The Asian Capitalist Conjuncture: Contradictions and Critiques at Historical Materialism Conference in East and Southeast Asia 2025

We are proud to have co-organised the second Historical Materialism Conference in East and Southeast Asia, together with our extended network. The conference was held as part of the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Conference 2025, hosted by Walailak University on 23–24 July 2025.

As part of the conference, ARC UI organised the panel “The Asian Capitalist Conjuncture: Contradictions and Critiques.” The papers in this panel collectively demonstrate that Asian capitalisms are best examined through empirically grounded theoretical analyses that extend historical materialism to capture the movement of capital across the region—particularly by placing labour at the centre of inquiry across diverse political and economic regimes. Together, the contributions reveal that Asia’s capitalist conjunctures are shaped by deep structural contradictions, generating both new forms of exploitation and unexpected political possibilities.