Thai history. The conversation also delves into Before It Gets Dark, her most renowned feature, and what the Thammasat Massacre means to her on a personal level. Lightning round: 3:01  Research and Lecture Summary:  7:36 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 41:24 The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Adam Farihin, Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan interviews Chiara Formichi, H. Stanley Krusen Professor of World Religions, Director of the Religious Studies Program, and Professor of Asian Studies at Cornell University. They discuss how Prof. Formichi's personal and intellectual journey shaped her research trajectory in Islamic and Southeast Asian studies. Drawing from her latest monograph, Domestic Nationalism: Muslim Women, Health and Modernity in Indonesia, she explores how Indonesian women envisioned their own versions of modernity through gendered care work, from the colonial Dutch East Indies to postcolonial Indonesia. Departing from her earlier research on elite political actors, she turns to examining women's vernacular magazines, visual sources, and advertisements to uncover the overlooked yet central role of Indonesian Muslim women in shaping Indonesia's postcolonial future. Lightning round: 3:16  Research and Lecture Summary:  11:00 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 44:57 Chiara Formichi's top recommendations: The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World, Vincent Bevins The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis, Amitav Ghosh The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Adam Farihin, Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan interviews Dr. Aditya Bhattacharjee, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian Studies at Cornell University. Together, they discuss how growing up in Bangkok led him to study the localization and globalization of Hinduism. Focusing on the transnational appearances of Ganesha in Thailand and Thai restaurants in the United States, Dr. Bhattacharjee explains how and why this deity becomes a visible conduit for understanding the globalization of religious practices and religious belonging beyond the exclusively Thai-Buddhist framework. He shares his insights from fieldwork in Bangkok and New York, showing how cosmopolitanism enables such religious phenomena.  Lightning round: 3:00 Research and Lecture Summary:  18:48 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 1:01:54 Dr. Bhattacharjee 's top recommendations: Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation by Thongchai Winichakul Justin McDaniel' s books    The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong, Adam Farihin, and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan interviews Ian Baird, Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Together, they discuss how his travels across southern Laos, northeastern Thailand, and northern Cambodia inspired his study of the House of Champassak. This interview uncovers how and why the Champassak royalty maintained its influence even after the dissolution of  Champassak as an independent polity in 1778. Baird's lecture, named after his book, Champassak Royalty and Sovereignty: Within and Between Nation States in Mainland Southeast Asia, challenges the conventional concept of sovereignty tied to territory. Through the example of the House of Champassak, he argues that sovereignty is contingent and constantly in flux. He examines how the royal family endeavors to exert its form of sovereignty through symbols, rituals, and other practices over a span of three hundred years. He also underscores the importance of oral histories in recovering marginalized voices, especially those who live in the borderlands between nation-states.   Lightning round: 3:11  Research and Lecture Summary:  7:20 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 57:045 Ian Baird 's top recommendations: Forsaken Causes: Liberal Democracy and Anticommunism in Cold War Laos (2024) by Ryan Wolfson-Ford  The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong, Adam Farihin, and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan interviews Prof. Bradley Simpson, Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. Prof. Simpson reflects on his path from human rights activism to academia. This conversation examines Indonesia's "moderate middle" engagement with the New International Economic Order (NIEO) under the Suharto regime, exploring how and why its moderate stance in NIEO became significant for the Suharto regime, particularly in its foreign policy. Prof. Simpson introduces his forthcoming book, The First Right: Self-Determination and the Transformation of International Order, 1941–2000, where he redefines the concept of self-determination to acknowledge and encompass global struggles for sovereignty and social justice.   Lightning round:  (n/a) Background: 3:47 Research and Lecture Summary: 18:30 Advice for Researchers and Recommendations: 55:20 Professor Simpson's Top Recommendations: Decolonisation and the Pacific: Indigenous Globalisation and the Ends of Empire (2016) By Tracey Banivanua Mar  Stranger in the Shogun's City (2020) by Amy Stanley The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here. Produced by Adam Farihin, Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong, and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan interviews Kevin Pham, Assistant Professor of Political Theory at the University of Amsterdam. Professor Pham's talk is titled "A Postcolonial Theory of Free Speech," in which he focuses on North Vietnamese intellectuals and their perspective on new speech in the 1950s. He argues that although the meaning and value of free speech have long been contested in the West, they overlook how people outside of the West, in illiberal conditions, theorize free speech. Growing up in San Jose, Professor Pham was intrigued by a trip to the Middle East and wanted to learn more about conflict and tensions. Tune in for Professor Pham's journey from wanting to be a doctor, to a tattoo artist, and to a political science professor!   Lightning round(Lecture Summary): 3:05 Main interview: 6:45  Advice for researchers and recommendations: 54:39 Kevin Pham's top recommendations:   Vietnam: A New History by Christopher Goscha Vietnamese Tradition on Trial by David Marr Vietnamese Anticolonialism by David Marr Radicalism and the Origins of the Vietnamese Revolution by Hue-Tam Tai Understanding Vietnam by Neil L. Jamieson Documentary: Vietnam Geburt einer Nation The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Adam Farihin, Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, guest co-host Drake Avila, a master's student in Asian Studies, joins host Namfon Narumol Choochan to interview Assistant Professor Jangai Jap from the Department of International Affairs at the University of Georgia. They discuss her recent research on ethnic rebellion in Myanmar and why the current explanation of post-independence political exclusion falls short in accounting for the rebellion's onset. Professor Jap shares how her Kachin heritage and NGO work experience in Myanmar have sparked her academic curiosity and shaped her doctoral and current research. Tune in for Professor Jap's insights and advice for aspiring scholars who are interested in Myanmar!   Lightning round(Lecture Summary): 2:50 Main interview: 6:20 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 1:00:00 Jangai Jap' top recommendations:  Miss Burma by Charmaine Cragg Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh   The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Adam Farihin, Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan interviews Analyn Salvador-Amores (Ikin), Professor of Anthropology and former Director of the Museo Kordilyera at the University of the Philippines Baguio. Together, they discuss how the recent tourism trend has revitalized Kalinga tattoos, a tradition of the ethnolinguistic group in Buscalan village, northern Luzon, Philippines. Having conducted anthropological research on traditional tattoos for over 30 years, Professor Ikin provides nuanced insights into how tourism has changed the village's landscape, tattoo practices, and reshaped gender dynamics among tattoo practitioners. They also explore various meanings and narratives behind the tattoos of each generation, including Professor Ikin's first tattoo, given by Apo Whang-ud, now the renowned 108-year-old female tattoo artist in Buscalan. Lightning round(Lecture Summary): 4:00  Main interview: 7:30 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 39:48 Analyn Salvador Amores' top recommendations:  Fine Description: Ethnographic and Linguistic Essays by Harold Conklin's   The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Adam Farihin, Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong and Cecilia Liu  

Indonesia in 10 Films: "Soegija" with Arnoud Arps In this second episode of "Indonesia in 10 Films," host Michael Kirkpatrick Miller explores the film Soegija (2012), an ambitious historical drama by director Garin Nugroho. Soegjia follows the non-traditional Catholic national hero Monsignor Albertus Soegijapranata, during one of the most volatile periods in Indonesian history — from the Japanese occupation to the return of Dutch forces after World War II. Rather than focusing solely on its titular figure, the film paints a multifaceted image of intersecting lives of diverse characters.    Michael first speaks with Neen about the film's cinematography, then interviews Dr. Arnoud Arps, Assistant Professor of Extended Cinema, Film Heritage and Memory at the University of Amsterdam. Dr. Arps, who previously interviewed Garin Nugroho, shares the director's intention to create a film grounded in humanity and emotional resonance. He also collaborated with the Eye Filmmuseum and the National Museum of Indonesia to curate a special screening series on Indonesian War of Independence films, with Soegija selected as one of the featured works. Together they discuss the three major waves of the Indonesian Independence War films, the evolution of how nationalism, heroism, and "Merdeka" are portrayed, and the film's subtle treatment of colonizers and revolutionaries, particularly through the conflicted character Robert.   Intro: 0: 38 Producer's Insights: 10:31 Conversation with Guest: 13: 25 Conclusion: 58:30 Professor Arp's Film recommendations:  Kadet 1947, Rahabi Mandra, Aldo Swastia Trilogi Merdeka (Merah Putih, Darah Garuda, Hati Merdeka), Yadi Sugandi, Conor Allyn Professor Arp's rating on Soegija: 8/10   Host: Michael Kirkpatrick Miller Producer: Adam Farihin, Cecilia Liu  and Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong

In this episode of Gatty Rewind, host Francine Barchett and guest co-host Evelyn Fettes (Cornell PhD candidate in Linguistics) join Dr. Rachel Leow, Associate Professor of Modern East Asian History at the University of Cambridge, for a journey through the Southern Seas. Dr. Leow challenges landlocked, nation-bound histories of Southeast Asia by exploring oceanic imaginaries—from Chinese creole dreams to Malay revolutionary visions. What happens when we rethink diaspora, race, and empire not through borders, but through water? Tune in for a lively conversation that dives into the tangled, shimmering histories of migration, language, and ideas across Asia's maritime world.   Lightning round: 3:48   Research and Lecture Summary: 14:30   Advice for researchers and recommendations: 41:06     Dr. Leow's recommendations:    KHÔNG SAO CẢ by 7dnight   The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.   Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu      

In this episode, Francine Barchett interviews Heidi Kühn, founder of Roots of Peace and 2023 World Food Prize laureate. Kühn shares how a background in journalism and a life-changing cancer diagnosis led her to launch a global mission: turning "mines to vines." She recounts how her organization cleared landmines in places like Vietnam and Afghanistan. Along the way, she offers moving stories about working with farmers in Quang Tri Province and her vision for creating a global "army of peacekeepers" through sustainable agriculture. The episode closes with advice for young changemakers and a reminder that even the smallest seed of hope can grow into global impact. Lightning round: 3:20 Roots of Peace Summary: 8:32 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 37:14    The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu

In this special celebratory episode, host Francine Barchett reunites with Michael Kirkpatrick Miller, a PhD candidate in Cornell's Department of History, who happens to be the original creator of the Gatty Rewind podcast! Michael shares fresh insights from his dissertation on Dutch colonialism in Indonesia, focusing on how the colonial state constructed Ambonese men as a "martial race" through the unlikely lens of football. From masculinity and loyalty to colonial control, Michael unpacks how sports became a tool of empire—and how Ambonese soldiers and athletes pushed back against these narratives. The conversation then turns personal as Michael reflects on his wide-ranging academic journey at the Cornell Southeast Asia Program, where he's explored everything from horses to food to gender.   Lightning round: 3:42   Research and Lecture Summary: 14:43   Advice for researchers and recommendations: 52:13    Michael's Top Recommendations: Rasa Tanah Air: Awal Perkembangan Kuliner Indonesia di Mancanegara pada Akhir Abad ke-19 hingga 1940-an - Fadly Rahman   The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.   Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, guest co-host Iris Luo (Cornell PhD candidate in Human-Centered Design) joins host Francine Barchett to interview Elissa "E" Domingo Badique, a Cornell PhD candidate in Performance and Media Arts. E describes their winding journey—from serving as a community advisor at Harvard to working as a makeup artist in Japan. But it was a fandom studies class that sparked their research into K-pop dance covers! E traces these performances back to Filipino variety shows, where choreography became a tool for myth-making and expressing diasporic Filipino identity, particularly through the lens of Asian male figures like K-pop idols. Their advice to listeners: be open-minded! For Southeast Asian studies to grow and evolve, they remind us, it should remain expansive and inclusive.   Lightning round: 3:41 Research and Lecture Summary: 14:12 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 39:40   E's Top Recommendation:  Like I do, J Tajor    The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino-style Rondalla group established at Cornell University. Check them out here.   Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu  

In this episode, guest co-host Anke Wang, a Cornell PhD candidate in History, joins host Francine Barchett for a tag-team interview with Dr. Hieu Phung, Assistant Professor of Vietnamese and Southeast Asian History at Rutgers University. Dr. Phung discusses her research on how pre-modern environmental factors shaped political and administrative systems in Vietnam, with a focus on state-building in the Red River Delta. She unpacks how perceptions of sea-dykes evolved over time—beyond their physical function, they became central to how people understood nature, risk, and governance. The episode wraps up with Dr. Phung's candid advice for students still not sure what they want to study (spoiler: it's okay not to have it all figured out!).   Lightning round: 3:41 Research and Lecture Summary: 14:12 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 39:40     The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here.   Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu

In this episode, host Francine Barchett interviews Dr. Kristian Karlo Saguin, Associate Professor of Geography at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Dr. Saguin unpacks his recent Gatty Lecture, based on his award-winning book Urban Ecologies on the Edge: Making Manila's Resource Frontier (winner of the Benda Prize). Their conversation explores the complex socio-environmental dynamics of Laguna Lake—from its role in shaping consumer preferences for fish to its impact on flooding in Metro Manila and beyond. We're also pretty sure Dr. Saguin is the most enthusiastic geographer we've ever had on the show! Lightning round: 2:57  Research and Lecture Summary: 10:32  Advice for researchers and recommendations: 43:45 Dr. Saguin's top recommendations: The Camphor Tree and the Elephant Book by Faizah Zakaria The Pulse of the Earth: Political Geology in Java   The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here. 

Welcome to Spicy SEAP! This special edition of the podcast recreates the popular TV show Hot Ones—but with a twist! Instead of chicken wings, our guests take on a lineup of spicy Southeast Asian dishes, from snacks to main courses and mysterious desserts. Host Francine Barchett is joined by Lijun Zhang, a PhD candidate in History and co-chair of the Cornell Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) Gatty Lecture Series. Lijun's research explores female migration from southeastern China to British Malaya and Singapore, focusing on grassroots intimacy, women's mobility, and the agency that shaped legal travel within the colonial judiciary. Her academic journey began in a Singaporean high school and evolved through her undergraduate studies at Colgate. Lijun's favorite Indonesian word is duduk-duduk—any guesses on what it means? Tune in now!     Appetizers: Carada Rice Ball Cuttlefish – 5:45 Hanami Chili Prawn Crackers – 7:15 Snacks: Musang King Durian Cake – 11:15 Hapi Sriracha Peas – 15:40 Taokaenoi Mala Crispy Seaweed – 19:25 Grilled Spicy Seaweed Roll – 25:00 Main Challenge: 2xspicy Buldak Ramen – 33:40 Mystery Item: Pandan Euro Cake – 40:07 Lijun Zhang's top recommendations: The White Lotus Season 3 by Mike White The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Sonny Liew The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here. Produced by Adam Farihin and Cecilia Liu