E02 Dr. Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz | Historian & Academic | Bringing critical new perspectives to the past

Dr. Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz has dedicated her life to studying and contextualizing the past – specifically, global intellectual history and the history of Southeast Asia.

Nicole describes how she found her way into academia after trying every other career, the importance of “reading against the grain” to unearth new insights from old records, and the uncertain future faced by PhDs around the world.

Our conversation made me re-examine traditional (Western) notions of which ideas and beliefs are considered “universal” – whose voices get highlighted vs. omitted, whose perspectives are given weight, and ultimately, the efforts that need to be made for more inclusivity in higher learning.

Despite the pragmatic picture Nicole paints about the state of academia and the life of a scholar, what a delight to hear from someone so thoroughly in love with learning! Hoping her surfer-academic vibe and wise words infuse your day with joy, as they did mine.

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For a deeper dive into her scholarly work at Cambridge, St. Andrew’s, Harvard, Yale, et al:

Website: nicolecuunjiengaboitiz.wordpress.com

Twitter: @NicoleC_Aboitiz

Cambridge Bio: https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/people/dr-nicole-cuunjieng-aboitiz

Book: Asian Place, Filipino Nation: A Global Intellectual History of the Philippine Revolution, 1887-1912

Official Page: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/asian-place-filipino-nation/9780231192156

Book Discussion with Yale: tinyurl.com/NicoleCAboitizYaleTalk

Podcast Interview with Michael Vann: tinyurl.com/NicoleCAboitizNewBookNetwork

For those looking to the patterns of history to make sense of today’s headlines, she curated these discussions:

Toynbee Prize Foundation Coronavirus Series

https://toynbeeprize.org/themes/toynbee-coronavirus-series/

https://toynbeeprize.org/about/

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Photo by @cenonatmav

Music: “Neon Laser Horizon” by Kevin MacLeod (imcompetech.com) licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sound Editing by franticsong

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xoxo Jo