Chontida Auikool

I graduated from Thammasat University with a Bachelor's in Southeast Asian Studies and a Master's in International Relations. My areas of research interest include Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Chinese Indonesian, Conflict and Violence, and Southeast Asian films. I co-authored two articles with Chanintira na Thalang, titled  "The immobility paradox in Thailand's southern border provinces" (2018) and "Opportunities for inter-ethno-religious engagement in Thailand's southern border provinces" (2019) and I published an article, ''The voice of the silence: Indonesia's and Thailand's alternative memory and culture of impunity in films'' (2017). 

My doctoral research project, Historical Memory of Acehnese Chinese and Its Impacts on Identity and Belonging. The project focuses on the complex relationship between Chinese Indonesians, the Indonesian state and Acehese societies. The research will focus on the group's narratives and recollections during times of conflict. It aims to understand how past violent episodes, particularly the nearly 30-year conflict between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM, Gerakan Aceh Merdeka), influenced Chinese identity and sense of belonging, as well as how Acehnese Chinese adapt to living in a special autonomous area governed by Sharia law. The project is expected to provide a greater knowledge of the Chinese community and reveal their experiences of struggle, which have been missing from Indonesian national history, through memories recalled by the Acehnese Chinese themselves.