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The Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 12)
Preface:
The Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 12) is a global space in which Asia scholars and social and cultural actors from all over the world engage in dialogues on Asia that transcend boundaries between academic disciplines and geographic regions. The twelfth edition of ICAS was held from 24 to 28 August 2021.
The special focus of ICAS 12 was “Crafting a Global Future”; presentations at ICAS 12 involved topics from all Asian Studies disciplines in the broadest possible sense. Due to the global circumstances, ICAS 12 manifested its theme in a dynamic virtual form. Unlike the previous editions, which were hosted in different countries together with local partners, ICAS 12 was organized for the first time entirely online by the ICAS Secretariat in Leiden in partnership with Kyoto Seika University, Japan.
The Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars facilitated interdisciplinary dialogues on Asia and attracted 1500 scholars, civil society representatives, practitioners, publishers and artists who gathered online in more than 300 live discussion sessions to exchange and discuss their latest research. For a more detailed report on ICAS 12, check out our article in IIAS’s The Newsletter, ICAS 12: A Retrospective.
The ICAS Conference Proceedings is doubtlessly a mere excerpt of the richness and diversity of ICAS 12. These 94 articles represent the advancements in the field of Asian Studies and depict the ongoing research on the themes of Arts, Economy, Development and Urbanization, Education and Knowledge, Environment and Climate Change, Gender and Diversity, Heritage and Culture, History, Language and Literature, Media and the Digital Age, Migration and Diasporas, Philosophy, Region and Beliefs, Politics and International Relations and Society and Identity.
View Organisational Board
The Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 12) is a global space in which Asia scholars and social and cultural actors from all over the world engage in dialogues on Asia that transcend boundaries between academic disciplines and geographic regions. The twelfth edition of ICAS was held from 24 to 28 August 2021.
The special focus of ICAS 12 was “Crafting a Global Future”; presentations at ICAS 12 involved topics from all Asian Studies disciplines in the broadest possible sense. Due to the global circumstances, ICAS 12 manifested its theme in a dynamic virtual form. Unlike the previous editions, which were hosted in different countries together with local partners, ICAS 12 was organized for the first time entirely online by the ICAS Secretariat in Leiden in partnership with Kyoto Seika University, Japan.
The Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars facilitated interdisciplinary dialogues on Asia and attracted 1500 scholars, civil society representatives, practitioners, publishers and artists who gathered online in more than 300 live discussion sessions to exchange and discuss their latest research. For a more detailed report on ICAS 12, check out our article in IIAS’s The Newsletter, ICAS 12: A Retrospective.
The ICAS Conference Proceedings is doubtlessly a mere excerpt of the richness and diversity of ICAS 12. These 94 articles represent the advancements in the field of Asian Studies and depict the ongoing research on the themes of Arts, Economy, Development and Urbanization, Education and Knowledge, Environment and Climate Change, Gender and Diversity, Heritage and Culture, History, Language and Literature, Media and the Digital Age, Migration and Diasporas, Philosophy, Region and Beliefs, Politics and International Relations and Society and Identity.
View Organisational Board
- Conference date: August 24, 2021 - August 28, 2021
- Location: Kyoto, Japan (online conference)
- ISBN: 9789048557820
- Volume number: 1
- Published: 01 June 2022
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results
94 results
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Entangled Gardens: Heterotopian Relationality in Romesh Gunesekera’s The Prisoner of Paradise (2012)
More LessThis essay proposes a relational conception of utopian entanglements that frames utopia in material environmental terms and focuses on gardens as exemplary sites where materialism and other discourses in culture and literature come together. It contextualises a piece of historical metafiction in a framework informed by heterotopia and recent theorisations of relationality in the face of an ongoing crisis of connectio Read More
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Belt and Road Initiative and its Impacts on Latin America’s Regional Integration
More LessLatin America was invited in 2018 to be a “natural extension” to a set of new infrastructure projects with aims to improve regional integration and economic development with the label of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). If successful, the new regional integration scheme proposed by the BRI may reshape global politics and have implications for Latin America’s regional institutions and economic blocs. In this article, we arg Read More
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Island, Mainland, and the Homeland Question: Gendered Oral Histories of Displacement(s) and Peripherality
More LessAndaman Islands, straddling the margin of South and Southeast Asia at the edge of India’s territory, is a geopolitically sensitive, hyper-masculine island-space where the mainland has inscribed its nationalist depictions of history. Post-colonial social engineering policies have resulted in the settlement of various mainland communities, including the Bengali Hindu refugees and migrants of India’s eastern Partition (1947), in th Read More
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Dynamic Heritage: The Possibilities of Digital Tools in Japanese Architectural Heritage Management
Authors: Gergely Péter Barna & Exthai ChhivThe traditional concept of architecture in Japan has the distinct feature of connecting the construction process with the result, the building itself. In recent years, however, this link is somewhat diminished, because of the change of the stakeholder’s roles, and the new challenge that heritage is facing. Digital surveying technologies are often used as tools for taking static snapshots of the present to archive. As such, they also hav Read More
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The Rupee: The Making and Unmaking of a Global Currency
By Ian BarrowThis paper examines the broad dissemination of the East India Company’s rupee currency at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries. It explains why the rupee became the dominant means of exchange in much of India and why, despite some promise, it failed to become a global currency. The paper uses Helenus Scott’s The Adventures of a Rupee wherein are interspersed various anecdotes As Read More
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Men and Houses: Village space concept between the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas. Case Study of the Swat river valley (Pakistan) and the Almora in Kumaon (Uttarakhand - India)Valley
More LessStudies in the environmental archaeology of the mountains of Central and South Asia focus on the exploration of the millennia-old river valleys in the foothills of the Hindu Kush, Karakorum and Himalayas as corridors of exchange of agricultural practices, technical knowledge and skills. The region considered in this study is the Swat Valley situated in the North of Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa District which will be compared t Read More
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Rationalities of Green Urbanization in Chongqing: Local Environment at the Service of Eco-Capitalist Logics?
More LessContemporary Chinese urbanization is certainly a controversial and largely studied phenomenon, at least for what concerns the coastal areas. It is partly seen as a product of the semi-neoliberal politics introduced in the country, that have favoured the flow of economies and lifestyles modelled on capitalist patterns from the Global North. In the light of scholarships pointing out the relevance of local mechanisms of entrepreneuri Read More
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A Longitudinal Study of Korean Marriage Culture
By Elena BujaThis small-scale study aims to trace the changes that have occurred in the Korean marriage culture in a time span of about one hundred years, more specifically, since the beginning of the 20th century, when Korea opened its borders to foreigners, until the present, as well as to identify the causes that have led to these changes. The theoretical framework I employed is content analysis, whereas the content (data) subjected Read More
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Walking a Tightrope: India’s Security Challenges in its Neighbourhood
By Astha ChadhaIndia has been a key strategic player in the Indian Ocean where it sees itself as a net security provider in the region. However, engagement of other powers in its neighborhood, as well as their partnerships with other South Asian nations towards defense, economics, infrastructure development and technology, has posed a challenge for India's security and foreign policy. The study analyses how the change in South Read More
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How Do We Do If the Barbarians Have Their Monarchs: The Reading of the Sentence Yidizhiyoujun夷狄之有君 in the Analects from Song to Qing
More LessThe sentence 夷狄之有君,不如諸夏之亡也from the chapter Bayi八佾is one of the controversial sentences in the Analects for its possibility of being read as the exact opposite meanings: besides its literal and obvious meaning as 1. “The barbaric people with rulers are inferior to Chinese polities that are without ones.”, most scholars from Song dynasty (968-1279) chose, however, to understand it as 2. “Unlike the Chinese polities that are Read More
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Neighbourhoods and Neighbourliness in Urban South Asia: The Case of Kolkata’s ‘Para-s’
More LessWestern urban theory has traditionally viewed neighbourhoods as historical or administrative conveniences that functioned to organize civic life of communities in urban space. However, little attention has been paid to the diverse forms of sociability that emerge and thrive within these spaces. Even in the cities of the Global South, neighbourhood patterns have been sought to be explained predominantly through the twin lens of Read More
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Understanding Lifestyle Mobility in Contemporary China: A Case Study of Hostel Keepers in Lhasa
By Qiujie ChenSince late 2000s, moving to certain tourism destinations such as Lijiang, Dali and Lhasa for a short term from cities and opening a hostel during the stay have become a phenomenon among young urbanites in China. It is commonly described as a rebellious gesture against humdrum city living, which has a significant cultural impact on the young in China. Among the destinations, Lhasa has become a popular choice for those “ho Read More
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Heritage Commoditization in the Living Heritage Sites: A Case of 'Creative Destruction' in Lijiang’s Old Town in China
More LessThe transformation of Lijiang’s Old Town in Yunnan, China, into a major domestic and international tourist destination as a result of its 1997 designation as a World Heritage site, provides an exemplary case study into which tourism development model best explains its progress and predicts its trajectory. Mitchell hypothesized the twin poles of destruction and enhancement as the consequence of the creative powers Read More
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Redefining Heritage Values in Urban Regeneration:The Creation of New Identities in the Context of Shanghai’s Quest for Globalism
Authors: Harry Den Hartog & Plácido González MartínezSince early this century multiple urban regeneration projects in Shanghai and other Chinese cities incorporate heritage assets as landmark or attraction by means of de-contextualization and restoration, frequently after rebuilding or even relocating them. Based on a tabula rasa approach, by clearing up almost all pre-existing structures and context, the restored buildings are re-used. This means a discontinuity of the use th Read More
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Birth Images of Ghazan and Timur: Vessels of Memory for the Mughals
More LessIllustrated manuscripts, collected and owned by shahs, sultans and emperors during the reigns of Ilkhanid, Timurid, Safavid and Mughal dynasties, were highly valued objects. Carefully produced by a team of accomplished artists, calligraphers, book binders and gilders, who created these magnificent objects in a system of shared work at imperial kitabkhānās (ateliers), illustrated manuscripts became symbols of status and Read More
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Visualizing Famous Places for the Tourist Market: Yang Erzeng’s Newly Compiled Striking Views within the Seas in Seventeenth-Century China
By Xiaolin DuanDuring the seventeenth century, rapid developments in urbanization and sightseeing activities increased the popularity of woodblock prints that advertised famous sites. One of the most remarkable collections was Newly Compiled Striking Views within the Seas (1609) by Yang Erzeng. The collection served as a travel guidebook and included visual images along with geographical information about places of interest. This pa Read More
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The Catholic Priests, the Political Prisoners, and the Military: History of a New Religio-Political Chessboard in Indonesia
More LessIn Indonesia, the regime New Order under General Suharto emerged in 1965 as an anti-communist act, who later organized a vast and diversified prison network all over the Archipelago to incarcerate those accused of being communists. Facing massive arrests, the Indonesian Cardinal and several clergymen of the Society of Jesus developed a humanitarian aid called “Cardinal’s Social Program” to support the political prison Read More
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Rose Tinted and Blood Flecked? An Examination of the Private and Public Accounts of the British Garrison of Yokohama (1864-1875)
More LessThis paper presents first-hand accounts produced by members of the British garrison of Yokohama (1864-1875) as valuable sources for examining the history of early treaty port era Japan. As the garrison itself, despite its notable influence and size, remains largely unexplored in the English language scholarship, these accounts arguably take on even greater significance than they otherwise might. Through looking at two asp Read More
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Creating ‘my space’: Lived Experiences of Japanese Women in Singapore
Authors: Hiroko Fujita & Leng Leng ThangThis paper focuses on the lived experiences of Japanese women in Singapore. Set in the context of research on gender and transnational migration, the phenomenon of Japanese women moving overseas justifies more attention as the feminization trend of Japanese overseas started since around 2000 has become a more definite trend today. In contrast with economic migration, Japanese women’s transnational mobil Read More
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What Does It Mean to Play a Video Game in Bhutan?
More LessThis study aims to explain the current conditions of video games in Bhutanese society and clarify the realities of the Bhutanese gaming community. Bhutan, the tiny and landlocked Himalayan Kingdom, is globally well-known as ‘the last Shangri-La’. However, over the past two decades, Bhutanese society has drastically modernised. The first TV broadcasting, Internet connection, and mobile communication services were Read More
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The Ancient Southern Silk Road and the Contemporary One Belt and One Road in Southwest China Case study of Kunming City in Yunnan Province
Authors: Yun Gao & Adrian PittsKunming is the capital of Yunnan Province which shares borders with Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. The area of Yunnan province, accounts for only 4.1% of the area of the whole country, but within its boundaries can be found 50% of higher plants species found in China; the Province also hosts representatives of 25 different ethnic groups. Kunming is situated in a mountainous area so city development was constrained by topogr Read More
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Kyoto as a Palimpsest for Textual Heritage Or How to Rewrite a Historic Urban Space
More LessRecently, Kyoto has become one of the most popular touristic destination in Asia, attracting each year a growing number of visitors. This development has a double-faced consequence: greater efforts for the preservation of major historical sites, and at the same time a faster demolition of typical cityscapes and traditional neighborhoods not strictly tied to touristic routes. The aim seems to revert large portions Read More
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The Impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative and the South China Sea Dispute on the Hedging Strategies of the Philippines and Vietnam Towards China
More LessHedging is an attractive strategy for governments, especially in Southeast Asia, as well as a popular academic lens for analyzing the foreign policy strategies of small and middle powers. The Philippines and Vietnam are among the countries which apply a hedging strategy towards the rising China. Both countries seek gains from their close political-diplomatic and economic engagement with Beijing, conducted both bilaterally Read More
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Negotiating the End of Extraterritoriality (1919-1946): A Project Proposal
More LessOften viewed as a 19th-century affair, extraterritorial courts continued to act as delineators of status and civilization in global diplomacy until the 1940’s. They perpetuated ‘unequal treaties’ with Asian and African states until they had met a perceived normative level of alignment with Western values. Developments such as the inclusion of many non-European states into the League of Nations in 1919 brought hope for many sta Read More
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Non-Fiction Books on National Culture for Primary School Children in the Era Of Globalization: A Conceptual Study
Authors: Tu Anh Ha & Phuong Anh T. DangPurpose: The theoretical study aims to build a framework of writing non-fiction books on national culture for primary school children in the age of globalization so as to help children understand their identity and respect cultural differences as an educational solution to ensure cultural diversity and avoid cultural homogenization as a result of globalization. Methods: A literature review of related theories was carried out in order t Read More
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Mrs Browne and the Bengalis:An Early Transcolonial Story of Domestic Service, 1816-1821
More LessIn 1816, the Indian-born Sydney merchant and landowner, William Browne, brought a group of Indian servants into the New South Wales colony to work for him. Three years later the colonial governor Lachlan Macquarie would hold a magisterial inquiry into the alleged mistreatment of these workers, and the workers were then sent back to India. This episode in Australian history is regarded as one of the very earliest of the fl Read More
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When Jāwa Was Not Java: Sumatra in Pre-Modern Arabic Geographies
More LessThe article looks into pre-modern Arabic descriptions of Sumatra and discusses the conceptions and ideas of the island they present. Sumatra, the westernmost island of the Malay Archipelago, was the first part of the region to become familiar to Middle Eastern sailors and traders. It was on their way to China and served as a source of fresh water and food supplies, as well as camphor, benzoin, and other jungle products. The Read More
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British Trade at Hakodate during the Boshin War
More LessThe Boshin War (1868-69) fought between loyalists to the Tokugawa Shogunate and an alliance of domains rallying around the Japanese emperor was a major turning point in Japanese history. Though foreign powers, Britain included, remained officially neutral during the larger part of this civil conflict, several foreign actors contradicted this position. Existing literature and popular histories assume that British actors were no exc Read More
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Temporary Transformation of Thai New Middle Class into Lower Class in Labour Migration: A Case Study of Thai Technical Intern Trainees in Japan
More LessThe literature on the international migration of Thai workers, particularly unskilled labour during the 1970s and 1980s, emphasised the networks of family, relatives, and friends that enabled Thai workers’ migration and adaptation to life in host countries. Thai migrant workers throughout those periods were predominantly from the lower class with limited social capital. As a result, social networks played a critical role in the migr Read More
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Defence is the Best Attack. Jesuit Astronomy as a Tool for Conversion in Early Modern Japan
More LessThis contribution examines the Jesuit adaptation of astronomy as a tool for proselytization in Japan, focusing on the first known work of Western science authored in the country: Pedro Gomez's De Sphaera (1593). Said work offers a snapshot of Western cosmology as part of a compendium, coupled with the Aristotelian theory of the soul and an exposition of Christian theology. Taken together, the trilogy served as a textbook f Read More
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EU-Japan cooperation EPA: Wine and Motor vehicles: more than just tariff reduction: Deep Regulatory Cooperation through Free Trade Agreements
By Anke KennisThis brief paper aims to give an overview of the most important changes the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) brings to the wine and motor vehicles industry and why these changes have occurred. This paper analyses the most important changes to the wine and motor vehicles tariffs and regulations. The emphasis is on how regulatory cooperation between EU and Japan has reduced non-tariff barriers. B Read More
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China’s New Silk Road in a Nordic Perspective: The Origins and Development of the Finland-China Rail Routes
Authors: Erja Kettunen & Claes G. AlvstamPrior research is scarce concerning transports by Nordic companies along the New Silk Road rail routes between Northern Europe and China. Due to geography, Finland has a favourable location for speedy rail transports to Asia compared to maritime transports. This paper focuses on two rail routes – Kouvola-Xi’an and Helsinki-Hefei – and investigates their origins, development, and use for exports and imports between Finland Read More
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The Sustainability of Crafts: Shifting the Paradigm of “Traditional Crafts”
Authors: Yuko Kikuchi & Hirotake ImanishiJapan is proud of its ‘traditional crafts’. However, the future of its crafts is by no means secure. The makers lack successors, supply chains are aging, materials are no longer available, while the new generation of customers have new tastes and the high prices fail to convince them. The rigidity of tradition and the reluctance to engage globally are hindrances to both marketing and sympathetically motivated research. A r Read More
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The Promotion of Democracy and Japan’s and South Korea’s Official Development Assistance Possibilities and Limitations in the Asian Mode of Foreign Aid
Authors: Hyo-sook Kim & David PotterDemocracy promotion evolved into an international norm in the 1990s and has been one piece of the international development regime led by the Western developed countries. Since the 2000s, however, the rise of democratic emerging aid donors has been remarkable. However, it is unclear whether they could provide an alternative to the promotion of democracy and encourage the reconceptualization of this idea. This study Read More
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Restoring Femininity through Consumption: Female Fans of Male Porn Actors in Japanese Jôsei-muke AVs
By Maiko KodakaThis paper looks at female fans of male porn actors in Jôsei-muke Adult Videos (AV) in Japan. The genre of Jôsei-muke is a form of pornography aimed at heterosexual women that features good-looking male porn actors; Eromen and Lovemen. This new genre has emerged in reaction to the decline of mainstream porn studios due to the popularity of porn streaming websites and captures heterosexual women who had been Read More
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In Search of a Just Regional Order in Southeast Asia
More LessThe paper explores the historical quest of Southeast Asian states for a desired regional order. While the colonial period interrupted the original trajectory of local polities’ development, colonial political, economic and social experience made it virtually impossible to get back to that trajectory after decolonization. As a result, Southeast Asian states had to adapt themselves to the matrix of national borders emerged in the regio Read More
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Unknown Asian Russia: Nomadic, Turkic-speaking, Buddhist Tuva Facing Modern Challenges
More LessThe article discusses the research issues related to Tuva, the region with a unique Asian culture. It has been a Soviet-Russian territory since 1944. The “maternal” ethnic group of the Tuvans, the majority of the Republic’s population lives here. In Tuvan studies, the difference of research views and scholars’ affiliation to different traditions of the world’s schools of thought is very clearly noted. Researchers from different countrie Read More
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Economic Twins but Not Identical Vietnam and the Philippines: Potentials for Cooperation from an Economic Perspective
More LessThe security and economic landscape around the world has become fluid and shifting. As neighboring countries, the Philippines and Vietnam confront common geopolitical challenges. Here, the paper examines their economic structures while keeping an eye on possible venues for cooperation. At the macro-level, the two countries are very similar, almost like twins. They have around the same land area, population, Read More
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China's Media Diplomacy In The South China Sea Disputes Case Studies Of The Scarborough Shoal Stand-off And The Oil Rig Crisis
Authors: Thi My Danh Le & Mark RollsThe Scarborough Shoal stand-off and the oil rig crisis hold symbolic value to the Chinese. During the crises, China’s sovereignty claims over the South China Sea have been recounted several times. As the way that the Chinese government has mobilized media tools to cover the crises and to shape its national image of their rival(s) via its narratives turned the territorial controversies into nationalist demonstrations, and deterio Read More
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French Vloggers in South Korea: An Intercultural Perspective
More LessThe contemporary world goes through a fundamental change with the acceleration of processes and events, which has had an impact on the interactions between people and the ways in which we represent ourselves. Even if it has become easier to travel abroad, to meet and interact with people globally, through new technologies and modes of transport, our recent times have also seen tensions and prejudices growing wit Read More
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Unfinished Business: Mapping The Influence of The PRC & Taiwan in Sarawak through Qiaowu
By Yun Seh LeeThis paper maps the Overseas Chinese affairs/Qiaowu-specific policies of both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan in Sarawak State, Malaysia. These two governments are spreading their own versions of influence to win the hearts and minds of the local Chinese communities. The PRC’s aim is to encourage the local Chinese to accept the PRC’s cultural and diplomatic sovereignty; whereas Taiwan wishes to remain s Read More
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Vietnamese female returnees from forced migration in China: An explorative study on media impact and intersectionality
More LessThe once-implemented Chinese one-child policy has reinforced the imbalanced gender ratio and created a significant surplus of bachelors in China. (Involuntary) female migration from Vietnam to China to ease this demographic pressure is a topic that has gained relative media attention in Vietnam. The Vietnamese female migrants (VFMs) who had migrated to China and returned to Vietnam often encounter several proble Read More
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From Palace to Parliament: How Japan and China moved from Imperial Rule to Representation Rule through the lens of their Parliament Buildings
By Ian R LewisThis paper aims to stimulate discussion on the political architecture of centres of power in East Asia by focusing on the historical transformations of political structures and their architectural edifices in Japan and China. Parliaments as institutions materialise by strenuous, and sometimes sudden, degrees, during moments of critical juncture. The struggle for absolute power to succumb to shared power is extrapolated through the Read More
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Interpreting and Understanding the Cochinchinese Characters: From the Perspective of Europeans in the Early 19th Century
By Rui LiThis article discusses a rarely discussed manuscript dictionary A Vocabulary of the Cochinchinese Language compiled by Italian missionary Joseph Morrone and published by Peter Stephen Du Ponceau and aims to interpret and discover the understanding of the Cochinchinese characters and their relations with written Chinese characters from the perspective of European missionaries and linguists in the early 19th century. Thr Read More
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Transparent Stage: The Qianlong Emperor and His Glass Yurts
By Chi-Lynn LinThis essay has focused on the glass yurts used in the New Year ceremony during the Qianlong period and attempted to shed light on such ephemeral experience and performative effects of temporary architecture. Every New Year, in front of the Zhongzheng Dian (the Buddhist center in the Forbidden City), the Qianlong Emperor would command to erect the glass yurt pane-by-pane and hold the grandest of all imperial Read More
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The Missing History of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (1904-1941)
By Jiajia LiuWith the background of foreign concessions in Shanghai as a result of the Treaty of Nanjing and subsequent treaties between China and Western powers, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (1904-1941) was established by foreign businessmen (mostly British) in Shanghai. This foreign Shanghai Stock Exchange symbolises Western capitalisation in China and deserves the attention of economic historians to investigate its function i Read More
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Recreating Local Tradition: The Study of the Hang Hau Hakka Unicorn Dance in Hong Kong
By Wai Ling LoThis manuscript discusses the impact of global discourse on intangible cultural heritage, with a particular focus on the cultural manifestations and indigenous social groups. This is exemplified by the Hang Hau Hakka unicorn dance, a traditional socio-cultural practice that was from the Hakka community. This work illustrates how this cultural practice may impact on the anthropological approach to heritage. Since the late 19th Read More
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Enduring Forms of Indenture Chinese Domestic Workers and the use of Penal Sanctions in Colonial Singapore, 1920s-1930s
More LessThis paper aims to shed new light on the history of the abolition of Chinese indenture by analysing the relationship between domestic service and penal sanctions in Singapore. In response to international pressure, legislative reforms designed to abolish Chinese indenture were introduced in Singapore from 1914. The reforms brought an end to long contracts and criminal convictions for breach of contract. In the period after Read More
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How Bai Xianyong’s Melancholy and Chen He’s Nostalgia Are Well Presented in Literary Montage and a Black-and-White Movie
By Jia MaMelancholy and Nostalgia are not only two connected types of emotion, but also the irresistible motifs frequently appearing in Chinese North American diasporic literature. As two important Chinese North American writers, Bai Xianyong’s melancholy and Chen He’s nostalgia are themes in the former’s short story “Winter Nights” and the latter’s novella “Two Tales of the City in That Black-and-White Movie” “Winter Nights” is Read More
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Russian Perspectives on China’s New Silk Road Vision (Why) Does Moscow Support the BRI?
More LessMany Russian analysts and officials recognize that the expansion of Chinese influence through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents a fundamental, long-term challenge. Yet cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in the regions encompassed by the BRI appears to be increasing at the institutional, economic, and diplomatic levels. Russian reactions to the BRI have gone through three phases: immediately followin Read More
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Everyday Life for Chinese Workers on Nauru under Australian Administration
More LessThe contracts of indenture signed by Chinese workers in the Australian mandated territory of Nauru after 1920 may have been permitted by the League of Nations and approved by Hong Kong officials, but they remained part of an inherently fraught colonial labour system. The act of signing up to work for a single colonial employer, in this case the British Phosphate Commission, for a period of three years, while accepting tha Read More
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The Concept Zhiyin 知音 (Perfect Connoisseur): from Imagery Intuition to Poetic Intention
By Mei MercierThis paper conducts firstly a historiographical research of the concept zhiyin (perfect connoisseur) and explores the mirror and empathic relationships between Nature and creators as well as creators and their auditors/viewers. It will try to clarify the role of imagery intuitions (xingxiang zhijue 形象直觉) in seizing the zhi 志 (intention) of an artist by searching for the signified of the statements “zhi zai gaoshan 志在高山 ” Read More
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Central European Refugee Diasporas in Republican China: The Shanghai Hungarian Relief Fund and The Roots of The Jewish Refugee Assistance (1924-1940)
More LessRepublican China’s struggle for unity and sovereignty coincided with the country’s unprecedented internationalization. In addition to the looming presence of powerful and privileged foreigners, the Nanjing Government faced the challenge of administering destitute refugees from Europe. The history of Russian and Jewish communities in modern China has come to the fore in recent years. Home to such destitute groups, Shang Read More
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European Diaspora in Pre-modern India: Perceptions of the Self and the Other in Cultural Encounters
More LessEarly modern India (1500-1800 CE), particularly the littoral, witnessed a host of “nationalities” as migrants, expatriates, itinerant merchants, diasporic residents, communities, agents, adventurers, mercenaries, diplomats, envoys, missionaries, sailors and more. Europeans and Asians thronged and interacted with “natives” in cosmopolitan hubs like Delhi, Agra, Masulipatnam, Fort St. George, Golconda, Bijapur, Surat, a Read More
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Craft, Rural Revitalization, and Transnationalism: Preliminary Findings Concerning Three Case Studies in Shimane, Shizuoka, and Tochigi, Japan
More LessThis paper investigates three grassroots craft-related enterprises in rural Japan that take advantage of natural and cultural resources, local identity, and infrastructure, as well as transnational flows of people and knowledge, to energize their communities faced with depopulation and economic decline: an international cultural exchange program for young makers in an individual potter's studio in Misato, Shimane; a biannual inte Read More
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The UK-Japan Security Partnership Century: Alliance, Animosity, Amity and Strategic Partnership
More LessSince 1951, the alliance with the United States has so predominated Japanese security considerations that the UK-Japan security partnership, its origins and revival, have received limited attention. Previous UK-Japan security partnerships had existed as imperial alliances prior to the Great War, in which they fought as allies, and re-emerged in the most unlikely situation amid immediate postwar animosity as Britain sought to Read More
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Work–Life Aspirations of Foreign Nurses in Japan: Lessons from the Lived Experience of an Indonesian Male Nurse
More LessImplemented since 2008, the Japan-Indonesian Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) for the Nurse Trainee Scheme has been beset by two main problems a below 10% success rate in the national nursing exam which trainees have to sit for after some 3 to 4 years of training; and ii) an increasing number of trainees who choose to return home despite having passed the exam. The difficulties surrounding this scheme has Read More
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The ‘Monstrous-Feminine’ as Anti-Communist Propaganda Tool: Invisible State Violence and Psychological Warfare in Soeharto Era Folkloric Horror Films
By Sharon NdoenThis paper discusses one of the covert methods Indonesian President Soeharto (1966-1998) employed to buttress and justify his grip to power and subsequent decades-long authoritarian rule. After the Indonesian Army staged a Coup on 30 September 1965, killing six generals and one lieutenant, it put the blame for the atrocities on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). The PKI-affiliated Indonesian Women’s Movemen Read More
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The Transgenerational Transmission of Memories about May ’98 among Chinese Indonesians in Jakarta: Preliminary Findings
Authors: Stefani Nugroho & Dhevy WibawaThe paper examines how the memories of the anti-Chinese riots in May 1998 are transmitted from one generation to the second generation of Chinese Indonesians in Jakarta. We consider the first generation to be those who experienced the violent episode themselves, while the second generation consists of those who were either at a very young age or were yet to be born in 1998. In our study, these two generations ar Read More
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Crafting Crafty: Dispatches From The Wolf-Human Interface
By Alex OehlerAnthropologists have, in recent years, taken renewed interest in interspecies sociality and communication. Part of this enterprise has been an attempt to locate anthropological alternatives to the theory of mind concept in psychology. How may an anthropological theory of mind inform multi species ethnography, particularly within a framework of sensory methodology? In light of these concerns, the author explores rece Read More
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Transnational Encounters in “Private Spaces” of the Japanese Allied Occupation
By Kazuto OshioThe purpose of this paper is to examine the US-Japanese encounters in occupied “private” spaces in post-WWII Japan through a case study of a military family housing, or Dependents Housing, area, particularly Grant Heights in western suburb of Tokyo, now the site of one of the largest residential and park complexes in Japan, Hikarigaoka. After briefly reviewing the existing literature on US-Japanese encounters in occupi Read More
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Arrangement of the Stone: The Spatial and Textual Organisation of Siamese Poetry Inscriptions at Wat Pho Monastery and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha
More LessThe paper discusses the spatial and textual organization of the inscriptions on poetic features called Khlong Konlabot at Wat Pho monastery and of the inscriptions narrating the tales of Ramakian at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha—both in the heart of Old Bangkok—by employing traditional manuscripts as a source for comparison and investigation. The inscriptions are arguably unique among the epigraphic corpora of Thaila Read More
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Global Gender Movement and Transformation of Gender Space within Traditional Hindu Ascetic Orders
By Jeet PandeyTraditional Hindu ascetic orders have been, historically, upper-caste, male dominated formations. Inclusion of women during the medieval period of Bhakti Movement has been indirect, nominal and exceptional. There was no place for transgenders in these orders. The Hindu scriptures recognize the the concept of “third nature” and the religious rights of this community but in practice, no evidence of exercise of these rights are p Read More
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Eidetic Mapping: An Exploration for Sustainability and Resilience of Historic Urban Landscapes
Authors: Komal Potdar & Els VerbakelThe Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) recommendations adopted by UNESCO in 2011 serve as an instrument to respond to challenges to cultural heritage in urban environments faced by rapid urbanization, climate change, and urban conflict. It outlines the knowledge and planning tool emphasizing on the documentation and mapping of landscape characteristics to facilitate decision-making processes within a framewor Read More
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In This Period of Pandemic, What Future for New Chinese Towns with European Architecture?
More LessFrom luxury brands to electronics, China has a reputation for copying products from the Western world and beyond. This characteristic of reproducing identically was taken to its climax by building, from the 2000s, copies of European cities. Real estate developers have sensed the profit and have undertaken gigantic construction works to satisfy a new Chinese clientele who have traveled extensively in Europe. However, t Read More
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Colonising the Penal Capital: Locating The Bengali Convicts In Cosmopolitan British Malaya
By Gazi RahmanThis study focuses on two interrelated issues for “rediscovering” Bengali felons’ quotidian life in Malaysia and Singapore during the colonial period. First, it narrates the colonial policies regarding convicts’ labourers and their categorical ambiguities in the Straits Settlements. The second set of issues illustrates the transportation and governing system of the convicts and their integration process with mainstream society. By exa Read More
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Socialization through Interregional Relations:EU’s Normative Power in its Dialogue with China
By Dealan RigaThis paper seeks to explain the resilience of EU-China strategic partnership despite growing salience of a systemic rivalry between both actors. The framing of China as a systemic rival to EU tends to be considered as a shift of paradigms in EU policy. Such a standpoint offer poor explanatory force for the remaining dialogue dynamics and its late outcome such as Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. This paper aims to r Read More
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The Potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to Transform the Silk Road Vision into Reality in Sub-Saharan Africa
More LessWhile China may be geographically distant from continental Africa, there is evidence that contact between the two originated millennia ago, although the Silk Road only found its way to sub-Saharan Africa during the Sung Dynasty of 960-1279AD, thanks to Chinese Shipbuilding. Subsequent dynasties saw the contact fizzle out, and it was only in 1956 that diplomatic relations were rekindled with Egypt, followed by Read More
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Digital Santri: The Traditionalist Response to the Religious Populism Wave in Indonesian Islam
More LessThis study examines the ongoing disputes among Indonesian Muslim schools and communities. Previously, the long-lasting contest occurred offline but is currently being expressed through digital medium such as the social media. In the Indonesian context, the popularity of digital technology used for religious purposes was initially utilized by modern communities. While modernist feels "at home" in the digital realm for religiou Read More
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Mobile Methods for Bodies in Motion: Moving with Sindhi Women in Japan
More LessYears ago, while on fieldwork for my Master’s thesis to interview Sindhi merchants in Japan, I found myself an unwitting accomplice to the routines of the women of this community. In their day to day running of the household, the Sindhi women’s interactivity webbed intricate networks. They would regularly engage in cross-cultural negotiations with the Japanese housekeeper, vendors at the wet market and neighbourhood co- Read More
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Health Silk Road: A Chinese Tool towards Global Governance?
More LessInserted in its strategy of Belt and Road Initiative, People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been implementing some actions and programmes in health sector, leading to what is known as the Health Silk Road. Starting from internal healthcare reforms in the last three decades – aiming to achieve universal health coverage and a good network of primary care services – PRC is defining its strategy in order to be a relevant player in g Read More
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Violence and the Production of Space in Yangon: From “Transition” to the State Administration Council (2011 – 2021)
More LessIn this presentation, I wish to describe the spatial politics of Yangon (before 1989 officially known as Rangoon), Myanmar’s largest city, focusing on the relatively short period of “Transition” from rule by the Army-State to a hybrid military-civilian government as defined by the 2008 Constitution. This period ended suddenly on February 1, 2021, when Senior General Min Aung Hlaing carried out a coup d’état and established a new Read More
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Marginality and Informality in Domestic Water Scarcity: Case of a Self-Service Mountain Town
By Rinan ShahMarginalization of the mountain regions is manifold – environmental, political and financial. These get exacerbated by the geographical distance from administrative and development centers. Marginalization can be categorized as societal and spatial. For Darjeeling, West Bengal, the marginalization is as much economic as much as it is ethnic. Darjeeling lies in the Eastern Himalayan Region, one of the highest rainfall r Read More
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Chinese Linkage in Asia
More LessAs China has increased its presence and cooperation on multiple fronts under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), this paper proposes a multidimensional concept of ‘Chinese Linkage’ to understand various layers and levels of engagement under BRI. I conceptualize the Chinese Linkage in Asia based on the seminal work of Levitsky and Way’s (Western) Linkage along five dimensions, namely, economic, social, cul Read More
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Village Policing in Early Colonial Hong Kong: Adopting Baojia System
By Diki SherpaThis paper examines the attempts to adopt ‘native’ institution, baojia system in this case, to the practices of village police administration in early colonial Hong Kong. Adoption of baojia in the post-cessation situation in Hong Kong was premised on the proposition of ‘preservation’ of Chinese institutions and by extension an embodiment of British imperial ‘good governance’ and ‘non-intervention’. In contrast, the paper by situa Read More
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Colonial Cinema and the Construction of Modern Indonesia's Visual Culture
More LessThis paper examines the significant impacts of the colonial ethnographic film and travelogue on the construction of Indonesia's visual culture and its reconstruction in the contemporary. The colonial scenes have become inseparable components of cinematic experience in contemporary Indonesian films' mise en scène and are viewed as visual elements of progress. The scenes where the camera is attached to the front of Read More
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Comradeship, Friendship, Wariness: The First Decade of Relations Between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Polish People’s Republic (1954-1964)
More LessAt a cursory glance, the first decade of the mutual Polish-Vietnamese relations seems very straightforward. Two communist countries, tied not only by the same ideology but also a common history of struggle against foreign occupation, in a cordial relationship of supporting each other. However, a much more nuanced relationship lay behind the official facade of smiles and handshakes. The initially amiable relations soured quickly Read More
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Retranslating the Tokyo Trial: Shigemitsu Mamoru’s Prison Diary
More LessThe International Military Tribunal of the Far East (IMTFE), otherwise known as the Tokyo Trial, has received new scholarly attention in Japan since the early 2000s after previously sealed archives were made public. The trial has also received renewed attention in literature and film. Journalist Yamasaki Toyoko’s best-selling novel Futatsu no sokoku (Two Homelands, 1983) is loosely based on David Akira Itami’s work as a Nisei m Read More
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Migrant Artists of Western Opera in Southern Asia in the 1830s-40s
More LessA beginning of the nineteenth-century musical migration in southern Asia, an oceanic space encompassing the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, came with the connected maritime journeys of migrant artists of Western opera from Italy, South America and France. These itinerant operatic performers intermittently presented the current works of Italian and French opera in Macau in 1833, Calcutta in 1833-1844, an Read More
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Greening the Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia: The Case of Uzbekistan’s Renewable Energy Sector
By Maria TanakaSince the 2nd Belt and Road Forum (BRF) held in 2019, a ‘Green and Sustainable Silk Road’ (GSSR) has become a major narrative promoted by the Chinese government. Broadly speaking, the GSSR agenda involves development projects aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in areas such as renewable energy, resource efficiency, climate resilience and adaptation, green infrastructure, and environmental govern Read More
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Myanmar and the Border Economies, Geographical Adjustments and Supra-national Mobility of the Upper Mekong Region
More LessIn the Upper Mekong region of Southeast Asia, border territories not only delineate the extent of the governing authorities’ resources and investments, but also function as mobility resources for the people who approach, dwell within, transit, and flee them, and for whom such territories provide platforms for migration and re-settlements. In the Myanmar crisis, these transboundary areas continue to be used in Read More
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Going to Manchuria: Imperial Japan, Migrant Workers, and the Mobilization of Tokyo
More LessThe emigration movement to Manchuria began in full scale with the establishment of Manchukuo in 1932, when approximately 300,000 Japanese people migrated to northeastern China to the end of the war. Recent scholarship on Manchuria has focused on non-state, non-elite actors, unlike postwar scholarship that centered its attention on national economic and political elites in order to critique the governing structures and Read More
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Queer Deities of Dao Mau - A Vietnamese Indigenous - And Its Religious Tolerance Toward Gender Diversity
By Binh TranThe (First) Prince is gorgeous He controls the earth from the heaven His face looks bright and rosy with elegantly thin eyebrows His skin is as white as snow and his hair is more beautiful than a cloud He wears a brightly yellow costume with a pink scarf … The First Prince is one of queer deities of Dao Mau - a Vietnamese indigenous religion. These deities have been worshipped in public and private temples in Vietnam when they ar Read More
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The BRI and Italy-China Cultural Relations: An Overview of the “2020 Year of Culture and Tourism”
More LessChina and Italy are both countries with a strong culture and long history, that share positive bilateral relations. In 2019, Italy was the first EU country to sign a MoU with China on collaboration within the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s major diplomatic outreach system. However, more than two years later, most agreements have not materialized yet. Is it due to political implications or economic interests? It is arguable t Read More
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Environmental Challenges of Japan`s Development Aid Framework in Southeast Asia
More LessEnvironmental change issues have been the signifying elements of the global change agenda. International and regional/local processes of development have also taken towards a rather comprehensive form, including various aspects of environmental change and human-environment interaction. Japan has always been one of the development aid-friendly countries and has been contributing to the international develop Read More
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Documentary Activism and “Art as Journalism” in a Chinese Urban Village
By Meiqin WangThis paper focuses on the community engaged endeavors of an art collective based in Xisan village, an urban village in the outskirt of Guangzhou, under a loosely organized socially engaged art project entitled “Xi-San Film Studio.” The project, founded by curator Zheng Hongbin in collaboration with his artist friends in early 2017, has focused on raising the publicness of contemporary art and expanding the space of civic participa Read More
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Onlookers of Modernity: Knowledge Anxiety and Consumption in Fiction of Chinese Women Writers in the Early 20th Century
By Yunyi WangSince the early 20th century, discourses of “Young China” which boast a linear progression and thorough rejuvenation stayed central in China’s social cultures. Under this sway, social groups “New Youth” accordingly became vital targeted audience/writing subjects of that era’s literature. The studentship, therefore, was closely correlated with grand issues like political reforms and nationality amid the mainstream fiction writing Read More
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India’s Participation in the Allied Occupation of Japan
By Rowena WardDespite participating in the occupation of Japan from March 1946 through to October 1947, the participation of the Indian Army and Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) in the Allied Occupation has been largely ignored. This chapter provides background to the despatch of the Indian troops to Japan and outlines some of the duties and activities of both forces during their deployment to Japan. It introduces the make-up of both conting Read More
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The Development of Hanamusubi Use in Tea and Incense Practices during the Edo Period
More LessA decorative knot, known as hanamusubi (a flower knot in English) is shaped like a flower or tiny insect placed on a small bag. These creations were used in tea and incense practices in Japan during the Edo period (1603–1868). While scholars have studied tea and incense utensils in the context of Japanese art and design, hanamusubi remains thoroughly unexamined. This exclusion may be the result of the ephemeral knotting prac Read More
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Confronting a New Normal: The Case of Filipina Domestic Workers in Hong Kong
By Valerie YapThe outbreak of the coronavirus has upended people’s lives with marginalized populations the most impacted. In Hong Kong, domestic workers face pressure from their employers who expect them to simultaneously keep the household clean and COVID-free, and to provide care duties to families, children and the elderly. Many workers have reported taking on additional workload, working longer hours and in some cases, c Read More
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Integration and Recognition of Asian Immigrants: A Critical Exposition of Kymlicka’s Polyethnic Rights
More LessThis paper argues against Kymlicka's claim that immigrants’ cultural rights only pertain to certain kinds of polyethnic rights. Using the concrete examples of Asian immigrants living in Canada, the USA, and Britain, where they constitute a large proportion of the population, Kymlicka identifies their lower sense of attachment to their societal culture of origin than national minority groups. Based on the argument of choice luck, K Read More
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The Rural As “The Other” In Urban Women-Centred Dramas Of Contemporary China
Authors: Lin Yi & Yanning HuangIn recent years, a growing number of Chinese urban TV dramas both adopt a women-oriented perspective and feature main female characters with strong career ambitions for upward social mobility. Noticeably, a common narrative stock in this type of women-centric urban TV dramas is the struggle of young white-collar women of rural background to establish their lives in the cities while being constantly haunted by their ori Read More
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Gender and the Social Imaginary in Japanese Lifestyle Migration to Europe
More LessWhile studies on Japanese migration to the non-European, English-speaking West abound, there have been none on Japanese choosing Continental, non-English-speaking Europe so far. The current research aims to address this gap. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with Japanese lifestyle migrants in Austria and Bulgaria, as well as several experts, this paper investigates how and why gender affects engagement with the so Read More
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Elite Formation and Transformation in Colonial Taiwan, 1910s – 1940s
Authors: Shuo Zheng & Lung-chih ChangIn 1915, the first middle school for Taiwanese students, Taichu middle school (臺中中學校), was established in central Taiwan. The campaign attracted nearly 250,000 yen in donations from 203 local elites across the island. This study will focus on the campaign first, making extensive use of the donor lists. By utilizing prosopographical, GIS and SNA methods, this study aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the donors, focusing o Read More
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