about

I am an assistant professor at the Institute for East Asian Studies, Sogang University. I work on little-studied subjects in the history of modern Southeast Asia. My present research investigates the transnational and social history of the making of modern Southeast Asia after World War Two.

I have written five books, Squatters into Citizens: The 1961 Bukit Ho Swee Fire and the Making of Modern Singapore (NUS Press & ASAA 2013); Oral History in Southeast Asia: Memories and Fragments (co-edited, Palgrave Macmillan 2013); Controversial History Education in Asian Contexts (co-edited, Routledge 2013); The University Socialist Club and the Contest for Malaya: Tangled Strands of Modernity (co-authored, Amsterdam University Press & NUS Press 2012); The Makers and Keepers of Singapore History (co-edited, Ethos Books & Singapore Heritage Society 2010); and Making and Unmaking the Asylum: Leprosy and Modernity in Singapore and Malaysia (SIRD 2009). I have also published in peer-reviewed history, Asian studies and interdisciplinary journals. 

I was previously a school teacher and continues to speak to students and teachers about the joys and challenges of studying the past.

 

Research interests:
Postwar Southeast Asia
Disasters and history
Singapore and Malayan history (postwar, colonial)
Social history
Squatters and slum dwellers
History of medicine
Oral history & memory
Student activism
Archives

Teaching areas:
Singapore
Southeast Asia

When not doing history, I try to inspire Liverpool to their elusive 19th league title from the comfort of my living room. I keep tropical fish and cichlids are my favourites.

Loh Kah Seng
BA(Hons), MA (NUS), Dip.Ed (NIE), PhD (Murdoch)
lkshisATgmail.com

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