Atsushi Ota - Appointed in AY2016
Participant Profile
Atsushi Ota
Economic History of Southeast Asia, Modern History of Indonesia1993: Graduated from the First Faculty of Letters, Waseda University 1996: Completed the Master's Program at the Graduate School of Letters, Waseda University 2005: Obtained his Ph.D. from Leiden University, the Netherlands After serving as a Visiting Fellow at the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, Rutgers University, USA; a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore; an Assistant Research Fellow at the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan; and an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Letters, Hiroshima University, he assumed his current position in 2016. *Profile and position are as of the time of the interview.
Atsushi Ota
Economic History of Southeast Asia, Modern History of Indonesia1993: Graduated from the First Faculty of Letters, Waseda University 1996: Completed the Master's Program at the Graduate School of Letters, Waseda University 2005: Obtained his Ph.D. from Leiden University, the Netherlands After serving as a Visiting Fellow at the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, Rutgers University, USA; a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore; an Assistant Research Fellow at the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan; and an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Letters, Hiroshima University, he assumed his current position in 2016. *Profile and position are as of the time of the interview.
Considering the History of Southeast Asia's Rapidly Growing Economies to Understand Them More Deeply
Encountering My Research Theme
During my master's program, I had a part-time job at the Tokyo National Museum, where I had the chance to see up close some Indian textiles that had been imported to South Sumatra. These textiles were decorated with patterns unique to Sumatra, and I wondered why they were made. I traveled to the region where the textiles were discovered, and I found the place and its people fascinating. This inspired me to investigate further.
The Appeal and Fascination of My Research
Human activities are largely determined by factors that are not easily changed, such as geographical and ecological environments. Economic systems emerge from the accumulation of efforts to live more comfortably within these constraints. I believe that culture and politics then develop from these systems. Economic history is the study of the historical human activities that created our complex modern society and the role that the economy played within them. Empathy and intuition are essential for pursuing this study. Even when reading documents written hundreds of years ago, there are moments when I intuitively feel, "I can empathize with this person's actions," or "The idea behind this policy is rational." Even if these feelings differ from established theories, piecing them together can sometimes lead to a more persuasive explanation. The real pleasure of economic history is being able to present a different perspective or image of a particular era or region's history, one that challenges conventional wisdom, based on what I have researched and felt. This is because refining and correcting our historical image, even slightly, allows us to understand that society more deeply.
A Message for Students
There are many ways to understand history. The factors that give rise to a phenomenon or system can be considered from various angles. Studying economic history at university is not about memorization. It is about thinking about what constitutes a more persuasive explanation. The training in how to develop an argument and draw conclusions from information obtained from historical materials and prior research will surely be useful in your future career. Furthermore, I believe that most of you will have some kind of professional connection with the rapidly growing region of Southeast Asia. While you are a university student with the freedom to study, why not take the opportunity to study the economic history of Southeast Asia?
(Interview conducted in January 2017)