Leander Seah
Associate Professor of History
Leander Seah holds a PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) and teaches courses on Asia, military history, diplomatic history, and modern world history at Stetson. He has served as the department chair of the History Department and the founding director of the Asian Studies Program.
- PhD, History, University of Pennsylvania
- MA, History, National University of Singapore
- BA, History, National University of Singapore
Biography
Leander Seah holds a PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) and teaches courses on Asia, military history, diplomatic history, and modern world history at Stetson. He has served as the department chair of the History Department and the founding director of the Asian Studies Program. In terms of research, as an ethnic Chinese and Singapore citizen, he is particularly interested in China-Southeast Asia connections, US-China relations, modern China, East Asian relations, military history, migration and diasporas, modern Japan, US-China relations, and transnational and world history.
He has published journal articles, has presented his work at conferences in the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China, and is currently finishing a book to be published by Cornell University Press, Reconceptualizing Chinese Identity: China, the Nanyang, and Transregionalism, 1900-1945. Moreover, he is working on another book about China and America in World War II with emphasis on a transnational analysis of the China-Burma-India theater. His accolades include over twenty fellowships, research grants and awards from the Association for Asian Studies, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Center for Chinese Studies in Taiwan, the National Library Board of Singapore, the National University of Singapore, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stetson University.
More About Leander Seah
Areas of Expertise
- Modern China
- China and Southeast Asia
- Military History
- East Asian Relations
- United States-China Relations
- Migration and Diasporas
- Modern Japan
- Transnational, Transregional, and World History
Course Sampling
- Asian History and War Movies
- Biography as History: People and Life Stories
- China and America: From the Opium Wars to General Tso's Chicken
- Global Migration and Diasporas
- Introduction to East Asian Studies
- Maritime China and Chinese Migration
- Modern China: War, Revolution, and Nationalism
- Modern Japan: Innovation, Imperialism, and Identity
- Modern World Civilizations
- War and Diplomacy in Modern East Asia
- World War II in Asia: The Second Sino-Japanese War
- Modern China
- China and Southeast Asia
- Military History
- East Asian Relations
- United States-China Relations
- Migration and Diasporas
- Modern Japan
- Transnational, Transregional, and World History
- Reconceptualizing Chinese Identity: China, the Nanyang, and Transregionalism, 1900-1945 (advance contract with
Cornell University Press, manuscript completed and under consideration for full contract). - “Between China, America, and Southeast Asia: Nanyang Chinese Volunteers and the Burma Road in World War II.”
Journal of American-East Asian Relations (forthcoming December 2026). - "Chinese Identities between Localization and Globalization: The South Seas Society, Chinese Intellectuals in Singapore,
and Southeast Asian Studies, 1958-1971." The China Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Greater China 17, no. 3
(October 2017): 87-110. - "Between East Asia and Southeast Asia: Nanyang Studies, Chinese Migration, and National Jinan University, 1927-
1940." Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives 11, no. 1 (2017): 30-56. - "Looking Back Towards East Asia: The Re-Sinicization of the South Seas Society in Singapore, 1971-2000." American
Journal of Chinese Studies 20, no. 2 (October 2013): 137-151. - "Conceptualizing the Chinese World: Jinan University, Lee Kong Chian, and the Nanyang Connection, 1900-1942."
BiblioAsia 4, no. 1 (April 2008): 26-37. - "Hybridity, Globalization, and the Creation of a Nanyang Identity: The South Seas Society in Singapore, 1940-1958."
Journal of the South Seas Society (Nanyang Xuebao) 61 (December 2007): 134-151. - Multiple invited book reviews published in The American Historical Review, The Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of
Military History, Journal of Chinese Overseas, and Chinese Studies (Hanxue yanjiu).