The Durian Chronicles: Reflections on US and Southeast Asia Policy in the Trump Era

The curious durian fruit, both delicious and stinky, is the embodiment of dissonance. Author Sally Tyler uses the fruit’s dual nature as a metaphor for exploring the dissonance inherent in recent policy and political trends in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Such dissonance is on display when hopeful social movements bring young and old into the streets by the tens of thousands at the same time a call to restore order paves the way for dictators like Duterte, the tacit ratification of yet another Thai coup, and the election of Trump. The book’s essays, a series of snapshots spanning four years, tackle topics from criminal justice and drug addiction to fashion activism and artistic censorship.

Tyler’s work, some of which has appeared in New Mandala and Policy Forum, analyzes the U.S. retreat from multilateralism at a time when complex global problems – climate change, economic inequality, the coronavirus pandemic – require even greater collaboration. Through the lens of a dynamic, yet under-reported, region, Tyler brings fresh perspective to Trump policy reverberations in far corners of the world and argues for greater connectivity in what has become a fractured era.