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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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oa 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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oa The Concept Zhiyin 知音 (Perfect Connoisseur): from Imagery Intuition to Poetic Intention
More LessBy 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa The ‘Monstrous-Feminine’ as Anti-Communist Propaganda Tool: Invisible State Violence and Psychological Warfare in Soeharto Era Folkloric Horror Films
More LessBy 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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oa The Transgenerational Transmission of Memories about May ’98 among Chinese Indonesians in Jakarta: Preliminary Findings
More LessAuthors: 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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oa Crafting Crafty: Dispatches From The Wolf-Human Interface
More LessBy 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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oa Transnational Encounters in “Private Spaces” of the Japanese Allied Occupation
More LessBy 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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oa 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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oa Global Gender Movement and Transformation of Gender Space within Traditional Hindu Ascetic Orders
More LessBy 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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oa Eidetic Mapping: An Exploration for Sustainability and Resilience of Historic Urban Landscapes
More LessAuthors: 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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oa 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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oa Colonising the Penal Capital: Locating The Bengali Convicts In Cosmopolitan British Malaya
More LessBy 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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oa Socialization through Interregional Relations:EU’s Normative Power in its Dialogue with China
More LessBy 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa Marginality and Informality in Domestic Water Scarcity: Case of a Self-Service Mountain Town
More LessBy 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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oa 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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oa Village Policing in Early Colonial Hong Kong: Adopting Baojia System
More LessBy 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa Greening the Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia: The Case of Uzbekistan’s Renewable Energy Sector
More LessBy 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa Queer Deities of Dao Mau - A Vietnamese Indigenous - And Its Religious Tolerance Toward Gender Diversity
More LessBy 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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oa 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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oa 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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oa Documentary Activism and “Art as Journalism” in a Chinese Urban Village
More LessBy 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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oa Onlookers of Modernity: Knowledge Anxiety and Consumption in Fiction of Chinese Women Writers in the Early 20th Century
More LessBy 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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oa India’s Participation in the Allied Occupation of Japan
More LessBy 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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oa 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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oa Confronting a New Normal: The Case of Filipina Domestic Workers in Hong Kong
More LessBy 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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oa 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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oa The Rural As “The Other” In Urban Women-Centred Dramas Of Contemporary China
More LessAuthors: 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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oa 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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oa Elite Formation and Transformation in Colonial Taiwan, 1910s – 1940s
More LessAuthors: 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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