[Dunia Book Club] Review of Sohyun Park's 『Southeast Asia: The Ultimate Diversity of Cultures』: Expanding the Outer World and the Inner World Through Learning Southeast Asia

By Jo Goeun (Translator, Administrative Specialist)

Introducing Ten Southeast Asian Countries in a 100-Page Picture Book?

Sohyun Park’s Southeast Asia: The Ultimate Diversity of Cultures is a children’s social studies book that briefly introduces the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore. (Timor-Leste is now also a member, but it was not yet included at the time of the book’s publication.)

Fitting ten countries into a picture book of just over 100 pages inevitably means a fierce competition for space. Out of the vast amount of information available — easily amounting to thousands of pages — what should be included and what should be left out? Is there even room to add the author’s interpretation, even briefly, to the carefully selected material? With so much to learn, where should one even begin, and where should one stop?

SohyunPark , a scholar of Southeast Asian history, accomplishes this daunting task with remarkable clarity. The book begins with basic information for each country — language, script, population, life expectancy, income — alongside representative images, and then moves on to history, religion, geography, and climate. It offers a concise yet multidimensional understanding of each country.

Although written in simple language for children, the book leaves readers with a strong sense of satisfaction as their understanding of Southeast Asia rapidly expands. In that sense, it is an extremely “high value-for-money” read. As the ten countries gradually become familiar, I found myself thinking, “If I’m an informed person, I should at least know this much,” and before I knew it, I was reading the book almost as if memorizing it.

The More You Learn, the More Fascinating Southeast Asia Becomes

What stands out most is the perspective from which Southeast Asia is portrayed. In this book, Southeast Asia is depicted as a region with both a rich and exciting history and a promising future. Cambodia, which once dominated the region for 600 years as evidenced by the grandeur of Angkor Wat; Malaysia, a key hub of Southeast Asian trade and a crucial link in the spice trade routes to Europe; Myanmar, which developed a more splendid Buddhist culture than its suzerain India over a thousand years ago — these countries built strong states and sophisticated cultures, with wide-ranging and dynamic international interactions.

At the same time, Southeast Asia today has a solid domestic market based on its own population and resources. It also boasts a high rate of women’s participation in economic activities and one of the largest proportions of youth under 30 in the world, alongside rapidly increasing foreign investment. All of this points to enormous future potential. As one learns more about this region — rich in both historical depth and present vitality — it becomes increasingly compelling.

As the title suggests, each country’s unique characteristics are also vividly presented. Brunei is a monarchy ruled directly by its king, yet it collects no taxes due to abundant natural resources. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy where the royal family is widely loved, even as pro-democracy movements against military rule remain active. Vietnam is a socialist state that has opened its economy, while Singapore represents advanced financial capitalism combined with political restrictions characteristic of an authoritarian system.

Beyond politics, the region is also diverse in religion and climate. Due to active trade, merchants from various countries have long settled throughout Southeast Asia, allowing multiple religions to take root. Furthermore, differences between the mainland (Indochina Peninsula) and maritime regions (islands in the Pacific) create varied geographical and climatic conditions, resulting in highly complex societies.

Moving Beyond a Taken-for-Granted Worldview

As one engages with the vibrant stories of Southeast Asia, it becomes clear how much of what we “knew” was shaped by a Western perspective. Without even realizing it, I had only a fragmentary understanding of Southeast Asia and tended to interpret everything there as a result of colonial rule. Distorted political systems shaped by European imperialism and later Western capital, industries reduced to plantation agriculture and labor-intensive subcontracting, and cultures where European languages function almost like common tongues—these were the dominant images in my mind. In short, Southeast Asia existed on my mental map as a region defined by its colonial past.

This perception reflects the viewpoint of European empires, which “discovered” Asia as colonies through 16th-century invasions. They believed that Asia only became “nations” after Western systems were transplanted in the name of “enlightenment” or “civilization.” One such imposition was the Western model of patriarchy and gender roles. European powers viewed women’s active participation in society as a sign of backwardness or poverty, and attempted to enforce a “refined” social order: a nuclear family based on heterosexual marriage, with men working outside and women confined to domestic roles. This is why Western feminism emphasized that “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” because dismantling fixed gender roles was an urgent issue in Western societies. However, according to this book, Southeast Asia has long been different. In many places, family lineage is not emphasized to the extent that surnames are even absent, and women have historically participated freely in politics, industry, and even the military.

The modern emphasis on “diversity” also emerges from a similar context. In the United States — a country composed of immigrants from diverse backgrounds — social structures have long privileged people of European descent as the “true” Americans. As a result, diversity has become a politically significant concept for non-white populations. In this light, praising Southeast Asia as a “diverse society” may reflect value standards shaped by American social needs rather than an inherent feature newly recognized. If there is something to be learned from this book, it is not that “Southeast Asia happens to rank high in gender equality and diversity,” but rather that “systems enforcing rigid gender roles or mono-ethnic identities are not universally natural to humanity.” In other words, instead of evaluating Southeast Asia through the framework of Western modern institutions—whether to criticize or to admire—we should learn that entirely different social systems are possible.

The book concludes by highlighting historical exchanges between Southeast Asia and Korea, emphasizing their interconnectedness. Today, Southeast Asia is not only an external region with which Korea maintains close ties, but also an internal component of Korean society itself, shaping demographics and various industries. Understanding Southeast Asia is therefore not only a way to expand our view of the “outside” world, but also a foundation for reconfiguring our understanding of the “inside.”

Jo Goeun has translated numerous works on feminism and queer theory and currently works as a certified translation and administrative specialist.