Vilashini Somiah

Vilashini Somiah
Add a Photo
Born	Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Board member of	Association for Asian Studies (2026-2028)
Academic background
Education	University of Malaya (BA) University of Malaya (MA) Ohio University (MA) National University of Singapore (PhD)
Academic work
Discipline	Anthropology, Gender studies, Southeast Asian studies
Institutions	University of Malaya
Main interests	Feminism, Anthropology, Decoloniality, postcolonialism
Website	vilashinisomiah.com

Vilashini Somiah is a feminist anthropologist and senior lecturer at University of Malaya, specialising in gender studies, migration, and Bornean communities. She currently serves as Head of the Gender Studies Programme at Universiti Malaya..

She is the first Southeast Asia–based scholar working from within the region to chair the Southeast Asia Council (SEAC) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) since the council’s establishment in 1970.

Somiah’s research focuses on marginalised and oppressed populations, with particular attention to indigenous and stateless communities, borders, and gendered precarity in Sabah, Malaysia. Her work examines how structural exclusion, legal invisibility, and uneven development shape everyday life for communities positioned at the social and political margins.

Her monograph, Irregular Migrants and the Sea at the Borders of Sabah, Malaysia: Pelagic Alliance (Springer Nature, 2022), examines maritime migration and survival among undocumented and stateless communities, arguing that the sea operates not only as a territorial border but as a lived social and political space for populations excluded from formal citizenship. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, the book contributes to broader debates on statelessness, mobility, and belonging in Southeast Asia.

Her academic work has also been informed by earlier documentary research. In 2012–2013, she co-directed Di Ambang: Stateless in Sabah, a documentary examining the lived experiences of stateless families in eastern Sabah.

Early Life

Vilashini Somiah was born in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to a Tamil Indian father and a Sino-Kadazan-Dusun Tatana mother. She earned her Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore, an MA from Ohio University, an MRes from Universiti Malaya, and a BA from Universiti Malaya.

Career

Vilashini Somiah leads University of Malaya’s Gender Studies Programme as Head of Department, Programme Coordinator and Senior Lecturer. Her research centers on marginalised identities: women, migrants and the stateless. She is currently Chair of the Southeast Asia Council (SEAC) under the Association for Asian Studies (AAS). Cited as the first Southeast Asian-based scholar based in the region to chair SEAC since its founding in 1970.

Additionally, Vilashini Somiah is appointed as Visiting Associate for Harvard University Asia Center and was previously a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre.

Furthermore, she co-founded The Datum Initiative, a grassroots effort to equip marginalised communities with ethical, accessible data skills.

Notable Publications

• Irregular Migrants and the Sea at the Borders of Sabah, Malaysia: Pelagic Alliance. Springer Nature, 2022.
• “No Justice, No Merdeka!” Independence Rings Hollow for Sabahans Demanding Justice (25 September 2025). Fulcrum
• "The sea is indigenous ‘land’too." Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 37, no. 1 (2022): 85-112.
• "Sabah's Unrelenting Exclusionary And Inclusionary Politics". RSIS Publications.
• Musa Aman Redux: Disquiet and Apathy in East Sabah. Fulcrum.

Public Engagement and Media Commentary

Vilashini Somiah engages in public scholarship through local and international media, commenting on issues of gender justice, disability, statelessness, and political marginalisation in Malaysia, particularly in Sabah. Her media work draws on her academic research to contextualise systemic inequalities affecting women, indigenous communities, and displaced or undocumented populations.

In Malaysian media, Somiah has appeared on Consider This: Women with Disabilities — When Systems Don’t Adapt, where she discussed structural barriers faced by women with disabilities in public policy and service provision, and The Future Is Female: What Does Feminism Look Like From Here?, a public forum examining contemporary feminist politics in Malaysia.

Internationally, she has contributed expert commentary on Sabah-related human rights and political issues. These include the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s coverage of the forced evictions of the Bajau Laut community, which examined systemic discrimination against maritime indigenous groups in Malaysia, and Channel NewsAsia’s Insight programmes on statelessness in Sabah and the Lahad Datu Sabah–Sulu conflict, where she provided historical and socio-political analysis.

Somiah has also appeared on the BBC World Service’s World Questions podcast on democratic development in Malaysia, contributing perspectives centred on women, youth, and East Malaysian political representation

External links

Add External links

This article "Vilashini Somiah" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.