Edgar Liao

I am a cultural historian of modern Southeast Asia (focusing on Singapore) and the global history of childhood and youth. I am particularly interested in the intersection between the Cold War, decolonization, nation-building, and the history of childhood and youth in Asia. My interest in the cultural history of youth in Singapore builds on my previous research on the history of student and youth activism, which was published as a co-authored monograph (The University Socialist Club and the Contest for Malaya: Tangled Strands of Modernity, Amsterdam University Press; National University of Singapore Press 2012). I have published recent articles on the cultural politics of youth in Singapore between the 1940s and 1960s. Building on this current book project, I am currently pursuing a second project on the broader impact of the Cold War on the development of what I call “youth infrastructure” in post-World War Two Southeast Asia, focusing on the activities of the U.S.-based Asia Foundation.