Sandra Khor Manickam

Sandra Khor Manickam is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam, a position she has held since 2017. She has previously held academic positions at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. Her research is deeply interdisciplinary, bridging history, science studies, and Southeast Asian area studies.

• PhD in History, Australian National University (2011)
• MA in History, National University of Singapore (2005)
• BA in History and Economics, University of Southern California (2000)

Her research interests center on the history of race, medicine, and knowledge production in colonial and post-colonial Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaya and Malaysia. She investigates how racial categories were constructed through science, anthropology, and colonial policy, with a specific focus on the Orang Asli. Her work also explores the intersections of Malay, Islamic, and colonial medicine, the history of Japanese medical presence during the occupation, and the translation of Japanese historical sources. She is particularly interested in the movement of ideas across empires and disciplines.

Her recent publications and research projects, including her monograph Taming the Wild and her current book manuscript Medicine in Malaya across Empires 1874-1955, reveal a consistent trend of analyzing power, knowledge, and identity formation at the crossroads of empires. Her work on genomics traces the long history of racial thinking into the contemporary era.

• L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship (FWiS) 2020-2021
• Sumitomo Japan-Related Research Grant
• NTU Start-Up Grant
• Africa’s Asian Options (AFRASO) research travel grant

Dr. Manickam is an active supervisor, guiding PhD and MA students at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the National University of Singapore, and Goethe University Frankfurt on topics ranging from China-Indonesia relations to Indonesian exile politics. She has been awarded research funding for projects that support student research and invited talks by senior scholars. Her research is conducted within collaborative projects and working groups, often involving partners from institutions in Singapore, Germany, and South Africa, demonstrating a strong commitment to international academic collaboration.