Third Worldism and its Discontents with Cindy Ewing
April 3, 2025, 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
The Centre for Southeast Asian Research, with the co-sponsorship of the Global History of Anti-Colonial Thought Research Excellence Cluster and the UBC Myanmar Initiative, warmly invites members of the UBC community and public to our third event in the series Histories of Anti-Colonial Thought in Southeast Asia.
About the talk
This talk, entitled Third Worldism and Its Discontents: The Asian Relations Conferences of 1947 and 1949, explores the circulation of postcolonial ideas in Asia during the early postwar era through the Asian Relations Conferences of 1947 and 1949. Under the auspices of the Indian Council of World Affairs, the Asian Relations Conferences held in New Delhi became a site of transnational connection and anti-colonial critique, contributing to an emerging articulation of Third World possibility beyond an imperial frame. In both conferences, delegations celebrated political independence, discussed issues of economic development, education, and women’s rights, and also called for greater closeness among Asian peoples. However, the conferences also revealed different theories of anti-colonial struggle at work in the Third World. In particular, the Burmese, Vietnamese, and Indonesian delegations to the conferences challenged the globalist vision promoted by Indian leaders, highlighting the promises and tensions of inter-Asian connections and Afro-Asian internationalism often traced to the post-1945 era.
About the speaker
Dr. Cindy Ewing is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on histories of rights and decolonization in South and Southeast Asia. She is preparing her first book manuscript on the history of the post-1945 international order and the role of Asian postcolonial elites in the making of international human rights. Her work has appeared in The American Historical Review, Journal of Global History, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and Cold War History, among others.
About the series
In recognition of the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Afro-Asian Conference, the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second Indochinese War and the 25th anniversary of the Timorese independence referendum, the series Histories of Anti-Colonial Thought in Southeast Asia aims to bring various Southeast Asian genealogies of anti-colonial thought into conversation and spotlight them for the broader UBC community and public. The series will provoke conversation about underexplored lineages of anti-colonialism and democracy within the academy and popular discourse in anticipation of the Anticolonial Ideas of the Global Symposium held by the Global History of Anti-Colonial Thought Research Excellence Cluster in April 2025.
Photos from the Event
