Beyond Boundaries: The Cold War, International Politics, and Modern East Asia

NIAS, in collaboration with the National Chengchi University Taiwan, invites to this workshop on 'The Cold War, International Politics and Modern East Asia'. Organized by our Postdoctoral Resercher Dr. Kuan- Jen Chen, the workshop will take place over the course of two days and involves a number of panels and different speakers. The international workshop aims to gather scholars from Nordic and East Asian countries to create a dialogue between international history and politics. 
 

Find the detailed programme for the workshop and register for the event here.

Enabling Activist Resilience against Repression:
Emergence and Effects of Bystander Protection during Protest Crackdowns in Myanmar

                                Lunch Talk 

NIAS is reviving the lunch talk series in which researchers at the institutions can present their research and face questions of interested listeners. For our next lunch talk, Postdoctoral Researcher Van Tran  will present her research on the emergence and effects of bystander protection during protest crackdowns in Myanmar. The lunch talk will take place online via zoom, and you can find the details for registration below. 

Find more information about the event here.

Regional Studies in the Nordic Countries

 

Join us for a webinar on regional studies in the Nordic countries hosted by the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) and us, the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS). Regional studies are a niche area within library services and the number of subject librarians with a focus on regional studies are steadily decreasing in most libraries. Institutions like NAI and NIAS try to fill this gap to some degree and meet expectations of access to specialized information material for research and education. In this webinar we want to shed some light on the present situation and display the services which NAI and NIAS libraries can provide. The webinar is primarily targeted to librarians, but it is also relevant for Nordic researchers with a focus on Africa or Asia.

Find more information about the event and register here.

'Thai Politics in Translation'

We're delighted to announce the official book launch of NIAS Press book "Thai Politics in Translation", edited by Ukrist Pathmanand and Michael K. Connors organized by the Institute of Asian Studies, and the Department of Government, Political Science at Chulalongkorn University in collaboration with the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies and NIAS Press. The book launch will take place online in form of a webinar, including a presentation and discussion of the book with the editors.  

'Thai Politics in Translation. Monarchy, Democracy and the Supra-constitution' is the first collection of translations that specifically focus on Thai conservative and royalist ideas. The book provides first ever English translations of important Thai scholarship that may reshape international debates about Thai democracy and conservatism more generally. 
 

Find more information about the event and register here.

Time and date: 10.00 - 12.00 (CEST), Monday 4 April 2022
Organizer: Institute of Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University, Department of Government at Chulalongkorn University, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, NIAS Press

Milk Tea Alliance: The Last Wave of Decolonialisation

NIAS is delighted to invite to this webinar co-organized with the Chinese Studies network at the University of Helsinki targeting the importance of the online pro-democracy network known as the ‘Milk Tea Alliance'. Milk Tea Alliance is the first online movement to vocalize what has been a long standing yet unspeakable suspicion among the younger generation of this region—that the Chinese Communist Government is a mutual obstacle for democratization of the Asia-Pacific. Invited speaker for this event is Professor Wasana Wongsurawat, Associate Professor of History, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. 

Find more information about the event and register here.

CfP: Generation Asia Conference 2022 

NIAS and the Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute for Foreign Languages at the University of Iceland are inviting proposals for individual papers for our Generation Asia 2022 Nordic NIAS Council (taking place from 22 - 26 August) as well as applications for the PhD workshop (25 - 26 August).  

About the conference:

How is generational change transforming society, culture and politics across Asia? Does a creative, iconoclastic Generation Z pose a major challenge to traditional hierarchies and values? What is the impact of demographic change in countries with a rapidly aging population? Is there something we can learn from Asian traditions of intergenerational exchange? These and many other intriguing questions arise from the theme of the 2022 NNC conference.

CfP: Individual Abstracts for Panels
There are still available capacities at the planned panels. See below for more information on which panels are to take place, and where you could submit an abstract. As always, we welcome papers on all aspects of Asian studies, not limited to the conference theme, from across the humanities and social sciences. 

Proposals should include a title and 150 word abstract. Please include your name and affiliation.

Overview Panels Gen. Asia 22:

• Understanding Overseas Chinese Mobility: Views from the UK, Europe and Australia
• Afghanistan and the Way Forward: The need for creating indigenous knowledge and incorporating local perspectives
• Aging Through the Ages in Chinese Culture
• School bullying and anti-bullying work in Asia: research and practice insights
• Excavating generations of Identification
• Keywords for self-development among contemporary Chinese youth”
• Urban Creativity in Twenty-first Century China
• Filial piety as doing family in contemporary China
• Mapping India’s Transformation into ‘The Disinformation Capital of the World
• Indonesian telephone generation - digital religiosity and new political output [preliminary topic]
• Asian consumer cultures and sufficiency: perspectives on comfort and constraint
• Youth Activism in Asia
• South Korean Politics, Society and Transition
• Emerging scholars dialogue panel and public event
• Afghanistan Conflict and the Complexities – Past, Present and Future
• Generations of Resistance and Revolution in Myanmar
  
   

CfP: Ph.D. workshop 25-26 August 2022

We will be running a Ph.D. workshop in conjunction with the 2022 NNC Conference. The Ph.D. workshop is open to students currently enrolled for a doctoral degree. Applications are welcome from students of any nationality who are enrolled at any university. However, we do prioritise applicants affiliated with member institutions of the Nordic NIAS Council. 

While we hope to receive some applications on topics related to the conference theme of Generation Asia, we accept proposals in any fields of Asian studies. We expect to enroll around 12 students in the workshop, who will be expected to be present for all workshop sessions, and be ready to provide detailed feedback on the papers presented. The main focus of the workshop is on intensive review of student papers, but additional sessions will be included on career developments and getting published. Following the same format as our very successful 2020 and 2021 NNC PhD workshops, each paper will be discussed by two established academics, as well as one student peer discussant.

In order to apply for the workshop, you'll need to submit a title, an abstract (should not exceed 300 words) outlining your PhD topic, as well as a CV, a cover letter explaining which year you are in the PhD programme, and a recommendation letter from your supervisor. You should present a paper based on one chapter of your thesis. If accepted you will need to submit a full paper of 6,000 to 10,000 words, one month before the conference. Of course, participants in the Ph.D. workshop are also welcome to take part in the conference, if both their proposals accepted.

Accommodation from Sunday to Tuesday (3 nights) will be provided to participants of the PhD workshop. See more information about the Ph.D. workshop here.

For any other questions, please contact gen.asia@outlook.com or visit the conference's website. 
 

Deadline: Friday, 22 April 2022
Organizer: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute for Foreign Languages at the University of Iceland

'Thai Politics in Translation' Book Launch

'Fragrant Frontier' goes to print!  

We're happy to inform that by the time you're reading this Update, another 2022 book will have gone to print. 

'Fragrant Frontier. Global Spice Entanglements from the Sino- Vietnamese Uplands' edited by Sara Turner, Annuska  Derks and Jean-François Rousseau is an ethnographically rich study demystifying the contemporary spice trade originating from the Sino-Vietnamese uplands. 

Star anise, black cardamom, and cassia (cinnamon) take center stage as the authors explore the complex commodity chains and entanglements that move these spices to kitchens around the world. The volume explores the livelihoods of the ethnic minority farmers cultivating these spices across this mountainous frontier, follows the commodity chains from farms to global supermarkets, and examines the implications of the commoditization of these fragrant crops for the numerous actors involved.

Follow us on social media or visit our website to stay updated and get informed once the book is ready for sale!
 

NIAS Press with University of Hawaii Press at AAS Honolulu

 
Sadly, we're not able to attend the annual AAS meeting in Honolulu starting today on March 24th in person. However, our partners in the US, the University of Hawaii Press is taking on the joy of displaying our books and including them at their book stalls.  

Thus, if you are attending the conference in person, check out their book tables at the Exhibit Hall and if you're joining on line, visit their virtual stand. In both spots, you'll find the details about our books and in fact a special conference offer! 

New Reviews

This month, out of the blue, two wonderful reviews have reached us assessing Rosalie Stolz's book 'Living Kinship, Fearing Spirits. Sociality among the Khmu of Northern Laos'. 

We've included some excerpts of the reviews below. If they spark your interest, visit our webshop to purchase the book or listen to Rosalie's podcast interview with the Nordic Asia Podcast, where she presents her research.

Guido Stengers, Heidelberg University, writes in the Journal of Asian Studies:

"Written in highly accessible prose, Living Kinship, Fearing Spirits stands out for its fresh and intimate look on some of anthropology's central topics. It also appeals to anyone interested in life in the Asian uplands, especially the Southeast Asian mainland. [..] [The] book combines lively, sensitive and empathic description with thoughtful analysis into an exemplary study of contemporary life in the Asian highlands." 

Find the full review here.


 

Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language (TOCFL)

University of Turku and University of Helsinki will have an online information session to introduce Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language (TOCFL) to Mandarin learners. The test is created by the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency, under the Ministry of Education of Taiwan in 2003. It is possible to do the test in simplified Chinese.

Find more information and register here. 

Time and date: 11.00  - 12.00 (CET), Friday 25 March 2022
Organizer: University of Helsinki, University of Turku

The Living House – Japanese inspired architecture in a Danish context

Asia House invites all those interested in modern architecture, Japan and environmental sustainability, to take part when Danish duo Jens Martin Suzuki-Højrup and Carsten Erichsen present “The Living House – Japanese inspired architecture in a Danish context”, about their sustainable tract houses, which are inspired by Japanese architecture.

Find more information and register here. 

Time and date: 17.00  - 19.00 (CEST), Tuesday 29 March 2022
Organizer: AsiaHouse

Land Dispossession, Environmental Assessments, and the Politics of Inditement in Western India

The Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo invites to this hybrid talk with Kenneth Bo Nielsen, Associate Professor at the Department investigating land dispossession, environmental assessments and the politics of inditment in Western India. The talk will be held as a hybrid event, and you’re invited to join either in person or online.

Find out more information and register here.

Time and date: 14.15  - 16.00 (CEST), Wednesday 30 March 2022
Organizer: The University of Oslo

When the Eternal Meets the Imperishable: Plastics and Religion in Contemporary Asia

The Centre for Contemporary Buddhist Studies (CCBS) located in the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen invites to this online seminar on Plastics and Religion in Contemporary Asia. This seminar will explore how the incorporation of plastics into the sacred disrupts our everyday relationships with this now ubiquitous material. It will explore the imagined and material qualities of plastics as they are present in Asian religions and ideologies. 
 

Find more information on the event and register here. 

Time and date: 07.00  - 09.00 (CEST), Thursday 31 March 2022
Organizer: Center for Contemporary Buddhist Studies

A New Dawn? Sino-German Relations Post-Merkel

The Institute for Security and Development Policy invites to this webinar on the present and future of Sino-German relations in the post-Merkel era.

Find out more information and register here.

Time and date: 10.00  - 11.30 (CEST), Thursday 31 March 2022
Organizer: The Insitute for Security and Development Policy 

STEAR Studying in China Panel

The Student Think Tank for Europe-Asia Relations invites to this panel discussion during which participants will have the chance to speak to our panellists about the admissions process, life in Beijing, differences from undergraduate to postgraduate life, and everything in between.

Find out more information and register here.

Time and date: 10.00  - 11.00 (CEST), Saturday 2 April 2022
Organizer: Student Think Tank for Europe-Asia Relations 

‘Totos Of Totopara- An Indigenous Tribe In A Globalised World'

Asianettverket at the University of Oslo invites to this book launch and exhibition on this self published photo-video book on the indigenous Toto tribe of India.

Find out more information and register here.

Time and date: 12.00  - 16.00 (CEST), Saturday 2 April 2022
Organizer: Asianettverket

“Being with”: Buddhism, precarity and volunteers in the time of Covid-19

Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University invites to this talk by Erica Baffelli addresses issues related to precarity and marginalities by looking at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Buddhist organizations working with volunteers.

Find out more information and register here.

Time and date: 14.00  - 15.30 (CEST), Tuesday 5 April 2022
Organizer: Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University

China´s Restless Young Women: Negotiating Gender, Class, and National Identities

Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo invites to this talk on how young women from China negotiate different expectations and identities both inside and outside their homeland.

Find out more information and register here.

Time and date: 11.00  - 12.30 (CEST), Wednesday 6 April 2022
Organizer: Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages

The United Nations Command and the Role of Japan

Institute of Security and Development Policy invites to this webinar, discussing political, strategic and military implication for Japan, the United States and the Korean Peninsula in general.

Find out more information and register here.

Time and date: 14.00  - 15.30 (CEST), Thursday 7 April 2022
Organizer: The Insitute for Security and Development Policy 

Reconciling Different Approaches to Conceptualizing the Glocalization of the Belt and Road Initiative Projects

Institute of Security and Development Policy invites to this webinar. In response to a rising number of academic papers that empirically examine local variances in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in various foreign lands, this presentation will pinpoint the difficulties that attempting to theorize BRI projects brings with them.

Find out more information and register here.

Time and date: 14.00  - 15.00 (CEST), Friday 8 April 2022
Organizer: The Insitute for Security and Development Policy 

The Great Exodus from China: Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Modern Taiwan

The University og Helsinki invites to this webinar on the The Great Exodus,  examining one of the least understood forced migrations in modern East Asia—the human exodus from China to Taiwan following the Nationalist collapse and Chinese Communist victory in 1949.

Find out more information and register here.

Time and date: 14.15  - 16.30 (CEST), Monday 11 April 2022
Organizer: University of Helsinki China Studies

Engaging China

The Academic China Forum of the University of Bergen invites to this symposium on China discussing the status and prospects of academic cooperation with Chinese institutions. The theme is investigated through four thematic sessions on Climate Change, Chinese Literature, Sociopolitical Changes and Competence building involving various speakers and panellists.
 

Find more information and register here.

Time and date: 08.30  - 16.15 (CEST), Wednesday 11 May 2022
Organizer: University of Bergen