This research examines state formation as a relational and historically situated process shaped by a web of authorities in Timor-Leste, where Indigenous cosmologies (lulik), the Church, and the modern state co-produce political order. I trace how the relationships among these authorities have been formed over time and how the state’s core images and governing practices emerge from these historical and ongoing interactions. Through ethnographic and relational approaches, I explore how legitimacy is generated, negotiated, and enacted across these overlapping domains of authority.

This research explores how Korean foreign direct investment shapes gendered and racialised labour, service economies, and everyday social relations in Southeast Asia. Through an ethnographic approach, I examine how local actors negotiate, accommodate, and reshape FDI-driven transformations in their daily lives.

This research explores how peace emerges from relational and affective processes embedded in everyday life. Rather than viewing peace as an institutional outcome, this research examines how care, emotion, responsibility, and ethical relations create and sustain peaceful social worlds.

A collection of country reports, policy studies, and applied research on governance, development, and social change in Southeast Asia.