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Seminars/Symposia

Latest Seminars

November 11

Young Researchers’ Workshop on Politics, Culture, and Migration in Southeast Asia
  1.      A joint activity of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University “Toward Sustainable Humanosphere in Southeast Asia” Research Program and the Asian Core Program of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Graduate Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, National Chi Nan University
  2.      This international workshop aims to train PhD-level students, particularly those who are working on their dissertations, to make public presentations in English and prepare their papers for publication in English-language journals. The workshop is organized by the Kyoto University Center for Southeast Asian Studies’ “Toward Sustainable Humanosphere in Southeast Asia” Research Program and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science’s Asian Core Program, in collaboration with the National Chi Nan University’s Graduate Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
  3. Date:November 8(Fri.), 2013
  4. Place:Tonan Tei (rm. 201), Inamori Foundation Momorial Building, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University
  5. Program:PDF

September 2013

Terms of Reference Southeast Asia Seminar “Catching up Southeast Asian New body: States, Markets and Public Spheres”
  1. Southeast Asia is one of the most active regions of the world, exhibiting significant dynamism since the very early period to the present.This is a result of the fact that the region is situated at the world’s crossroad, bounded by the Indian Ocean on the west and the open sea of the Pacific to the east. Southeast Asia consequently is characterized and identified in accordance to the heterogeneity of its “socio-cultural body,” which is subject to change from time to time depending mainly on external impacts and internal adjustments. Nanyang, Golden Khersonese, Chrysee, Suvarnabhumi, Further India, East India Island, British India, French Indochina and Netherlands East Indies are all terms that have been created and externally applied to Southeast Asia. This, to a considerable degree, reflects the fundamental nature of the region which, as previously mentioned, is significantly dynamic. The term “Southeast Asia” which is popularly circulated after the Second World War, indeed, emerged as a political and strategic term only in the summer of 1943 “with the creation of Louis Mouthatten’s South-East Asia command, an offshoot of the more traditional India command.” The term was further popularized in the global political and academic arenas during the Vietnam War. It was during this period that “Southeast Asian studies” as a branch of area studies was established and developed in the U.S. and many parts of the world where the U.S. had extended its influence. To be more precise, Southeast Asia and Southeast Asian studies blossomed within the context of the Cold War era, and represent another form and spirit of the region after the end of the colonial period.
  2. The end of the Cold War period signifies the beginning of the decline of area studies in the U.S. Southeast Asian studies, which has made many contributions to world knowledge, has also been directly effected. The growth and development of Southeast Asian studies in the western world are at a crossroad, too. Their future as a result is now in the hands of Asia-based scholars and activists who are increasingly becoming interested in this field of study. Moreover, Southeast Asia as a region has been radically transformed after the Cold War period. It is, accordingly inescapable for Southeast Asianists to explore the most suitable methods, approaches and possible academic tools in the effort to “rethink” and seek new directions for Southeast Asian studies. Issue-based studies, trans-regional approaches and comparative perspectives; the integration of natural sciences and social sciences and humanities; and dynamic focus on and localization in regional context are some of the possible approaches that may play a role in transforming Southeast Asian studies.
  3. Date:September 25 - 29, 2013
  4. Place:Cape Panwa Hotel, Phuket, Thailand
  5. Organizers:Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University/ Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorm University/ Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus/ Institut de Recherche sur l'Asie du Sud-Est Contemporaine (IRASEC)
  6. Program:PDF
Tonan Talk by Prof. James Chin
  1. Date:September 9 (Mon), 2013, 12:00 - 13:30
  2. Place:Tonan-tei (Room No. 201, 2nd floor of Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, CSEAS, Kyoto University
  3. Speaker:Prof. James Chin, School of Arts & Social Sciences (SASS), Monash University
  4. Title:Urban Vs Rural: The 13th Malaysian General Elections
  5. Abstract:
  6. The recent general elections saw the ruling Barisan Nasional winning the elections but losing the popular vote. The general view is that the urban voters supported the Opposition led by Anwar Ibrahim while the BN continue to enjoy the support of the rural population. In this seminar, James Chin will look at the results in detail and discuss the future of elections in Malaysia. He will concentrate on the electoral system and the role of ethnic political parties.
  7. Bio note:
  8. Professor James Chin is Professor of Political Science and Head of the School of Arts & Social Sciences (SASS), Monash University, Malaysia Campus, and Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore. Prof Chin is a leading commentator on Malaysian politics and has published extensively on Malaysia and the surrounding region. In addition to his academic work, he is currently on the Advisory Board, Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS); Senior Fellow, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) and a member of the Executive Committee, Transparency International (Malaysia Branch).
  9. Moderator:Akiko MORISHITA (CSEAS)
 

July 2013

Special In-house Seminar on Practice-oriented Area Studies
  1. Date and Time:July 31 (Wed.), 2013 11:00 - 13:00
  2. Place:Small Meeting Room I, 3rd Floor of Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, Kyoto University
  3. Topic:What we have learned from Sasari Village in Miyama
  4. Presenters:
  5. Mr.Sonam Chhogye, Lecturer, Sherubtse College, Bhutan
  6. Ms.Phub Lhamo ,Lecturer, Sherubtse College, Bhutan
  7. Mr. Sonam Zangpo, Young Research Fellow, Sherubtse College, Bhutan
  8. Ms. Tshewang Choden,Young Research Fellow, Sherubtse College, Bhutan
  9. Ms. Khin Lay Swe and Khin Oo Aung, Ex Pro-rector, YAU, Myanmar, UNDF Myanmar Expert.  
Tonan Talk by Prof. Hungguk Cho
  1. Date:July 31st (Wed.), 2013, 12:00 - 13:30
  2. Place:Tonan-tei (Room No. 201, 2nd floor of Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, CSEAS, Kyoto University
  3. Speaker:Professor Hungguk Cho, Professor of Southeast Asian History in the Graduate School of International Studies, Pusan National University, South Korea
  4. Title:Reinterpretation of King Chao Anouvong (1804-1828) of Viengchan and Lao Historical Perception of Thailand
  5. Abstract:
  6. Recently a statue of King Chao Anouvong was erected on the bank of the Mekong River in Viangchan or Vientiane, Laos. Chao Anouvong was a king of Viangchan (r. 1804-1828), one of the Lan Xang kingdoms of Laos, when it was under the rule of Thailand. He undertook a liberation war against Thailand in the late 1820s. However, this enterprise failed, with Chao Anouvong himself together with his family being captured and brought to Bangkok, where he died. Viangchan was totally destroyed, and the Lan Xang kingdom was incorporated into Siam as Siamese provinces. Lao and Thai authorities and scholars, dealing with the relations between both countries in this period, equivocate, on the one hand, in narrating the history because of the “explosive” character of the subject and attempt, on the other hand, to defend or justify the standpoint of their own country in explaining crucial events or situations of the liberation war of Chao Anouvong. Their narratives which provide different interpretations on them seem, however, to be underlain by a nationalist sentiment in any case, though some differences in extent.
  7. Bio note:
  8. Hungguk Cho is Professor of Southeast Asian History in the Graduate School of International Studies, Pusan National University, South Korea. His main interests lie in Thai and Lao history and historiography. His recent research has been on historical relations between Southeast Asia and Korea. His publications include among others Die politische Geschichte Thailands unter der Herrschaft König Narais (1994), Formation and Change of Ethnic Chinese Society in Southeast Asia (co-author, 2000, in Korean), “The Trade between China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia in the 14th Century through the 17th Century Period” (2000), “Siamese -Korean Relations in the late Fourteenth Century” (2006), Thailand: A Country of Buddhism and Kingship (2007, in Korean), History of Relations between Korea and Southeast Asia (2009, in Korean), and Southeast Asian Historiography Unravelling the Myths: Essays in honour of Barend Jan Terwiel (co-author, 2011).
  9. Moderator:Prof. Junko KOIZUMI (CSEAS)
CSEAS Colloquium by Dr. Swapan Kumar Dasgupta
  1. Date:July 25(Thurs.), 2013 16:00 -
  2. Place:Meddle sized meeting room (Room No. 332), Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, Kyoto University
  3. Speaker:Dr. Swapan Kumar Dasgupta, Visiting Research Scholar at CSEAS, Kyoto University and Director (Admin.), Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD), Bangladesh
  4. Title:Governance of Public Service Delivery in Bangladesh: Role of Members of Parliament
  5. Abstract:
  6. This study assessed the role of Members of Parliament (MP) and other stakeholders in the governance of public services and scope for improvement democratically in Bangladesh. The study revealed that accountability of government officials to service receivers was not visible adequately. Local government bodies could not assert themselves for ensuring accountability of public service providers. Personality conflict between Upazila Chairman (UZC) and MP; UZC and Vice Chairs; and UZC and UNO (Upazila Executive Officer) obstructed formation of Standing Committees in many Upazilas. Chaotic situation in many Upazilas hindered horizontal and vertical accountability of government service providers. Upazila Parishad could not monitor public service delivery properly because of departmental plan and implementation. Majority of respondents of sample departments mentioned that they have internal evaluation system. But, the research team could not trace that to assess level of customer satisfaction. Majority of respondent MPs said that transparency, accountability, participation and integrity are inevitable for good governance and democracy in public service delivery. The study recommends that Parliamentary Standing Committees (PSCs) may review public service delivery system periodically to make that client-friendly. PSCs may examine programs and projects to identify problems and recommending solutions. Recommendations of PSCs should get priority and due importance by respective Ministries. PSCs may organize public hearing at district and Upazila levels to receive first-hand information on quality, quantity and effectiveness of public services. Time slots need to be kept in parliament session for discussion and dissemination of performance of public service delivery. MP's 'face-to-face' interaction with people may be organized and telecasted by television and radio. Government departments should present their performance in presence of MP before all cross-sections of citizens. MPs may advise Upazila Parishad to prepare a five year plan and its break up as Annual Development Plans and budgets integrating plans of transferred departments. MPs may integrate their special resource grants with Upazila Parishad Plan and budget.
  7. Bio note:
  8. Dr. Swapan Kumar Dasgupta is a B.A. (Hons.) & M.A. in Economics from Chittagong University, Bangladesh. He did second M.Sc. in Food Policy and Commodity Trade from University of Welsh Swansea, UK. He did Ph.D. in Bio-production Science from United Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tottori University, Japan. He worked as a Visiting Research Fellow in Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan. He has published 30 research reports at home and abroad on Micro-credit, Poverty, Development intervention; Farm Management; Food Security; Agricultural Tenancy; Cooperatives, Public Service Delivery; Local Government; Agricultural Value Chain; Disaster Management and Climate Change. He provided consultancy services to the Asia Foundation Bangladesh; the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh; Japan International Cooperation Agency in Bangladesh; UNDP Bangladesh; and Directorate of Women & Children's Affairs of Bangladesh. He was involved in designing and conducting 75 training courses/workshops for civil servants and GO/NGO professionals.
  9. Moderator:Dr. Kazuo Ando, CSEAS, Kyoto University
Tonan Talk by Dr. Simon Creak
  1. Date & Time:July 24 (Wed.), 2013 12:00 - 13:30
  2. Place:Tonan-tei (Room No. 201, 2nd floor of Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, CSEAS, Kyoto University
  3. Speaker:Simon Creak, Associate Professor, Hakubi Center for Advanced Research and CSEAS, Kyoto University
  4. Title:Sport, regionalism, and regional history: Thailand’s founding of the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games, 1957-59
  5. Abstract:
  6. The Olympic Committee of Thailand founded the biennial South East Asia Peninsular Games (SEAP), forerunner of the region’s biggest and longest-running sporting event, the Southeast Asian Games, in 1959. Then and subsequently, organizers explicitly sought to use the games to promote regional friendship and cooperation among participating countries, which originally included Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, Singapore, South Vietnam, and Thailand. Regionalist themes were notable for the geographical make-up of the region imagined in the games, i.e. mainland Southeast Asian; the ideological make-up of this “region”, which cut across ideological cleavages in the context of the Cold War; the imagined historical antecedents of this region invoked by organizers; and the use of sport, a cultural practice, rather than politics or economics to promote regionalism. Yet regionalism was not the only force behind the establishment of the SEAP Games. In this paper, I examine how regional sentiments combined with regional history – in the form of Thai and other regional nationalisms, and the Cold War intervention of the United States – in the founding of the SEAP Games. I will also consider how these sometimes-conflicting motifs were brought to life, intentionally and otherwise, in the inaugural 1959 SEAP Games in Bangkok. Based on this discussion, I will conclude with some thoughts about regional history and the study of regionalism in Southeast Asia.
  7. Bio note:
  8. Simon Creak is Associate Professor in Kyoto University’s Hakubi Center for Advanced Research and based in the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. His research interests lie in the cultural, political, and intellectual history of modern Southeast Asia, especially the related issues of nationalism, state formation, and regionalism. Much of Simon’s previous work has approached these interests through the study of sport, physicality, and gender in colonial and post-colonial Laos. His first monograph, Body Work: Sport, Physical Culture, and the Making of Modern Laos (University of Hawaii Press), is due to be released in 2014.
  9. Moderator:Junko KOIZUMI (CSEAS)
Tonan Talk by Prof. Eugenio Matibag
  1. Date:July 4th (Thurs.), 2013, 12:00 - 13:30
  2. Place:Tonan-tei (Room No. 201, 2nd floor of Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, CSEAS, Kyoto University
  3. Speaker:Prof. Eugenio Matibag, Department of World Languages and Cultures, Iowa State University
  4. Title:Cosmopolitan Nationalism: The Filipino Ilustrados Abroad
  5. Abstract:
  6. What is the meaning of nationalism in a world of globalizing interconnections? Does it make sense to see in national integration a “template,” as Thomas Hylland Eriksen puts it, for the processes of globalization? Do nationalist movements challenge colonial hegemony while seeking an accommodation within a global system of states and transnational agencies?
  7. Possible answers to these questions may be gleaned from the writings and personal histories of the nineteenth-century Filipino expatriates called “ilustrados.” Definitions of the term ilustrado include the dispersed group of Filipino educated elite who denounced the dysfunctions and abuses of Spanish colonial rule, who agitated across borders in networks and associations originating outside the Philippines. These Filipino activist intellectuals produced a body of works that illustrate what Benedict Anderson has called a “long-distance” nationalism with reformist or revolutionary implications; what invites closer examination is the manner in which this cadre of nationalist thinkers, orators and authors issued a call for a new cosmopolitanism based on notions of new ethnic identities and global socioeconomic justice.
  8. Beginning with a reflection on Juan Luna’s painting Spain Guiding the Philippines to the Light of 1887 and considering Nick Joaquin’s thesis on the formation of the Philippine culture as an Hispanic process, Professor Matibag will go on to survey seminal contributions to the discourse of Philippine nationalism in the works of Juan Luna, Pedro Paterno, Jose' Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar and Apolinario Mabini. All makers of a modern Philippines, these ilustrados sought to advance the representation of a "colony" as a "nation," at the same time demonstrating the way in which nationalism, by a broadening of political culture and espousal of universal values, participated in the processes of an early globalization.
  9. Bio note:
  10. Eugenio Matibag, professor of Spanish in Iowa State University's Department of World Languages and Cultures, was born in Cavite and grew up in Southern California. He has published research on Latin American and Philippine literature in the journals Revista Hispa'nica Moderna, Humanities Diliman, Catauro, Postmodern Culture, The Journal of Caribbean Studies, Dispositio, Hispame'rica, and in various anthologies and encyclopedias. His two books are Afro-Cuban Religious Experience (1996) and Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint (2003). He is currently at work on a study that examines the discourse of Philippine nationalism in the context of globalization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  11. Moderator:Prof. Hau Caroline (CSEAS)
 

June 2013

Special Seminar by Prof. Thongchai Winichakul
  1. Date & Time:June 27(Thurs.), 2013 14:00 - 16:00
  2. Place:Middle-sized Meeting Room (Room No.332), Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, Kyoto University
  3. Speaker:Prof.Dr.Thongchai Winichakul, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  4. Title:Hyper-Royalism as Public Culture in Thailand: Cold War Insecurity, Visual Culture and Magic
  5. Abstract:
  6. The success of the Thai monarchy as a sacred institution in our time is due to its ability to reinvest its rich cultural capital in modern public sphere. To assure his people of social normalcy and prosperity in the context of the Cold War and post-Cold War security anxiety, the popular Dharma-raja epitomizes the great Thainess via visual consumption. But the success comes at a huge cost, especially as it may come to its end.
  7. About the speake:
  8. Thongchai Winichakul is Professor of History at University of Wisconsin-Madison. His book, Siam Mapped (1994) was awarded the Harry J Benda Prize from the Association for Asian Studies (USA) in 1995, and the Grand Prize from the Asian Affairs Research Council (Japan) in 2004. He was a recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Award in 1994 and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003. His research interests are in cultural and intellectual history of Siam including nationalism and history of knowledge. He currently works on the intellectual foundation of modern Siam (1880s-1930s) and also a book on the memories of the 1976 massacre in Bangkok. He is currently the President of the Association for Asian Studies.
  9. Moderator:Assoc. Prof. Pavin Chachavalpongpun (CSEAS)
CSEAS Colloquium by Dr. Suhardja D. Wiramihardja
  1. Date:June 21(Fri.), 2013 16:00 -
  2. Place:Meddle sized meeting room (Room No. 332), Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, Kyoto University
  3. Speaker:Dr. Suhardja D. Wiramihardja, Visiting Research fellow of CSEAS and Professor of Astronomy Research Group, Institut Teknologi Bandung
  4. Title:Current Studies on Ethnoastronomy in Indonesia
  5. Abstract:
  6. This presentation will introduce current studies on ethnoastronomy in Indonesia. In the first part, I will give a brief history of astronomy in the country as well as a short background of ethnoastronomy in general. Some results of the studies conducted by Indonesian and foreign researchers for several ethnic groups with various aspects of cultures will be presented. Indeed, knowledge of the starry sky and its constellation was common in many ethnic groups amongst the natives of Indonesian archipelago. A season-keeping system based on appearance and disappearance of certain stars or star clusters was recognized in many ancient ethnic groups and applied mainly by farmers to the agricultural cycle. Knowledge of the sky was woven into the textures of life in such forms as : mythology, astronomy-related folklores, ritual behaviors. A recent study suggests that an alignment of Borobudur-Pawon-Mendut temples is similar with the alignment of the Orion Belt stars. In the latter part of this presentation, I will give results of a study in exploring astronomy-related culture of the indigenous Sundanese people, the ethnic group of 43 million people who live in west part of Java island.
  7. Bio note:
  8. Suhardja D. Wiramihardja, professor of astronomy, Institut Teknologi Bandung, obtained his doctorate in astronomy from Kyoto University with specialty in Physics of Galaxy. His publications are mostly on star-forming regions and galactic clusters. Recently he has included ethnoastronomy within his research scope. He is currently a visiting research fellow in CSEAS, Kyoto University.
API Seminar
  1. Date:June 20 (Thurs.), 2013, 15:00 - 18:10
  2. Place:Small Meeting Room II (Room No. 331), Inamori Foundation Memorial Bldg., Kyoto University
  3. Program & Abstract:PDF
  4. Moderator:Prof. Yoko Hayami (CSEAS)
Tonan Talk by Dr. Mariam B. Lam
  1. Date:June 20 (Thurs.), 2013, 12:00 - 14:00
  2. Place:Tonan-tei (Room No. 201, 2nd floor of Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, CSEAS, Kyoto University
  3. Speaker:Dr. Mariam B. Lam, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Riverside
  4. Title:Cultural Economic Development in the Film Industries of Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos
  5. Abstract:
  6. Film scholarship on postcolonial Southeast Asia often privileges the French colonial period of the three nation-states of Việt Nam, Cambodiaand Laos. Today, however, provocative cultural production and economic redevelopment is taking shape in peninsular Southeast Asia. The layered colonial and imperial histories of these three countries and this region as a whole impose certain constraints on the post-Cold War redevelopment of these national film industries, while also allowing for unique transnational innovations. Southeast Asian peninsular films and filmmakers are cross-referencing one another's economic developmental models, governmental initiatives, celebrity cross-over market potentials, connected land and aerial borders, East/West collaborations and North/South co-productions.
  7. Bio note:
  8. Mariam B. Lam is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Media & Cultural Studies, and Director of the Southeast Asian Studies Research Program (SEATRiP) at the University of California, Riverside. She is founding Co-Editor of the Journal of Vietnamese Studies, Chair of the Southeast Asian Archive Board at UC Irvine, and an Advisory Board Member of the University of California Humanities Research Institute. Her monograph, entitled Precariat Reckoning: Viet Nam, Post-Trauma and Strategic Affect (forthcoming, Duke UP, 2014), analyzes cultural production and community politics within and across Viet Nam, France, and the US, and she is completing work on her second book, Surfin’ Southeast Asia: New Circulations of Cold War Culture and Global Capital.
  9. Moderator:Prof. Hau Caroline (CSEAS)