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PROF. DR. FARISH A. NOOR
Professor of Philosophy, Southeast Asian Studies, and Political Theory
Professor Fellow

Prof. Dr. Farish A. Noor is a historian and political thinker whose work probes the deep structures of power, identity, and knowledge in Southeast Asia. Born in George Town, Penang, his intellectual journey has been shaped by a sustained engagement with colonial discourse, religio-political movements, and the making of modern societies.

Educated in philosophy, Southeast Asian studies, and political theory—culminating in a doctorate from the University of Essex—his scholarship traverses disciplines with rare fluency. His work interrogates how colonial knowledge systems constructed the region, and how these legacies continue to inform contemporary politics and identity .

Across appointments in Europe and Asia, including research roles in Berlin, Leiden, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, he has cultivated a transnational perspective on Southeast Asian history. His writings—spanning monographs, essays, and public commentary—recover marginalised voices while critically examining the narratives that shaped empire and nation.

Beyond academia, he has brought history to wider audiences through documentary series such as Our Southeast Asia and Across Borders, where scholarship meets storytelling. His intellectual concerns extend to material culture, from manuscripts to artefacts, reflecting a deep interest in how meaning is inscribed not only in texts, but in objects and images.

In his work, history becomes critique—a lens through which the past unsettles the present, and invites new ways of understanding the world.

  • PhD in Governance and Politics — University of Essex, United Kingdom
  • MA in South-East Asian Studies — School of Oriental and African Studies, United Kingdom
  • MA in Philosophy — University of Sussex, United Kingdom
  • BA in Philosophy & Literature — University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Article Publications
2024 ‘Time’ in the time of empire: linear time in late colonial capitalism. Intellectual Discourse, 32(1).
2023 Before Westphalia: imagining an alternative Asian globalization. Muslim Politics Review, 2(2), pp. 140–162.
2023 Discovering ‘religion’: colonial attitudes towards identity in Southeast Asia. Journal of Intercultural Studies.
2023 Denying and deflecting the racism of empire: the ‘malevolent native’ trope. Al-Shajarah.
2022 Ras, kuasa, dan kekerasan kolonial di Hindia Belanda. Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia.
2022 The appendices of empire: reading colonial writings in entirety. SEJARAH Journal, 31(1).
2021 Colonial-capitalism and natural resources in colonised world. IJISS, 2(3), pp. 139–144.
2021 Tablighi Jama’at movement in Southeast Asia: piety in motion. Routledge Handbook, pp. 323–334.
2021 Racial difference and colonial wars in Southeast Asia. Amsterdam University Press.
2021 The long shadow of the 19th century: colonial orientalism in Southeast Asia. Matahari Books.
2021 The uses of magic: local knowledge and colonial narratives in Malaya. JMBRAS, 94(2), pp. 97–119.
2020 COVID-19 and Tablighi Jama’at: need for dialogue. RSIS Commentaries.
2020 The keris as marker of identity in post-colonial Singapore. Beyond Bicentennial, pp. 287–304.
2020 Art and performance in locating Southeast Asia today. Performing Southeast Asia, pp. 275–285.
2019 Data-gathering in colonial Southeast Asia 1800–1900. Amsterdam University Press.
2019 Locating Asia and epistemology of knowledge. ISEAS Publications.
2019 Re-reading colonial texts as confessional writings. South East Asia Research, 27(1), pp. 74–96.
2018 America’s encounters with Southeast Asia (1800–1900). Amsterdam University Press.
2018 An imperial divorce: colonial discourse in Southeast Asia. Cultural Studies.
2017 Media narratives and colonial conflict in Quallah Battoo. Media Syari’ah, 16(1), pp. 255–286.
2017 Reclaiming Southeast Asia’s shared histories. ERIA.
2016 Epistemic arrest and colonial image reproduction. South East Asia Research, 24(2), pp. 185–203.
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