Royce Novak

Royce Novak is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Kenyon College, where he teaches courses on Southeast Asia and Vietnam. He holds a PhD and MA in Southeast Asian History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2022) and a dual BA and BS from Cornell University (2013). Prior to joining Kenyon, he taught at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

Education:

• Doctor of Philosophy in Southeast Asian History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2022
• Master of Arts in Southeast Asian History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2022
• Bachelor of Arts, Cornell University, 2013
• Bachelor of Science, Cornell University, 2013

Royce Novak specializes in the environmental, legal, and social history of modern Southeast Asia, with a regional focus on Indonesia and Vietnam. His research investigates the history of prisons and prisoners during the colonial and Cold War periods, particularly analyzing prison islands as a distinct carceral form that shaped state-building and revolutionary movements. He also conducts pioneering research on the 'comfort women' system in Vietnam, exploring its historical obscurity, the absence of collective memory, and the intersection of gender, race, and empire under Japanese occupation.

His recent publications span journals such as The Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Vietnamese Studies, and Women's History Review. These works analyze the life of Vietnamese martyr Võ Thị Sáu through intertextual sources, uncover new archival evidence on Vietnam’s role in the comfort women system, and examine the political and social reasons behind the erasure of Vietnamese comfort women from historical memory. His scholarship reveals a strong methodological focus on rumor, narrative construction, and archival recovery in postcolonial contexts.

Royce Novak actively engages in public scholarship, having contributed invited articles to BBC News Vietnam, particularly in a series commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. His work bridges academic research and public understanding, emphasizing the importance of diasporic voices and further archival inquiry.

Advising and Grants:

• No formal students or advisees are listed in the available materials.
• No grants or funded research projects are explicitly mentioned.

Labs and Research Teams:

No dedicated research labs, centers, or collaborative teams are mentioned in the provided texts. However, his interdisciplinary approach suggests engagement with networks in Southeast Asian studies, carceral history, and gender-based violence research.