On the afternoon of April 16, 2025, the Institute for International and Area Studies of Tsinghua University invited Professor Philip Taylor, a member of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, Emeritus Professor of the Australian National University, and former Head of the Department of Anthropology of the Asia-Pacific Institute, to give the fifth talk on “Southeast Asia’s Cultural Logic” of the lecture series on “Southeast Asian Studies: The Intellectual Foundations of an Area Studies Discipline”. The lecture was hosted by Guan Hao, a post-doctoral researcher in IIAS. Dozens of students and faculty members from domestic and foreign universities as well as professionals who are interested in the topic attended, both offline and online.

At the beginning, Prof. Taylor introduced the topic of “Sacred Time Cycle” and “Religious Symbolism” through the Cambodian New Year Legend, pointing out that in Southeast Asian cultures, myths are not memories of the ancient, but rather the continuous expression of everyday experience. He then combined the views of Dao Duy Anh and other scholars, citing cultural features such as stilt houses, wet rice agriculture, betel nut chewing, Multiple souls and ancestor worship, emphasizing that these elements are widely present in Southeast Asian countries, constituting an “endogenous and continuous” cultural logic. Prof. Taylor further pointed out that the discourse on “cultural essence” first emerged in an anti-colonial context, emphasizing the autonomy and historical depth of local cultures, and countering the view of Southeast Asia as a “passive recipient of foreign influences” in cultural diffusion theories and the theory of the evolution of civilizations. However, the “cultural essence” has also faced many criticisms. As a response, Prof. Taylor introduced new approaches in cultural research, including the theories of “cultural hybridization”, “adaptive evolution” and “cultural dual structure”. emphasizing that local culture is not a static heritage, but a complex system with the capacity for dynamic renewal and creation.

Finally, in the discussion session, Prof. Taylor and the students had a lively discussion on whether local culture can exist independently from external influences and whether tradition and modernity are always in opposition to each other.

Philip Taylor, PhD in Anthropology and Southeast Asian Studies, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, Professor Emeritus at the Australian National University, and former Head of the Department of Anthropology at the Asia Pacific Institute. He has lived and worked in Vietnam and Cambodia for over a decade, and has a command of Vietnamese, Cambodian and French. His research interests include contemporary anthropology of Vietnam, Mekong sub-regional studies, Southeast and East Asian studies, development and urbanization, and modernity. Representative works include monographs The Khmer Lands of Vietnam: Environment, Cosmology and Sovereignty (2014, Winner of the EuroSEAS-Nikkei Asian Review Social Science Book Award), Goddess on the Rise: Pilgrimage and Popular Religion in Vietnam（2004）, Fragments of the Present: Searching for Modernity in Vietnam's South（2001）et al. Professor Taylor has supervised more than 30 PhD theses during his tenure at the Australian National University and has been awarded the ANU ‘top supervisor’ award. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Anthropology, Editor-in-Chief of the Vietnam Series of the Australian National University Press, and as a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Vietnamese Studies, the Review of Asian Studies, and the Cambridge History of the Vietnam War (Volume 3).