Meet our
2023 Fellows
Meet this year’s individuals, organizations, and networks that aim to undertake projects that advance democratic values in any one or across a number of countries in Southeast Asia.
Our 2023 Fellows
Click their profile pictures to learn more about their projects.
Generating new ideas. Solving big problems.
By supporting and promoting public intellectuals, the Democracy Discourse Series intends to create a platform for engaged thinking in response to the public’s hunger for insights and alternative perspectives that are understandable and relatable. It also aims to build a network of public intellectuals in Southeast Asia who will defend democratic values, and establish solidarity networks with diverse causes.
News & Updates
Sustaining Pushback Against Autocratization: The DDS 2024 Final Public Forum
The Democracy Discourse Series (DDS) project will hold the public forum entitled “Sustaining Pushback Against Autocratization” on August 23, 2024, from 9 AM to 12 NN, at the Thammasat University, Faculty of Political Science, Tha Prachan Campus, Bangkok,...
DEMO: Documenting contemporary protests in Malaysia
Many challenges confront Malaysia’s fragile democracy. Of the six million newly emancipated voters – following constitutional amendments that lowered the voting age to 18 years old and automatically register eligible voters – a sizable chunk has no shared experience...
New Naratif: What is Southeast Asian Democracy?
What is Southeast Asian democracy? Every Southeast Asian government ostensibly commits to democracy - but they also reject it as “foreign” or “western” in its inception and practice. This project asks Southeast Asians how we conceive of and practice democracy. It aims...
Past DDS Fellows
The Democracy Discourse Series (DDS) Public Intellectuals include activists, community leaders, art and theater practitioners, and journalists whose projects deal with interventions on democratic issues on human rights, electoral rights, press freedom, youth advocacy, LGBT movements, migrant rights, governance, disinformation on the public spheres in Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asian Public Intellectuals.
The DDS promotes informed and responsible intellectuals who can counter misinformation and fake news. By elevating the public profiles of public intellectuals, they can more effectively counter and debate social media celebrities and other promoters of misinformation.