By /

Kwa Chong Guan

Kwa Chong Guan

Profile: https://discovery.nus.edu.sg/969-chong-guan-kwa

Kwa Chong Guan works on the intersections of history, security studies and international relations of Southeast Asia. As an Honorary Adjunct Associate Professor and Visiting Fellow at the Archaeological Unit of the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Kwa is interested in the long cycles and emerging deep history of Southeast Asia’s past. As Senior Fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University he works on a range of regional security issues with a focus on the implicit narratives underlying our framing of regional security issues. He started his career working on policy analysis in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then the Ministry of Defence before being assigned to reorganize the Oral History Department in the National Archives and concurrently, the old National Museum which he lead through a strategic planning process to transform it into the current three museums under the National Heritage Board. He continues to be associated with these heritage institutions in various advisory capacities and as Chairman of the National Archives Advisory Committee. As Chairman of the National Library Advisory Committee he is involved in the integration of the National Archives with the National Library under the National Library Board. He was previously Head of the old Department of Strategic Studies at the SAFTI Military Institute where he taught military history and strategic studies while concurrently teaching history at the School of Arts at the National Institute of Education. Kwa was called up for National Service after graduating from the old University of Singapore in Philosophy and History, and continued to serve as a reservist officer in various command and staff appointment for the next 20 years.

TEACHING AREAS:
  • Singapore history/historiography

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
  • 2013 (editor) Early Southeast Asia Viewed from India; An Anthology of Articles from the Journal of the Greater India Society (Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies)
  • 2012 Locating Singapore on the Maritime Silk Road: Evidence from Maritime Archaeology, Ninth to Early Nineteenth Centuries, Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Working Paper Series No. 10
  • 2012 (with Ho Chi Tim) "Archives in the Making of Post-Colonial Singapore," in Charles Jeurgens, & others, eds., Colonial Legacy in South East Asia; The Dutch Archives, Jaarboek 11, Stichting Archiefpublicaties, pp. 125-150
  • 2012 Role of Intelligence in International Crisis Management, RSIS Working Paper No. 243
  • 2011 (co-editor with Mingjiang Li) China-ASEAN Sub-regional Cooperation; Progress, Problems and Prospect, World Scientific
  • 2011 "Transforming the National Museum of Singapore" in: John N Miksic & others, eds., Rethinking Cultural Resource Management in Southeast Asia; Preservation, Development, and Neglect, Anthem Southeast Asia Studies, pp.201-216
  • 2010 (co-editor with Desmond Ball) Assessing Track-2 Diplomacy in the Asia Pacific region; A CSCAP Reader, ANU Strategic & Defence Studies Centre
  • 2010 (co-editor with Virendra Gupta) Energy Security; Asia Pacific Perspectives, Indian Council For World Affairs
  • 2009 (co-author with Derek Heng and Tan Tai Yong) Singapore; A 700-Year History, From Early emporium to World City, National Archives of Singapore
  • 2007 (co-editor with John K Skogan) Maritime Security in Southeast Asia, Routledge Security in Asia Series
  • 2006 (editor) S Rajaratnam on Singapore; From Ideas to Reality, World Scientific/IDSS
  • 2003 "Historiography and Definition of Pre-Angkor Art," in: James C M Khoo, edit., Art & Archaeology of Fu Nan; Pre-Khmer Kingdom of the Lower Mekong Valley, Southeast Asia Ceramic Society, pp. 119-134
  • 1999 "Drawing Natural History in the East Indies; Framing Farquhar's Natural History Drawings," in J Bastin. I Polunin, Kwa C G, The William Farquhar collection of Natural History Drawings, Goh Geok Khim publ
  • 1998 (co-editor with P. Lim and J Morrison) Oral History in Southeast Asia; Theory & Method, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
  • 1995 "Sraddha Sri Rajapatni: An exploration of Majapahit mortuary ritual," in J Miksic & Endang S H Soekato, eds., The Legacy of Majapahit, National Heritage Board, pp. 73-90