George Dutton

George E. Dutton is a Professor in the Department of Asian Languages & Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and serves as Director of the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies. He specializes in Vietnamese history from the early modern through early colonial periods, with a focus on cultural, religious, and intellectual dimensions of Southeast Asian societies.

• Education: Ph.D. in History (University of Washington, 2001), M.A. in International Relations (Yale, 1992), B.A. in History & International Relations (Brown, 1989), Non-degree study at National University of Singapore (1987-1988)

His research spans military technology, historiography, religious movements, and cultural production in Vietnam. He has edited key sourcebooks including Voices of Southeast Asia and Sources of Vietnamese Tradition, and authored landmark works on the Tây Sơn uprising and Vietnamese Catholicism. Current projects examine early 20th-century Vietnamese collective actions and linguistic evolution under colonialism.

Notable publications include:

• A Vietnamese Moses (UC Press, 2016) on Vietnamese Jesuit priest Filipphe Binh
• The Tay Son Uprising (University of Hawaii Press, 2006) analyzing social rebellion

He teaches courses on:

• Vietnamese history (early and contemporary)
• Southeast Asian religions in modern society
• 20th-century Southeast Asian literature
• Upland ethnic communities (Zomia)