The UP Asian Center, with the support of the UP Diliman Office of the Chancellor and the UP Office of International Linkages (UP-OIL), invites everyone to the Onsite International Conference, “Kapuluan: Archipelagic Convergences between Southeast Asia and the Pacific.” The deadline for registration is 20 November 2026, Friday (Manila Time). The conference is ONSITE and is open to the general public. Participation in the conference is FREE. Conference Kits, meals, and certificates will be provided to accepted participants. LIMITED SLOTS ONLY.
ABOUT THE THEME OF THE CONFERENCE
Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands taken together constitute the world's most expansive and important archipelagic region in the world. Their rich natural resources, coupled with their strategic position, have made these regions a focal point for geopolitical competition. In addition, they are also some of the world's most vulnerable regions because of climate change.
Despite their contiguity, connections between Southeast Asia and the Pacific remain one of the most overlooked areas in scholarly literature and public discourse, more broadly. While recent scholarship has highlighted connections and comparisons between the regions (D'Arcy 2018; Andaya 2022) by emphasizing their Austronesian connections, colonial-era transpacific movements, and more contemporary (Southeast Asian, mainly Filipino) migration to the Pacific, these studies remain few and general.
To help underscore the importance of the Pacific to the Philippines and broader Southeast Asia, the UP Asian Center is organizing Kapuluan, an International Conference on “Archipelagic Convergences between Southeast Asia and the Pacific.” It seeks to provide a venue for conversations that compare and/or connect Southeast Asia and the Pacific to produce new insights on shared issues (i.e., archipelagic convergences). These "convergences" range from such issues as climate change and rising sea levels, colonial legacies, geopolitics, etc.