Yekewan wai de rensheng 椰殼碗外的人生 (A Life Beyond Boundaries: A Memoir), written by Benedict Anderson [本尼迪克特·安德森] and translated by Xu Delin 徐德林

Benedict Anderson (1936Anderson ( -2015)), who was born in Kunming, Yunnan, and passed away in Java, travelled and lived in many countries throughout his life.The expansive quality of his life is indicated in the title of his memoir, A Life Beyond Boundaries.The death of this renowned scholar is a significant loss for Southeast Asian studies and his passing in Java is evidence of his strong connections to Indonesia.Beginning with his dissertation fieldwork in Java from 1961 to 1964, he gradually amassed a complex network of intellectual and personal connections with the island.As he mentions in the memoir, he was treated well at Cornell University but preferred traveling to Southeast Asia, where he acquired a wealth of first-hand experience rarely matched by other scholars.In this book, Anderson demonstrates how area studies, especially Southeast Asian studies, became an essential academic focus after the Second World War.During the post-war period, power shifted from Europe to the United States and this global transformation required the US government to better understand those parts of the world in which it was to secure its international interests.Backed by both governmental and non-governmental funders, including the US State Department and the Ford Foundation, area studies overall prospered during this period.In his memoir, Anderson candidly reveals the role of luck in his scholarly endeavours, given that his research interests grew during this time of the growth of area studies.Whereas most scholars prefer to frame their efforts in relation to specific social, political, and ideological trends, he writes that good fortune is critical in one's academic path.Under the supervision of George Kahin (1918Kahin ( -2000)), one of the most influential figures in Southeast Asian studies at the time, Anderson set out to explore the field of Indonesian studies.