The shift from rural societies dependent upon agricultural livelihoods to predominantly urbanized, industrialized and market-based societies is one of the most significant processes of social change in the modern world. The Challenges of the Agrarian Transition in South East Asia Project examined how the transformation is affecting the societies and economies of Southeast Asia. Headed by Professor Rodolphe De Koninck, holder of the Canada Chair in Asian Research at the University of Montreal, and sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the ChATSEA project included publications by senior academics as well as junior scholars. We have now broadened the series to look at the same transition beyond Southeast Asia.