Conversations on ethnography: Soon Chuan Yean

In this series, I talk to various anthropologists and other social scientists about ethnography.

My guest today is Soon Chuan Yean, a Senior Lecturer in Political Science and colleague of mine at USM. He speaks to us from Penang – where he, like me, is in lockdown. As a political scientist, Soon’s research interests revolve around the intersections of culture, art, and religion, politics from below, Philippines local politics, and Malaysian cultural politics. He was introduced to ethnography in the course of his doctoral studies in Singapore, and his work combines ethnographic insights with political analyses. These are edited excerpts from our conversation.