Elliott Edward Prasse-Freeman

Elliott Edward Prasse-Freeman serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. His academic career centers on Southeast Asian politics with particular emphasis on Myanmar, drawing from extensive ethnographic research on Burmese subaltern political thought, activism, and contentious politics within semi-authoritarian settings.

Prasse-Freeman earned his PhD from Yale University's Department of Anthropology, establishing the methodological and theoretical foundation for his fieldwork in Myanmar. His educational background has equipped him with sophisticated anthropological frameworks for analyzing political phenomena in complex authoritarian contexts.

His research spans anthropology, political science, development studies, historical studies, gender studies, human geography, and policy administration. Prasse-Freeman's work examines how marginalized populations navigate and resist state power, with particular attention to rights frameworks in contexts where such rights are systematically denied. His book Rights Refused (Stanford University Press) analyzes Burmese subaltern political thought through extended ethnography of activism. He is currently developing a second book project exploring Rohingya political subjectivity amid dislocation and mass violence, focusing on their maneuvers within post-sovereign governmental regimes that incorporate Human Rights discourse, humanitarian care/exclusion, and biopolitical regulation.

Prasse-Freeman's recent publications reveal a coherent analytical trajectory examining Myanmar's political landscape through multiple lenses including ethnic conflict, state violence, technological interventions, and resistance strategies. His 2025 article on 'Big data visuality and interstitial spaces of autonomy' challenges conventional assumptions about surveillance technologies, demonstrating how humanitarian technologies like drones and blockchain can simultaneously obscure and enhance knowledge, creating spaces for autonomy within conflict zones. His scholarship consistently bridges anthropological theory with political analysis, particularly examining how marginalized populations strategically navigate complex power structures.

His teaching interests include Sociology of Language and Communication, Southeast Asia in a Globalizing World, and Modernity and Social Change, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of his scholarly work and connecting his research expertise with pedagogical practice.