The concept of “local knowledge” has been widely used within Cultural Anthropology and is considered one of the hallmarks of the discipline. In recent years, many Taiwanese scholars of Southeast Asian Studies have also embraced in earnest the notion of “local knowledge,” conducting fieldwork in various locations across Southeast Asia. I suggest that this development—the turn to “local knowledge”by Southeast Asianists in Taiwan—merits critical reflection. An anthropologist by training, I begin by tracing prominent intellectual genealogies of “local knowledge,” first within anthropology, then in postcolonial theory and feminist science studies. I end my discussion by offering some precautions, suggesting that the pursuit of “local knowledge” be supplemented by critical examination of both what constitutes “the local” and the existing framing and hierarchy of different “knowledges.”