SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This Special Issue of South East Asia Research sets out to explore the complexities that arise from the contemporary intersections of religion and the economy in the region, with particular regard to public projects that seek to transfer value to the poor for the purpose of alleviating their suffering and improving their condition. The Special Issue provides new evidence of the significance that religious interventions in the field of poverty alleviation are assuming in South East Asia in the era of neoliberal reform. Case studies draw upon ethnographic materials, from Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in the north, and Malaysia and Indonesia in the south.