He holds the MA in Southeast Asian Studies with a thesis entitled “The Development of Philippine Political Theatre During the Marcos Regime, 1969-1972”, and he received his PhD in Performing Arts Studies from the Academy of Malay Studies, University of Malaya in 2007. Hanafi has conducted fieldwork in the areas of culture and performing arts in many countries in Southeast Asia including The Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and his home country Malaysia.