Student Spotlight: Chia Jie Lin
Our first student spotlight of Spring 2025 is Chia Jie Lin, a MA student in the Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Read Chia’s story here:
Background and Research Interest.
Chia is is a graduate student from Singapore with a research focus on Indigenous Anthropology and decolonial approaches to historical curation, particularly concerning the Orang Laut community in Singapore. Her academic interests include material cultures, museums and education, and maritime communities across Hawaiʻi, the Pacific, and Asia.
She is currently a graduate research assistant at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, where she conducts research on integrating educational resources with the museum’s online collections. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a curator with the Exhibitions team at the National Library of Singapore, producing exhibitions that highlighted the interconnected histories of Singapore and Southeast Asia. Some of her notable exhibitions include Lepak Landscapes: Life and Leisure in Singapore (2024), Mapping the World: Perspectives from Asian Cartography (2021), and Human x Nature: Environmental Histories of Singapore (2021).
Her academic and curatorial work is rooted in her undergraduate training in Anthropology and Global Antiquity at Yale-NUS College, shaping her approach to ethical engagement and representation of Indigenous voices in cultural institutions.
Current research interests and how you came to this research?
I am co-creating a research ethics toolkit with Orang Laut SG, an Indigenous organization advocating for Indigenous voices, culture and space in Singapore. Despite growing public interest in Indigeneity and Indigenous knowledge in Singapore’s cultural landscape, members of the Indigenous Orang Laut (“people of the sea”) community often face extractive practices in collaborations with researchers, journalists and media organizations. Their time and cultural knowledge are frequently undervalued, with little to no compensation or recognition. Additionally, the scarcity of curators of Orang Laut descent in Singapore’s major cultural institutions further limits opportunities for authentic representations of their histories. My project, “Reclaiming Orang Laut Stories: An Ethics Toolkit for Partners,” aims to center Orang Laut agency in their dealings with researchers, curators, and institutions. It outlines principles of ethical engagement and actionable recommendations to guide community members and collaborators in facilitating open conversations and fostering equitable partnerships that support the community’s needs. Its development is informed by focus group discussions and interviews that I conducted with members and trusted partners of the Orang Laut community. By anchoring the toolkit in Orang Laut perspectives, I seek to challenge extractive practices and affirm Indigenous histories in Singapore. This project builds on my prior collaboration with Orang Laut SG for the “Human x Nature: Environmental Histories in Singapore” exhibition, where I featured interviews with the Orang Laut. However, it was during graduate school that I found the space to fully reflect on my curatorial practice and its shortcomings. These reflections, alongside my encounters with decolonial methodologies and further conversations with Orang Laut SG, inspired this project. I hope that this toolkit, which serves as my way of supporting the Orang Laut in my current capacity as a graduate student, will contribute to the cultural strengthening and sustainability of Singapore’s Indigenous peoples.
Publications, project web pages, community engagement, other academic and non-academic work
“Cartography and the Rise of Colonial Empires in Asia” Biblioasia vol. 17, no. 4 (2022): 4-11, National Library of Singapore.
“Deforestation in 19th-century Singapore” Biblioasia vol. 17, no. 1 (2021): 56-61, National Library of Singapore.
“State Regulations and Divine Oppositions: An Ethnography of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Singapore,” Religions 11, no. 7 (2020): 330.
Fun-fact
I enjoy being out in nature and making beaded accessories! My resolution for 2025 is to learn how to surf.