Since its inception in 2006 New Mandala has continuously welcomed guest contributions. To date we have hosted over a hundred of these. We regard them as one of the core strengths of the website.

Building on this existing foundation of guest posts, today we are launching New Mandala‘s Four Letter Words. This series of invited contributions will showcase short scholarly reflections (of about 500-750 words) on a number of “key” words. Our preliminary list of words (circulated among Southeast Asianists from around the world) has already been improved by a large number of other ideas from potential contributors. We are keen to encourage alternative, and even off-beat, reflections on mainland Southeast Asia. Any Four Letter word is fair game.

The first in the series will go online tomorrow. We hope you will check in to see what all the excitement is about.