Reconceptualizing the Cold War: On-the-ground Experiences in Asia

09/12/2023

With the end of the semester, I'm finally resuming adding a new oral history collection "Muslim Secessionist Movement in the Philippines," collected by Elgin Glenn R. Salomon at the University of the Philippines.

This collection introduces various on-the-ground testimonies on how conflict between the Moro National Liberation Front and the Philippine government culminated in the outbreak of the Battle of Jolo in 1974.

Residents of Jolo recount how racial and religious diversity in the area gave way to political differences and armed conflict at the height of the Cold War, with various racial and religious groups beginning to emphasize their differences with one another.

Each interview includes a summary and full transcript of interview, with a set of discussion questions for classroom use. Special thanks to Elgin Glenn R. Salomon, Joshua Lim, and Syahrul Anuar!

For more collections from many parts of Asia, see our online archive of oral history collections, "Reconceptualizing the Cold War: On-the-ground Experiences in Asia" .

16/09/2023

I'm updating the oral history collection on "1965-66 Indonesian Massacres." This collection introduces recounts by local Indonesians–both victims and perpetrators–of the massacres in the aftermath the Sept 30 Incident. Available at: https://rcw-asia.com/1965-66-indonesian-massacres

The interviews I just added are:
Interview With Syamsul
Interview With Sudi Subidi
Interview With Simali and Sajah
Interview With Sarjoti
Interview With Salijo and Satwi
Interview With Sakini
Interview With Kasadi
Interview With Bati
These are all from Imam Muhtarom.

Each interview includes summary and full transcript, with a set of discussion questions. Special thanks to Imam Muhtarom, Joshua Lim, and Syahrul Anuar!

For other collections, see our online archive of oral history collection "Reconceptualizing the Cold War: On-the-ground Experiences in Asia" at https://rcw-asia.com

30/07/2023

Here is a new oral history collection, "Chinese Veterans in the Resist U.S. and Aid Laos Campaign." This collection introduces testimonies of Chinese soldiers who were dispatched to various Southeast Asian countries on secret goodwill missions in Cold War Asia.

These testimonies illustrate a Cold War world that was forged by interactions among ordinary people on-the-ground, beyond politics, diplomacy, and great power rivalries. All interviews are available here .

Find other collections in our online archive of oral history collection "Reconceptualizing the Cold War: On-the-ground Experiences in Asia" . Special thanks to Cui Feng, Joshua Lim, and Syahrul Anuar!

27/06/2023

Here is a new oral history collection, "Returning to a Foreign Motherland: The Experiences of Overseas Chinese Returnees in Cold War China." This collection provides a glimpse of various culture-shocks experienced by the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia when they returned to Mao's China.

All interviews are available at "The Experiences of Overseas Chinese Returnees in Cold War China" in our online archive of oral history collections "Reconceptualizing the Cold War: On-the-ground Experiences in Asia" .

Returnees often formed various expectations and fascination for the mainland as a result of global ideological conflict mixed with nationalistic pride. For them, the Cold War was a process of reconciling such expectations and fascinations with the realities in socialist China.

As always, each interview includes a summary in English and original transcript in Chinese, with a set of discussion questions. Special thanks to Cheng Yimeng & Chen Yishen, as well as Joshua Lim & Syahrul Anuar!

15/05/2023

"Fishermen's Lives across the Taiwan Strait"
https://rcw-asia.com/fishermen-s-lives-across-the-taiwan-strait

I'm adding a new oral history collection on the fishermen's lives across the Taiwan Strait. This collection introduces recollections by Chinese fishermen who frequently sailed across the Taiwan Strait at the height of the Cold War. Their experiences offer a microscopic view of how ordinary people maneuvered rivalries between the two Chinas as a way to safeguard their livelihoods.

The interviews added are:
Interview With Zhang Ya Ye, Ruan Ya Bao, and Wu Wu
Interview With Ruan Lao Gu
Interview With Zhang Guohe
Interview With Ruan Ya Ying
Interview With Zeng Moushui
Interview With Chen Fuyu
Interview With Zhang Yamin

As always, each interview includes a summary (English) and original transcript (Chinese), with a set of discussion questions. Special thanks to Chen Yongming (Associate Professor at South China University of Technology), Arivarun Anbualagan, Joshua Lim, and Syahrul Anuar!

12/04/2023

"Indigenous Taiwanese Lives in Colonial and Cold War Taiwan"
https://rcw-asia.com/indigenous-taiwanese-lives-in-colonial-and-cold-war-taiwan

Now, I'm resuming adding a new oral history collection on the Indigenous Taiwanese Lives in Colonial and Cold War Taiwan. This collection offers insight on how indigenous tribespeople on Taiwan experienced both Japanese and Chinese Kuomintang rule across the 20th century.

Despite them all being part of aboriginal communities, their lives went in different directions as they negotiated various political and social transformations in colonial and Cold War Taiwan. They consequently offer diverse perspectives on how regional strife and sectional cultural differences inflected the lived experiences and memories of minority communities in Taiwan.

The interviews we added are:
Interview with Yang Huohui
Interview with Akino Sakichi
Interview with Matsuyama Harumi
Interview with Buten Tai Wan (1st)
Interview with Buten Tai Wan (2nd)
Interview with H. Akiko

As always, these interviews include summaries (English) and original transcripts (Japanese & Chinese), with discussion questions. Special thanks to Megumi Hagiwara, Joshua Lim, and Syahrul Anuar!

13/07/2022

Zainichi Koreans' Lives in Japan and Two Koreas

I'm pleased to announce a new addition of oral history interviews on the transnational lives of Zainichi Koreans in Japan and two Koreas. The collection introduces interviewees' early lives in Japan, return to North Korea, and defection to South Korea.

They discuss how they grew up in Japan, how they went to North Korea, and what they faced and how they were viewed there. Min Jin Lee's bestseller novel Pachinko details the lives of Koreans in Japan (and the US); our collection gives more detailed accounts of many "Kim Changho" who left for the North.

"Zainichi Koreans' Lives in Japan and Two Koreas"
Interview With Choi Bok Sil 최복실
Interview With Kim Choo Wol 김추월
Interview With Kim Haeng Il 김행일
Interview With Lee Ok Ja 이옥자
Interview With Lee Tae S*k 이태식

All available at https://rcw-asia.com/zainichi-koreans-lives-in-japan-and-two-koreas

These interviews include summaries (English) and original transcripts (Japanese/Korean), with discussion questions. Special thanks to Rina Hong, Arivarun Anbualagan, and Syahrul Anuar!

05/07/2022

"Exploring Leftist Activism in Northern Thailand"

I'm pleased to announce a new addition of three interviews from Thailand! This oral history collection introduces personal experiences of leftist activism in northern Thailand in the 1970s.

It explores topics such as student movement, teachers' association, and political violence, re-examining what leftist activism meant for them.

"Exploring Leftist Activism in Northern Thailand"
Interview With Panida Worrawong
Interview With Saguan (1st)
Interview WIth Saguan (2nd)
Interview With Saguan (3rd)
Interview With Santi (1st)
Interview With Santi (2nd)

All available at https://rcw-asia.com/exploring-leftist-activism-in-northern-thailand

These interviews include English summaries and Thai (or English) transcripts, with sets of discussion questions.

This collection introduces personal experiences of leftist activism in northern Thailand in the 1970s. It explores topics such as student movement, teachers' association, and political violence, reexamining what leftist activism meant for them.

25/06/2022

"Khmer Rouge and Its Legacies"

Here is a new addition of 14 interviews from Cambodia. These interviews recount ordinary people's life stories before, during, and after the Khmer Rouge. Topics include their experiences of forced relocation, hard labor, and starvation, as well as marriage and religious and communal life.

Interview With Bopha
Interview With Bou Nan
Interview With Keav Ean
Interview With Long
Interview With San Song
Interview With Sim
Interview With Sopheak
Interview With Siny
Interview With Sopheap
Interview With Thida
Interview With Sum Tong
Interview With Tou
Interview With Sor Sarath
Interview With Toch Leaksmy

All available at https://rcw-asia.com/khmer-rouge-and-its-legacies

Each interview includes English-translation transcript, with a summary and set of discussion questions. Special thanks to Soeung Bunly, Chris Patterson, Arivarun Anbualagan, and Syahrul Anuar!

07/06/2022

Here is a new addition of seven oral history interviews from the Philippines! These interviews tell us local people and soldiers' experiences during the Japanese Occupation and the immediate postwar years in the Philippines, touching on their encounters with the Hukbalahap, the Huk Rebellion, and the Communist Party of the Philippines.

1) "Everyday Encounters with the Huks, 1942-1957" collection:
>Pefecto & Gabriela Gabriel interview
>Major Maximo Young interview
Both available at

2) "Everyday lives in the Colonial and Postcolonial Philippines" collection:
>Vincente Lava III interview
>Ramon Ramirez interview
>Serenidad Lingayo Lat interview
>Dr Elmer Ordonez interview
>Monlit Uichanco interview
All available at

Each interview includes original (Tagalog) and English-translation transcripts, with an English summary and a set of questions for discussion. Special thanks to Veronica Sison and Lemuel Magaling, as well as Arivarun Anbualagan and Syahrul Anuar.

21/05/2022

I'm pleased to announce the addition of 3 new interview transcripts to our collection "Everyday Encounters with the Hukbalahap, 1942-1954" . These transcripts tell us interviewers' childhood encounters with the Huks in the Philippines in the wartime and postwar periods.

Each interview include original (Tagalog) and English-translation transcripts, with an English summary and a set of discussion questions. Special thanks to Veronica Sison, Arivarun Anbualagan, and Syahrul Anuar for this collection.

"Everyday Encounters with the Hukbalahap, 1942-1954"

30/04/2022

We are pleased to announce the addition of 9 new interview transcripts to our collection, "Reconsidering the Naxalite Movement in Kerala, India."

These transcripts include interviews with former Naxalite members and leaders, such as K M Venu, Vijayan & Divakaran, amongst others, as well as other leftist activists who did not formally join parties but supported the movement at a distance.

Many of their stories touch on historically deep-rooted conflicts between the Jenmis (landed aristocracy) and lower-caste Adivasi (indigenous tribal) communities, and show how Cold War rhetoric functioned in both challenging and maintaining the caste-based system of exploitation and discrimination in the region.

We hope that these resources will enrich discussions of the local and social conflicts that reproduced the Cold War domestically in India circa 1960s. Special thanks to Dr. Muhammed Kunhi, Arivarun Anbualagan, and Syahrul Anuar for setting up this collection!