ANNUAL REPORT 2014
ARI’s logo depicts rice grains in star-like formation. Rice has
been the main staple food for many of Asia’s peoples since the
15th century. It forms the basis of communal bonds, an element
of ritual in many Asian societies, and a common cultural thread
across nations and societies. Rice cultivation, as one of the major
agricultural activities in Asia, has implications for population,
sustainability and ecology. In symbolic as well as material ways,
rice touches upon many of the key socio-economic and cultural
issues in Asia, and is fitting emblem of the Asia Research Institute.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
1
Contents
1.0
2.0
VISION AND MISSION
03
MANAGEMENT
04
Message from Chair of International
Advisory Board
International Advisory Board
Message from Chair of Management Board
Management Board
Director’s Foreword
Steering Committee
Administrative Staff
05
06
07
08
09
10
10
3.0
ARI COMMITTEES
11
4.0
RESEARCH PERSONNEL
14
Director
Deputy Director
Research Leaders
(Senior) Research Fellows
Postdoctoral Fellows
Other Joint Appointments/Secondments
Research Associates/Assistants
Muhammad Alagil Distinguished Visiting
Professor in Arabia Asia Studies
Visiting Senior Research Fellows
Assistant Professor on FASS Writing
Semester Scheme
16
16
16
16
17
18
19
19
5.0
2
19
20
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES
AND ACTIVITIES
21
Research Clusters
Governing Compound Disasters in
Urbanising Asia
Casino Mobilities: Labour Migration, Global
Consumption and Regulation in Singapore
Migrating Out of Poverty Research
Programme Consortium
Asian MetaCentre for Population and
Sustainable Development Analysis
External Funded Projects
22
37
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
38
39
41
43
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
EVENTS
45
Conferences and Workshops
ARI Seminar Series
Cluster Seminars
Other Event
Study Groups and their Seminars
46
55
57
59
60
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
62
Asia Trends Series
Public Lectures
Newsletters and Reports
Media Coverage
Digital and Social Connectivity
63
66
66
67
67
PUBLICATIONS
68
Books
ARI-Springer Asia Series
Asian Population Studies
ARI Working Paper Series
Articles and Book Chapters
69
74
75
76
77
ARI RECOGNITION
85
Awards and Honours
Keynotes and Plenaries
86
86
10.0 SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE
AND GRADUATE STUDIES
89
Graduate and Other Teaching at NUS
Asian Graduate Forum
Asian Graduate Student Fellowships
Research Scholarships
ARI Internship Programme
90
91
92
95
95
11.0 EXTERNAL RELATIONS
MOU/External Funding Received
International Visits
Visitors
96
97
99
99
1.0
VISION
To be a world-leading hub for research on Asia
MISSION
Inspiring new k
knowledge
l d and
d transforming
insights into Asia
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
3
2.0
MANAGEMENT
4
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
MANAGEMENT
Message
from Chair of
International
Advisory Board
2.0
The Annual Report 2014 records another year of impressive
achievements by the Asia Research Institute, now firmly
established as a leader in the field of research on Asia. It is
therefore with great pleasure that I congratulate the Director and
all his colleagues for their achievements.
Attracting some of the most influential scholars in the fields of
Asian Migration, Asian Urbanisms, Cultural Studies, Religion
and Globalisation, Science, Technology, and Society, Asian
Connections, and Changing Family, ARI continues to create a
conducive research-rich environment for scholars, pushing the
boundaries of critical scholarship on Asia. This congregation of
highly admired international scholars in the study of Asia, as well
as the recruitment of promising up-and-coming new scholars
and home-grown talents, across various faculties in NUS,
have greatly facilitated knowledge creation and exchanges and
further strengthened ARI’s commitment to developing a younger
generation of scholars.
Indeed, ARI’s impending move back to the Kent Ridge Campus
in the middle of 2016 will bring it closer to other NUS faculties
and schools that share similar research interests and thus allow
better synergy. Preparations for this move have started with the
implementation of the ARI-FASS Joint Postdoctoral Fellowship
scheme and various other joint appointments that would deepen
the research-education nexus. It will also allow ARI staff to gain
valuable teaching experience while pushing the frontiers of
knowledge. These are timely initiatives as ARI prepares to be
relocated into a brand new building on the main campus and
as it builds an interactive loop between productive research and
effective teaching.
PROFESSOR TOMMY KOH
Chairman
International Advisory Board
The international standing of the Institute continues to be
augmented through numerous awards and recognitions this year.
Professor Prasenjit Duara was honoured with a Visiting Fellowship
from the Conscious Realities, Sàn Art, Vietnam; Associate
Professor Michael Feener was appointed the Prince Alwaleed
Bin Talal Visiting Professor of Islamic Studies, Harvard University,
while Dr Tamra Lysaght received the 2014 Sydney Southeast
Asian Centre Mobility Award from the Sydney Southeast Asian
Centre, University of Sydney. The increasing number of invited
keynotes and plenaries among the staff at various international
conferences and seminars further attest to the recognition of
ARI’s high standing and contribution to scholarship.
I am very pleased that under the able directorship of Professor
Prasenjit Duara, ARI has deepened its commitment to research
of the highest standard and I look forward to more exciting
events and higher levels of achievement for the coming year.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
5
2.0
MANAGEMENT
International
Advisory Board
Chairman
Board Members
Prof Tommy Koh
Rector, Tembusu College
Chairman, Centre for International Law,
National University of Singapore
and Ambassador-at-Large,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore
Prof Tani Barlow
Director, Chao Centre for Asian Studies,
Rice University, USA
Ex Officio
Prof Srirupa Roy
Professor and Chair of State and Democracy
and Director, Centre for Modern Indian Studies
University of Göttingen, Germany
Prof Prasenjit Duara
Director, Asia Research Institute
National University of Singapore
Prof Craig Calhoun
Director, The London School of Economics
and Political Science, UK
Prof James Scott
Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology,
and Director, Agrarian Studies, Yale University, USA
Prof Takashi Shiraishi
Professor, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies,
Kyoto University, Japan
6
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
MANAGEMENT
Message
from Chair of
Management
Board
2.0
In its 12th year, ARI continues to impress with gratifying
achievements in its research activities and publications. In 2014,
under the leadership of its Director Professor Prasenjit Duara, ARI
successfully hosted the inaugural AAS (US Association for Asian
Studies)-in-Asia conference entitled Asia in Motion: Heritage and
Transformation in July.
The Board is pleased to see continuing efforts to build on the
interdisciplinary and cross-cluster approach in knowledge
creation and sharing, such as the MOE (Ministry of Education)
funded project “Governing Compound Disasters in Urbanising
Asia” that is a collaboration of the Asian Urbanism cluster, and
the Science, Technology and Society cluster. Moving forward,
other possible common themes such as multiculturalism and
representation of physical space in films may offer further
opportunities for collaboration among researchers from various
ARI clusters.
ARI has continued to push for the publication of scholarly books
through well-known academic publishers, special issues in
prestigious journals, articles and book chapters. It is notable that
an increasing number of ARI’s research and publication activities
are carried out in collaborative partnership within NUS (especially
the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Lee Kuan Yew School of
Public Policy and Yale-NUS College) and with external partners.
Indeed, ARI’s efforts in fostering international collaboration have
truly paid off, with many universities and scholarly associations in
the Americas, Europe and Asia teaming up with ARI to advance
critical scholarship on Asia.
PROFESSOR CHONG CHI TAT
Chairman
Board of Management
ARI had a fruitful and productive year in 2014. The Management
Board thanks Professor Prasenjit Duara and the entire ARI staff
for a job well done.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
7
2.0
MANAGEMENT
Management
Board
Chairman
Board Members
Prof Chong Chi Tat
Director, Institute of Mathematical Sciences
National University of Singapore
Prof Andrew Harding
Director, Centre for Asian Legal Studies
National University of Singapore
Ex Officio
Prof Heng Chye Kiang (Till Jun 2014)
Dean, School of Design and Environment
National University of Singapore
Prof Prasenjit Duara
Director, Asia Research Institute
National University of Singapore
Prof Tan Tai Yong
Vice Provost (Student Life), Office of the Provost
National University of Singapore, and
Executive Vice President (Academic Affairs),
Yale-NUS College
Prof Wang Gungwu
Chairman, East Asian Institute
National University of Singapore
Dr Wang Hui
Director, Division of Research Administration
Office of the Deputy President
(Research and Technology)
National University of Singapore
Prof Bernard Yeung (Till Jun 2014)
Dean, NUS Business School
National University of Singapore
Prof Neil Coe (From Jul 2014)
Head, Department of Geography
National University of Singapore
Prof Deng Yongheng (From Jul 2014)
Head, Department of Real Estate
National University of Singapore
8
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
MANAGEMENT
Director’s
Foreword
PROFESSOR PRASENJIT DUARA
Director, Asia Research Institute
Raffles Professor of Humanities, and Professor of History
2.0
In several respects, ARI saw a great leap forward in 2014. It
was easily ARI’s best year for securing external funding. The
Muhammad Alagil Distinguished Professorship in Arabia Asia
Studies was endowed by Mr Muhammad Alagil with a generous
endowment of over SGD3 million; this was matched by the
Singapore government to total more than SGD6 million. The
endowment funds Arabia-Asia research; Professor Engseng Ho
of Duke University was appointed the Distinguished Professor for
five years. Beginning in June 2014, Professor Ho, with the help
of ARI staff, held the first ARI Arabia Asia Studies conference,
Slender but Supple Threads: Arabia-Asia Relations Then and
Now, within a matter of a few months of receiving the award.
Other sources and donors have also recognised ARI’s efforts.
The Ministry of Education awarded a SGD709,000 grant for a
project entitled “Governing Compound Disasters in Urbanising
Asia” to the Asian Urbanisms and Science, Technology, and
Society Clusters. Meanwhile the Luce Foundation in New
York City awarded a SGD500,000 grant to the Religion and
Globalisation Cluster for its project entitled “Religion and NGOs in
Asia”. Several other smaller grants were also made to individuals
and clusters in ARI.
Our other major event was the inaugural AAS-in-Asia Conference
of the Association of Asian Studies (USA) in July 2014. The initial
response was overwhelming, so we were determined to limit
the number of participants to 500 in order to ensure success.
Indeed, it was a great success in no small measure due to the
efficiency of the ARI staff. AAS President, Professor Mrinalini
Sinha, noted, “There is no denying that this, our inaugural AASin-Asia, was a big success. On behalf of the AAS, thank you”.
Judging from the enthusiasm for AAS-in-Asia to be held later this
year in Taiwan and next year in Kyoto, AAS-in-Asia is here to stay
and ARI can take some pride in its initiation here.
It will be recalled that in 2013 we faced a severe budget crunch
because of our growing number of activities and the unanticipated
sharp increase in housing costs in NUS. Our cutbacks in 2014
have put us in a much more comfortable situation, although
we still have to build back our reserves. We keep our fingers
crossed that we will not experience such sudden increases in
cost in future.
Several of our staff, including the Associate Director, Verene
Koh, PA to the Director, Kristy Won, and events team member,
Jonathan Lee, left ARI for other opportunities. We were sad to
see them leave, but were heartened by the excellent candidates
we found to replace them. Sharlene Anthony joined as Senior
Manager in February and subsequently Tay Minghua and Priya
Latha joined as Management Assistant Officer (Events) and PA
to Director, respectively. Thus ARI continues to run as smoothly
as it did before.
Finally, it is with a heavy heart that I announce my decision to
retire from the Directorship at the end of 2015. The years spent
as Director of ARI have unquestionably been the best years of
my professional life and I have been truly fortunate to be able to
grow intellectually and morally with this superb institution.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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2.0
MANAGEMENT
Steering
Committee
Administrative
Staff
Director
Sharlene Anthony (From 24 Feb 2014)
MA (Nanyang Technological University)
Senior Manager
Prof Prasenjit Duara
Deputy Director
Assoc Prof Huang Jianli
Noorhayati Hamsan
Management Assistant Officer (Finance)
Research Leaders
Prof Chua Beng Huat
Prof Michael Douglass
Assoc Prof Gregory Clancey
Assoc Prof R. Michael Feener
Prof Brenda S.A. Yeoh
Prof Jean Yeung
Verene Koh Hwee Kiang (Till 21 Feb 2014)
MBA (National University of Singapore)
Associate Director
Henry Kwan Wai Hung
Diploma (Singapore Polytechnic)
Specialist Associate (IT)
Senior Research Fellows
Dr Michiel Baas (From 1 Nov 2014)
Dr Philip Fountain
Dr Rita Padawangi
Jonathan Lee Ming Yao (Till 22 Jul 2014)
BA (State University of New York at Buffalo)
Management Assistant Officer (Events/PR)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sharon Ong
BFA (RMIT/Lasalle College of the Arts)
Senior Executive (Events/PR)
Dr Malini Sur
Associate Director
(As Secretary)
Ms Verene Koh (Till 21 Feb 2014)
Senior Manager
(As Secretary)
Ms Sharlene Anthony (From 24 Feb 2014)
Kalaichelvi Sitharthan
Graduate Diploma (Southern Cross University)
Management Assistant Officer (Human Resources)
Vernice Tan Ser Nee
BA (Murdoch University)
Senior Executive (Human Resources)
Tay Minghua (From 2 Dec 2014)
Diploma (Kaplan Higher Education Institute)
Management Assistant Officer (Events)
Kristy Won Tien Min (Till 21 Nov 2014)
BSc (University of London)
Assistant Manager, and Secretary to Director
Valerie Yeo Ee Lin
Diploma (Singapore Polytechnic)
Management Assistant Officer (Events/PR)
10
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
MANAGEMENT
2.0
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
11
3.0
ARI COMMITTEES
3.0
ARI COMMITTEES
ARI Committees
Members of ARI actively contribute to the
running of the Institute in various ways,
including through their participation in
committees.
In the year 2014 the following committees
took up responsibility for various aspects
of work involved in the running of ARI as a
resource for research on the Asian region
for graduate student researchers.
Asian Graduate Students Committee With
Summer Institute And Graduate Students Forum
Dr Michiel Baas (Chair) (From 15 Sep 2014)
Assoc Prof Titima Suthiwan
Dr Nausheen Anwar (Till 31 Jul 2014)
Dr Philip Fountain
Dr Maria Platt
Dr Michelle Miller
Dr Shawna Tang
Dr Zhang Juan (Till 25 Jan 2014)
Dr Tabea Bork-Hüffer (From 15 Sep 2014)
Dr Sharon Quah (From 15 Sep 2014)
Mrs Kalaichelvi Sitharthan
Conference And Research Grants Committee
Assoc Prof Huang Jianli (Chair)
Prof Chua Beng Huat
Prof Brenda Yeoh
Ms Kristy Won (Till 21 Nov 2014)
Ms Valerie Yeo
Finance Committee
Prof Prasenjit Duara (Chair)
Assoc Prof Huang Jianli
Prof Brenda Yeoh
Ms Sharlene Anthony (From 24 Feb 2014)
Dr Tamra Lysaght (Till 30 Nov 2014)
Fire Safety Committee
Mr Henry Kwan (Chair)
Dr Peter Marolt (Till 16 May 2014)
Ms Li Hongyan (Till 16 Mar 2014)
Ms Noorhayati Hamsan
Ms Sharon Ong
Ms Kristy Won (Till 21 Nov 2014)
Ms Valerie Yeo
Mrs Kalaichelvi Sitharthan
Ms Tharuka Prematillake (From 15 Sep 2014)
Ms Wajihah Hamid (From 15 Sep 2014)
12
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
ARI COMMITTEES
Green Committee
Dr Wu Keping (Chair) (Till 30 Nov 2014)
Dr Sharon Quah (Chair) (From 1 Dec 2014)
Dr Zhang Juan (Till 25 Jan 2014)
Ms Noorhayati Hamsan
Ms Valerie Yeo
Mr Henry Kwan
Library Committee
Dr Philip Fountain (Chair)
Dr Li Haibin
Dr Malini Sur
Dr Tyson Vaughan (From 1 Nov 2014)
Ms Valerie Yeo
Newsletter And Outreach Committee
Dr Rita Padawangi (Chair)
Dr Cho Kyuhoon (Till 18 July 2014)
Dr Eric Kerr
Dr Sally Liu (Till 31 Jul 2014)
Dr Suzanne Naafs (Till 2 Sep 2014)
Dr Ravi Rajan (Till 1 Jul 2014)
Dr Thum Ping Tjin (Till 8 Oct 2014)
Dr Zhang Juan (Till 25 Jan 2014)
Dr Celine Coderey (From 1 Nov 2014)
Dr Joshua Gedacht (From 1 Nov 2014)
Dr Ronojoy Sen (From 1 Nov 2014)
Ms Saharah Abubakar
Ms Sharon Ong
Mr Henry Kwan
Publications Committee
(Working Paper Series)
Dr Michelle Miller (Chair)
Assoc Prof Tim Bunnell (Till 30 Jun 2014)
Dr Nausheen Anwar (Till 31 Jul 2014)
Dr Maureen Hickey (Till 5 Sep 2014)
Dr Tamra Lysaght (Till 30 Nov 2014)
Dr Peter Marolt (Till 16 May 2014)
Dr Zhang Juan (Till 25 Jan 2014)
Dr Eli Elinoff (From 1 Nov 2014)
Dr Joshua Gedacht (From 1 Nov 2014)
Dr Eric Kerr (From 1 Nov 2014)
Dr Fiona Lee (From 1 Nov 2014)
Ms Tharuka Prematillake
Ms Valerie Yeo
3.0
Seminar Committee
Prof Jean Yeung (Chair)
Prof Chua Beng Huat
Assoc Prof Tim Bunnell (Till 30 Jun 2014)
Assoc Prof R. Michael Feener
Dr Asha Rathina-Pandi (Till 2 Jun 2014)
Dr Jerome Whitington
Dr Wu Keping (Till 30 Nov 2014)
Mrs Kalaichelvi Sitharthan
Ms Valerie Yeo
Ms Tay Minghua (From 2 Dec 2014)
Mr Jonathan Lee (Till 22 Jul 2014)
Social And Staff Welfare Committee
Dr Tabea Bork-Hüffer (Chair)
Dr Maureen Hickey (Till 5 Sep 2014)
Ms Vernice Tan
Ms Kristy Won (Till 21 Nov 2014)
Ms Wajihah Hamid (From 4 Sep 2014)
Mr Jonathan Lee (Till 22 Jul 2014)
Steering Committee
Prof Prasenjit Duara (Chair)
Assoc Prof Huang Jianli
Prof Chua Beng Huat
Prof Mike Douglass
Prof Brenda S.A. Yeoh
Prof Jean Yeung
Assoc Prof Gregory Clancey
Assoc Prof R. Michael Feener
Dr Philip Fountain
Dr Malini Sur
Dr Michiel Baas (From 1 Nov 2014)
Ms Sharlene Anthony (From 24 Feb 2014)
Website Committee
Dr Maria Platt (Chair)
Dr Marco Garrido (Till 30 Jun 2014)
Ms Sharon Ong
Ms Valerie Yeo
Mr Henry Kwan
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
13
4.0
Research Personnel
14
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PERSONNEL
Research
Personnel
The Asia Research Institute aims to be
the hub for high-quality social science
and humanities research on Asia, and
attracting high quality researchers is
paramount to the success of the Institute.
ARI has been receiving an increasing
number of applications each year over
the last five years for medium and short
term visiting research positions, reaching
350 applications in 2014. This is a clear
indication of ARI becoming the preferred
choice for researchers working on Asia.
4.0
Since 2005, ARI has brought to NUS a mix of well-established
scholars and younger researchers from the region who wish to
spend research time in the Institute and interact with the best in
their fields. The Institute also attracts many established scholars
on paid sabbatical leave from their home institutions to spend
time conducting research and establishing connections in ARI
and NUS. Scholars who joined under visiting or sabbatical
scheme in 2014 are listed in the following section on Visiting
Senior Research Fellows.
The research personnel in ARI are diverse; they vary in terms
of research foci, nationalities, international experience, and
duration of appointments. ARI further maintains a good balance
between established scholars and those who are at the start of
their promising careers.
The research personnel are led by distinguished research
leaders, each heading a research cluster. Most of the research
leaders are tenured faculty members, part-seconded on joint
appointments from their home departments in NUS, while others
have been recruited after exhaustive international searches.
The research leaders and (senior) research fellows provide the
stability and experience necessary for implementing longer-term
plans of the Institute, while other shorter-term members add
agility and vibrancy to the ARI community.
A high proportion of appointees in ARI are short-term visiting
fellows who are mostly established scholars on leave from their
home institutions, and they are recruited internationally on a
competitive basis for periods ranging from three months to up
to a year.
Postdoctoral fellows are also appointed through an annual
international competition. They are promising young scholars
in their research fields, with ARI providing them the space and
time to build up their research and publication capacities in their
early career development. Outstanding performers often go on
to succeed in securing tenure-track positions in NUS or other
universities worldwide.
In 2014, ARI continued to interact with the faculties of NUS
in various ways, particularly by co-organising events and
collaborating in research. In addition, the FASS Writing Semester
Scheme is designed to enable assistant professors in the
faculties to devote six months to writing in ARI, primarily to
complete publications needed for tenure review.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
15
4.0
RESEARCH PERSONNEL
A proportion of ARI’s research staff was appointed on the basis
of external funded programmes or projects. Two research project
grants awarded by the John E. Fetzer Memorial Trust and the
John Templeton Foundation provided full or partial support for
four research assistants/associates. The Global Asia Institute
also funded a research assistant in ARI. A continuing research
programme grant for the Migrating Out of Poverty Research
Programme Consortium, funded by the UK Department for
International Development (DFID) through the University of
Sussex provided full or partial support for two research assistants
and a research associate. A grant for a project on migration
and Chinese families partially supported the appointment of a
postdoctoral fellow and another funding for a project on China
children provided for the appointment of yet another postdoctoral
fellow.
Director
Duara, Prasenjit, Professor. PhD (Harvard), MPhil (Jawaharlal
Nehru), MA (Delhi), BA (Delhi). Director since 1 January 2011;
Historical Sociology of Asian Connections Metacluster Research
Leader from April 2011; joint appointment with Department of
History, FASS. History of China and more broadly of Asia in the
twentieth century; historical thought and historiography.
Deputy Director
Huang Jianli, Associate Professor. PhD (ANU), BA (Hons)
(NUS). Deputy Director since 1 January 2013; joint appointment
with Department of History, FASS, and concurrently Research
Associate at the East Asian Institute, NUS. History of Republican
China from the 1910s to 1940s; student political activism; local
governance; and Chinese diaspora, in particular the relationship
between China and the Chinese community in Singapore.
Research Leaders
Chua Beng Huat, Provost's Chair Professor. PhD (York), MA
(York), BSc (Acadia). Cultural Studies in Asia Cluster Research
Leader since 1 January 2004; joint appointment with Department
of Sociology, and concurrently Head, Department of Sociology,
FASS. Housing and urban studies; comparative politics in
Southeast Asia; East Asian pop culture and cultural studies in Asia.
Clancey, Gregory Kevin, Associate Professor. PhD (MIT), MA
(Boston), BA (Hons) (Bates). Science, Technology, and Society
Cluster Research Leader since 1 August 2009; joint appointment
with Department of History, FASS; Master, Tembusu College,
NUS from 27 September 2010. History and anthropology of science
and technology; architecture and cities; natural disaster; Japan.
Douglass, Clyde Michael, Professor. PhD (UCLA), MA
(Hawai’i), BA (UCLA). Asian Urbanisms Cluster Research Leader
since 1 August 2012; joint appointment with Department of
Sociology, FASS, from 12 June 2012 to 31 July 2014; joint
appointment with LKYSPP, NUS, from 1 August 2014. Disaster
governance; progressive cities; liveable cities; vernacular cities;
spaces of hope and alternative development; globalisation and
urban development.
16
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Feener, R. Michael, Associate Professor. PhD (Boston), MA
(Boston), BA (Colorado, Boulder). Religion and Globalisation
Cluster Research Leader since 1 February 2009; joint
appointment with Department of History, FASS, from 28 June
2006. Islamic Studies; Religion and Development.
Yeoh Saw Ai, Brenda, Provost's Chair Professor. PhD (Oxford),
MA (Cambridge), BA (Hons) (Cambridge). Asian Migration
Cluster Research Leader; joint appointment with Department of
Geography, and concurrently Dean, FASS. The politics of space
in colonial and postcolonial cities; heritage issues and tourism
studies; cosmopolitanism and highly skilled talent migration;
gender, social reproduction and care migration; migration.
Yeung Wei-Jun, Jean, Professor. PhD (Alberta), MA (Illinois
State), BA (Soochow). Changing Family in Asia Cluster Research
Leader from 1 November 2011; joint appointment with
Department of Sociology, FASS, since 15 July 2008; and Director
of the Centre of Family and Population Research, FASS, since 1
April 2014. Intergenerational studies, family and children’s wellbeing and policies; poverty; fatherhood; China’s economic and
demographic transition.
(Senior) Research Fellows
Anwar, Nausheen Hafeeza, PhD (Columbia), MIA (Columbia),
BA (CUNY). Research Fellow from 1 January 2013 to 31 July 2014.
Politics of urban development, governance and globalisation;
linkages between structural-political violence, gender, poverty/
inequality and improved access to public services.
Baas, Michiel, PhD (Amsterdam), MA (Amsterdam). Research
Fellow since 2 June 2014. Mid-level skilled migration from India
to Singapore.
Bala, Arun, PhD (Western Ontario), MA (University of Singapore),
MA (Sussex), BSc (University of Singapore). Senior Research
Fellow since 1 December 2011. Civilisations and modern science;
different Asian traditions in the making of modern science.
Bush, Robin, PhD (Washington), MA (Ohio), BA (South
Carolina). Senior Research Fellow from 5 December 2011 to 27
June 2014. Interfaces between Islam, politics, and development,
particularly in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
Cho Soung Soo, Philip, PhD (Pennsylvania), MA (Pennsylvania),
BS (MIT). Research Fellow since 7 July 2011. Influence of popular
religion on the development of Chinese science, technology
and medicine in late-imperial China and early-modern Europe;
contemporary developments in science and technology in China.
Das, Dhiman, PhD (CUNY), MPhil (JNU). Research Fellow since
16 January 2013. Health; education; poverty; public policy.
RESEARCH PERSONNEL
Fountain, Philip, PhD (ANU), MSc (Wellington), BA (Wellington).
Senior Research Fellow since 1 November 2013. Religion;
international development; humanitarianism; disaster relief;
anthropology of Christianity; NGOs.
4.0
Salvatore, Armando, PhD (EUI), Habilitation (Humboldt), MA
(IUO). Senior Research Fellow from 1 April to 16 July 2014.
Religion, civility and modern power; sociology of culture and
religion; social theory; sociology of communication and historical
sociology.
Hickey, Maureen Helen, PhD (Washington), MA (Washington),
BA (Washington). Research Fellow from 6 September 2012 to 5
September 2014. Migration and development; internal migration
in Thailand; gender, masculinity and migration; labour migration
and shifting political identities.
Thum Ping Tjin, PhD (Oxford), MSt (Oxford), BA (Oxford).
Research Fellow from 1 January 2013 to 8 October 2014.
Transnational movements between Southeast Asian port cities.
Ji Yingchun, PhD (UNC, Chapel Hill), MA (Victoria), BA (Nanjing).
Research Fellow from 21 August 2012 to 20 August 2014. Social
demography; family sociology; medical sociology.
Wasson, Robert James, PhD (Macquarie), BA (Hons) (Sydney).
Principal Research Fellow from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014.
Flood risk in monsoon Asia; role of land use and climate change
in landscape change; catchment management systems; extreme
hydrologic events in the Australian and Asian tropics.
Jung Sun, PhD (Melbourne), MA (Griffith), BA (Toledo). Research
Fellow since 26 September 2011. South Korean popular cultures;
online youth cultures; creative activism.
Kawashima, Kumiko, PhD (ANU), BA (New South Wales).
Research Fellow from 1 January 2013 to 20 May 2014.
International mobility; youth; labour and identity in post-industrial
contexts.
Lysaght, Tamra Maree, PhD (Sydney), BSc (Newcastle), BBus
(Newcastle). Senior Research Fellow from 1 December 2012 to
30 November 2014. Ethical and sociopolitical issues surrounding
translation mental health research; whole genome sequencing;
reproductive tissue donation; stem cell science.
Marolt, Peter Wolfgang, PhD (Southern California). Research
Fellow from 17 May 2010 to 16 May 2014. Social theory; urban
and cultural/political geographies; globalisation; the Internet and
China.
Miller, Michelle Ann, PhD (Charles Darwin), BA (Hons)
(Northern Territory). Senior Research Fellow since 1 January
2014. Research Fellow from 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2013.
Decentralisation; governing environmental disasters; urban-rural
relations; social conflict and its resolution.
Naafs, Suzanne, PhD (Erasmus), MA (Leiden), BA (Leiden).
Research Fellow from 1 January 2013 to 2 September 2014.
Youth studies; development studies and cultural anthropology
with a geographical focus on Indonesia.
Padawangi, Rita, PhD (Loyola, Chicago), MA (Loyola, Chicago),
MA (NUS). Senior Research Fellow since 1 January 2013.
Sociology of urban design; social movements; environmental
sociology.
Platt, Maria Wendy, PhD (La Trobe), BAppSci (Hons) (Deakin).
Research Fellow since 1 July 2012. Gendered labour migration;
migration in colonial and post-colonial contexts; politics of
intimacy and international labour migration; transnational
relationships; sexual and reproductive health.
Wu Keping, PhD (Boston), MA (Boston), BA (Peking). Senior
Research Fellow from 1 January 2013 to 30 November 2014.
Religion and development in contemporary China; anthropology
of Christianity; ethnic and religious pluralism in Southwest China;
conversion and Buddhism in contemporary Southeast China.
Zhang Juan, PhD (Macquarie), MSocSci (NUS), BE (Wuhan).
Research Fellow from 1 January 2013 to 25 January 2014.
Borders and boundary-making; contemporary Chinese
subjectivity; everyday practices in post-socialist conditions.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Bork-Hüffer, Tabea, PhD (Cologne), MSc (Distinction) (Cologne).
Since 2 January 2013; and concurrently Fellow at the Alexandervon-Humboldt Foundation, Bonn. Changing geographies of
migration, health and urban spaces in the 21st century.
Brown, Bernardo, PhD (Cornell), MA (NSSR), BA (Buenos
Aires). Since 3 November 2014. Forms of religiosity that emerge
in transnational contexts and the encounter of different world
Christian traditions.
Chang Yufen, PhD (Michigan), MA (National Cheng-Chi), BA
(National Cheng-Chi). From 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014. Cultural
sociology; comparative historical sociology; nationalism; social
movements; literature; religions; East Asia; overseas Chinese.
Cheung Ka-lok, Adam, PhD (CUHK), MSc (London), BA
(Hong Kong Baptist). From 1 November 2012 to 31 July 2014.
Household division of labour; domestic outsourcing; marital
conflict; domestic violence.
Cho Kyuhoon, PhD (Ottawa), MA
From 3 June 2013 to 2 June 2014.
category “religion” in modern Korea,
and Christianity in a globalised Korea;
Korea; religion in modern global Asia.
(Ottawa), BA (Hanshin).
Conceptualisation of the
public role of Buddhism
religious system of North
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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4.0
RESEARCH PERSONNEL
Chung, Simone Shu-Yeng, PhD (Cambridge), MA (Distinction)
(Cambridge), MSc (Distinction) (London), Dipl (London), BSc
(London). From 8 December 2014. Moving image medium and
the discipline of architecture and urban studies.
Coderey, Céline, PhD (Provence), MA (Provence), Dipl (NALCO),
MA (Lausanne), BA (Lausanne). Since 13 January 2014. Health
field in Myanmar; therapeutic practices and the health-seeking
process; conceptions of health/disease.
Gedacht, Joshua, PhD (Wisconsin-Madison), MA (WisconsinMadison), BA (McGill). Since 9 January 2014. Relationship
between colonial era war-making; Islamic networks;
reconfiguration of religious connections in Indonesia and the
Philippines.
Garrido, Marco Antonio Zialcita, PhD (Michigan), MA
(Notre Dame), BA (Harvard). From 1 July 2013 to 30 June
2014. Relationship between urban fragmentation and political
polarisation in Metro Manila, Philippines.
Kerr, Eric Thomson, PhD (Edinburgh), MLitt (Aberdeen), MA
(Aberdeen), LLB (Aberdeen). Since 15 July 2013. Epistemology
of technology and risk; petroleum engineering in Thailand;
philosophical approaches to disaster.
Lee Hsiao Yen, Fiona, PhD (CUNY), MPhil (CUNY), BA (SUNY
Geneseo). Since 29 July 2014. Modern/contemporary literature
and visual media in Southeast Asia; postcolonial/ transnational
literature; postcolonial, critical race, feminist, and queer theories.
Lee Tsung-Ling, SJD (Georgetown), LLM (Georgetown), LLM
(National Taiwan), BMedSci (Sydney). Since 15 December 2014.
Intersection of public international law and health, with a focus
on regulatory theory, regional migration pathways, elderly care.
Li Haibin, PhD (Sydney), MEd (Sydney), BEd (Nanjing Normal).
Since 2 January 2013. Resilience, parenting, and self-concept
relating to Chinese migrant children.
Lin Qianhan, PhD (Oxford), MSc (Oxford), BSc (London). From
8 October 2012 to 30 September 2014. Parental migration and
its effects on the development of children in China.
Liu Liangni, Sally, PhD (Auckland), MA (Hons) (Auckland),
BA (Hons) (Auckland). From 10 June 2013 to 31 July 2014.
Areas of migrant transnationalism, especially Chinese migratory
transnationalism in New Zealand and Australia.
Quah Ee Ling, Sharon, PhD (Sydney), MA (NUS), BA (NUS).
Since 3 June 2013. Divorce in Singapore and Australia; alternative
and transnational intimacies in the global context.
18
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Rathina-Pandi, Asha, PhD (Hawai’i), MA (Hawai’i), MSc
(UTM), BA (UTM). From 3 June 2013 to 2 June 2014. Dynamic
relationship between space, technology (Internet and new
media), and society; minority populations; social justice and
equality; democratisation.
Sur, Malini, PhD (Amsterdam), MA (Distinction) (Essex), MA
(TISS), BA (Jadavpur). Since 3 June 2013. Migration and border
studies; anthropology of infrastructure; anthropology of violence;
globalisation; transport and mobility studies; material culture;
gender and sexuality studies; environmental studies.
Tang Ser Wei, Shawna, PhD (Sydney), MSocSci (NUS), BSocSci
(Hons) (NUS), BA (NUS). From 3 June 2013 to 31 December
2014. Non-normative sexualities; gender; globalisation;
modernity; state; nationalism; LGBT politics; Singapore and Asia.
Vaughan, Earl Tyson, PhD (Cornell), MA (Cornell), BA (Stanford).
Since 15 January 2014. Urban planning for post-disaster
recovery and disaster risk reduction; community (re-)building.
Other Joint Appointments/Secondments
Bunnell, Timothy, Associate Professor, PhD (Nottingham), BA
(Nottingham). At ARI from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2014; joint
appointment with Department of Geography, FASS. Landscape
symbolism and national identity; network conceptions of
landscapes, places and the city; Malay communities beyond the
“Malay World”.
Coopmans, Catelijne, Senior Lecturer. DPhil (Oxford), MSc
(Oxford), BA (Maastricht). Joint appointment with Tembusu
Residential College since 17 September 2012. Ethnography and
discourse analysis; innovation and visual evidence; dynamics of
expertise.
Elinoff, Eli Asher, PhD (UC San Diego), MA (UC San Diego),
BA (Colorado, Boulder). Postdoctoral Fellow since 16 December
2013; joint appointment with Department of Sociology, FASS
from 1 July 2014. Citizenship, emerging political practices,
notions of sustainability; contestations over urban development
in Thailand.
Graham, Connor Clive, Lecturer. PhD (Melbourne), BA
(Nottingham). Joint appointment with Tembusu Residential
College since 17 September 2012. Information systems;
science, technology, and society; and living and dying in the age
of the Internet.
Kamalini Ramdas, Lecturer. PhD (NUS). Since 8 December
2014, joint appointment with Department of Geography, FASS.
Transnational familyhood and community; care ethics and
responsibility.
RESEARCH PERSONNEL
4.0
Sen, Ronojoy, PhD (Chicago), MA (South Carolina), BA
(Calcutta). Senior Research Fellow since 1 August 2013; joint
appointment with Institute of South Asian Studies, NUS. Religion,
state and civil society in India.
Lam Choy Fong, Theodora, MSocSci (NUS), BA (NUS),
BSocSci (Waikato). Research Associate since 15 November
2005. Transnational migration; children’s geographies; gender
studies; cities and citizenship.
Tan Ai Hua, Margaret, Lecturer. PhD (NUS), MA (London),
BFA (RMIT/Lasalle College of the Arts). Joint appointment with
Tembusu Residential College since 1 December 2012. Pervasive
and wearable computing history and aesthetics.
Li Hongyan, MSc (NTU), BA (NUS). Research Assistant from 9
June 2011 to 16 March 2014. Perceptions and representations
of deviancy; problematisation of social anxieties.
Whitington, Jerome, PhD (California, Berkeley), MA (California,
Berkeley), BA (Texas). Research Fellow since 3 August 2011;
joint appointment with Tembusu Residential College, NUS,
from 3 August 2014. Climate change and energy; ASEAN
policy initiatives; East Asian approaches to carbon markets and
greenhouse gas management.
Yuk, Joowon, PhD (Warwick), MA (Warwick), MBA
(Sungkyunkwan), BA (Seoul). Postdoctoral Fellow since 29
September 2014; joint appointment with Department of
Geography, FASS. Diversity and cultural policy development,
migration and citizenship; the cultural politics of race, gender
and class.
Research Associates/Assistants
Abubakar, Saharah, MA (NUS), BSocSci (NUS). Research
Associate since 10 July 2007. Social networks and resilience of
divorced Malay mothers.
Ng Xinyi, Esther, BSocSci (Hons) (NUS). Research Assistant
since 1 July 2013. Economic and social impact of casinos,
children’s views on health; food and activity.
Prematillake, Tharuka Maduwanthi, BA (RMIT). Research
Assistant since 1 October 2012. Media and health reporting;
women and children; cross cultural communications; religion
and globalisation; labour migration and international relations.
Reddish, Paul, PhD (Wellington). Research Associate from 1
July to 31 December 2014. Social effects of religion and rituals;
cognition, religious thought and behaviour.
Muhammad Alagil Distinguished Visiting Professor
In Arabia Asia Studies
Ho Engseng, Professor, PhD (Chicago). From 2 June 2014.
Arab/Muslim diasporas across the Indian Ocean, and their
relations with western empires, past and present.
Visiting Senior Research Fellows
Baey Hui Yi, Grace, MA (Queen’s), BA (Western Ontario).
Research Assistant since 30 December 2010. Labour migration
issues in Southeast Asia; borders and boundary-making; identity
politics; international political economy.
Ali, Daud, PhD (Chicago). Visiting Senior Research Fellow from
4 February to 3 May 2014. Relations between local society and
regional political entities during a period of political instability in
medieval South India.
Escoffier, Nicolas Rene, PhD (NUS), MSc (Lyon II). Research
Associate from 1 July 2013 to 31 August 2014; and since 10
November 2014. Relationship between speech and music
cognition; cognitive and neural underpinnings of musical and
vocal communication of emotions.
Barichello, Richard Ralph, PhD (Chicago). Visiting Senior
Research Fellow from 3 January to 2 April 2014. Trade policy;
world food markets; Southeast Asia labour markets; cost-benefit
analysis.
Hamid, Wajihah, MA (Sussex), BA (NUS). Research Assistant
since 1 November 2013. Migration; South Asian diaspora;
transnationalism.
Hu Shu, MA (Renmin), BA (Renmin). Research Assistant since
1 September 2014. Social inequality; poverty; family and child
development; education stratification; gender; migration.
Khoo Choon Yen, BSocSci (Hons) (NUS). Research Assistant
since 1 January 2014. Labour migration from/within Indonesia
and Southeast Asia; gender and migration; and youth aspirations.
Duong, Lan Phuong, PhD (UC Irvine). Visiting Senior Research
Fellow from 2 June to 25 August 2014. Feminist film theory;
postcolonial literature; Asian/American film and literature.
Hoang, Lan Anh, PhD (East Anglia). Visiting Senior Research
Fellow from 22 November 2013 to 21 February 2014. Migration;
development; family and gender in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
Huang Yinghong, PhD (Sun Yat-sen). Visiting Senior Research
Fellow from 22 January to 9 April 2014. Political transformations
in India and China; Gandhian Satyagraha; Sino-Indian border
dispute.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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4.0
RESEARCH PERSONNEL
Kathirithamby-Wells, Jeyamalar, PhD (London). Visiting
Senior Research Fellow from 3 January to 2 April 2014. Southeast
Asian historical inter-connections in natural resource extraction,
utilisation and trade; environmental implications for post-colonial
nation building.
Khan, Tabassum, PhD (Ohio). Visiting Senior Research Fellow
from 9 December 2013 to 8 February 2014. Emergent identities
of Indian Muslim youth within contexts of economic liberalisation
and neoliberal globalisation.
Kuo Huei-Ying, PhD (SUNY, Binghamton). Visiting Senior
Research Fellow from 21 May to 20 August 2014. Chinese
diaspora; nationalism; colonial empires; maritime East Asia in
world history.
Li, Tania Murray, PhD (Cambridge). Visiting Senior Research
Fellow from 3 February to 28 April 2014. Land, development,
resource struggles, community, class, and indigeneity with
particular focus on Indonesia.
Lim Bee Yin, Joanne, PhD (East London). Visiting Research
Fellow from 7 October 2013 to 6 January 2014. Discourses on
media and globalisation; politics and implications of (new/social)
media within Asian transformations (identities, cultures and state
politics).
Mahdavi, Pardis, PhD (Columbia). Visiting Senior Research
Fellow from 20 August to 29 November 2014. Gendered labour,
migration, sexuality, human rights, youth culture, transnational
feminism and public health in the context of changing global and
political structures.
Nguyen, Viet Thanh, PhD (UC Berkeley). Visiting Senior
Research Fellow from 2 June to 25 August 2014. Ethics of
memory in literature, film, memorials, museums, and monuments
dedicated to the so-called “Vietnam War”.
Palmer, David Alexander, PhD (EPHE). Visiting Senior
Research Fellow from 12 May to 11 August 2014. Local ritual
traditions; transnational religious movements; faith-based
volunteering; NGOs in the Chinese world and Southeast Asia.
Peterson, William Dwight, PhD (Texas). Visiting Senior
Research Fellow from 2 December 2013 to 1 March 2014.
Community-based performance in the Philippines; transnational/
transcultural flows and spectacle; religion and performance;
theatre in Singapore.
Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, BSc (Bombay). Visiting Senior Research
Fellow from 28 January to 20 July 2014. Indian cinema; India’s
cultural policy; visual arts.
20
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Rajan, Ravi, PhD (Oxford). Visiting Senior Research Fellow from
2 July 2013 to 1 July 2014. Political economy and intellectual
history of environment-development conflicts; expertise and
environmental governance; environmental basis of poverty.
Ruwanpura, Kanchana Nimali, PhD (Cambridge). Visiting
Senior Research Fellow from 13 January to 12 April 2014.
Connections between ethno-nationalism, post-disaster and
materiality; connections between civil society initiatives and
uneven development processes.
Shen Yipeng, PhD (Oregon). Visiting Senior Research Fellow
from 3 July 2013 to 2 July 2014. Mass nationalism in postsocialist China.
Sivasundaram, Sujit Pradin, PhD (Cambridge). Visiting Senior
Research Fellow since 2 November 2014. Age of revolutions in
the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Tosa, Keiko, PhD (Sokendai). Visiting Senior Research Fellow
since 30 October 2014. Buddhist missionary work and Buddhist
movements in Myanmar.
Vekkal John, Varghese, PhD (Hyderabad). Visiting Senior
Research Fellow from 9 May to 30 June 2014. Peasant migrations
in South India for cultivation and agricultural expansion.
Vickers, Adrian Hassall, PhD (Sydney). Visiting Senior
Research Fellow from 31 March to 30 June 2014. Southeast
Asian historiography; cultural history.
Winter, Tim, PhD (Manchester). Visiting Senior Research
Fellow since 7 October 2014. Heritage diplomacy in Asia; Urban
sustainability, air-conditioning, and the viability of tradition based
low-carbon alternatives in Southeast Asia and the Arabian Gulf.
Assistant Professor On Fass Writing Semester
Scheme
Gemici, Kurtulu , PhD (UCLA). At ARI from 1 January to 30
June 2014; from Department of Sociology, FASS. Economic
sociology; economic development; political sociology;
contentious politics.
5.0
RESEARCH
PROGRAMMES
AND ACTIVITIES
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
21
5.0
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Research Clusters
The research clusters in ARI each focuses
on research and analysis of a particular
feature of Asian society. With the closure
of the “Open” cluster in mid-2014, there
are currently seven clusters in ARI and they
serve as platforms to bring researchers
together in a collective effort to produce
useful interactions.
The Institute constantly explores new potential areas of research
for ARI, leading to the incorporation of important emergent areas
of inquiry. A project involving cross-cluster members under a new
research area – Disaster Governance in Asia, a theme common
to the Asian Urbanisms, Metacluster, Religion and Globalisation,
and Science, Technology, and Society clusters – received a large
grant support from the Singapore Ministry of Education in 2014.
Another common theme is the area of “new media and social
movements” which straddles Cultural Studies, Asian Urbanisms
and Asian Migration.
There are also two active reading groups in ARI, the Asian
Connections Reading Group and the Religion and Development
Reading Group, hosted by the Metacluster and the Religion
and Globalisation cluster respectively. Members of the reading
groups meet regularly to examine texts and share ideas related
to their interests.
Individual cluster members also have independent areas of
interest which may overlap and flow between clusters. In
addition, a number of scholars from NUS and beyond contribute
as cluster associates. They play an active role in the respective
cluster workshops, conferences, and other research activities,
and serve as resource persons for the Institute. The full diversity
and heterogeneity of work carried out at ARI are reflected in its
members and their publications.
22
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Asian Migration
PROF BRENDA S.A. YEOH
5.0
The Asian Migration Cluster maintains research interest in a broad
range of human migrations, mobilities and interconnectivities
within and beyond Asia. The cluster has three priority research
themes. The first draws attention to the material processes
and discourses of globalisation and transnationalism as they
intersect in Asian cities. The focus is on exploring new knowledge
frameworks through which to understand the complex and
diverse linkages between global change and transnational
migration. The second research theme explores the relationship
between human aspiration, migration and development in
Southeast Asia, with a focus on the development impact of
migration in sending communities as well as the costs and risks
of migration for the poor. A third research theme highlights the
organisation and constitution of transnational (im)mobility as a
means of (re)conceptualising different mobile practices, rhythms
and rationalities that characterise people on the move in Asia.
Cluster members explore a broad range of human mobilities and
interconnectivities, including transnational flows of professional,
managerial and entrepreneurial elites; contract migrant workers
filling low-waged niches in the urban economy, international
students, and marriage migrants. Transnational modes of
migration – of varying degrees of permanence and transience –
have become a compelling force not only in increasing diversity
in Asian cities, but also transformed the social, economic and
demographic fabric of source areas.
The cluster continues to deepen critical scholarship by exploring
new knowledge frameworks through which to understand the
complex and diverse linkages between global change and
transnational mobility, both within and beyond Asia. Its annual
flagship conference Mobilities and Exceptional Spaces in Asia
examined the nexus between changing practices of capitalism
that have produced new forms of connections, flows and
mobilities in the region, the increased use of “exceptions” or
“special rules” to maximise capitalist profits, and transformations
in fundamental notions of sovereignty, citizenship, rights,
freedom and subjecthood for migrants and non-migrants. Two
other workshops during the year included Encountering Urban
Diversity in Asia: Class and Other Intersections which brought
together scholars interested in rethinking and retheorising
the production and performance of class relations in an era
of growing transnational mobility and urban diversity in nonWestern contexts; and Manoeuvering Through Physical and
Virtual Spaces: Mobility and New Media in Asian Cities which
focused on the way ICTs influence the everyday practices of
mobile subjects in the arrival/transit city. The cluster was also
active in organising two panels at the AAS-in-Asia Conference
2014 – Asia in Motion: Heritage and Transformation in Singapore
and held a parallel workshop on Futures of Migrant Care Labour:
Gender Geographies of Aspiration and Servitude in July 2014.
Cluster members continue to be busy with analysing data
and publishing papers from recently completed projects: the
Wellcome Trust funded project Children and Migrant Parents
in Southeast Asia (CHAMPSEA) which examines migration,
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
23
5.0
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
gender dynamics and the impact on left-behind children’s health
and wellbeing in four Southeast Asian countries; the MOE Tier
2 project on State Boundaries, Cultural Politics and Gender
Negotiations in Commercially Arranged International Marriages
in Singapore and Malaysia; and four Migrating Out of Poverty
projects: firstly, Financing Migration, Generating Remittances,
and the Building of Livelihood Strategies: A Case Study of
Indonesian Migrant Women as Domestic Workers in Singapore;
secondly, Migration and Precarious Work: Negotiating Debt,
Employment, and Livelihood Strategies amongst Bangladeshi
Migrant Men Working in Singapore’s Construction Industry;
thirdly, Gendered Migration Patterns, Processes and Outcomes:
Results from a Household Survey in Ponorogo, Indonesia; and
lastly, Structural Conditions and Agency in Migrant DecisionMaking: A Case of Domestic and Construction Workers from
Java, Indonesia.
Cluster members were also involved in research projects on a
variety of themes including labour migration, global consumption
and regulation in Singapore’s casino space (funded by an NUS
HSS research grant); borders, mobility, and citizenship in the
South Asian context; changing geographies of migration; health
and urban spaces in Asia; mid-level skilled migration from India
to Singapore; forms of religiosity that emerge in transnational
contexts and the encounter of different world Christian traditions;
diversity and cultural policy development; and migration and
citizenship in Asia.
The cluster was also active in exploring different channels
of communications to engage the wider public on pertinent
migration issues in Asia. Alongside its annual Symposium on
Migration and Construction Work in Asia, organised as part of the
ARI ASIA TRENDS 2014 series, the cluster hosted a multimedia
presentation and a short film screening titled “Gone Home”
which follows the profile of two return Bangladeshi migrants.
Invited speakers included Mr John Gee from Transient Workers
Count Too (TWC2) and Dr C. R. Abrar, Professor of International
Relations at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, who founded
the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU)
at the University of Dhaka. The event attracted 80 attendees
including academics, students, civil society representatives and
policymakers.
Research Cluster Members
Research Cluster Associates
Prof Brenda S.A. Yeoh (Research Leader)
Dr Michiel Baas
Ms Grace Baey
Prof Richard Ralph Barichello
Dr Tabea Bork-Hüffer
Dr Bernardo Enrique Brown
Dr Maureen Helen Hickey
Dr Kumiko Kawashima
Ms Khoo Choon Yen
Ms Theodora Lam
Prof Tania Murray Li
Dr Liu Liangni, Sally
Assoc Prof Pardis Mahdavi
Ms Ng Xinyi, Esther
Dr Maria Platt
Dr Malini Sur
Dr John Varghese Vekkal
Dr Yuk Joowon
Assoc Prof Michael Ewing-Chow
Faculty of Law, NUS
Dr Esther Goh
Department of Social Work, NUS
Dr Elaine Ho
Department of Geography, NUS
Assoc Prof Ho Kong Chong
Department of Sociology, NUS
(Till 30 June 2014)
Assoc Prof Shirlena Huang
Department of Geography, NUS
Dr Lai Ah Eng
University Scholars Programme, NUS
Assoc Prof Eric Thompson
Department of Sociology, NUS
Prof Wang Gungwu
East Asian Institute, NUS
Dr Sallie Yea
Humanities and Social Studies Education, NTU
24
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Asian Urbanisms
5.0
The Asian Urbanisms Cluster (AUC) continued to advance basic
and applied research on Asia’s diverse urban experiences along
three major lines of inquiry: (1) The Vernacular City as living urban
heritage and participatory citymaking in Asia’s diverse contexts
of modernisation and globalisation; (2) Spaces of Hope through
grassroots initiatives for alternative development that often arise
from a milieu of urban discontents in an age of digital media
technologies; and (3) Disaster Governance in the context of
Asia’s rapid urban transition and global climate change.
Research on the Vernacular City directs attention to the role of
human agency in the production and social construction of urban
spaces that culturally, socially and physically shape the city. It
continues its collaboration with the Urban Knowledge Network
Asia (UKNA) in Leiden, FASS Cities Research Cluster, the Future
Cities Laboratory and various NGOs in Indonesia.
PROF MIKE DOUGLASS
Members of AUC represented ARI and NUS in the UKNA
workshop Imagining the City: Thematic Group Workshop
on Urbanisation at the Rockefeller Centre in Bellagio in April
2014, where representatives of universities in the network met
to shape research publications in the three thematic areas of
UKNA. AUC members are also on the editorial board of the Asian
Cities book series from the Amsterdam University Press. In July
2014, the cluster successfully organised two panels on urban
heritage in the AAS-in-Asia Conference 2014–Asia in Motion:
Heritage and Transformation, namely Heritage Activism for the
Vernacular City and The Vernacular City as Living Heritage. The
panels brought together scholars from Singapore, Thailand,
Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, Korea, and the USA. In September
2014, The Vernacular City started research collaboration with
the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Duke University and
the Kota Kita Foundation in Surakarta, Indonesia, on community
participation in water supply provision and distribution, through
which AUC will specifically look at the role of water in placemaking and community empowerment in the city. In November
2014, The Resilience of Vernacular Heritage in Asian Cities
conference was held at ARI. The first evening of the conference
featured the third CityPossible Film Festival, a 3.5-hour screening
of short films on the role of human agency in the shaping of
urban spaces in various cities in the world. The Film Festival,
organised in collaboration with the Young NTUC at the NTUC
Auditorium, attracted more than 140 people, who also enjoyed
the performance of and the interaction with Blues 77 – a veteran
Singapore jazz band that was featured as urban heritage in one
of the conference papers.
Spaces of Hope research proceeded in 2014 through key
conferences, publications and community outreach. The
conference Conceptualising Cyber-Urban Connections in Asia
and the Middle East held in January, brought together nearly 30
scholars to critically assess the relationship between emerging
forms of activism in cyber space and urban space. In June, AUC
hosted the Asia Trends forum with Kees Christianse under the
theme Considering Centralities. The talk, held at the National
Library of Singapore, considered the role of architects and major
projects in the construction of the city. It also addressed questions
related to liveable cities. AUC also collaborated with the Science,
Technology, and Society Cluster (STS) to organise and host
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
25
5.0
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
the workshop on The Quotidian Anthropocene: Reconfiguring
Environments in Urbanising Asia in October 2014. The workshop
covered themes related to environmental transformation,
disaster, and social transformation and activism. The convenors
of this workshop are currently developing the project as an
edited volume to be published with University of Pennsylvania
Press. Spaces of Hope research launched a new initiative in
July 2014 on Progressive Cities in Asia and Europe through a
collaborative grant awarded by NUS and Université Paris WHIG1
at Sorbonne Nouvelle. In November 2014 public seminars were
given at the Sorbonne, Paris, and at the International Institute
for Asian Studies, Leiden, to launch the project. As an allied
Spaces of Hope activity, several AUC members continue to
participate in the MOE Tier 2 funded multi-disciplinary research
on Aspirations, Urban Governance, and the Remaking of Asian
Cities organised through FASS Cities. The project examines the
conditions and consequences of community and institutional
aspirations in 15 cities across 7 different countries in Asia.
The Spaces of Hope theme continued to present films in its
community outreach programmes. In March cluster leader Prof
Mike Douglass showed and discussed his documentary film,
Place of Hope – The Kasama Potters and the Great Ordeal, at
the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore.
establishing Singapore as a centre of leadership in Asia in the
growing field of Disaster Studies.
Research on Disaster Governance in an age of urban transitions
and global climate change has produced extensive international
research collaborations with a longer-term objective of
Following the AUC’s signature Conference on Disaster
Governance: The Urban Transition in Asia in November 2013,
the Disaster Governance programme convened a second
International Workshop on Governing Flooding in Urbanising
Asia in January 2014. This follow-up workshop was sponsored
by the leading Tier 1 journal Pacific Affairs and brought together
selected specialists from nine countries to explore how Asia’s
urbanising populations deal with flooding from an inclusive
governance perspective that directly links knowledge to action
in policy programmes. Two edited collections stemming from
these combined events will be published in 2015. In addition,
the expansion of the Disaster Governance programme beyond
the AUC through cooperation with STS and the Metacluster
was formalised in September 2014 via the award of an MOE
Tier 2 grant on Governing Compound Disasters in Urbanising
Asia (MOE2014-T2-1-017). Led by the AUC, this 3-year
multidisciplinary programme of research aims to improve
understandings of the changing risks, vulnerabilities, responses
and resilience to compounded environmental disasters in an
increasingly interconnected urbanising Asia. Through this largescale project the Disaster Governance programme will continue
to expand the nucleus of a global network of research on Disaster
Studies centred in Asia and connected to similar initiatives in
other parts of the world.
Research Cluster Members
Research Cluster Associates
Prof Mike Douglass (Research Leader)
Assoc Prof Daud Ali
Dr Nausheen Hafeeza Anwar
Prof Chua Beng Huat
Dr Simone Shu-Yeng Chung
Dr Eli Asher Elinoff
Dr Marco Garrido
Prof Gavin W. Jones
Dr Peter Marolt
Dr Michelle Ann Miller
Dr Rita Padawangi
Dr Asha Rathina-Pandi
Dr Tyson Vaughan
Prof Brenda Yeoh
Prof Stephen Cairns
Future Cities Lab, Singapore-ETH Centre
Dr Chang Jiat Hwee
Department of Architecture, NUS
Dr Daniel Goh
Department of Sociology, NUS
Assoc Prof Ho Kong Chong
Department of Sociology, NUS
Prof Jane M. Jacobs
Division of the Social Sciences,
Yale-NUS College
Dr Joo Yu Min
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS
Dr Kelvin Low
Department of Sociology, NUS
Dr Pow Choon Piew
Department of Geography, NUS
Assoc Prof Johannes Widodo
Department of Architecture, NUS
26
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RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Changing Family
in Asia
PROF WEI-JUN JEAN YEUNG
5.0
2014 was a vibrant year for the Changing Family in Asia Cluster.
Through myriad activities such as conferences, lectures and
seminars, publications, and research projects, the cluster has
taken steps towards its mission to be the thought leader of
issues related to family and population changes in Asia. The
cluster continues to examine cutting edge and new family and
population issues such as family and macro-economic changes,
fatherhood, the living alone phenomenon, and transition to
adulthood.
In 2014, the cluster hosted a number of conferences:
Discrepancies between Behaviour and Attitudes toward
Marriage and Fertility in Asia, in February 2014; Youthful Futures?
Aspirations, Education and Employment in Asia, in May 2014;
Growing Up in One-Parent Family in Asia, in July 2014. The
cluster’s ARI Asia Trends 2014 lecture was titled Love and Money:
Parenting after Divorce, with Dr Kristin Natalier of University of
Tasmania, Australia, as speaker. Dr Natalier discussed postdivorce parenting practices in the Asia-Pacific context, focusing
on Australia as a case study. She presented child support as
a form of “special money” used to symbolically express what
it means and how it feels to be a father or mother in times of
social and personal change. In addition, preparations are now
ongoing for a conference on Educational Resilience among
Asian Children in Challenging Family Environment, to be held on
4-5 February 2015.
Several books have resulted from conferences and cluster
members’ family research, the most recent one being a special
issue on Marriage in Asia (2014) in the Journal of Family Issues
(guest editors, Gavin Jones and Jean Yeung). Two more special
journal issues are in progress, both in leading internally reviewed
journals – one on Living Alone: One-person Households in Asia
in Demographic Research (guest editors, Jean Yeung and Adam
Cheung); the other on Growing Up in One-parent Family in
Asia in the Journal of Marriage and Family (guest editors, Jean
Yeung and Park Hyunjoon). The cluster’s monthly research brief,
Asian Family Matters, was started in March 2013 to feature
cluster publications and events, and to date it has produced 21
issues on a wide range of topics on the family as diverse as
family background and higher education in Asia; family ambiguity
and domestic violence in Asia; and employment trajectories of
China’s lost generation. Asian Family Matters has indeed brought
visibility to ARI.
In addition to individual projects, cluster members have been
collaborating on several large external research grants including
the project on Projecting Urbanisation and City Growth funded
by the Global Asia Institute. Two other large externally funded
projects, with matching fund from MOE, have also been
launched in the last two years – one focusing on Chinese
Children’s Socio-psychological Well-being; the other examining
The Impact of Internal Migration on Family and Child Well-being
in China. Postdoctoral fellow Dr Sharon Quah was awarded a
research grant by the Ministry of Social and Family Development
(MSF) Family Research Fund to conduct an exploratory study on
transnational divorces in Singapore. This project will take place
during the period of 2014-2016.
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RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
On a smaller scale, cluster seminars were convened in 2014:
Re-conceptualizing Child Support as an Expressive Resource
and a Form of Labour: Lessons from the Australian Case by Dr
Kristin Natalier, 20 November 2014; The Success Frame and
the Achievement Paradox: The Children of Chinese Immigrants
and Vietnamese Refugees in Los Angeles, USA, by Prof Zhou
Min, 7 November 2014; Hong Kong Demographic Challenges:
A Second Thought by Prof Paul Yip, 1 August 2014; A Youth
with No Regrets? – How China’s Sent-down Generation Reviews
their Rustication Experience by Dr Lin Qianhan, 20 June 2014.
This vibrant year of activities closed with former cluster leader
Prof Gavin Jones’ retirement lecture on Demography as Destiny:
A Demographic Perspective on Asian Development in end
November 2014. We wish him a great retirement life and thank
him for his numerous contributions to the cluster.
Research Cluster Members
Research Cluster Associates
Prof Jean Yeung Wei-Jun (Research Leader)
Dr Adam Cheung Ka-Lok
Dr Dhiman Das
Ms Hu Shu
Dr Ji Yingchun
Dr Li Haibin
Dr Lin Qianhan
Dr Suzanne Naafs
Dr Quah Ee Ling, Sharon
Prof Brenda S.A. Yeoh
Assoc Prof Angelique Chan
Department of Sociology, NUS
The Changing Family cluster aims to become an intellectual
lighthouse for research on Asian families and toward this aim, we
will continue to: (1) actively engage in intellectual exchange with
both international and local research communities and agencies
by publishing in internationally visible journals and books and
collaborate on projects that can generate impactful findings;
(2) collaborate with Singapore communities, practitioners,
and government organisations in seminars, workshops and
conferences to examine issues pertinent to the Singapore
society.
Dr Premchand Dommaraju
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, NTU
Prof Gavin W. Jones
J Y Pillay Comparative Asia Research Centre, NUS
Dr Erin Kim Hye-Won
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS
Dr Maznah Mohamad
Department of Malay Studies, NUS
Dr Shirley Sun Hsiao-Li
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, NTU
Dr Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan
School of Social Sciences, SMU
Dr Teo You Yenn
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, NTU
Assoc Prof Thang Leng Leng
Department of Japanese Studies, NUS
Dr Yap Mui Teng
Institute of Policy Studies,
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS
28
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Cultural Studies
in Asia
PROF CHUA BENG HUAT
5.0
For more than a decade, the Cultural Studies Cluster’s focus
had been on media-pop culture in East Asia, including film,
television dramas and pop music. The international workshops,
conferences and fellowships the cluster hosted had brought
practically all the established scholars and many new emergent
voices in the field to ARI, in different capacities. Publications from
these events are widely distributed and read and some have
already become standard references in the field. The Cultural
Studies Cluster has consolidated its place as an international
centre for the study of East Asian pop culture. Therefore, we
continue to host events in the field. In this context, Prof Gerald
Sim, from film studies at Florida Atlantic University, returned to
ARI to present some results of the research on the late-Malaysian
filmmaker, Yasmin Ahmad. Prof Sim conducted this research
during his stint as an ARI Senior Research Fellow in the previous
year. In addition, Assoc Prof Duong Lan Phuong, (University of
California, Riverside), a feminist film scholar, joined the cluster as
a Visiting Senior Research Fellow, to complete a book project on
Vietnamese filmmaker Tr n Anh Hùng.
In February, the cluster co-organised with the Department of
English Literature, Yonsei University, a Graduate Workshop in
Cultural Studies in Asia. The workshop programme consisted
of a mix of presentations, with some papers presented by senior
scholars from ARI and Yonsei. It also provided opportunities
for the budding scholars to present their thesis research work
to each other. Participants from our cluster’s side came from
different departments in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,
NUS, including the Cultural Studies PhD Programme, Geography
and Japanese Studies. Three of the NUS students’ papers will
be published in 2015 in the journal Situations: Cultural Studies
in Asian Context, published by Yonsei University. Collaboration
between the cluster and Yonsei University looks likely to continue
into the future.
In the year 2014 the cluster also started to rethink its research
focus as it is time to strike out into new arena and terrain. With
the world now fully wired, some might say mired, in social media
the cluster is looking at ways to extend its research focus into
new media and cyber cultures. We have already hosted an InterAsia Roundtable, in 2012, on Methodological and Conceptual
Issues in Cyber Activism Research. We are interested in focusing
on the social political consequences of the spread of social
media, beyond just speed of dissemination of images and
texts and the organisation of flash mobs. In our recruitment
of new postdoctoral fellows, we have been looking at young
scholars who are analysing structural changes and conceptual
reformulations, discursive and substantive, in politics at different
scales, which are consequences of the use of new media.
Several research fellows working in social media will be on
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RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
board in the coming year and a planned international workshop
on Mob Politics in Asia, which examines the various mass
demonstrations and “occupy” events in Asia, will also focus on
the politics of representation of events on social media.
For the past couple of years, the cluster has been making
the argument that “cultural studies” should be an intrinsic
component of all ARI’s research clusters. In a sense, the Cultural
Studies Cluster should meld into the other clusters. This idea is
taking root at the cluster level. Some of the postdoctoral fellows
in the other research clusters, such as Asian Migration and
Asian Urbanisms, are working on topics close to the interests
of cultural studies, such as migration and multiculturalism and
representation of physical space in films. This is, of course, a
felicitous development.
Research Cluster Members
Research Cluster Associates
Prof Chua Beng Huat (Research Leader)
Dr Sun Jung
Dr Fiona Lee Hsiao Yen
Dr Lim Song Hwee
Dr William Peterson
Mr Ashish Rajadhyaksha
Dr Shen Yipeng
Dr Shawna Tang
Dr Thum Ping Tjin
Prof Adrian Hassall Vickers
Prof Timothy Clifton Winter
Dr Brenda Chan
Independent Scholar
Prof Philip Holden
Department of English Language and
Literature, NUS
Dr Liew Kai Khiun
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and
Information, NTU
Dr Deborah Shamoon
Department of Japanese Studies, NUS
Assoc Prof Stephen Teo
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and
Information, NTU
Prof C.J.W.-L. Wee
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, NTU
30
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Metacluster:
Historical
Sociology
of Asian
Connections
5.0
The Metacluster originated as an attempt to articulate a new
paradigm that looks at Asian nations, cultures, and civilisations in
terms of their connections, interactions, and interdependencies
in both historical and geographical space. The motive for
such exploration derives from contemporary research that
exposes the entangled relations between countries in East,
Southeast, South and West Asia not only in contemporary
affairs but also in the distant past. Indeed as these regions are
increasingly deriving benefits and facing challenges in emergent
or re-emergent Asia there is even greater imperative for a new
historical and sociological paradigm going beyond the enclaves
of “methodological nationalism,” area studies, and civilisational
analyses.
One great leap for this orientation came in January 2014 when
ARI received a donation of SGD3 million (plus SGD240,000 initial
operating fund) from Mr Muhammad Alagil of Saudi Arabia to
establish a Muhammad Alagil Distinguished Chair in Arabia Asia
Studies aimed at enhancing inter-Asian research, particularly
between the Arabian peninsula and South, Southeast and East
Asia from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Prof
Ho Engseng of Duke University has been appointed Visiting
Professor for 2 months a year for 5 years beginning April 2014.
The first conference of Chairship was held in 23-24 June 2014
titled Slender but Supple Threads: Arabia-Asia Relations Then
and Now. Scholars from Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman,
India, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and the USA
participated with about fifty attendees from Singapore and the
region. Plans for a multi-sited and multi-dimensional collaborative
research programme were developed as a result.
PROF PRASENJIT DUARA
The Metacluster held a conference Changing Role of State in
Asia II: Comparative Perspective, 30-31 May 2014, convened by
Prof Duara and Prof Elizabeth Perry, Department of Government,
Harvard University. This conference was the culmination of a
series of previous roundtables and workshops convened by
Harvard and ARI on issues of state capacity and state change in
Asia, with special attention to China and India.
Another conference Globalising History and Philosophy of
Science: Problems and Prospects, 21-22 August 2014, was
jointly sponsored by ARI, NUS, Centre for Dialogue, La Trobe
University, Australia, and Situating Science Strategic Knowledge
Cluster in partnership with University of King's College,
Canada. This conference launched a three-year international
collaboration on the theme Cosmopolitanism and the Local in
Science and Nature: Forging an East-West Dialogue, between
six Canadian and two Indian universities, and the NUS through
the Metacluster at ARI. It is largely funded by the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada with some cofunding from participating institutions. The ARI conference, the
partnership, and future conferences over the next three years in
Canada, India and Singapore, are designed to explore how and
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RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
why globalising the history of science generates intellectual and
conceptual tensions that require us to revisit the leading notions
that have hitherto informed the history, philosophy and sociology
of science.
The Metacluster also continued to organise a number of talks
over the course of the year including a joint ARI and Yale-NUS talk
by the distinguished economist Prof Joel Mokyr, 27 March 2014,
on the theme The Great Needham Puzzle: China, Europe and
the Origins of Modern Growth. Mokyr’s talk linking economics to
both technology and society fitted in well with the Metacluster’s
exploration of economic theory as a bridging platform between
the two more consonant with the connectionist paradigm being
explored within the Metacluster.
exchanges mediated by empires, trade and missionaries, the
emphasis this year also included looking at the impact of crosscultural connections in shaping, and being shaped by, economic
practice and theory. In an important sense economics came
to be seen as a bridging platform between the natural and the
social for the connectionist paradigm being explored within the
Metacluster.
As in previous years the Metacluster continued to meet every
month in 2014 as a reading group with members drawn from
social scientists, historians and area studies specialists in both
ARI and the Faculties. While in the previous years it isolated
themes that showed the role of religious, cultural and scientific
Finally, one of the key developments of the Metacluster this year
has also been the publication of Prof Prasenjit Duara’s book, The
Crisis of Global Modernity: Asian Traditions and a Sustainable
Future (Cambridge University Press, 2014). In this major study
Prof Duara expands his influential theoretical framework to
present circulatory, transnational histories as an alternative to
nationalist history and argues that the present age is defined by
the intersection of three global changes: the rise of non-western
powers, the crisis of environmental sustainability, and the loss
of authoritative sources of what he terms transcendence – the
ideals, principles and ethics once found in religion or political
ideologies.
Research Cluster Members
Research Cluster Associates
Prof Prasenjit Duara (Research Leader)
Assoc Prof Huang Jianli
Dr Arun Bala
Assoc Prof R. Michael Feener
Prof Ho Engseng
Dr Huang Yinghong
Dr Kuo Huei-Ying
Dr Lee Tsung-Ling
Prof Robert James Wasson
Dr Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied
Department of Malay Studies, NUS
(Till 30 June 2014)
Dr Jack Fairey
Department of History, NUS
Dr Kurtulu Gemici
Department of Sociology, NUS
Dr Manjusha Nair
Department of Sociology, NUS
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Religion and
Globalisation
5.0
The Religion and Globalisation Cluster is dedicated to exploring
reconfigurations in the understandings and experiences of
“religion” in diverse Asian contexts. In terms of coverage, the
cluster works to facilitate studies of significant developments in
major established religions such as Buddhism, Christianity and
Islam, as well as in more localised indigenous traditions and new
religious movements across Asia, broadly conceived.
Our work examines dynamics of secularisation and religion in
the modern period, as well as related issues of authority and
tradition in contemporary religious discourse and practice. The
cluster’s central focus is on Religion and Development in Asia.
This research project seeks to explore how religious actors,
discourses, and practices intersect with development efforts, and
how these engagements result in changes in our understandings
of both “religion” and “development.” This work aims to stimulate
a re-thinking of long held assumptions about the apparent binary
opposition between “religion” and “development”. A prominent
feature of our work in this area is the cultivation of sustained
engagement between practitioners and academics, with an
eye to producing analysis that is relevant both to theory and to
practice.
ASSOC PROF R. MICHAEL FEENER
In connection with this central cluster project, we hosted a
conference in October on The Ethics of Religious Giving in Asia:
Historical and Ethnographic Explorations (co-organised by Assoc
Prof R. Michael Feener and Dr Wu Keping). Religious groups and
individuals have been providing goods and services for the poor
and needy throughout history and across the globe. Though
most religious doctrines teach caring for the underprivileged, the
actual practices and perceptions of what is considered “proper”
kinds of giving vary considerably across time and traditions.
This event brought together scholars from around the world
in conversation on the diverse ways in which conceptions of
religion, ethics, donation, and social welfare have informed the
ways in which people across Asian contexts give and receive.
These discussions built upon a rich base of empirical case
studies from countries including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong,
Japan, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Sri
Lanka and Singapore on diverse religious traditions (Christianity,
Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Daoism, and Chinese popular
religions). Critical reflection on this newly presented material
has enabled us to gain better understanding of the interaction
between normative ideals and actual practices of religious giving
in diverse communities across the region.
The Religion and Globalisation Cluster has also just been awarded
a major grant by the Henry Luce Foundation for research on the
topic of “Religion and NGOs in Asia”. The goal of this project is
to explore the negotiations and engagement of religious NGOs
in Asia with policy and regulatory frameworks at multiple levels –
sub-national, national, and trans-national. This work will explore
four policy dimensions: 1) policies of states towards religious
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RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
NGOs; 2) policies of development organisations (donors, UN
agencies, state agencies) in engaging with religious NGOs; 3)
policies and tactics of religious NGOs in responding to states
and trans-national actors; and 4) internal policies and practices
of religious NGOs. This project will carry out new field research in
selected sites in East and Southeast Asia conducted by current
cluster staff and two new postdoctoral fellows who will be hired
for the project.
In addition to the above-mentioned events, the cluster has
actively maintained its Religion and Development reading group,
with meetings on a monthly basis throughout the year. In 2014
the group discussed eight key texts including The Endtimes of
Human Rights (Stephen Hopgood); Building a House in Heaven:
Pious Neoliberalism and Islamic Charity in Egypt (Mona Atia);
and Civilizing Missions: International Religious Agencies in China
(Miwa Hirono). We also convened two sessions focused on
article-length readings on particular themes: “Grey Literature”
(texts that address religion and development themes from a
practitioner or policy perspective) and Religion and Secularism.
Over the course of the year, the group has explored development
approaches taken by different religious traditions – Christianity,
Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., as well as how different
sub-sectors of development (humanitarian response, disaster
response, overseas development assistance, philanthropy, and
charity) engage with religious actors and with religiosity within
their own institutions. Toward the end of 2014 the group shifted
its focus somewhat to address religion and NGOs in line with
the next phase of emphasis in the cluster’s work on Religion and
Development.
Research Cluster Members
Research Cluster Associates
Assoc Prof R. Michael Feener
(Research Leader)
Dr Julius Bautista
Department of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS
Dr Bernardo Brown
Dr Robin Bush
Dr Joshua Gedacht
Dr Cho Kyuhoon
Dr Philip Fountain
Dr Tabassum Ruhi Khan
Dr Wu Keping
Assoc Prof David Palmer
Prof Armando Salvatore
Dr Ronojoy Sen
Prof Keiko Tosa
Assoc Prof Gary Bell
Faculty of Law, NUS
Dr Patrick Daly
University Scholars Programme, NUS
Dr Zeliha Gul Inanc
Department of History, NUS
Dr Arif A. Jamal
Faculty of Law, NUS
Dr Jeremy Kingsley
Tembusu College;
Middle East Institute, NUS
Prof Vineeta Sinha
Department of Sociology, NUS
Assoc Prof John Whalen-Bridge
Department of English Language and
Literature, NUS
Assoc Prof Robert D. Woodberry
Department of Political Science, NUS
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Science,
Technology, and
Society
ASSOC PROF GREGORY CLANCEY
5.0
Science, Technology, and Society (STS) is ARI’s youngest
cluster – only five years old – but has attracted generous amounts
of external grant funding. This year we collaborated with the Asian
Urbanisms Cluster to file our second successful Tier 2 grant
application with the Ministry of Education, for the project titled,
Governing Compound Disasters in Urbanising Asia. This threeyear project, which began in October, is the first to bring two ARI
clusters together in co-equal collaboration. The project seeks to
make ARI the pre-eminent centre in Asia for the social study of
natural disaster, including its mitigation and consequences, in
eastern Asia. Dr Eric Kerr will manage the project for the STS
Cluster, in collaboration with Dr Tyson Vaughan (shared by Asian
Urbanisms and STS) and Dr Michelle Miller of Asian Urbanisms.
Among other things, the grant will allow us to extend and deepen
our existing project, ongoing since 2012, of supporting the
Japanese medical community in the aftermath of the Fukushima
nuclear disaster. This year saw our most intensive participation in
meetings sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) in Vienna, Hiroshima, and Fukushima itself. Their purpose
has been to study problems encountered and lessons learned
by physicians on the front line of the Fukushima disaster. ARI
members Assoc Prof Gregory Clancey, Dr Tamra Lysaght, and Dr
Tyson Vaughan all attended one or more of these meetings at the
invitation of the IAEA, and co-authored policy documents. One
important goal of the project is to insert STS case studies and
methodologies into Japanese medical school curricula, starting
with a pilot programme at Fukushima Medical University. The
pilot was launched at the end of 2014, using a handbook and
other teaching materials co-authored by STS cluster members.
In recognition of our contribution to the Fukushima project, the
IAEA has chosen ARI and Singapore as the local host for their
third forum on Radiation and Human Health in 2016. The first
such forum took place in Hiroshima this year, and the second is
scheduled for Nagasaki in 2015. This forum series is funded by
the Japanese government, and seeks to amplify lessons learned
in the wake of the Fukushima disaster for the benefit of the
international community. Also in recognition of ARI contributions,
cluster leader Assoc Prof Gregory Clancey has been appointed
Visiting Professor at Nagasaki University.
The cluster also hosted ARI’s Inter-Asia Roundtable for 2014,
and the subject, appropriately, was Health and Natural Disaster.
This brought together scholars from four continents to discuss
a topic which, as far as we know, had never been the subject of
an international meeting. In addition to distinguished academics,
participants included members of the World Health Organisation,
and International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as a Vice
President of Hiroshima University.
Building on the legacy of our previous Tier 2 grant on Biomedicine
and Society in Asia, the cluster continues to attract scholars
researching other aspects of medicine and medical science
in Asia. We had a record number of applicants (over 100) for
our postdoctoral fellowships and other positions this year. STS
Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Céline Coderey, who studies medicine in
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RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Myanmar, received internal grant funding to mount an international
conference on pharmaceuticals next year. Senior Fellow Tamra
Lysaght was awarded a tenure-track Assistant Professorship
with the School of Medicine, continuing the tradition of STS
cluster fellows receiving tenure-track positions even before the
expiration of their contracts. We have made it a point this year to
reach out to our NTU (and Yale-NUS) colleagues by, for example,
inviting them to collaborate in our Tier 2 grant, and serve on
the local organising committee for the Society for the History of
Technology (SHOT) conference, which we will host in 2016.
of Scientific Development in Asia concluded with a number of
publications, having developed innovative software to map
scientific collaborations extending beyond the use of bibliometric
data. STS Research Fellow Dr Jerome Whitington was appointed
Convenor (Leader) of the Asia-Pacific STS Network, and at the
end of the year he received appointment as a full-time Fellow at
Tembusu College, NUS.
The cluster also welcomed a new tenured affiliate, Assoc Prof
Itty Abraham, who was subsequently appointed Head of the
Department of Southeast Asian Studies. Along with Assoc
Prof Clancey and cluster associate Assoc Prof Axel Gelfert,
Assoc Prof Abraham sits on the Joint Academic Committee
managing the FASS Joint PhD with our counterparts in the
Institute for the Study of Science, Technology, and Innovation
(ISSTI) at the University of Edinburgh. STS Research Fellow Dr
Philip Cho’s Culture and Cognition project continued to receive
grant funding from overseas sources. His GAI-sponsored
project titled, Mapping the Cultural and Scientific Landscape
Cluster publications this year included a number of books by
Fellows and Associates. Dr Catelijne Coopmans was lead
author of Representation in Scientific Practice Revisited (MIT
Press), on which she collaborated with some of the leading
figures in the STS field, including Professors Steve Woolgar and
Michael Lynch. Dr John van Wyhe continued his stunning book
publication run with Charles Darwin in Cambridge: The Most
Joyful Years (World Scientific Press) and The Annotated Malay
Archipelago (NUS Press), which republishes the classic work by
Alfred Russel Wallace. Assoc Prof Itty Abraham authored How
India Became Territorial: Foreign Policy, Diaspora, Geopolitics
(Stanford U. Press), and Assoc Prof Axel Gelfert wrote A Critical
Introduction to Testimony (Bloomsbury Academic). Assoc Prof
Clancey’s The City as Target (Routledge) came out in paperback.
Research Cluster Members
Research Cluster Associates
Assoc Prof Gregory Clancey (Research Leader)
Dr Philip Cho
Dr Céline Coderey
Dr Catelijne Coopmans
Mr Nicolas Rene Escoffier
Dr Connor Graham
Dr Eric Kerr
Dr Tamra Lysaght
Dr Paul Reddish
Dr Sujit Sivasundaram
Dr Margaret Tan
Dr Jerome Whitington
Assoc Prof Itty Abraham
Department of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS
Dr John DiMoia
Department of History, NUS
Assoc Prof Axel Gelfert
Department of Philosophy, NUS
Dr Denisa Kera
Department of Communications and
New Media, NUS
Assoc Prof John Phillips
Department of English Language and
Literature, NUS
Dr John van Wyhe
Department of Biological Sciences and Tembusu
College, NUS
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Governing
Compound
Disasters in
Urbanising Asia
5.0
Research on disasters began at ARI more than a decade ago
following the Indian Ocean tsunami. This is now being carried
forward under a new project on “Governing Compound
Disasters in Urbanising Asia” funded by a 3-year MOE Tier 2
grant. This was awarded in October 2014 and organised
through the cooperation of ARI’s Asian Urbanisms and Science,
Technology, and Society (STS) Clusters. The programme is the
only university-based disaster research effort in Asia that brings
together the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences and
related technical disciplines.
Nearly 2 billion people have been directly impacted by disasters
in Asia since 2000, and economic costs are exponentially
increasing. Reflecting these trends, our research focuses on three
interrelated dimensions of disasters: governance, urbanisation,
and compound disasters. Governance posits that the increasing
complexities of disasters require a shift from expert management
to participatory engagement in policymaking and action to
anticipate, respond to, and build resilience in facing disasters into
the future. It also considers the ways in which Asia’s accelerated
urban transition is contributing to the increasing disaster
incidences, risks and vulnerabilities. City systems that articulate
the global economy and reach into rural and remote regions also
contribute to the potential for disasters to have compounding
impacts that cascade far beyond the site of a disaster.
“Survivor” by Dadang Christanto at the site of the Lapindo Mudflow Disaster
Photo by Rita Padawangi
Project Team
Prof Mike Douglass (Principal Investigator)
Assoc Prof Greg Clancey (Co-Principal Investigator)
Dr Eli Elinoff (Collaborator)
Dr Eric Kerr (Collaborator)
Dr Michelle Ann Miller (Collaborator)
Dr Rita Padawangi (Collaborator)
Since 2013 the project team has held 7 conferences and
workshops. In July 2013 we held a plenary on Medical and
Academic Responses to the Fukushima Nuclear Accident at the
ARI-sponsored Asia-Pacific STS Network Biennial Conference
2013. In November 2013 we held a conference on Disaster
Governance: The Urban Transition in Asia, followed by one in
January 2014 by a workshop on Governing Urban Flooding in
Asia’s Urban Transition. In October 2014 we held a conference
on The Quotidian Anthropocene: Reconfiguring Environments in
Urbanizing Asia, and an Inter-Asia Roundtable on Governance
of Health in Disasters: Perspectives on Asia. In November 2014
we completed a conference on The Resilience of Vernacular
Heritage in Asian Cities. In March 2015 we successfully held a
conference on Decentralizing Disaster Governance in Urbanizing
Asia. Members of our team have, in addition, been invited to
participate in many similarly-themed conferences overseas.
Dr Tyson Vaughan (Collaborator)
Dr Jerome Whitington (Collaborator)
Dr Sulfikar Amir (Collaborator, School of Humanities
and Social Sciences, NTU)
Adjunct Dr Caroline Brassard (Collaborator,
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS)
Dr Lisa Onaga (Collaborator, School of Humanities
and Social Sciences, NTU)
Prof Robert James Wasson (Collaborator,
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS)
Three more events are planned for 2015. One is a workshop
in Chengdu, China, on Post-disaster Resilience, hosted by
the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design. Another is
on Crossing Borders: Governing Environmental Disasters in a
Global Urban Age in Asia that will be supported by The United
Nations University and the Urban Knowledge Network Asia at
IIAS in Leiden, the Netherlands. The third is Science, Technology,
and Society (STS) Perspectives on Nuclear Science, Radiation,
and Human Health: The View from Asia which will take place
at Nagasaki University, and is sponsored by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Several edited books and special
journal editions have been generated by these conferences and
are in various stages of moving towards publication.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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5.0
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Casino Mobilities
Labour Migration, Global
Consumption and Regulation
in Singapore
Casino Mobilities, launched by the Asian Migration Cluster in
April 2013, is currently in its second year. The project is the first
academic research in the Singapore context that looks into the
complex linkages of transnational mobilities of labourers and
consumers, the emerging casino economy in Asia, and the
transforming regulatory regime in Singapore. This research is
fully funded by the NUS-HSS grant for two years (2013-2015)
with a project value of SGD199,867.50.
In 2014, the team carried out field visits to casinos in Singapore,
Macau, the Philippines and gambling ships docked in
international waters outside Singapore. Field trips were also
conducted to learn more about the moneylending industry in
Singapore. The research team has completed more than threequarters of the in-depth interviews planned for the project. These
include interviews with employees, local and international visitors
to the casinos, social workers and family centres working on
issues related to problem gambling and addiction management.
The team presented papers in two workshops in 2014. In July
2014, members of the research team presented “Wagering the
Future: Self-fashioning Casino Resort Employees in Singapore”
at an international workshop entitled Mobilities and Exceptional
Spaces in Asia organised by ARI. In October 2014, members
of the team also presented a paper “Managing Exceptionalism:
Situating the Experiences of Licensed Moneylenders and
Borrowers in Singapore since the Moneylenders Act 2008” at
another workshop on Casino Development in Asia organised by
the University of Macau (UM).
The research team also offered three internship opportunities
under the NUS Undergraduate Research Opportunity Project
(UROP) scheme, and trained three undergraduate students with
regard to conducting independent research. This is the second
time the project has participated in the UROP scheme. Some
members of the team are also undertaking a consultancy project
on the effects of the Family Exclusion Order for the National
Council of Problem Gambling (NCPG).
Project Team
Prof Brenda S.A. Yeoh (Principal Investigator)
Dr Esther Goh (Collaborator)
Dr Kamalini Ramdas (Collaborator)
Dr Melody Chia-Wen Lu
(Collaborator, University of Macau)
Dr Zhang Juan
(Collaborator, University of New England)
Ms Esther Ng (Reseach Assistant)
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
In 2015, the project team expects to complete more interviews
with government officials, and focus on data analysis, revising
conference papers, writing and publishing. Plans are also
being made to participate in a conference entitled Beyond the
State’s Reach: Casino Spaces as Enclaves of Development or
Lawlessness? to be held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, in August 2015.
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Migrating out
of Poverty
Research
Programme
Consortium
Migrating out of Poverty is an international
research programme consortium (RPC)
funded by the United Kingdom’s Department
for International Development (DFID, or UK
Aid). It focuses on the relationship between
migration and poverty, with the aim of
maximising the development impacts of
migration whilst minimising the costs and
risks of migration for the poor. A key facet
of the Consortium is the communication
of research through policy engagement
and capacity building initiatives directed at
delivering high quality research evidence
into policy and practice.
Programme Members
Prof Brenda S.A. Yeoh (Principal Investigator)
Dr Maria Platt (Co-Investigator)
Ms Grace Baey (Co-Investigator)
Ms Theodora Lam (Reseach Associate)
Ms Khoo Choon Yen (Research Assistant)
5.0
The Consortium is coordinated by the University of Sussex, led
by CEO, Prof L. Alan Winters, and Research Director, Dr Priya
Deshingkar. It has five core partners located across different
regions in Asia and Africa: the Asia Research Institute (ARI) in
Singapore; the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit
(RMMRU) in Bangladesh; the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS)
in Ghana; the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS)
in South Africa; and the African Migration and Development
Policy Centre (AMADPOC) in Kenya. As a core partner, ARI’s
role is to manage and facilitate the Consortium’s work within
Southeast Asia through a range of research, communications,
and capacity-building initiatives.
In 2014, the project team at ARI undertook several projects
under the auspices of the Consortium. The field research for a
global project (GP2; or Global Qualitative Project) was carried
out in February-March 2014. It built upon the first global project
(GP1; or “Global Quantitative Project”) which involved surveys
with 1,200 households in the central Javanese city of Ponorogo.
The aim of GP1 was to probe the relationship between migration
and poverty, and identify the mediating factors that shape the
impacts of migration on poverty alleviation. Consisting of an
additional 55 follow-up interviews with current and returned
migrants from the Ponorogo region, GP2 focuses on individuals
engaged in construction, and domestic work. These are
occupations that have emerged in the context of economic
growth, persistent inequalities and declining agriculture and
where conglomerations of those who are socially excluded and
poor are over-represented. Research on these occupations will
generate a significant body of evidence on forms of migration
that are important to the poor and relevant for the Consortium.
Another regional project (RP2) entitled Migration and Precarious
Work: Negotiating Debt, Employment and Livelihood Strategies
amongst Bangladeshi Migrant Men Working in Singapore's
Construction Industry was initiated in late 2013. Drawing on
quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the project aims
to understand the financial and social costs of migration for
Bangladeshi migrant men working in Singapore’s construction
industry. This project examines the different conditions of
precarity that underpin migrant men’s work in the construction
sector through findings from a quantitative survey (n=205) and
qualitative in-depth interviews (n=30).
This research builds on other projects under the auspices of the
Consortium which have been ongoing. This includes a companion
regional project (RP1) entitled Financing Migration, Generating
Remittances, and the Building of Livelihood Strategies: A Case
Study of Indonesian Migrant Women as Domestic Workers in
Singapore. Akin to RP2, this project drew upon quantitative
and qualitative methodologies to highlight the perspectives
of Indonesian domestic workers embarking on migration as a
livelihood strategy for poverty alleviation.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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5.0
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Since its inception, the project team has consulted a range of
organisations in our efforts to engage key stakeholders and
conduct policy-oriented research that is relevant to ongoing
discussions on migration issues in the Southeast Asian region. In
particular, the team has worked closely with Transient Workers
Count Too (TWC2), a local non-governmental organisation
that advocates for the rights and welfare of migrant workers in
Singapore, in developing the project’s research instruments, as
well as in the coordination of its fieldwork. In November 2014,
the team hosted the Asian Migration Cluster’s annual Asia Trends
lecture. This lecture drew upon the findings of RP2 illuminating
Bangladeshi construction workers’ employment experiences in
Singapore. It specifically focused on areas of risk and vulnerability
that shape the outcomes of men's migration experiences. As part
of this lecture we built upon our links with key stakeholders in the
community and other members of the Migrating Out of Poverty
Consortium. Mr John Gee from TWC2 and Dr Chowdhury R.
Abrar from RMMRU, along with Ms Grace Baey, spoke to the
issues that impact upon construction workers’ experiences both
in Singapore and Bangladesh.
Event
ARI ASIA TRENDS 2014 Lecture and
Visual Exhibition
“Migration and Construction Work in Asia”
28 November 2014, Scape, The Colony Level 4
Convenors: Prof Brenda Yeoh and Ms Grace Baey
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
5.0
Asian
Metacentre for
Population and
Sustainable
Development
Analysis
AMC was constituted through a collaborative effort between
ARI, NUS; the College for Population Studies (CPS) at
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and the International Institute
for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria. The National
Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH) at the
Australian National University joined as a principal collaborator
in 2002. AMC’s research foci include: population-developmentenvironment-health interactions at the regional level, rapid
urbanisation, urbanism and health in Asia, and demographic
change, migration and the “Asian family”, and their impacts on
social and psychological wellbeing.
The Asian MetaCentre for Population
and Sustainable Development Analysis
(AMC), headquartered at the Asia
Research Institute, NUS, in Singapore,
was established in 2000 with funding from
The Wellcome Trust’s major Awards for a
Centre of Excellence in Asia.
The CHAMPSEA team continues to yield a string of high quality
publications in 2014 using the rich quantitative and qualitative
datasets from the project on Child Health and Migrant Parents in
South-East Asia.
One of AMC’s major aims is to improve the synergy between
existing population studies centres around Asia through an
internet platform, training courses, topical workshops, support
for project development and a general enhancement of the
interaction among scientists working on population, health
and sustainable development. It brings together Asian centres,
fostering international collaborations and skills transfer. It also
aims to consolidate the Asian Population Network (APN), organise
relevant workshops, provide training for skills development,
develop high quality proposals, engage in research proposals
and subsequently publish research papers and books. The
series of conferences, workshops and seminars organised
through the Asian MetaCentre had thus served as a platform for
strengthening demographic research and the analysis of and
wellbeing.
Key members of the team have also designed and submitted the
proposal for a follow-up longitudinal study for the CHAMPSEA
project to prospective funders.
Publications by the CHAMPSEA team in 2014 include:
Programme Members
Prof Brenda S.A. Yeoh (Principal Investigator)
Ms Theodora Lam (Research Associate)
Hoang, L. A. & B. S. A. Yeoh (2014), “I’d do it for love or for money”:
Vietnamese women in Taiwan and the social construction of
female migrant sexuality. Gender, Place and Culture, online first.
DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2014.885892.
Hoang, L. A. & B. S. A. Yeoh (2014), Children’s agency and its
contradictions in the context of transnational labour migration
from Vietnam. Global Networks, online first. DOI: 10.1111/
glob.12057.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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5.0
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Lu, M. C. W., C. Alipio & B. S. A. Yeoh (2014), Special section
on Asian children and transnational migration. Children’s
Geographies, online first.
Hoang, L. A., T. Lam, B. S. A. Yeoh, & E. Graham (2014),
Transnational migration, changing care arrangements and
left-behind children's responses in Southeast Asia. Children's
Geographies, online first. DOI: 10.1080/14733285.2015.972653.
Graham, E., L. Jordan, & B. S. A. Yeoh (2014), Parental
migration and the mental health of those who stay behind to
care for children in South-East Asia. Social Science & Medicine,
online first. DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.10.060.
Yeoh, B. S. A. & T. Lam (2014), Long-distance fathers, left-behind
fathers and returnee fathers: Changing fathering practices in
Indonesia and the Philippines. In M. Inhorn, W. Chavkin, & J.
A. Navarro (eds), Globalized fatherhoods: Emergent forms and
possibilities in the new millennium. Berghahn, New York, pp.
103-128.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
5.0
External Funded
Projects
Bork-Hüffer, Tabea
Feener, R. Michael
Principal Investigator in project on “Formation and Change of
Migrants’ Notion of Place Under the Influence of Information and
Communication Technologies and Glocalization. The Example of
German Expatriates in Singapore”, EUR132,000 funded by the
Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation, Germany, 1 January 2013
- 31 December 2015.
Principal Investigator in project on “Religion and NGOs in Asia”,
Philip Fountain, Robin Bush, Wu Keping (Co-PIs), SGD500,000
funded by the Luce Foundation, November 2014 - October 2016.
Bunnell, Tim
Principal Investigator in project on “Aspirations, Urban
Governance, and the Remaking of Asian Cities”, Daniel Goh and
Eric Thompson (Co-PIs); Michelle Ann Miller, Peter Marolt, Rita
Padawangi, Kelvin Low, Vineeta Sinha, Jamie Gillen, Elaine Ho
(Collaborators), SGD634,997 funded by Academic Research
Council, Ministry of Education (ARC, MOE), Singapore, for AcRF
Tier 2, 2013-2015.
Lysaght, Tamra
Principal Investigator in project on “Cell Therapies with Adiposederived Stem Cells: Ethical and Regulatory Guidance for
Researchers and Clinicians in Singapore, Japan and Australia”,
SGD100,000 funded by Ministry of Education Humanities and
Social Science Fund, since September 2014.
Principal Investigator in project on “One Health, Zoonotic
Diseases and Pandemic Planning: Creating a Bioethics
Framework in Singapore”, SGD140,908 funded by Ministry of
Health Communicable Diseases Public Health Research Grant,
since July 2014.
Cho, Philip
Principal Investigator in project on “Religion’s Impact on
Human Life: Integrating Proximate and Ultimate Perspectives”,
GBP50,000 funded by the John Templeton Foundation Grant, 1
September 2012 - 31 January 2015.
Padawangi, Rita
Co-Principal Investigator in project on “Community Participation
in Urban Water Management”, Marc Jeuland (Co-PI),
SGD14,940 funded by Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,
NUS, September 2014 - August 2015.
Douglass, Mike
Principal Investigator in project on “Governing Compound
Disasters in Urbanising Asia”, Greg Clancey (Co-PI), Rita
Padawangi, Michelle Ann Miller, Jerome Whitington, Eric Kerr,
Robert Wasson, Caroline Brassard, Lisa Onaga, Sulfikar Amir,
Tyson Vaughn (Collaborators), SGD709,410 funded by Ministry
of Education Tier 2 Research Grant (Singapore), October 2014
- October 2017.
Principal Investigator in project on “Progressive Cities in Asia and
Europe”, SGD50,000 funded by USPC-SPO-NUS-01 (Université
Sorbonne Paris Cité – Sciences Po – National University of
Singapore), August 2014 - July 2015.
Elinoff, Eli
Principal Investigator in project on “Politics in the Time of ‘Post
Politics’: Rethinking Anthropology’s Conception of the Political
for the 21st Century”, Nancy Postero and Nicole Fabricant
(Co-PIs), USD20,000 funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation
Workshop Grant, 2015.
Yeoh S.A., Brenda
Principal Investigator in project on “The Global City of Encounters:
Migration, Precarity and Diversity in Asian Urbanism”, SGD40,000
awarded by HSS Seed Funding, 1 August 2014 - 31 January 2016.
Principal Investigator in project on “Casino Mobilities: Labour
Migration, Global Consumption and Regulation in Singapore”,
SGD199,867.50 awarded by Humanities and Social Sciences
Grant, April 2013 - March 2015.
Principal Investigator in project on “Transnational Migration
in Southeast Asia and the Health of Children Left Behind”,
Theodora Lam (Collaborator), SGD79,800 awarded by the
Academic Research Fund Tier 1, June 2013 - May 2014.
Principal Investigator in project on “Migrating out of Poverty
Research Programme Consortium”, approximately GBP116,688
awarded by Department for International Development (DFID),
UK, through the University of Sussex for the inception phase from
June 2010 - September 2011, and approximately GBP500,000,
October 2011 to September 2017.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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5.0
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Yeung Wei-Jun, Jean
Principal Investigator for project on “China’s Internal Migration,
Family Relations, and Youth Development”, SGD250,000
awarded by Lippo Pte Limited, with matching fund of
SGD250,000 from the Singapore Ministry of Education, since
April 2011.
Co-Principal Investigator for project on “Creating a Life
course Panel from Birth to Early Adulthood”, Stafford F. (PI),
USD3,862,490 funded by National Institute of Health, USA, 8
January 2010 - 31 July 2014.
Principal Investigator for project on “Age of Retirement and
Intergenerational Transfer in China and India: Implications
for Human Capital and Labour Market”, Feng, Q. (Co-PI),
SGD168,000 funded by Global Asia Institute, NUS, March 2013
– 31 March 2016.
Co-Principal Investigator for project on “Consequences of
Internal and Cross-border Migration in China for Children: A
Mainland-Hong Kong Comparison”, Wu Xiaogang (Co-PI),
HKD1,150,000 funded by Hong Kong Research Grants Council,
January 2012 - December 2014.
Director of Centre for Family and Population Research (CFPR),
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, SGD1.5 million grant for
CFPR funded by NUS, 1 April 2014.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
5.0
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
45
6.0
EVENTS
6.0
EVENTS
Conferences
and Workshops
Governing Flooding in Asia’s Urban Transition
Jointly organised with Pacific Affairs, Canada
20 Jan 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Dr Michelle Ann Miller and Prof Mike Douglass
ARI continues working on its objective
“to be a place of encounters between the
region and the world” by hosting seminars,
workshops and conferences aimed at the
generation and exchange of ideas.
During the year 2014, the Institute
organised 20 conferences and workshops.
These conferences were driven by ARI’s
research fellows and postdoctoral scholars.
The participants came from diverse
academic communities in Singapore and
throughout the world.
This workshop explored how Asia’s urban populations deal
with flooding from a governance perspective. In this, we treated
flooding disasters as compound and inter-connected events
that generate cascading effects with multiple sources, impacts
and long-term recovery issues. It is now widely understood that
flooding disasters in cities can produce public health disasters
with feedbacks to the economy and social resilience to future
disasters. Mindful of the compound and inter-connected nature
of flooding disasters in Asia, our invited participants adopted
multi-sector, multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approaches
to governance that will advance scholarship in the search for
more effective, comprehensive and inclusive policy choices.
Through our governance approach to applied disaster research
we strive to produce a special issue with Pacific Affairs that will
enhance our understanding of the multi-dimensional causalities
of flooding events and how knowledge is linked to action in
governing preparedness for, responses to and recovery from
floods in Asia’s cities.
The workshop included eight presentations focusing on the
governance of flooding disasters in urban and urbanising
localities in six national contexts (Indonesia, Vietnam, India,
Tibet, Japan and Vietnam). The workshop was divided into four
panels with two presentations and two discussants per panel.
The event concluded with an in-depth focus group on theoretical
considerations involved in governance that will frame our special
issue submission to Pacific Affairs.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
EVENTS
Conceptualising Cyber-urban Connections in Asia
and the Middle East
23-24 Jan 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Dr Asha Rathina-Pandi and Dr Peter Marolt
This conference theme emerged to conceptualise the
connection between the cyber and the urban. As individuals
live in a networked society, with one foot in the virtual and the
other in the material world, an understanding of the changes
and transformations in society ought to include an interrogation
of the interdependencies between online and offline domains.
In this conference, young scholars and leading experts from
inter- and multidisciplinary backgrounds came together to better
understand and re-theorise the ways in which the “cyber-urban”
connections in urban Asia and the Middle East affect people,
networks, and social and built environments. Vibrant discussions
yielded many insights, on the specificities and commonalities
of case studies in various countries in Asia (including but not
limited to China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia,
Nepal, Philippines and Singapore) and the Middle East (including
Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Morocco and Tunisia), but also on how to
better conceptualise cyber-urban connections.
Selected papers will be published in an edited book volume
addressing the reflexivity of cyber and urban spaces, both
empirically and theoretically, with a general focus on investigating
the origins (roots) and processes (routes) that undergird
contemporary social movements in particular and the cyberurban in general.
6.0
Graduate Workshop on Cultural Studies in Asia
Jointly organised with Yonsei University, South Korea
10-11 Feb 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Prof Chua Beng Huat and Prof Suk Koo Rhee
The aim of this workshop was to create intellectual exchange
between graduate students from Yonsei and NUS. The
participants from Yonsei University presented papers that drew
on the strengths of their English Department's teaching priorities.
The majority of the papers focused on the analysis of English and
American novels and contemporary films, primarily Korean films.
In contrast, participants from NUS presented papers that were
more clearly of Cultural Studies perspectives and a much wider
range of topics from Enka music and Ainu people of Japan, food
and visual arts in Singapore, Thai political documentaries and
China’s effort in gaining soft-power through internationalisation
of state-sponsored television programmes. The same range
was reflected in the presentations by Yonsei professors and ARI
research fellows in the Cultural Studies Cluster.
The papers presented identified a diversity of contested
cultural concepts, artifacts, practices, and institutions in terms
of their historical context and significance. The interactions
and conversations engendered by this workshop gave the
participants opportunities to reflect on how we understand
our cultural past, present, and future, as well as how our
perspectives and discussions can expand and enrich Cultural
Studies in Asia. Situations: Cultural Studies in Asian Context,
published by Yonsei University will publish some of the NUS
graduate students’ essays.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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6.0
EVENTS
Discrepancies between Behaviour and Attitudes
toward Marriage and Fertility in Asia
13-14 Feb 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenor: Dr Ji Yingchun
The purpose of this conference was to promote a better
understanding of the puzzling discrepancies between family
attitudes and behaviour in Asia: when family behaviour is fast
“modernised” and “Westernised” but people seem to still think
“traditionally” and “Asian”. To address the gaps and the future
diction in this research field, top scholars including Professors
Gavin Jones (NUS), Ron Rindfuss (UNC-Chapel Hill; East-West
Center), Arland Thornton (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
came together with other established and juniors scholars, from
eight countries in three continents, to present their current work
and discuss the direction of the field of family studies in Asia.
Prof Thornton analysed how the Northwestern European culture
has evolved into a “world culture”, while Prof Rindfuss discussed
mechanisms underlying fertility transitions in different countries
in the world. Prof Jones interrogated whether marriage systems
have converged or diverged in Asia.
Overall, the conference focused on changes in attitudes related to
family and marriage over time and across generations in different
societies, attitudes towards innovative family behaviours, and
whether the meaning of marriage has changed in various Asian
societies.
This workshop examined the complexities and tensions young
people face in relation to their aspirations for education, work
and the future. It also explored the potential opportunities and
challenges young people (aged 15 to 30) face as they attempt
to realise those aspirations. These considerations were located
within a recognition of the conditions of neoliberal economic
change and development combined with cultural globalisation
in Asia’s rapidly urbanising and transforming societies. Young
scholars and leading experts from interdisciplinary backgrounds
(anthropology, human geography, sociology, development
studies and psychology) came together to better understand the
kinds of futures that young people aspire to in Asia.
Presenters discussed contemporary ideas about vocational
training, skills and entrepreneurship, and the changing meaning
of schooling in the context of poor quality education systems and
difficult school-to-work transitions; how we study “aspirations”
as future goals and everyday realities; and young people’s
employment prospects and experiences in often highly informal
and politicised labour markets. Taken together the papers
provided rich insights into the diversity and complexity of young
people’s experiences in relation to education and employment in
a wide range of Asian countries, and the common experiences
they face and what innovative tactics and strategies they
are developing within their own cultural, social, political and
economic contexts to still aspire.
Encountering Urban Diversity in Asia:
Class and Other Intersections
Jointly organised with Migration Cluster, FASS, NUS; with support
from Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic
Diversity, Germany, & International Graphical Union Commission
of Population Geography, The University of Adelaide, Australia
15-16 May 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Dr Maureen Hickey and Dr Ye Junjia
Youthful Futures? Aspirations, Education and
Employment in Asia
With support from Family, Children and Youth Cluster, FASS, NUS
5-6 May 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Dr Suzanne Naafs and Assoc Prof Tracey Skelton
This conference sought to explore the possibilities of changing
social relations within configurations of new forms of intersecting
social and economic class and to build on existing literature on
cosmopolitanism and urban diversity. It brought together young
scholars and leading experts from inter- and multidisciplinary
backgrounds in a productive conversation on how people live
with diversity and the myriad ways in which these relations
transform, constitute and spatialise class in Southeast Asia’s
dynamic and rapidly changing cities.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
EVENTS
Participants built on the theme of the intersection between the
built environment and the performance of identity with papers that
focused on gated communities and other forms of enclavement
and encounter, together with presentations that highlighted both
the potentialities and frictions of growing diversity in Asia’s urban
public spaces. Visual presentations were featured to highlight
the expanding methodological tools with which social science
might be carried out – Dr Ye Junjia’s booklet featuring photo
narratives collected in a collaborative project with South Asian
male migrants; Ms Bernice Wong’s multimedia narrative of her
work with Bangladeshi male migrants.
6.0
Slender but Supple Threads:
Arabia-Asia Relations Then and Now
23-24 Jun 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenor: Prof Ho Engseng
Changing Role of State in Asia II:
Comparative Perspective
Jointly organised with the Harvard-Yenching Institute, USA
30-31 May 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Prof Prasenjit Duara and Prof Elizabeth Perry
While relations between Arabia and Asia have existed
continuously for centuries, modern scholarship has been divided
by countries and regions, rendering those relations opaque.
This conference was designed to overcome these divides by
bringing together scholars working along a number of ArabiaAsia axes: to compare notes, complement each other, make
mutual discoveries, and identify common areas of interest
and ignorance. In that respect, the meeting was stimulating,
and sparked lively discussions that will bear fruit in developing
research agendas.
This conference aimed to gain a holistic and historical view
of recent developments in the role and nature of the state in
contemporary Asia, particularly in the 21st century, concerned
principally with the new states in East, Southeast and South Asia.
These states shared a common historical base-line towards the
end of World War II when their de-colonising or de-imperialising
leadership launched upon a new era of state and nation-building.
These post-war states could be classed, often by sub-regions,
into the socialist or semi-socialist; the developmental state, redistributive autocracies or clientelist democracies. The majority
of papers focused on the two largest of these states, China and
India, but distinctly with an eye on comparative developments in
other states.
One of the chief issues that focalised the discussion was the
creation and transformation of citizenship in these states
which are based largely on privatisation and, perhaps ironically,
often accompanied by rights consciousness. From a longerterm historical view, we could see several temporalities at
work in the production of this situation: the slow upheaval of
historical structures of landownership, caste, etc. (creating new
configurations of losers and winners); post-war emergence
of citizenship rights tied to the systemic logic of nation-state
(reactive to pro-active logic; distinctiveness in rights being given
and demanded before the emergence of the middle class);
global, real-time temporality (privatisation, new technologies
of surveillance and hyper-connectedness, brokerage and
outsourcing, new patterns of governance).
Panelists came from Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, India,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Korea and the USA.
Panels were focused on topics such as Arabia-Asia trading
ports, Arabians in Asian cities, intellectual and organisational
journeys, publishing, pilgrimage, diaspora-state relations. Dr Ho
Wai-Yip introduced a maximal spatial and temporal stage, linking
two cities at the limits of Arabia-Asia – Aden and Canton – in the
thirteenth century and the present. Prof Ho Engseng discussed
Dubai’s role in Indian Ocean trade, developing primacy in global
logistics, as did its counterpart Singapore. Nurfadzilah Yahaya's
closing paper uncovered the strategies diasporic Hadramis
employed to navigate the strictures of Islamic and colonial law
governing inheritance and religious endowments in Singapore
and the region. Such transactions have left a rich documentary
trail that is being archived and published by Abd al-Rahman
Bilfaqih and Ali Anis al-Kaf, who gave an overview of their
important work in documenting and publishing the Hadrami
heritage. In order to overcome the limitations of colonial recordkeeping and its profound effect on scholarship, two panels were
conducted in Arabic, enabling a more robust exchange across
the regions than usual.
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EVENTS
Growing Up in One-Parent Family in Asia
1-2 Jul 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Prof Jean Yeung Wei-Jun and Assoc Prof Park
Hyunjoon
This conference brought together scholars, practitioners, and
policy makers to examine the trend and prevalence of oneparent family in Asia as well as consequences of such family
structure for the well-being of children. 18 speakers presented
in 7 panels: families coping after divorce; adolescent wellbeing;
children’s experiences and educational outcomes; family and
social support for one-parent families; adolescents’ schooling;
adolescent employment; children’s psychological well-being –
in South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China, India, Hong Kong,
Japan, Indonesia, etc.
Countries in Asia share some cultural and family values but also
have substantial differences in demographic profiles, economic
resources, religious practices, and institutional arrangements that
affect who become lone parents and the consequences of such
type of family. Comparative and systematic approaches help us
better understand the commonality and variation in this relatively
new family form in Asia, their consequences for children, and
related policy implications. This conference sought to fill a gap in
knowledge about the trends, causes, and consequences of oneparent families in Asia and their policy and to generate evidence
for international comparison to research on western societies.
Mobilities and Exceptional Spaces in Asia
9-10 Jul 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Dr Kumiko Kawashima and Prof Brenda Yeoh
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This cluster event of 2014 for the Migration Cluster brought
together a range of papers exploring various spaces of exception
to shed light on new ways capitalism works socially and culturally
under contemporary globalisation. Papers presented explored
geographically bounded spaces of exception, such as special
economic zones in India and China. Borderlands were another
popular focus – several papers variously argued that the state
endorses and often actively creates exceptional space in the
border areas. Some presenters examined integrated resorts in
Singapore and Macau as places where leisure and industrial
activities combine to generate certain mobile flows of domestic
and transnational tourists and workers while increasing tourism
consumption. Other papers focused on figurative spaces of
exception, such as exploitation of ‘flexible labour”, and
international mobility for the purpose of medical tourism or by
students. Many of the various new formations investigated by
workshop participants adapt or evolve from the "special zone"
model, demonstrating the versatility of the concept of "making
special" or "making exceptional", and have the potential to
transform fundamental notions of sovereignty, citizenship, rights,
freedom, subjecthood, and mobility.
The concluding discussion was a collective effort to further
theorise the changing relationships between mobility and spaces
of exception, and its implications on the increasingly mutually
constitutive nature between the ways in which global capitalism
operate, and how people’s live their lives.
Futures of Migrant Care Labour:
Gender Geographies of Aspiration and Servitude
Jointly organised with Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada
17 Jul 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Prof Brenda Yeoh, Prof Rachel Silvey, and Prof
Rhacel Parrenas
This workshop proposed to develop an explicit dialogue
between the critical research on migrant servitude and migrants’
aspirations: How do migrants’ own aspirations intersect with the
conditions of servitude under which they labour? How do their
sending country families' and communities' imagined futures
cohere and conflict with migrants’ own aspirations? What sort
of temporalities, spatialities and gender politics are characteristic
of the various imagined futures and lived conditions of migrant
care labour? Renowned experts and young scholars in migration
studies, specifically care provisioning and care work, came
together to help us better understand the impact of migration
on the aspirations and imagined futures of migrant care workers.
Presentations included: how future dreams and fears are
articulated by migrants; significant differences in how different
migrant care workers experience everyday life; domestic workers’
agency in negotiating expectations of remittance placed upon
them by both the nation and the individual families; the changing
web of care that develops around left-behind children in their
mothers’ physical absence over a long period of time.
EVENTS
This workshop drew together the longstanding interests in
gender, migration and transnational family formation of several
scholars and students. We have come away with a stronger
desire to further deepen our understandings of the subjective
(and highly uneven) experiences of migrant servitude and
migrants’ aspirations. We hope to further explore these issues
through future research.
AAS-IN-ASIA CONFERENCE 2014 - Asia in Motion:
Heritage and Transformation
Jointly organised with the Association for Asian Studies,
& FASS, NUS; with support from Singapore Tourism Board,
the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau, and the Best
Cities Global Alliance
17-19 Jul 2014, NUS University Town
Convenors: Prof Prasenjit Duara, Assoc Prof Michael Feener and
Assoc Prof Huang Jianli
This conference was designed to help support the development
of new lines of investigation in global Asian studies. By bringing
together Asian specialists from abroad with scholars and
practitioners in Asia whose routine expertise is grounded in the
region but not necessarily foregrounded as “Asian Studies,” a
number of panels on the programme became exciting sites for
interaction, and a number of them have stimulated discussions
among participants about possible future research collaborations.
Prof Dipesh Chakrabarty’s presentation, “Asian Studies in a
Planetary Age: Rethinking Location” opened the event by posing
a compelling critical question to the theme of the conference,
asking “Where does one think about heritage?” His exploration of
this question helped to push the discussion of issues of concern
to many of the scholars at the conference from the traditional
frameworks of area studies to a planetary scale engaging with
the urgent and complex challenges of shared human futures in
an age of an increasingly severe climate crisis.
Prof Pasuk Phongpaichit’s presentation, “Inequity, Oligarchy, and
Protest: Reflections on our Time” then shifted scale back to a
careful consideration of major economic and political dynamics
at work on the scale of human societies in contemporary
Southeast Asia. Drawing on the current empirical realities of
countries in the region, she challenged some of the dominant
positions in global literature dealing with economic inequality and
its socio-political consequences. She specifically highlighted the
ways in which various combinations of traditional conceptions of
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social hierarchy, cultural conservatism skeptical of democratic
ideals, and the effects of interventionist development policies
have served to foster the consolidation of oligarchies in many
countries of the region. The wide ranging critical conversations
stimulated by these two talks and the range of papers presented
and discussed in the panel sessions made for a very stimulating
conference and helped to foster the formation of new networks
of research cooperation connecting scholars from across the
region and beyond.
Manoeuvering through Physical and Virtual Spaces:
Mobility and New Media in Asian Cities
Jointly organised with the Migration Research Cluster, FASS, &
Department of Communications and New Media, NUS
4-5 Aug 2014, NUS Kent Ridge Campus, AS7
Convenors: Dr Tabea Bork-Hüffer, Assoc Prof Lim Sun Sun and
Prof Brenda Yeoh
This workshop explored how migrants' lives, practices,
communication, networks, movements, and economic
ventures are influenced by new media (the internet and mobile
communications). It considered how migrants actively participate
in and shape various virtual spaces, further questioning how their
online interactions alter the contours of their everyday activities,
societal integration, individual identities, and emotional bonds to
the cities they migrate to or pass through. The papers of the
workshop shed light on the role of ICT use by migrants from
various cultural, educational, professional, and socio-economic
backgrounds, with differential levels of ICT access, and
varying migration motivations and intentions, aspirations, and
expectations.
Most papers addressed the following themes: social change
brought about by new media, empowerment and recognition
through mediated communication, migrant adaptation and
assimilation via mediated communication channels, the
communication of affect through mediated platforms, student
migration and their translocal networks, as well as the role of
mediation in place making and perception. The workshop
underlined the need to further inquire into the specific qualities of
the nexus of mobilities and new media, and participants agreed
that there is further need to discuss and clarify the relations of
the migration and mobilities paradigm as well as for studies that
compare findings between different types of mobilities, different
types of migrant groups and regional case studies.
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EVENTS
Globalising History and Philosophy of Science:
Problems and Prospects
Ethics of Religious Giving in Asia:
Historical and Ethnographic Explorations
Jointly organised with Center for Dialogue, La Trobe University,
Australia, and Situating Science Strategic Knowledge Cluster in
partnership with University of King's College, Canada
21-22 Aug 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Dr Arun Bala and Prof Prasenjit Duara
9-10 Oct 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Dr Wu Keping and Assoc Prof R. Michael Feener
This workshop brought together 15 speakers from 10 countries
– Singapore, Australia, Canada, China, India, the Netherlands,
France, UAE, USA, and the UK. This diversity of disciplines and
regions enabled a broad forum to examine how the global turn in
both history of science and philosophy of science can learn from
each other. In particular the workshop addressed the issue of
why globalisation may be seen as problematic because different
cultural traditions of science are often seen as enclosed within
incommensurable world perspectives shaped by their distinctive
networks of beliefs, semantics, perceptions and values.
Nevertheless, both the record of successful historical exchanges
of scientific knowledge across civilisations, and the possibility of
transmissions of traditional environmental knowledge from one
culture to another suggest that the notion of incommensurability
may have to be examined more carefully.
Seven panels of speakers dealt with topics such as matters
of medicine, historical methodology, knowledge crossing
divides, sharing practices, the global and the local, networks
of exchange, and mathematics and astronomy. Despite their
different disciplinary backgrounds speakers were able to engage
each other in a fashion both informed and stimulating. As a
result, the final discussion session at the end of the conference
highlighted the significance of novel concerns which arise when
we bring together movements for globalising history of science
and philosophy of science, but which had hitherto developed in
separate enclaves.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Ethical dilemmas have filled the history of religions, especially on
religious giving. This international and interdisciplinary conference
was designed to explore the ethics of religious giving in Asian
contexts, historically and ethnographically. “Ethics” here refers to
both accepted codes of conduct and the Durkheimian sense of
“means to achieve social cohesion.” “Religious giving” indicates
broadly any kind of gifts/services that are delivered by religious
individuals, communities or institutions. The wider goal of the
conference was to explore diverse configurations of conceptions
of reciprocity, as well as, the relationship between ideas (ethics)
and action (giving).
Young scholars and leading experts from inter- and
multidisciplinary backgrounds (history, anthropology, sociology,
philosophy, political science and law) came together to better
understand and re-theorise the ways in which religion, ethics
and gifts affect the ways people across Asian contexts, such
as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Myanmar,
Thailand, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and Singapore, give
and receive, in various religious traditions. These explorations
of what people actually do and think on the ground contribute
both empirically and theoretically to the understanding of religion
and development in Asian societies. Together the scholars reexamined the concept of gifts (good and bad gifts, coercive
gifts and destructive gifts), various agents involved (religious
groups, individuals, state, NGOs, and legal institutions), and the
construction of ethical subjects of the giver and receiver and
ethical relations that are created between the giver and receiver
in the process of exchange.
EVENTS
6.0
Inter-Asia Roundtable 2014 - Governance of Health
in Disasters: Perspectives on Asia
The Quotidian Anthropocene:
Reconfiguring Environments in Urbanising Asia
18 Oct 2014, NUS University Town
Convenors: Dr Tamra Lysaght and Assoc Prof Gregory Clancey
Jointly organised by the Science, Technology, and Society
Cluster, and the Asian Urbanisms Cluster
16-17 Oct 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Dr Eli Elinoff and Dr Tyson Vaughan
Over the last decade, several major disasters have had
significant health impacts on Asian populations. Earthquakes,
tsunamis, flooding, industrial accidents, influenza outbreaks,
and emerging infectious diseases are expected to increase with
denser populations in highly urbanised environments, climate
change, rising sea levels, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, and
encroaching agricultural practices. Many Asian governments
have implemented disaster preparedness and crisis management
policies aimed at ensuring the health and wellbeing of affected
citizens. These plans often include strategies for the relocation
and compensation of populations, reconstruction and restoration
of housing and public infrastructure, the imposition of travel
restrictions and quarantine, decontamination efforts, animal
control, and environmental protection but the implementation of
these strategies can negatively impact the health and wellbeing
of vulnerable populations.
This workshop brought together emerging scholars and leading
experts from multidisciplinary backgrounds to interrogate these
issues in a robust, open forum: the role of the medical community
in communicating risk following the radiation accident at the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan and difficulties
physicians face when balancing their professional obligations with
their personal commitments; the responsiveness of healthcare
systems in delivering innovative medicines to vulnerable
populations, focusing on the case of Ebola in West Africa and
the lessons that can be learned for SEA; the policies of culling
animals in preparation for pandemic response in the UK and in
Singapore and alternative strategies; the unfolding humanitarian
crises in Myanmar with the displacement of the Rohingya and
difficulties in providing them with quality healthcare services;
the emergence of slow onset disasters such as the increasing
incidence of asthma and obesity.
The conference theme emerged to conceptualise the connection
between the macroscale impacts of Asia’s urban transition and
the micro level experiences and politics taking place across the
region in relation to those changes. In doing so, it built on the
Asian Urbanism Cluster’s strengths in both urban studies and
disaster governance in order to deepen our understanding
of how cities are involved in global environmental change. As
the region’s cities have grown at a rapid pace it has become
necessary to situate that growth within a broader set of
discussions that attempt to link both large-scale transformation
and everyday politics. Moreover, intensifying of environmental
change has made disaster and post-disaster politics a “newnormal.”
Young and established scholars from a variety of backgrounds
came together to better understand and re-theorise the ways
in which the region’s cities are transforming environments and
how such changed landscapes are in turn transforming everyday
life. Discussions yielded many insights, on the specificities and
commonalities of case studies in various countries in Asia and
into the various mechanisms through which macroenvironmental
change is being lived, produced, and contested.
The themes discussed included: climate activism; emerging
forms of knowledge production; environmental and ontological
change; the spatial and temporal dimensions of urbanisation
after disaster; air pollution; low carbon living; and “re-mooring”
of life after disaster. The wrap-up discussion considered
broader themes including how Asia acts as more than context
for these questions but can work as a method to understand
emerging environments, the relation between sense, science,
and governance, and changing notions of ethical and political
personhood in the Anthropocene.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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EVENTS
The Resilience of Vernacular Heritage in Asian Cities
The CityPossible Film Festival III
6-7 Nov 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors: Prof Mike Douglass and Dr Rita Padawangi
Supported by Young NTUC
6 Nov 2014, NTUC Centre
Convenors: Prof Mike Douglass and Dr Rita Padawangi
This conference asked questions of urban theory as well
as directed attention to taking action in exploring possible
alternatives to conserve and sustain urban heritage in reestablishing the idea and practices of cities as theatres of social
action that are resilient towards urban disasters. It focused on
the interplay between cultural practices and the production of
urban space and place-making that together create the living
vernacular heritages of neighbourhoods and communities of a
city. Emphasis was given to community efforts and collective
empowerment through heritage preservation practices that are
found to enhance sustenance of the natural environment as well
as resilience towards environmental threats.
This was the third annual mini film festival that brings together a
collection of short films. The objective was to allow the audience
to imagine the breadth of possibilities to make better cities, by
showcasing stories of people who have joined together to resist
the loss of their life-spaces and to remake the city through their
own visions of what could be. With current urban development
trajectories that encourage commercialisation and unfettered
capitalism pushing cities to become engines of growth rather than
theatres of social life, meaningful communities are challenged
to find space, time, and resources diverted to focus on lifestyle
and consumption within placeless architectures. The films are
inspirational short documentaries that focus on the strength of
the human spirit in constructing urban spaces.
Young as well as established scholars came together to address
the research questions in this conference and to contribute to
building a theory on vernacular heritage. The range of case
studies included the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, India, Korea,
Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, and Malaysia. The discussion
ranged from enthusiastic comments about the cases and
updates from the policy realm to robust conversations on
theorising urban vernacular heritage. Papers spoke to specific
themes under vernacular heritage and new ideas to contribute
to theory, such as perspectives from environmental sociology,
community land trust, and music. Bringing the vernacular
and heritage together highlights the focus on human agency
in heritage discourse to the everyday lives of people, which
is important but often forgotten both in academia and in the
policy realm.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
The film festival was convened in conjunction with “The
Resilience of Vernacular Heritage in Asian Cities” conference
(6-7 November 2014), also convened by ARI Asian Urbanisms
Cluster. Presenters and observers of the conference joined in
the film festival as part of the audience. The film festival also
sponsored Yaminay Nasir Chaudhri, a filmmaker based in
Karachi, to take part in a discussion about her work, of which
“A Pakhtun Memory” was screened. The geography of the
films covered many places from all over the world, including
Jakarta, Singapore, Karachi, Bangkok, Berlin, Honolulu, Nagoro
(Japan), among others. Blues 77, a Singapore jazz band from
the 1960-1970s, performed during the intermission and in total,
the programme featured 23 short documentary films and a 15
minutes discussion with Yaminay Chaudhri.
EVENTS
6.0
ARI Seminar
Series
14 Jan 2014
Urbanising the Guizhou Countryside:
Aesthetic Governmentality, Social Ordering,
and the Exhibition Economy
Prof Tim Oakes
University of Colorado Boulder, USA
The Asia Research Institute Seminar
Series features seminars that vary in
scope and are able to appeal across
various academic disciplines. Seminars
are usually scheduled on a Tuesday
afternoon from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm at the
NUS Bukit Timah Campus.
28 Jan 2014
Dancing Natives, Dancing Nation:
From Bayan to Bayanihan in the Philippines
Dr William Peterson
Monash University, Australia, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
4 Feb 2014
‘I’d Do It for Love or for Money’:
Vietnamese Women in Taiwan and
the Social Construction of Female Migrant Sexuality
Dr Hoang Lan Anh
University of Melbourne, Australia, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
18 Feb 2014
Exploring the Process:
An Enquiry into the Development of Resilience
Dr Li Haibin
Asia Research Institute, NUS
11 Mar 2014
Privatising Marriage in Postsocialist China
Dr Deborah Davis
Yale University, USA
18 Mar 2014
Union Politics and Global Governance:
A Sri Lankan Case Study
Dr Kanchana Ruwanpura
University of Edinburgh, UK, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
25 Mar 2014
"Trafficking" in Women: The Colonial Regulation of the
Sex Trade in Southeast Asia Before 1940
Assoc Prof Julia Martinez
University of Wollongong, Australia
1 Apr 2014
The Politics behind Development:
Cases Study of Land Acquisition in India and China
Dr Huang Yinghong
Asia Research Institute, NUS
8 Apr 2014
Plantations, Monopoly and the "Mafia System":
Inside Indonesia's Oil Palm Zone
Prof Tania Murray Li
University of Toronto, Canada, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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6.0
EVENTS
15 Apr 2014
Divorce Biographies in Singapore
Dr Sharon Quah
Asia Research Institute, NUS
22 Apr 2014
Trapped Between Traditional and Modern Roles:
Single, Educated Women in Shanghai
Dr Ji Yingchun
Asia Research Institute, NUS
29 Apr 2014
From Spatial to Social Division:
The Spatial Organisation of Inequality
in Manila and Singapore
Dr Marco Garrido
Asia Research Institute, NUS
20 May 2014
Secularism and the Korean Formation of Religion
in a Globalised East Asia
Dr Cho Kyuhoon
Asia Research Institute, NUS
27 May 2014
Postcolonial Cinema Aesthetics in the Era
of Global Capital
Assoc Prof Gerald Sim
Florida Atlantic University, USA
3 Jun 2014
Arguing Islam
Prof Adrian Vickers
University of Sydney, Australia, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
10 Jun 2014
The Anxieties of Romantic and Unrequited Love
in Post-reform Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Dr Allen L. Tran
Bucknell University, USA
8 Jul 2014
Whither Digital Citizenship? A Dialogue with
Assoc Prof Itty Abraham and Mr Ashish Rajadhyaksha
Assoc Prof Itty Abraham
Department of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS
Mr Ashish Rajadyaksha
Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, India,
and Asia Research Institute, NUS
15 Jul 2014
Meat, Murrain, Germs: Examining Epizootics,
Veterinarians, and Sanitary Science
Dr Samiparna Samanta
Georgia College and State University, USA
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
22 Jul 2014
The Bahá’í Faith and its Critical Engagement with
the Global Discourse and Practice of “Development”
Assoc Prof David Palmer
University of Hong Kong, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
12 Aug 2014
War, Memory, Identity
Assoc Prof Viet Thanh Nguyen
University of Southern California, USA,
and Asia Research Institute, NUS
19 Aug 2014
Spectacle and Containment:
Gender, French Cinema and the Work of Tr n Anh Hùng
Assoc Prof Lan Phuong Duong
University of California Riverside, USA,
and Asia Research Institute, NUS
9 Sep 2014
The Epitome of Asia: A Historiographic Investigation into
the Durian's Western Nature
Dr Leo Mariani
University of Liege, Belgium, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
7 Oct 2014
Inventing the "Authentic" Self: American Television and
Chinese Audiences in Global Beijing
Organised with Center for Family and Population Research, FASS
Dr Gao Yang
Singapore Management University
21 Oct 2014
The Politics of a Mughal Princess and the Transition
to Colonial Rule in Eighteenth-Century Northern India
Dr Rochisha Narayan
William Paterson University, USA
4 Nov 2014
Love, Labour and the Law:
Regulating Migrant Women’s Bodies in the Gulf
Assoc Prof Pardis Mahdavi
Pomona College, USA, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
27 Nov 2014
Intergenerational Relations in Aging Societies:
A Future Perspective
Prof Frank F. Furstenberg
University of Pennsylvania, USA
9 Dec 2014
Heritage Diplomacy: Regionalism, Cultural Nationalisms
and Soft Power in Asia
Prof Tim Winter
Deakin University, Australia, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
EVENTS
Cluster
Seminars
Asian Migration Cluster
Cluster seminars are given by members
of ARI’s different clusters or by invited
speakers, usually on topics related to the
clusters’ work.
7 Aug 2014
From the Ground Up: The Space for Southeast Asian
Migrants’ Rights Activists in the Global Governance
of Migration
Dr Stefan Rother
University of Freiburg, Germany
6.0
6 Aug 2014
Building Resilience through Translocality:
Climate Change, Migration and Social Resilience
of Rural Communities in Thailand
Dr Patrick Sakdapolrak
University of Bonn, Germany
Asian Urbanisms Cluster
16 Jan 2014
Distributional Impacts of Environmental Regulations
Dr Corbett Grainger
University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
20 Feb 2014
"It was the Negro": Spectres of Global Urbanism and
the Just City
Prof AbdouMaliq Simone
University of South Australia
3 Mar 2014
Building Community Resilience from Merapi Volcano
Eruptions: Synergising Urban-rural Connections
towards Sustainable Disaster Governance
Jointly organised with Indonesia Study Group
Mr Gatot Saptadi
Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency, Indonesia
Ms Mahditia Paramita
Housing Resource Center Indonesia
13 Mar 2014
Aspirational Roots and Routes in Beijing’s Art World
Dr Peter Marolt
Asia Research Institute, NUS
30 Apr 2014
The Sultans of Swing: Muslim Rule in Ma'bar in Memory
and History from Delhi to Aceh
Assoc Prof Daud Ali
University of Pennsylvania, USA, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
21 Jul 2014
Regional Globalisation, Town Development and Evolving
Urbanisation in India: Preliminary Findings from Darjeeling
Prof Tim Scrase
Australian Catholic University
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EVENTS
Changing Family in Asia Cluster
21 Apr 2014
Population Dynamics and Climate Change in Asia:
The Demography of Carbon Emissions
Dr Adrian Hayes
Australian National University
20 Jun 2014
A Youth with No Regrets? How China’s Sent-down
Generation Reviews their Rustication Experience
Dr Lin Qianhan
Asia Research Institute, NUS
1 Aug 2014
Hong Kong Demographic Challenges:
A Second Thought
Jointly organised with Global Asia Institute, NUS
Prof Paul Yip
University of Hong Kong
7 Nov 2014
The Success Frame and the Achievement Paradox:
The Children of Chinese Immigrants
and Vietnamese Refugees in Los Angeles, USA
Jointly organised with Centre for Family and Population
Research, FASS
Prof Zhou Min
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
20 Nov 2014
Re-conceptualising Child Support as
an Expressive Resource and a Form of Labour:
Lessons from the Australian Case
Jointly organised with Centre for Family and Population
Research, and Social Service Research Centre, FASS
Dr Kristin Natalier
University of Tasmania, Australia
Cultural Studies in Asia Cluster
27 Jan 2014
Not Only To See All, But Also To See From Anywhere:
The Omnivision of the Mobile Camera
Dr Jenna Ng
The University of York, UK
9 Apr 2014
The Guilty Secret:
The Latter Career of the Indian Cinema’s Illegitimacy
Mr Ashish Rajadhyaksha
Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, India, and Asia
Research Institute, NUS
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
21 May 2014
Teaching Asian Popular Culture
Prof Adrian Vickers
University of Sydney, Australia, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
18 Jun 2014
Transnational Vietnamese Cinemas:
Imagining Nationhood in a Globalised Era
Assoc Prof Duong Lan Phuong,
University of California – Riverside, USA,
and Asia Research Institute, NUS
20 Jun 2014
A New Approach to Nationalism in Postsocialist China
Dr Shen Yipeng
Trinity College Hartford Connecticut, USA,
and Asia Research Institute, NUS
1 Oct 2014
The Spectre of Translation
Dr Fiona Lee
Asia Research Institute, NUS
26 Nov 2014
Stepping into Shringaara:
Variations on Love in Modern Bharata Natyam
Dr Nidya Shanthini Manokara
National University of Singapore
Metacluster: Historical Sociology of Asian
Connections
27 Mar 2014
A Conversation with Joel Mokyr - The Great Needham
Puzzle: China, Europe and the Origins of Modern Growth
Jointly organised with Yale-NUS College
Prof Joel Mokyr
Northwestern University, USA
19 Jun 2014
From the Axial Age to the “X-Factor”: Revisiting East-West
Entanglements in the Sociology of Religion
Prof Armando Salvatore
Asia Research Institute, NUS
27 Aug 2014
Bringing the World into the History of Science:
Recent Approaches to the Question of Globalisation
Prof Kapil Raj
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, France, and Asia
Research Institute, NUS
EVENTS
Religion and Globalisation Cluster
Open Cluster
6 Feb 2014
Cyber Citizenship:
Rescuing Marginalised Minority Identities
Dr Tabassum Khan
University of California Riverside, USA,
and Asia Research Institute, NUS
19 Mar 2014
Power at the Margins:
Adat Ethos and Indonesian Nationhood
Jointly organised with Department of History, NUS
Dr Jeyamalar T. Kathirithamby-Wells
University of Cambridge, UK, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
6 Mar 2014
A Buddhist Cosmopolitanism? Thinking about the
Consequences of Buddhist Networks in China,
Thailand and Singapore
Assoc Prof Thomas Borchert
University of Vermont, USA
30 Jun 2014
The Skin of the City:
Moral and Material Histories of Plastic in India
Assoc Prof Sarah Hodges
University of Warwick, UK
6.0
24 Apr 2014
Hikmah and Narratives of Change: Temporalities
of Religion and Development in Post-tsunami Aceh
Dr Annemarie Samuels
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
3 Jul 2014
On Mass Mediated Islam and the Seduction
of Being Original
Dr Hatsuki Aishima
University of Manchester, UK
30 Jul 2014
Solar Panels from the Imam: Shifting “Secular” and
“Religious” Development Realities in the Tajik Pamirs
Dr Till Mostowlansky
University of Bern, Switzerland
18 Sep 2014
Christian Social Engagement and the State in Singapore:
Preliminary Findings
Mr Mathias Deininger
Heidelberg University, Germany
Other Event
28 Nov 2014
Demography as Destiny:
A Demographic Perspective on Asian Development
Jointly organised with Centre for Family and Population Research,
and Department of Sociology, FASS.
Prof Gavin Jones
National University of Singapore
Prof Peter McDonald
Australian National University
Prof Peter Xenos
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Assoc Prof Maznah Mohamad
National University of Singapore
Science, Technology, and Society Cluster
29 Aug 2014
The Ethical Conflicts of the Physician-Soldier:
A Case Study in Civilian Medical Assistance
Dr Sheena M. Eagen Chamberlin
University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, USA
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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EVENTS
Study Groups
and their
Seminars
While ARI seminars are designed to
address a wide academic audience, ARI
also acts as host to a variety of study
groups, bringing together NUS scholars
and others to discuss interdisciplinary
issues. There are five country-based study
groups that provide the nucleus for
scholars working on particular areas or
themes. The members include our own
research staff working in collaboration with
other faculty members, and the convenors
may vary from year to year. This is a listing
of the seminars that were organised by
each of the study groups in 2014.
Study Group on Indonesia
Convenors:
Dr Michelle Miller
Asia Research Institute, NUS
Dr Andrew Marc Conroe
University Scholars Programme, NUS
Dr Joshua Gedacht
Asia Research Institute, NUS (From 1 Aug 2014)
27 Feb 2014
Corruption, Anti-corruption in Indonesia's Sukarno Era
and Suharto Era: More of the Same?
Mr Vishnu Juwono
London School of Economics and Political Sciences, UK,
and Asia Research Institute, NUS
3 Mar 2014
Building Community Resilience from Merapi Volcano
Eruptions: Synergising Urban-rural Connections towards
Sustainable Disaster Governance
Jointly organised with Asian Urbanisms Cluster
Mr Gatot Saptadi
Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency, Indonesia
Ms Mahditia Paramita
Housing Resource Center Indonesia
10 Mar 2014
Are Rice Prices an Effective Anti-poverty Tool
in Indonesia: A Rural-urban Labour
Market Integration Approach
Prof Richard R. Barichello
University of British Columbia, Canada,
and Asia Research Institute, NUS
17 Apr 2014
Migration and Family Relationships:
Case of Gay Indonesia in Paris
Mr Wisnu Adihartono
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Marseille, France
22 May 2014
Enclosing Muslim Kingdoms in Colonial Indonesia
and the Philippines, 1850-1940
Jointly organised with Philippines Study Group
Dr Joshua Gedacht
Asia Research Institute, NUS
12 Jun 2014
Kroncong, Gamelan, and Beethoven:
Music as Metaphor in Shackles (Belenggu)
– A 1930’s Nationalist Indonesian Novel
Assoc Prof Sarah Weiss
Yale-NUS College, Singapore
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
EVENTS
17 Jun 2014
Indonesian Studies: The View from Australia
Prof Adrian Vickers
University of Sydney, Australia, and Asia Research Institute, NUS
24 Jul 2014
Globalisation, Moral Authority, and Progressive
Islamic Discourse: The Nahdlatul Ulama and
the Gulen Movement in Comparative Perspective
Dr Alexander R. Arifianto
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
Study Group on Indochina
Convenors:
Dr Zhang Juan
Asia Research Institute, NUS (Till 25 Jan 2014)
Dr Chang Yufen
Asia Research Institute, NUS (Till 30 Jun 2014)
27 Mar 2014
The French-speaking Reformed Church in Indochina
– Reflexions on a Neglected Origin of Protestantism
in Vietnam
Dr Pascal Bourdeaux
École Pratique Des Hautes Études, France
3 Apr 2014
Women Sorcerers in Southeast Asia:
Insights from the Cham “Muk Rija”
Prof Thanh Phan
University of Social Science and Humanities, Vietnam
Dr Mohamed Effendy
Department of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS
21 Apr 2014
ROUNDTABLE on Reinventing “China” in Southeast
Asia: Sino-Southeast Asian Literary Interconnections in
Vietnam and Thailand from the 17th to the 20th Century
Prof Nguyen Nam
Vietnam National University, Vietnam
Dr Claudine Ang
Yale-NUS College, Singapore
Dr Koornphanat Tungkeunkunt
Thammasat University, Thailand
Dr Chang Yufen
Asia Research Institute, NUS
6.0
Study Group on Malaysia
Convenors:
Assoc Prof Maznah Mohamad
Department of Malay Studies, NUS
Assoc Prof Goh Beng Lan
Department of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS
Dr Asha Rathina-Pandi
Asia Research Institute, NUS (Till 2 Jun 2014)
5 Feb 2014
Kangkung, Contestation, and Culture:
New Media in Malaysian Counter-hegemonic Politics
Dr Adrian Lee Yuen Beng
Universiti Sains Malaysia
19 Mar 2014
Picking Up the Pieces Post-GE13?
– Some Thoughts on Malaysia’s Media
Prof Zaharom Nain
University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
Study Group on Philippines
Convenors:
Dr Julius Bautista
Department of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS (Till 31 Jul 2014)
Dr Oona Paredes
Department of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS (From 6 Nov 2014)
22 May 2014
Enclosing Muslim Kingdoms in Colonial Indonesia and
the Philippines, 1850-1940
Jointly organised with Indonesia Study Group
Dr Joshua Gedacht
Asia Research Institute, NUS
Study Group on Myanmar-Thailand
Convenors:
Dr Maitrii Victoriano Aung Thwin
Department of History, NUS
Dr Titima Suthiwan
Centre for Language Studies, NUS
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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7.0
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
7.0
COMMUNITY
OUTREACH
62
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
ARI is committed to sharing research
knowledge with the larger community in
Singapore and worldwide. Its outreach
efforts are made simultaneously on
three fronts – locally, regionally and
internationally – in various forms carried
out throughout the year.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Asia Trends
Series
What is Sinophone World Literature?:
China, Southeast Asia, and the Global 60s
ASIA TRENDS is an ARI flagship public
outreach platform which is now running
into the twelfth year. The most important
objective of this annual series of lectures
is to bridge the perceived gap between
the academia and the general public
by providing a channel for sharing our
research ideas and outputs with the
community and interacting with them
through a lively dialogue appended at the
end of the session. It is also meant as a
vivid demonstration of how some of ARI’s
research projects have been deliberately
crafted to dovetail with key issues within
our contemporary Singapore society and
to relate to recent significant trends in the
larger region and the world. In addition, the
locations in which these events are held are
consciously selected in order to provide
convenience and maximise public contact.
For 2014, four of the lectures were held
at the centrally located National Library
building, and one at downtown *SCAPE.
Prof Shih Shu-mei, University of Hong Kong,
and University of California-Los Angeles, USA
Dr Nicolai Volland, National University of Singapore
7.0
8 May 2014, National Library Board
Organised by Metacluster on Asian Connections;
in collaboration with the National Library Board
This lecture by Prof Shih Shu-mei to a sizeable audience of
more than 60 members explored the concept of world literature
and asked whether we can think about world literature from the
vantage point of Southeast Asia. While China has often been
considered as the site of alternative modernity or literature to
the West, Southeast Asia (as the South to both the West and
to China) is seldom brought into the conversation within this
“China versus the West” binarism. Hence, while taking select
literary representations of the Global 60s across the West
(Europe and the United States) and Asia (China and Southeast
Asia) as examples, her lecture examined the possibility of viewing
Sinophone world literature as a network of texts in the world
with neither a pre-determined centre nor a preordained future.
Dr Nicolai Volland acted as the discussant and contributed from
his own study of the socialist Chinese literature of the 1950s and
1960s.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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7.0
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Creating Centralities
18 Jun 2014, National Library Board
Organised by Asian Urbanisms Cluster; in collaboration with the
National Library Board
Prof Kees Christiaanse, Future Cities Laboratory, Singapore
Dr Hee Limin, Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore
This lecture was given by Prof Kees Christiaanse, a renowned
architect and scholar, Professor at ETH Zurich, and Programme
Leader of the Future Cities Laboratory at NUS. He spoke on
“The City as an Egg” as a metaphor for the evolution of the city.
As overlapping spheres of influence from the city to the villages,
the egg was used by Christiaanse’s design team as a principal
concept for the recent London Olympic Park Masterplan. In
his Asia Trend’s talk he further discussed the relevance of this
concept to urban design strategies for London, Hamburg,
Shenzhen and Singapore. Dr Hee Limin, Director of Research at
Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), was the discussant
for the evening lecture. Drawing from her recent book, Future
Asian Space (NUS Press, 2012), she related the presentation to
the Singapore experience and delved into its general applicability
to Asia.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
China's Leap from the World's Work Bench:
Tech, Entertainment and the Quest for Soft Power
11 Sep 2014, National Library Board
Organised by Cultural Studies in Asia Cluster; in collaboration
with the National Library Board
Mr Ted C. Fishman, Author of Shock of Gray, and China, Inc.
Prof Zheng Yongnian, National University of Singapore
Since the beginning of market reform in the late 1970s, China
has forged an economy that both serves and replicates the
productive power of the more mature industrial world. Its place
as the "Workbench of the World" has driven the country's
urbanisation, manufacturing, and educational reforms. Yet, in Mr
Ted Fishman’s observation, the Chinese government is no longer
content with national economic ambitions. Chinese leaders are
now talking about a nation that controls its own cultural tastes and
reshapes those of the rest of the world to align more with those
of China. It yearns for a robust culture industry. Fisherman’s talk
centered on the movie and electronic gaming industries and he
suggested ways in which China can create strong entertainment
which would not offend the political and cultural agendas of
the Party and the State. As a discussant, Prof Zheng Yongnian
added some of his own views as glimpsed from his long years of
studying China at the NUS East Asian Institute.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Love and Money: Parenting after Divorce
19 Nov 2014, National Library Board
Organised by Changing Family in Asia Cluster; in collaboration
with the National Library Board
Dr Kristin Natalier, University of Tasmania, Australia
Dr Vivienne Wee, Association of Women for Action and
Research (AWARE), Singapore
In this lecture, Dr Kristin Natalier of the University of Tasmania,
Australia, discussed post-divorce parenting practices in the AsiaPacific context, focusing on Australia as a case study. In many
countries, family structures and practices are diversifying. This is
evident in an emergent trend in Southeast Asian countries: the
caring for children after separation or divorce. This practice raises
questions about change and continuity in families, including:
What are the practices and identities available to mothers and
fathers after separation and divorce? How do governments
influence post-separation parenting identities and practices? Dr
Kristin Natalier answered these questions through a comparison
of family trends in Southeast Asia and Australia. She presented
child support (the transfer of money between separated parents
to contribute to the costs of raising their children) as a case
study of the ways towards post-separation financial and care
responsibilities. She suggested that this practice is more than
just a financial issue as it symbolically expresses what it means
and how it feels to be a father or mother in times of social
and personal change. Dr Vivienne Wee from a major NGO in
Singapore acted as discussant and related some of the issues
to the local context.
7.0
Symposium on Migration and Construction Work
in Asia
28 Nov 2014, *SCAPE
Organised by Asian Migration Cluster; with funding from
Migrating Out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium,
and *SCAPE as a Programme Partner
Dr C.R. Abrar, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ms Grace Baey, Asia Research Institute, NUS
Mr John Gee, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), Singapore
This a public symposium and short film screening brought
together over 120 participants, which included members of civil
society, NGO practitioners, policymakers, and students. Dr C.R.
Abrar, Director of the Refugee Migratory Movements Research
Unit (RMMRU) at University of Dhaka, gave an insightful
presentation on the situation of migrant construction workers
in Bangladesh, Nepal, and India. Grace Baey, Research and
Communications Officer at ARI, shared findings from a recently
completed study on migration and precarious' work amongst
Bangladeshi construction workers in Singapore. The panel also
included John Gee, Head of Research at Transient Workers
Count Too (TWC2). Moreover, in collaboration with local arts
initiative Beyond the Border, Behind the Men (BTBBTM), a short
film featuring the livelihoods of returned migrants in Bangladesh
was also screened, alongside with a multimedia piece that
illustrates the migration journey that Bangladeshi men undertake
to secure work in Singapore. The seminar presentations and film
screenings sparked a lively discussion on the key issues and
challenges facing migrant construction workers in the region,
and some recommendations for the way forward was offered.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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7.0
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Public Lectures
As part of its public outreach initiative, ARI
organises public lectures to reach out to the
greater Singapore and regional community.
The lectures are presented by distinguished
scholars of Asian affairs, including scholars
visiting ARI in various capacities. The
lectures provide up-to-date analysis and
assessments of contemporary issues and
long-term trends, not only to decision
makers but also to all who are concerned
and seek to be informed about regional and
world events.
26 May 2014
ROUNDTABLE - The Indian Elections of 2014:
Ramifications for India and Beyond
Mr K. Kesavapany
Non-resident Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Dr Ronojoy Sen
Asia Research Institute, and Institute of South Asian Studies, NUS
Assoc Prof Rahul Mukherji
South Asian Studies Programme, NUS
Mr Ashish Rajadhyaksha
Asia Research Institute, NUS
Held at Management Development Institute of Singapore.
Jointly organised with the Singapore Indian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (SICC)
4 Oct 2014
ARI-MBRAS LECTURE - The Raffles Paradox: Liberal,
Autocrat, or Something Else?
Mr Tze Shiung Ng
Australian National University
Held at National Library Building. Jointly organised with the
Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (MBRAS), in
collaboration with the National Library Board Singapore
Newsletters
and Reports
ARI launched its first issue of ARI Newsletters in March 2003
as a medium to share the Institute’s exciting developments
with a broader constituency. Since 2013, the ARI Newsletter is
published twice a year in the months of March and September.
The newsletter continues to be an outreach tool to local, regional,
and global readership of close to 7,500 subscribers. Present
and past issues of the newsletter, which are all accessible on
ARI’s website, highlight research work of individual researchers,
academic publications, keynote speeches, reading groups, ARI
events, as well as awards and recognition won by staff members.
Similarly, the ARI Annual Report starting from its 2002/2003
issue to this latest 2014 issue is published in print and uploaded
on ARI’s website. The report gives our stakeholders and other
interested parties an update of the Institute’s developments and
achievements for the past year.
Academic reports such as the ARI Working Paper Series and
specific-themed Aceh Working Paper Series, and selected
conference reports and proceedings are also available on ARI’s
website for knowledge-sharing. Such academic reports have
been highly accessed by the community.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
7.0
Media Coverage
ARI researchers have also been active in sharing their expertise
and expert views in the media. In 2014, there were at least 27
media reports of interviews of ARI researchers by local and
international press and media, published editorials by ARI
researchers and their appearance in public affairs broadcasts as
guest speakers. There are currently 95 (and growing) records of
media activities of ARI researchers and these are accessible from
the ARI website.
Digital and
Social
Connectivity
ARI has been using the internet platform for many of its outreach
activities and to share research findings. Its ARI website (www.
ari.nus.edu.sg) provides up-to-date information about its
research programmes, events and publications, among others.
It also serves as a rich resource for research on Asia studies. The
website is regularly revamped or redesigned to enhance its ease
of navigation, quality of information and design.
Since February 2009, ARI has been using its ARI Facebook group
as a communication platform to keep its members updated
of the latest developments in ARI such as announcements of
upcoming events, new fellowships and new publications. It
has also become a popular and effective tool for connecting
among ARI members, students, alumni, and the public who are
interested in ARI happenings.
Since 2010, the Institute has been exploiting the popular mediasharing platforms such as YouTube and iTunesU to further extend
its outreach. Selected webcasts of ARI lectures and seminars
are posted on YouTube. To date, close to 70 videos have been
posted.
ARI also participates in the NUS iTunes U, a collaborative initiative
between Apple and NUS, in uploading its webcasts, podcasts
and working papers onto NUS iTunesU. Users worldwide who
are interested in these materials are able to download them to
their iPhones and iPad to listen/read on the go, or download
them to their computers.
ARI continues to explore new avenues of social media to further
enhance its social connectivity with its various stakeholders
locally, regionally and internationally.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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8.0
PUBLICATIONS
8.0
PUBLICATIONS
68
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
PUBLICATIONS
8.0
Books
A total of 36 monographs, jointly-authored
books and edited volumes were published
by ARI scholars and alumni in 2014, of
which 8, in the form of edited volumes and
special issues of journals, were results
of workshops and conferences held and
sponsored by ARI in the years 2007 to 2013.
The average length of time between event
and publication is about three years.
Abraham, Itty
+How India Became Territorial: Foreign Policy,
Diaspora, Geopolitics
Asian Security Series
Stanford University Press, Stanford, 2014
The disciplines and specialities of ARI
members are remarkably diverse, a diversity
which is reflected in the books they produce.
Books published in 2014 are detailed below.
In some cases, the terms of ARI appointees
are shorter than the period required for
seeing a book through to publication, and
in such instances, two codes are used:
* Published during the period of the ARI appointment but based largely
on earlier work
+ Published after the member has left ARI, but based on work wholly or
partly done in ARI
Acri, Andrea (guest ed)
+Special Issue: Text and Reality in the Study
of Balinese Hinduism
Journal of Hindu Studies 7(2), 2014
(from ARI co-organised workshop Replaying
the Past: Performances of Hindu Textual
Heritage in India and Bali, 31 January-1
February 2013)
Anwar, Nausheen H.
+Infrastructure Redux: Crisis, Progress in Industrial
Pakistan & Beyond
Palgrave Macmillan, UK, 2015 (Available in
December 2014)
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
69
8.0
PUBLICATIONS
Brooks, Ann
Brooks, Ann & Wee, Lionel
+Popular Culture: Global Intercultural
Perspectives
Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2014
+Consumption, Cities and States: Comparing
Singapore with Asian and Western Cities
Anthem, London & New York, 2014
Carpenter, Bruce; Darling, John;
Hinzler, H. I. R.; McGowan, Kaja;
Vickers, Adrian; & Widagdo,
Soemantri
+Lempad of Bali: The Illuminating Line
Editions Didier Millet, Singapore, 2014
Cho Younghan & Leary, Charles (eds)
Modern Sports in Asia: Cultural Perspectives
Series in Sport in the Global Society –
Contemporary Perspectives
Routledge, London & New York, 2014
[Reprint of Special Issue: Modern Sports in
Asia: Cultural Perspectives; Sport in Society:
Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics 15(10),
2012 (from ARI organised International
Workshop on Modern Sports in Asia:
Cultural Perspectives, 29-30 April 2010)]
Daly, Patrick; Feener, R. Michael; &
Reid, Anthony (eds)
Aceh: Setelah Tsunami dan Konflik
Pustaka Larasan, Denpasar; KITLV-Jakarta,
Jakarta, 2013 (Available in January 2014)
[Indonesian translation of From the Ground
Up: Perspectives on Post-Tsunami and PostConflict Aceh, ISEAS, Singapore, 2012]
(from ARI co-organised First International
Conference on Aceh and Indian Ocean
Studies II: Civil Conflict and Its Remedies,
23-24 February 2007)
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Collins, Francis L. & Ho Kong Chong
(guest eds)
Coopmans, Catelijne; Vertesi, Janet;
Lynch, Michael; & Woolgar, Steve (eds)
Special Issue: Globalising Higher Education
and Cities in Asia and the Pacific
Asia Pacific Viewpoint 55(2), 2014
(from ARI co-organised workshop Education
Mobilities in East Asia, 16-18 May 2012)
Representation in Scientific Practice Revisited
The MIT Press, Cambridge; Massachusetts,
2014
Din Wahid
du Cros, Hilary & Jolliffe, Lee
Nurturing the Salafi Manhaj: A Study of Salafi
Pesantrens in Contemporary Indonesia
Utrecht University, Netherlands, 2014
+The Arts and Events
Routledge Advances in Event Research Series
Routledge, London & New York, 2014
PUBLICATIONS
Duara, Prasenjit
The Crisis of Global Modernity: Asian
Traditions and a Sustainable Future
Cambridge University Press, UK, 2014
Formichi, Chiara (ed)
+Religious Pluralism, State and Society in Asia
Routledge Religion in Contemporary Asia Series
Routledge, London & New York, 2014
Iveković, Rada
+L'éloquence tempérée du Bouddha
Souverainetés et dépossession de soi
Klincksieck, Paris, 2014
8.0
Duara, Prasenjit; Murthy, Viren; &
Sartori, Andrew (eds)
Finucane, Juliana & Feener, R.
Michael (eds)
A Companion to Global Historical Thought
Wiley-Blackwell, UK, 2014
Proselytizing and the Limits of Religious
Pluralism in Contemporary Asia
ARI-Springer Asia Series 4
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg, London &
New York, 2014
(from ARI organised workshop Proselytizing
and the Limits of Religious Pluralism in the Era
of Globalization, 16-17 September 2010)
Girindrawardani, A. A. A. D.; Vickers,
Adrian; & Holt, Rodney
Hoskins, Janet & Nguyen,
Viet Thanh (eds)
+The Last Rajah of Karangasem: The Life
and Times of Anak Agung Agung Anglurah
Karangasem (1887-1966)
Sariktaksu, Denpasar, 2014
+Transpacific Studies: Framing an
Emerging Field
University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu, 2014
Jeffrey, Robin & Sen, Ronojoy (eds)
Johnson, Andrew Alan
Being Muslim in South Asia: Diversity and
Daily Life
Oxford University Press, India, 2014
+Ghosts of the New City: Spirits, Urbanity,
and the Ruins of Progress in Chiang Mai
University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu, 2014
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
71
8.0
PUBLICATIONS
Jones, Gavin W. & Yeung, Wei-Jun
Jean (guest eds)
Kingsley, Jeremy J. & Feener, R.
Michael (guest eds)
Special Issue: Marriage in Asia
Journal of Family Issues 35(12), 2014
(from ARI co-organised workshop Marriage in
Asia: Trends, Determinants and Implications,
15-16 November 2012)
Special Focus: Muslim Religious Authority in
Modern Asia
Asian Journal of Social Science 42(5), 2014
(from ARI organised workshop Muslim
Religious Authority in Contemporary Asia, 2425 November 2011)
Lemmings, David & Brooks, Ann (eds)
Marolt, Peter & Herold,
David Kurt (eds)
+Emotions and Social Change: Historical and
Sociological Perspectives
Routledge, New York, 2014
Padawangi, Rita; Marolt, Peter; &
Douglass, Mike (guest eds)
Special Issue: Insurgencies, Social Media and
the Public City in Asia
International Development Planning Review
36(1), 2014
(From ARI co-organised conference on Asia's
Civil Spheres: New Media, Urban Public
Space, Social Movements, 29-30 Sept 2011)
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Kuo Huei-Ying
*Networks beyond Empires: Chinese
Business and Nationalism in the Hong KongSingapore Corridor, 1914-1941
Brill, Leiden & Boston, 2014
China Online: Locating Society in Online
Spaces
Routledge, New York, 2014
Miller, Michelle Ann & Bunnell, Tim (eds)
Asian Cities in an Era of Decentralisation
Routledge Special Issues as Books: Ethnic
and Racial Studies Series
Routledge, London & New York, 2014
Pall, Zoltan
Söderström, Ola
Salafism in Lebanon: Local and Transnational
Resources
Utrecht University, Netherlands, 2014
+Cities in Relations: Trajectories of Urban
Development in Hanoi and Ouagadougou
Series: Studies in Urban and Social Change
Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2014
PUBLICATIONS
8.0
Tan, Margaret (ed)
van Bruinessen, Martin (ed)
+Irregular Migration and Human Security in
East Asia
Routledge, London, 2014
Singapore as “Model” City?
A collaboration between Tembusu College,
NUS, and Housing Module, Future Cities
Laboratory Tembusu College, NUS, & Future
Cities Laboratory, Singapore, 2014
Conservative Turn. Islam Indonesia dalam
Ancaman Fundamentalisme
Mizan, Bandung, 2014
[Indonesian translation of Contemporary
Developments in Indonesian Islam: Explaining
the “Conservative Turn”, ISEAS, Singapore,
2013]
Yeoh, Brenda S. A.; Teo, Peggy, &
Huang, Shirlena (eds)
Yeoh, Brenda S. A. & Willis,
Katie (eds)
Yeoh Seng Guan (ed)
Gender Politics in the Asia-Pacific Region
Routledge, London, 2014
[Paperback reprint of Gender Politics in the
Asia-Pacific Region, Routledge, London,
2002]
State/Nation/Transnation: Perspectives on
Transnationalism in the Asia-Pacific
Routledge, London & New York, 2014
[Paperback reprint of State/Nation/
Transnation: Perspectives on Transnationalism
in the Asia-Pacific, Routledge, London & New
York, 2004]
Song Jiyoung & Cook,
Alistair D. B. (eds)
+The Other Kuala Lumpur: Living in the
Shadows of a Globalising Southeast Asian City
Routledge Malaysian Studies Series
Routledge, London, 2014
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
73
8.0
PUBLICATIONS
ARI-Springer
Asia Series
Editors-In-Chief
Chua Beng Huat, Robbie B. H. Goh,
Lily Kong, and Prasenjit Duara
National University of Singapore
Cities Section
Section Editor:
Timothy Bunnell
National University of Singapore
Associate Editors:
Abidin Kusno and Michael Leaf,
University of British Columbia
D. Parthasarathy
Indian Institute of Technology
Migration Section
Section Editor:
Brenda S.A. Yeoh
National University of Singapore
Associate Editors:
Dick Bedford
University of Waikato
Xiang Biao
Oxford University
Rachel Silvey
University of Toronto
Religion Section
Section Editor:
R. Michael Feener
National University of Singapore
Associate Editors:
Nico Kaptein
Leiden University
Joanne Waghorne
Syracuse University
Kenneth Dean
McGill University
74
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Scholarship on Asia, particularly on the rapidly developing and
complex nations and regions in East, Southeast and South Asia,
has seen many exciting developments in recent years, due not
only to significant events in Asia but also to the emergence of
new research methodologies, theoretical orientations, scholarly
paradigms, and multi-disciplinary approaches and collaborations.
As an institute dedicated to research on Asia, in one of Asia’s
best universities, and networked with prominent Asia scholars in
other leading universities, ARI has played a central role in these
crucial innovations in Asia scholarship.
Springer is one of the leading academic publishers in the world.
It has publishing houses globally and publishes across a wide
range of media including academic books, reference works,
journals, CD-ROMs, databases and online publications. ARI’s
partnership with Springer in the Asia book series offers a peerrefereed avenue for the publication of exciting new scholarship
on Asia, and it ensures that this scholarship is readily available
worldwide to institutions as well as individual scholars. The
series presents leading research on Asia in three main sections:
Religion, Migration, and Cities.
The books in the series are:
Sinha, Vineeta (2011). Religion-State Encounters in Hindu
Domains: From the Straits Settlements to Singapore.
Nguyen-Marshall, Van; Drummond, Lisa B. Welch; and Bélanger,
Danièle (eds) (2012). The Reinvention of Distinction: Modernity
and the Middle Class in Urban Vietnam.
Bunnell, Tim; Parthasarathy, D.; and Thompson, Eric C. (eds)
(2013). Cleavage, Connection and Conflict in Rural, Urban and
Contemporary Asia.
Finucane, Juliana and Feener, Michael R. (eds) (2014). Proselytizing
and the Limits of Religious Pluralism in Contemporary Asia.
PUBLICATIONS
Asian Population
Studies
Editor
Gavin Jones
National University of Singapore
8.0
Asian Population Studies is an ARI journal that publishes original
research on matters related to population in this large, complex
and rapidly changing region, and welcomes substantive empirical
analyses, theoretical works, applied research and contributions to
methodology. Topics covered include all branches of population
studies ranging from population dynamics such as the analysis
of fertility, mortality and migration (from both technical and
social perspectives) to the consequences of population change.
Heading each issue is a commentary on a topical issue by a
noted demographer.
Associate Editor
Premchand Varma Dommaraju
Nanyang Technological University
Beginning with the first issue of Vol. 6, 2010, the journal has been
abstracted and indexed in Thomson Reuters’ Current Contents®
/Social and Behavioral Sciences, Journal Citation Reports/Social
Sciences Edition, Scopus, and the Social Sciences Citation
Index®.
Editorial Committee
Angelique Chan
National University of Singapore
Some articles published in 2014:
Wolfgang Lutz
International Institute for Applied Systems
Analysis, Austria
Vipan Prachuabmoh
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Brenda S.A. Yeoh
National University of Singapore
Husband’s Circular Migration and the Status of Women Left
Behind in Lamerd District, Iran: A Pilot Study
Akbar Aghajanian, Jamileh Alihoseini and Vaida Thompson
UN Population Division’s Methodology in Preparing Base
Population for Projections: Case Study for India
Patrick Gerland
Gender “Rebalancing” in China
Jane Golley and Rod Tyers
Mapping Manila’s Mega-urban Region: A Spatio-demographic
Accounting Using Small-area Census Data
Arnisson Andre C. Ortega
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
75
8.0
PUBLICATIONS
The ARI Working Paper Series (ARI WPS) has published 230
academic research papers online. This pre-publication series
includes contributions from a worldwide pool of scholars working
on Asia and the papers are reviewed by a single peer before being
accepted. In 2014, a total of 19 papers were published and all
are downloadable as full text document in Adobe Acrobat PDF
format free of charge at http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/publications/
ariwps.htm.
ARI Working
Paper Series
76
Series
No.
Publication
Date
WPS 212
Jan 2014
Citizen Ai: Warrior, Jester and Middlemen
William A. Callahan
WPS 213
Jan 2014
Opiate of the Masses with Chinese Characteristics: Recent Chinese Scholarship on
the Meaning and Future of Religion
Thomas David Dubois
Chi Zhen
WPS 214
Feb 2014
Cyberzomia
Peter Marolt
WPS 215
Feb 2014
Religious Temple Management in China
Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew
WPS 216
Feb 2014
Extracting Peasants from the Fields: Rushing for a Livelihood?
Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt
WPS 217
Mar 2014
New Models of Travel Behaviour for Independent Asian Youth Urban Cultural Tourists
Hilary du Cros
WPS 218
Apr 2014
An Economy of Sacrifice: Roman Catholicism and Transnational Labour in the
Philippines
Julius Bautista
WPS 219
Apr 2014
Counter-Hegemonic Spaces of Hope? Constructing the Public City in Jakarta and
Singapore
Rita Padawangi
WPS 220
May 2014
On the Origins and Reflexivity of Autonomy and Social Movements in CybUrbia
Peter Marolt
WPS 221
May 2014
A Snapshot of Muhammadiyah: Social Change and Shifting Markers of
Identity and Values
Robin Bush
WPS 222
Jun 2014
Ethical Trading and Sri Lankan Labour Practices in the Apparel Sector
Kanchana Ruwanpura
WPS 223
Jun 2014
A Walk in the Park: Singapore’s Green Corridor as a Homegrown Import
David Strand
WPS 224
Jul 2014
The Revindication of Environmental Subjectivity: Chinese Landscape Aesthetics
between Crisis and Creativity
Andrea Riemenschnitter
WPS 225
Aug 2014
The Gendered Dynamics of Indonesia's Oil Palm Labour Regime
Li Tania
WPS 226
Sep 2014
Negotiating Post-Divorce Familial Relationships: A Case of Singaporean Divorce
Biographies
Sharon Quah
WPS 227
Oct 2014
Reconsidering Nationalism in 21st Century China
Shen Yipeng
WPS 228
Oct 2014
Humanistic Planning and Urban Flood Disaster Governance in Southeast Asia:
Metro Manila and Jakarta
Rita Padawangi
WPS 229
Nov 2014
Socio-economic Differentials in Contraceptive Discontinuation in India
Kiran Agrahari
Sanjay K. Mohanty
Rajesh K. Chauhan
WPS 230
Dec 2014
The Guilty Secret: The Latter Career of the Bollywood’s Illegitimacy
Ashish Rajadhyaksha
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Title
Author(s)
PUBLICATIONS
Articles and
Book Chapters
8.0
Abraham, Itty
Prolegomena to non-alignment: Race and the international
system. In N. Moskovic, H. Fischer-Tiné & N. Boškovska (eds),
Delhi – Bandung – Belgrade: Non-alignment between Afro-Asian
solidarity and the Cold War. Routledge, London, pp. 76-94.
Acri, Andrea
Text and reality in the study of Balinese Hinduism. Journal of
Hindu Studies 7(2): 137-145.
Pañcaku ika and Kanda Mpat. From a P upata aiva myth to
Balinese folklore. Journal of Hindu Studies 7(2): 146-178.
The romanization of Indic script used in ancient Indonesia (coauthored with A. Griffiths). Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en
Volkenkunde/Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of
Southeast Asia 170: 365-378.
Birds, bards, buffoons, and Brahmans: (Re-)tracing the Indic
origins of some ancient and modern Javano-Balinese performing
characters. Archipel 88: 13-70.
The aiva Atim rga in the light of Ni v saguhya 12.1-22ab.
Cracow Indological Studies 16: 81-123.
Alipio, Cheryll
Domestic violence and migration in the Philippines: Transnational
sites of struggle and sacrifice. International Institute for Asian
Studies (IIAS) Newsletter 67 (Spring): 30-31.
Anwar, Nausheen H.
Producing cosmopolitan Karachi: Freedom, security and urban
redevelopment in the post-colonial metropolis. South Asian
History and Culture 5(3): 328-348.
Urban transformations: Brokers, collaborative governance and
community building in Karachi’s periphery. South Asian History
and Culture 5(1): 75-92.
The postcolonial city in South Asia. Singapore Journal of Tropical
Geography 35(1): 22-38.
Baas, Michiel
Victims or profiteers? Issues of migration, racism and violence
among Indian students in Melbourne. Asia Pacific Viewpoint
55(2): 212-225.
Bautista, Julius
Rituals of pain and the limits of the biomedical paradigm: Selfmortification in the Catholic Philippines. In N. Hinerman & H.
Sternudd (eds), Painful conversations: Making pain sens(e)ible.
Interdisciplinary Press, Oxford, pp. 79-94.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
77
8.0
PUBLICATIONS
The localization of radical transcendence in the Catholic
Philippines. In O. Salemink & B. Turner (eds), The Routledge
Handbook of Asian Religions. Routledge, Oxford & New Delhi,
pp. 96-109.
Christianity in Southeast Asia: Colonialism, nationalism and the
caveats to conversion. In F. Wilfred (ed), The Oxford Handbook
of Christianity in Asia. Oxford University Press, New York, pp.
215-230.
The act of witnessing: Doing fieldwork on Passion rituals in the
Philippines (co-authored with P. Bräunlein). Philippine Studies:
Ethnographic and Historical Viewpoints 62(3-4): 499-523.
Islam encountered: Challenging stereotypes and fostering
knowledge. Education about Asia 19(1): 39-42.
Benney, Jonathan
The aesthetics of microblogging: State and market control of
Weibo. Asiascape: Digital Asia 1(3): 169-200.
“The corpses were emotionally stable”: Agency and passivity on
the Chinese Internet. In P. Marolt & D. K. Herold (eds), Online
China: Locating society in online spaces. Routledge, New York,
pp. 33-48.
Blackburn, Anne M.
The sphere of the S sana in the context of colonialism. In T. Sen
(ed), Buddhism across Asia: Networks of material, intellectual,
and cultural exchange, volume 1. ISEAS, Singapore, pp. 371-382.
Bork-Hüffer, Tabea
Global change, national development goals, urbanisation and
international migration in China. African migrants in Guangzhou
and Foshan (co-authored with B. Rafflenbeul, F. Kraas, & Z. Li). In
F. Kraas, S. Aggarwal, M. Coy, & G. Mertins (eds), Megacities: Our
global urban future. Springer, New York & London, pp. 135-150.
Health care disparities in megaurban China: The ambivalent
role of unregistered practitioners (co-authored with F. Kraas).
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie (online first).
DOI:10.1111/tesg.12116.
Brooks, Ann
Introduction: The emotional turn in the humanities and social
sciences (co-authored with D. Lemmings). In D. Lemmings &
A. Brooks (eds), Emotions and social change: Historical and
sociological perspectives. Routledge, London & New York,
Chapter 1.
“The affective turn” in the social sciences and the gendered
nature of emotions: Theorizing emotions in the social sciences
from 1800 to the present. In D. Lemmings & A. Brooks (eds),
Emotions and social change: Historical and sociological
perspectives. Routledge, London & New York, Chapter 3.
78
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Bunnell, Tim
Trauma and transformation in Banda Aceh: Collective memories
of a city through war, tsunami and peace (co-authored with M. A.
Miller). In S. A. Bong (ed), Trauma, memory and transformation.
Southeast Asian experiences. Strategic Information and
Research Development Center [SIRD], Petaling Jaya, Malaysia,
pp. 77-97.
Urban inter-referencing within and beyond a decentralized
Indonesia (co-authored with N. A. Phelps, M. A. Miller, & J.
Taylor). Cities 39: 37-49.
Bush, Robin
NU and Muhammadiyah: Majority views on religious minorities
in Indonesia (co-authored with B. Munawar-Rachman). In B.
Platzdasch & J. Saravanamuttu (eds), Religious minorities in
Muslim-majority states in Southeast Asia: Areas of toleration and
conflict. ISEAS, Singapore, pp. 16-50.
The political decline of traditional ulama in Indonesia: The state,
umma and Nahdlatul Ulama (co-authored with G. Fealy). In J. J.
Kingsley & R. M. Feener (eds), Special Focus: Muslim religious
authority in modern Asia. Asian Journal of Social Science 42(5):
536-560.
Callahan, William A.
Citizen Ai: Warrior, jester and middleman. Journal of Asian
Studies 73(4): 899-920.
The China dream and the American dream. Economic and
Political Studies 2(1): 143-160.
Chinese exceptionalism and the politics of history. In N. Horesh &
E. Kavalski (eds), Asian thought on China’s changing international
relations. Palgrave, New York, pp. 17-33.
The art of politics. In H. W. Holzwarth (ed), Ai Weiwei: Living art
on the edge. Taschen, Berlin, pp. 561-588.
What can the China dream “do” in the PRC? The Asan Forum,
December 2014. Available at: http://www.theasanforum.org/
what-can-the-china-dream-do-in-the-prc/.
Chan, Felicia
British Chinese short films: Challenging the limits of the
sinophone (co-authored with A. Willis). In A. Yue & O. Khoo
(eds), in Sinophone cinemas. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke,
pp. 169-184.
Maggie Cheung, “une Chinoise”: Acting and agency in the realm
of transnational stardom. In Leung W. & A. Willis (eds), East Asian
film stars. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp. 83-95.
Film festivals and affective spaces: Singapore’s majestic theatre.
Cinergie 6, November 2014. Available at: http://www.cinergie.it/
wp-content/uploads/2014/11/6_CINERGIE_S_Chan.pdf.
PUBLICATIONS
Cheah, Pheng
World against globe: Toward a normative conception of world
literature. New Literary History 45(3): 303-329.
Second generation human rights as bio-political rights. In C.
Douzinas & C. Gearty (eds), The meaning(s) of human rights.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 215-232.
8.0
Collins, Francis L.
Globalising higher education and cities in Asia and the Pacific
(co-authored with K. C. Ho). Special Issue: Globalising higher
education and cities in Asia and the Pacific. Asia Pacific Viewpoint
55(2): 127-131.
The biopolitics of recognition: Making female subjects of
globalization. In J. Potts & D. Stout (eds), Theory aside. Duke
University Press, Durham, pp. 117-142.
Globalising higher education in and through urban spaces:
Higher education projects, international student mobilities and
trans-local connections in Seoul. Special Issue: Globalising
higher education and cities in Asia and the Pacific. Asia Pacific
Viewpoint 55(2): 242-257.
Chen Haidan
A call for global governance of biobanks (co-authored with T.
Pang), Bulletin of World Health Organization 93:113-117. Available
at: http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/93/2/14-138420/en/
Coopmans, Catelijne
Mobility and the medical image. In N. Thrift, A. Tickell, S. Woolgar,
& W. H. Rupp (eds), Globalization in practice. Oxford University
Press, Oxford, pp. 212-218.
BIONET: Herbert’s road toward China. Special Issue: Valediction
for Herbert Gottweis, BioSocieties 9 (advance online publication).
DOI: 10.1057/biosoc.2014.30. Available at: http://www.palgravejournals.com/biosoc/journal/v9/n4/full/biosoc201430a.html.
Introduction: Representation in scientific practice revisited
(co-authored with J. Vertesi, M. Lynch, & S Woolgar). In
C. Coopmans, J. Vertesi, M. E. Lynch, & S. Woolgar (eds),
Representation in scientific practice revisited. The MIT Press,
Cambridge; Massachusetts, pp. 1-14.
Publics and biobanks in China and Europe: A comparative
perspective (co-authored with J. Starkbaum & H. Gottweis). Asia
Europe Journal 12(3): 345-359.
Cho Younghan
Introduction: Modern sports in Asia (co-authored with C. Leary).
In Cho Y. & Leary, C. (eds), Modern sports in Asia. Series in Sport
in Global Society – Contemporary Perspectives. Routledge,
London & New York, pp. 1-6.
Chua Beng Huat
Navigating between limits: The future of public housing in
Singapore. Housing Studies 29(4): 520-533.
Inter-referencing Southeast Asia: Absence, resonance and
provocation. In M. Huotari, J. Ruland, & J. Schlehe (eds),
Methodology and research practice in Southeast Asian studies.
Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Chapter 13.
Clancey, Gregory
Radiation disaster medicine curricula revisited in a postFukushima context (co-authored with R. K. Chhem & A. Z. Aziz).
In K. Tanigawa & R. K. Chhem (eds), Radiation disaster medicine.
Springer, Switzerland, pp. 109-120.
Coderey, Céline
Logiques et pratiques d’automédication en Arakan (Birmanie)
(Logics and practices of self-medication in Arakan (Burma).
Anthropologie et Santé 9. Available at: http://anthropologiesante.
revues.org/1552.
Visual analitics as artful revelation. In C. Coopmans, J. Vertesi,
M. E. Lynch, & S. Woolgar (eds), Representation in scientific
practice revisited. The MIT Press, Cambridge; Massachusetts,
pp. 37-60.
Eyeballing expertise (co-authored with G. Button). Social Studies
of Science 44(5): 758-785.
Visual accountability (co-authored with D. Neyland). The
Sociological Review 62(1): 1-23.
Douglass, Mike
After the revolution: From insurgencies to social projects to
recover the public city in East and Southeast Asia. International
Development Planning Review 36(1): 15-32.
Introduction to the special issue: Insurgencies, social media
and the public city in Asia (co-authored with R. Padawangi & P.
Marolt). International Development Planning Review 36(1): 3-13.
Afterword: Global householding and social reproduction in Asia.
Geoforum 51: 313-316.
The Saemaul Undong in historical perspective and in the
contemporary world. In I. Yi & T. Mkandawire (eds), Learning from
the South Korean developmental success. Palgrave Macmillan,
London, pp. 136-171.
새마을운동의 역사적 조망과 현재적 의미 [The New Village
Movement in Korea in historical perspective and current
meaning]. In I. Yi & T. Mkandawire (eds), 한국적 개발 모델의
교훈 [Lessons from the Korean Development Model]. KOICA,
Seoul, Ch. 7.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
79
8.0
PUBLICATIONS
du Cros, Hilary
Confucius institutes: Multiple reactions and interactions (coauthored with C. C. Leung). China: An International Journal
12(2): 66-86.
Duara, Prasenjit
The agenda of Asian Studies and digital media in the
Anthropocene. Asiascape: Digital Asia 2: 11-19.
Asien neu denken: Zum verstandnis einem zumsammenwachsenden
region (Asia redux). In S. Conrad, S. Randeria, & R. Romhild
(eds), Jenseits des eurozentrismus (Beyond eurocentrism).
Campus Verlag, Frankfurt, pp. 526-553.
Introduction (co-authored with A. Sartori & V. Murthy). In P. Duara,
A. Sartori, & V. Murthy (eds), A companion to global historical
thought. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK, pp. 1-18.
Empires and imperialism. In P. Duara, A. Sartori, & V. Murthy
(eds), A companion to global historical thought. John Wiley &
Sons, Chichester, UK, pp. 384-398.
Elinoff, Eli
Sufficient citizens: Moderation and the politics of sustainable
development in Thailand. Political and Legal Anthropology
Review 37(1): 89-108.
Unmaking civil society: Activists schisms, democracy, and
autonomous politics in Thailand. Contemporary Southeast Asia
36(3): 356-385.
Feener, R. Michael
Muslim religious authority in modern Asia: Established patterns
and evolving profiles. In J. J. Kingsley & R. M. Feener (eds),
Special Focus: Muslim religious authority in modern Asia. Asian
Journal of Social Science 42(5): 501-516.
A wall in the woods: Note on the recently discovered site at
Kreung Jeureungeh, North Aceh. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Landen Volkenkunde 170(1): 99-106.
Ferzacca, Steve
The changing role of women in food provision and food choice
decision-making and its potential impact on child nutrition and
obesity in a rapidly changing economy (co-authored with Wang
M. C., N. Naidoo, & R. van Dam). Ecology of Food and Nutrition
53(6): 658-677.
“Sometimes they’ll tell me what they want”: Exploring the role of
family and others in food decisions of Singaporean women (coauthored with N. Naidoo, Wang M. C., G. Reddy, & R. van Dam).
Appetite 69: 156-167.
80
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Fischer, Johan
The moderate and the excessive: Performing Malay
consumption. In Yeoh S. G. (ed), The other Kuala Lumpur: Living
in the shadows of a globalising Southeast Asian city. Routledge
Malaysian Studies Series. Routledge, London, pp. 92-121.
Muslim material culture in the western world. In R. Tottoli (ed),
Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West. Routledge, London,
pp. 348-362.
Fountain, Philip
Development things: A case of canned meat. Sites: A Journal of
Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies 11(1): 39-73.
MCC Indonesia, transmigration and colonialism. Intersections:
MCC Theory and Practice Quarterly 2(1): 6-9.
Hopkins, Benjamin D.
Islam and resistance in the British Empire. In D. Motadel (ed),
Islam and the European empires. Oxford University Press, pp.
150-169.
Hoskins, Janet Alison
Folklore as a sacred heritage: Vietnamese indigenous religions in
California. In J. Lee (ed), Asian American identities and practices:
Folkloric expressions in everyday life. Lexington Books, New
York, pp. 185-198.
Symbolism in anthropology. In U. Hannertz (ed), International
Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Elsevier Publishing, UK.
The spirits you see in the mirror: Spirit possession in the
Vietnamese American diaspora. In J. X. Lee (ed), The Southeast
Asian diaspora in the United States. Cambridge Scholars Press,
Cambridge, pp. 73-100.
Huang Jianli
Resurgent spirits of civil society activism: Rediscovering the
Bukit Brown Cemetery in Singapore. Journal of the Malaysian
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 87(2): 21-45.
Huang, Julia C.
Buddhism and its trust networks between Taiwan, Malaysia, and
the United States. The Eastern Buddhist 44(2): 59-76.
Jeffrey, Robin
India’s “bully pulpit”: Media in a time of digital revolution.
Economic and Political Weekly 28 June 2014, pp. 44-48.
“Clean India!” Miles to go before we sweep?. ISAS Special
Report No. 21, 21 November 2014.
PUBLICATIONS
Jung, Sun
Mega screens for mega cities (co-authoring with N. Papastergiadis
et al.). 30(7-8): 325-341. Theory Culture & Society 30(7-8):
325-341.
Youth, social media and transnational cultural distribution: The
case of online K-pop circulation. In A. Bennett & B. Robards
(eds), Mediated youth cultures: The Internet, belonging and new
cultural configurations. Palgrave, New York and London, pp.
114-129.
Kathirithamby-Wells, Jeyamalar
Unlikely partners: Malay-Indonesian medicine and European
plant science. In V. Damodaran, A. Winterbottom, & A. Lester
(eds), The East India Company and the natural world. Palgrave
Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK, pp. 193-218.
Kawashima, Kumiko
Uneven cosmopolitanism: Japanese working holiday makers in
Australia and the “lost decade”. In J. Breaden, S. Steele, & C. S.
Stevens (eds), Internationalising Japan: Discourse and practice.
Routledge, New York, pp. 106-124.
Kerr, Eric T.
The “extendedness” of scientific evidence (co-authored with
A. Gelfert). Philosophical Issues (A Supplement to Noûs) 24(1):
253-281.
Engineering differences between natural, social, and artificial
kinds. In M. Franssen, P. Kroes, T. A. C. Reydon, & P. E. Vermaas
(eds), Artefact kinds: Ontology and the human-made world.
Synthese Library Volume 365. Springer, Switzerland, pp. 207-225.
Kingsley, Jeremy J.
Redrawing lines of religious authority in Lombok, Indonesia. In J.
J. Kingsley & R. M. Feener (eds), Special Focus: Muslim religious
authority in modern Asia. Asian Journal of Social Science 42(5):
657-677.
Kneebone, Susan
Transnational labour migrants: Whose responsibility?. In F.
Jenkins, M. Nolan, & K. Rubenstein (eds), Allegiance and identity
in a globalised world. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
pp. 426-450.
ASEAN and the conceptualisation of refugee protection in
Southeast Asian states. In A. Abass & F. Ippolito (eds), Regional
approaches to the protection of asylum seekers: An international
legal perspective. Ashgate, England, pp. 295-324.
Krishna, Sankaran
A postcolonial racial/spatial order: Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the
construction of the international. In A. Anievas, N. Manchanda,
& R. Shilliam (eds), Race and racism in international relations:
Confronting the color line. Routledge, London & New York, pp.
139-156.
8.0
Lahiri-Dutt, Kuntala
Chars: Islands that float within rivers. Shima: The International
Journal of Research into Island Cultures 8(2): 22-38.
Lakha, Salim
The making of a diasporic Muslim family in East Africa. In R.
Jeffrey & R. Sen (eds), Being Muslim in South Asia: Diversity and
daily life in South Asia. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp.
116-140.
Lam, Theodora
Transnational migration, changing care arrangements and leftbehind children’s responses in South-east Asia (co-authored with
L. A. Hoang, B. S. A. Yeoh, & E. Graham). Children’s Geographies
13(3): 263-277. DOI: 10.1080/14733285.2015.972653.
Long-distance fathers, left-behind fathers and returnee fathers:
Changing fathering practices in Indonesia and the Philippines
(co-authored with B. S. A. Yeoh). In M. Inhorn, W. Chavkin, & J.
A. Navarro (eds), Globalized fatherhoods: Emergent forms and
possibilities in the new millennium. Berghahn, New York, pp.
103-128.
Leary, Charles
Introduction: Modern sports in Asia (co-authored with Cho Y.). In
Cho Y. & Leary, C. (eds), Modern sports in Asia. Series in Sport
in Global Society – Contemporary Perspectives. Routledge,
London & New York, pp. 1-6.
Lee Hsiao Yen, Fiona
Epistemological checkpoint: Reading fiction as a translation of
history. Postcolonial Text 9(1). Available at: http://postcolonial.
org/index.php/pct/article/view/1656/1686.
Lee Hyun ok
Trafficking in women? Or multicultural family? The contextual
difference of commodification of intimacy. Gender, Place &
Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography 21(10). Available at:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0966369X.2013.
832660#.VHbRL9KUf84.
Li Haibin
International note: Parenting, academic achievement and
problem behaviour among Chinese adolescents (co-authored
with R. Walker & D. Armstrong). Journal of Adolescence, 37(4):
387-389.
Liang Yongjia
Morality, gift and market: Communal temple restoration in
Southwest China. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology
15(5): 414-432.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
81
8.0
PUBLICATIONS
Lindquist, Johan
Migration infrastructure (co-authored with Xiang B.) International
Migration Review, 50th anniversary edition, pp. 122-148.
Lysaght, Tamra
The ethics of regenerative medicine: Broadening the scope
beyond the moral status of embryos (co-authored with A.
V. Campbell). In A. Akabayashi (ed), The future of bioethics:
International dialogues. Oxford University Press, UK, pp. 5-26.
Oversight and evidence in stem cell innovation: An examination
of international guidelines. Law, Innovation & Technology 6(1): 30-50.
Cellular therapies: Regulating uncertainty in Asia’s biomedical
hubs. Asian Bioethics Review 6(3): 234-245.
Marolt, Peter
Introduction to the special issue: Insurgencies, social media
and the public city in Asia (co-authored with R. Padawangi & M.
Douglass). International Development Planning Review 36(1): 3-13.
Miller, Michelle A.
Trauma and transformation in Banda Aceh: Collective memories
of a city through war, tsunami and peace (co-authored with T.
Bunnell). In S. A. Bong (ed), Trauma, memory and transformation.
Southeast Asian experiences. Strategic Information and
Research Development Center [SIRD], Petaling Jaya, Malaysia,
pp. 77-97.
Urban inter-referencing within and beyond a decentralized
Indonesia (co-authored with N. A. Phelps, T. Bunnell, & J. Taylor).
Cities 39: 37-49.
Montoya, Alfred
Sea snake harvest in the gulf of Thailand (co-authored with
Nguyen V. C., Nguyen T. T., A. Moore, A. Rasmussen, K. Broad,
H. Voris, & Z. Takacs). Conservation Biology 28(6): 1677-1687.
Padawangi, Rita
Reform, resistance and empowerment: Urban landscapes and
the transformation of activist groups in Jakarta, Indonesia.
International Development Planning Review 36(1): 33-50.
Introduction to the special issue: Insurgencies, social media and
the public city in Asia (co-authored with P. Marolt & M. Douglass).
International Development Planning Review 36(1): 3-13.
Phelps, Nicholas A.
Urban inter-referencing within and beyond a decentralized
Indonesia (co-authored with T. Bunnell, M. A. Miller, & J. Taylor).
Cities 39: 37-49.
Pieke, Frank N.
Anthropology, China, and the Chinese century. Annual Review of
Anthropology 43: 123-138.
82
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Pillai, Shanthini
The intertwining vines of liturgy, ethnicity, and nationhood: The
nativized imaginary of the Malaysian Catholic community. Logos:
A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 18(1): 94-112.
Rathina-Pandi, Asha
Insurgent space in Malaysia: Hindraf movement, new media and
minority Indians. International Development Planning Review
36(1): 73-90.
Song Jiyoung
Introduction. In J. Song and A. D. B. Cook (eds), Irregular
migration and human security in East Asia. Routledge, London,
pp. 1-20.
Complex human security in North Korean irregular migration. In
J. Song & A. D. B. Cook (eds.), Irregular migration and human
security in East Asia. Routledge, London, pp. 137-154.
Sur, Malini
Divided bodies: Crossing the India-Bangladesh border. The
Economic and Political Weekly 46(13): 31-35.
Tosa, Keiko
Using tree bark for beauty. In Y. Ochiai & C. Shirakawa (eds),
Mono-to kurashi no shokubutushi [Ethnography of plant and life].
Rinsen-syoten, Kyoto, pp. 92-112. (in Japanese)
From bricks to pagodas: Weikza specialists and the rituals
of pagoda-buildings. In B.B. de la Perrière, G. Rozenberg,
& A. Turner (eds), Champions of Buddhism: Weikza cults in
contemporary Burma. NUS Press, Singapore, pp. 114-140.
van Bruinessen, Martin
Secularism, Islamism and Muslim intellectualism in Turkey and
Indonesia: Some comparative observations. In M. T. Kusuma
(ed), Ketika Makkah menjadi seperti Las Vegas: Agama, politik
dan ideologi [When Makkah becomes like Las Vegas: Religion,
politics and ideology]. Gramedia, Jakarta, pp. 130-157.
Gunung Jati, Sunan. Encyclopaedia of Islam, third edition, Part
2014-3, pp. 148-150.
Vickers, Adrian
Catalogue raisonné [Catalogue of works]. In B. Carpenter, J.
Darling, H.I.R. Hinzler, K. McGowan, A. Vickers, & S. Widagdo,
Lempad of Bali: The illuminating line. Editions Didier Millet,
Singapore, pp. 75-269.
A history of the Karangasem royal family. In A.A.A.D.
Girindrawardani, A. Vickers, & R. Holt, The last Rajah of
Karangasem. Sariktaksu, Denpasar, pp. 1-41.
Majapahit and Panji stories. In C. Kubuontubuh & P. Carey (eds),
Majapahit: Inspiration for the world. Arsari, Jakarta, pp. 47-66.
PUBLICATIONS
Wang, May C.
The changing role of women in food provision and food choice
decision-making and its potential impact on child nutrition
and obesity in a rapidly changing economy (co-authored with
S. Ferzacca, N. Naidoo, & R. van Dam). Ecology of Food and
Nutrition 53(6): 658-677.
“Sometimes they’ll tell me what they want”: Exploring the role
of family and others in food decisions of Singaporean women
(co-authored with N. Naidoo, S. Ferzacca, G. Reddy, & R. van
Dam). Appetite 69: 156-167.
Wasson, Robert J.
Increasing Singapore’s resilience to drought (co-authored with
A.D. Ziegler, J.P. Terry, G.J.H. Oliver, D.A. Friess, C.J. Chuah, &
W.T.L. Chow). Hydrological Processes 28(15): 4543-4548.
Winichakul, Thongchai
Foreword: Decentering Thai studies. In R.V. Harrison (ed),
Disturbing conventions: Decentering Thai literary cultures.
Rowman and Littlefield International Limited, London, pp. xiii-xix.
Modern historiography in Southeast Asia: The case of Thailand’s
royal-nationalist history. In P. Duara, A. Sartori, & V. Murthy (eds),
A companion to global historical thought. John Wiley & Sons,
Chichester, UK, pp. 257-268
Monarchy and anti-Monarchy: Two elephants in the room and
the state of denial in Thailand. In P. Chatchavalpongpun (ed),
Good coup gone bad. ISEAS, Singapore, pp. 79-108.
Winter, Tim
Post conflict heritage in Asia: Shifting geographies of aid. In P.
Basu & W. Modest (eds), Museums, heritage and international
development. Routledge, London, pp. 295-309.
Xiang Biao
Migration infrastructure (co-authored with J. Lindquist).
International Migration Review, 50th anniversary edition, pp.
122-148.
The would-be migrant: Post-socialist primitive accumulation,
potential transnational mobility, and the displacement of the
present in northeast China. TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National
Studies of Southeast Asia 2(2): 183-199.
Multi-scalar ethnography: An approach for critical engagement
with migration and social change. Ethnography 14(3): 282-299.
Pacific paradox: The Chinese state in transpacific spheres. In J.
Hoskins & V. T. Nguyen (eds), Transpacific studies: Framing an
emerging field. Hawai’i University Press, Honolulu, pp. 85-105.
The return of return: Migration, Asia and theory. In G. Battistella
(ed), Global and Asian perspectives on international migration.
Springer, Switzerland, pp. 167-182.
8.0
Xu Lanjun
Translation and internationalism. In A.C. Cook (ed), Mao's little
red book: A global history. Cambridge University Press, pp. 76-95.
Yang, Mayfair
Two logics of the gift and banquet: A genealogy of China and
the northwest coast (♼㣡ㆨ呃㥟☨✯ץ䔙䎟ᱶ㺲ऌㆨ⌝よ㣩
⌝⦽≤㺐᠄㴚䴋Ҳ). In Chang S. (ed), The gift of knowledge:
Re-examining gift cultures (㺌㻳㺐♼ 㴿㜳♼㣡㢶⪇). National
Chengchi University, Institute of Foreign Languages, Translation
Center, Taipei, pp. 11-76.
Yeoh S.A., Brenda
The cosmopolis and the migrant domestic worker (co-authored
with M.A. Soco). Cultural Geographies 21(2): 171-187.
Geographies of domestic life: “Householding” in transition in East
and Southeast Asia (co-authored with K. Brickell). Geoforum 51:
259-261.
Global householding and the negotiation of intimate labour
in commercially-matched international marriages between
Vietnamese women and Singaporean men (co-authored with
Chee H. L. & T. K D. Vu). Geoforum 51: 284-293.
Asia(ns) on the move: Globalisation, migration and development.
TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia
2(2): 157-162. DOI:10.1017/trn.2014.2.
Singapore’s changing demography, the eldercare predicament
and transnational “care” migration (co-authored with S. Huang).
TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia,
2(2): 247-269. DOI:10.1017/trn.2014.6.
Migration, society and globalisation: Introduction to virtual issue
(co-authored with A.J. Bailey). Transactions of the Institute of
British Geographers 39(3): 470-475. DOI: 10.1111/tran.12056.
Ethnicity, citizenship and reproduction: Taiwanese wives
making citizenship claims in Malaysia (co-authored with Chee
H.L. & Lu C.W.). Citizenship Studies 18(8): 823-838. DOI:
10.1080/13621025.2014.964545.
Gender, migration, mobility and transnationalism (co-authored
with K. Ramdas). Gender, Place and Culture 21(10): 1197-1213.
DOI:10.1080/0966369X.2014.969686.
Mobility and desire: International students and Asian regionalism
in aspirational Singapore (co-authored with F. L. Collins, R.
Sidhu, & N. Lewis). Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of
Education 35(5): 661-676. DOI:10.1080/01596306.2014.921996.
“I’d do it for love or for money”: Vietnamese women in Taiwan
and the social construction of female migrant sexuality (coauthored with Hoang L. A.). Gender, Place and Culture 22(5):
591-607. DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2014.885892.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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8.0
PUBLICATIONS
A situated analysis of global knowledge networks: Capital
accumulation strategies of transnationally mobile scientists
in Singapore (co-authored with R. Sidhu & S. Chang). Higher
Education 69(1): 79-101. DOI: 10.1007/s10734-014-9762-9.
Parental migration and the mental health of those who stay
behind to care for children in South-East Asia (co-authored with
E. Graham & L. Jordan). Social Science & Medicine (online first).
DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.10.060.
An exploration of memory-making in the digital era: Remembering
the FEPOW story online (co-authored with H. Muzaini). Tijdschrift
Voor Economische En Sociale Geografie 106(1): 53-64. DOI:
10.1111/tesg.12087.
Yeoh Seng Guan
Introduction: The world class city and subaltern Kuala Lumpur. In
Yeoh S. G. (ed), The other Kuala Lumpur: Living in the shadows
of a globalising Southeast Asian city. Routledge Malaysian
Studies Series. Routledge, London, pp. 1-21.
Cosmopolitan beginnings? Transnational healthcare workers
and the politics of carework in Singapore (co-authored with S.
Huang). The Geographical Journal. Available at: onlinelibrary.
wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geoj.12084/full
Still “breadwinners” and “providers”: Singaporean husbands,
money, and masculinity in transnational marriages (co-authored
with Cheng Y. E. & Zhang J.). Gender, Place and Culture (online
first). DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2014.917282.
Children’s agency and its contradictions in the context of
transnational labour migration from Vietnam (co-authored with
Hoang L.A.). Global Networks 15(2):180-197. DOI:10.1111/
glob.12057.
Transnational migration, changing care arrangements and leftbehind children’s responses in South-east Asia (co-authored
with Hoang L.A., T. Lam, & E. Graham). Children’s Geographies
13(3): 263-277. DOI: 10.1080/14733285.2015.972653.
Singapore: Building a knowledge and education hub (coauthored with Hoang L.A., T. Lam, E. Graham, R. Sidhu, & Ho
K.C. In J. Knight (ed), International education hubs: Student,
talent, knowledge-innovation models. Springer, Netherlands, pp.
121-143.
Labour migration and integration in ASEAN (co-authored with
M. Ee). In W. Hofmeister, P. Rueppel, Y. Pascouau, & A. Frontini
(eds), Migration and integration: Common challenges and
responses from Europe and Asia. Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung and
European Union, Singapore, pp. 13-30.
The place of migrant women and the role of gender in the cities
of Asia (co-authored with K. Ramdas). In S. Parnell & S. Oldfield
(eds), A Routledge Handbook on Cities of the Global South.
Routledge, London, pp. 370-384.
Long-distance fathers, left-behind fathers and returnee fathers:
Changing fathering practices in Indonesia and the Philippines (coauthored with T. Lam). In M. Inhorn, W. Chavkin, & J.A. Navarro
(eds), Globalized fatherhoods: Emergent forms and possibilities
in the new millennium. Berghahn, New York, pp. 103-128.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Yeung Wei-Jun, Jean
Marriage in Asia: Introduction (co-authored with G.W. Jones).
Journal of Family Issues 35(10): 1-18.
Heterogeneity in contemporary Chinese marriage (co-authored
with Ji Y.). Journal of Family Issues 35(12): 1662-1682.
Youth early employment and behavior problems: Human
capital and social network pathways to adulthood (co-authored
with E. Rauscher). Sociological Perspectives 57(3): 382-403.
DOI:10.1177/0731121414531105.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Poverty
Research and the Millennium Development Goals. In A.C.
Michalos (ed), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being
Research. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, pp. 6786-6789.
Zhang Juan
“Walled” activism: Transnational social movements and the
politics of Chinese cyber-public space (co-authored with P. Nyíri).
International Development Planning Review 36(1): 111-132.
Still “breadwinners” and “providers”: Singaporean husbands,
money, and masculinity in transnational marriages (co-authored
with Cheng Y.E. & B.S.A. Yeoh). Gender, Place and Culture
(online first). DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2014.917282.
PUBLICATIONS
8.0
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
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9.0
ARI RECOGNITION
9.0
ARI RECOGNITION
Awards and
Honours
Prof Prasenjit Duara was Visiting Fellow, Conscious Realities,
Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from 25 February - 4 March
2014.
Assoc Prof R. Michael Feener received invitation and
appointment as Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Visiting Professor
of Islamic Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages
and Civilizations/Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard
University, January-June 2014.
Dr Connor Graham received the Residential College Teaching
Excellence Award 2013-2014, NUS, on 21 November 2014.
Dr Tamra Lysaght received the 2014 Sydney Southeast Asian
Centre Mobility Award valued AUD2,500 from the Sydney
Southeast Asian Centre, The University of Sydney, 14 June 2014.
Prof Jean Yeung Wei-Jun was appointed Director of the Centre
for Family and Population Research (CFPR), NUS, on 1 April
2014. She was also reappointed Member of Board of Trustees,
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore, 1
November 2014 - 31 October 2015.
Keynotes and
Plenaries
Chua Beng Huat
“Unintended Consequences of Multiracialism and Bilingual
Education in Singapore”, Minority Students, Social Justice
and Equal Educational Opportunity: Rethinking Multicultural
Education, 20th Annual International Conference of Sociology of
Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 16-17 May
2014.
“Return of/to the Politics of the Popular”, Conference on Culture
and Commerce of Traditional, Modern and Contemporary
Music Industries in Asia, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, 12-13
December 2014.
Clancey, Gregory
“Reflections on Disaster in the 20th and 21st Centuries”, Nature,
Human Beings, and Radiation, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima,
Japan, 16 February 2014.
“What Can We Learn From Disasters?”, FMU-IAEA Technical
Meeting on Enhancing Radiation Medical Education, Fukushima
Medical University, Fukushima, Japan, 25-27 July 2014.
Douglass, Mike
“Place of Hope–The Kasama Potters and the Great Ordeal”,
Asian Civilisations Museum, Friends of the Museum, 17 March
2014.
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ARI RECOGNITION
9.0
“Asia’s Urban Transition–Mega Trends and the Future of Cities in
a Global Age”, London School of Economics Asia Forum, Kuala
Lumpur, 2-4 April 2014.
“Confucianism and Citizenship in Nanyang”, 4th Overseas
Chinese Research Lecture, Peking University, Beijing,
29 April 2014.
“Secondary Cities Unbound–from Corporate to People-Centered
Transborder City Regions in Asia”, Asia Research Center, Seoul
National University, 2 June 2014.
“Network Asia: Globalization and Regional Studies”, Director’s
Seminar, Stanford Global Studies, Stanford, California, 19 May
2014.
“Special Seminar on Creative Urban Communities and
Progressive Cities”. University of Seoul, Graduate Programmes
on Urban Sociology and Urban Engineering, Seoul, 3 June 2014.
Sun Yat-sen University Lecture, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall,
Guangzhou, China, 4 May 2014.
“How to Build a Liveable City”, Sustainability Summit, City
University of Hong Kong 30th Anniversary Celebration, Hong
Kong, 23 October 2014.
“Public Space, Public City:
Resistance against the
Corporatization of Urban Space in Asia”, Geography and Urban
Studies Joint Seminar, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 24
October 2014.
“Progressive Cities in Asia in a New Gilded Global Age”, Université
Sorbonne Nouvelle–Paris 3, Paris, 20 November 2014.
“The Rise of Progressive Cities in Asia in a Global Urban Age”,
International Institute of Asian Studies/Urban Knowledge
Network Asia, University of Leiden, Leiden, 26 November 2014.
“Sustainability and the Crisis of Transcendence: The Long View
from Asia”, Director’s Lecture, Humanities Institute, Stanford
University, 20 May 2014.
Lim Boon Keng
4 September 2014.
Lecture,
China
Society,
Singapore,
“Secularism, Nationalism, and Religion in Asian History”,
Secularisms: Ideals, Ideologies, and Institutional Practices,
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies,
Geneva, 25 September 2014.
Inaugural AMES Lecture, Dartmouth College, Hanover, 15
October 2014.
Tsai Lecture, Harvard University, 18 October 2014.
“The Rise of Progressive Cities in Asia”, Seoul Institute, 4
December 2014.
“Network Asia: Futures of Pasts”, Inaugural “Futures” Lecture,
Aarhus University, Denmark, 20 October 2014.
“The Urban Transition in Disaster Governance – Scaling up
from Neighborhood to City and Transborder Region in Asia”,
Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, 5 December 2014.
“Is the Concept of Secularism Relevant to China”, InAsia Day,
Aarhus University, Denmark, 20 October 2014.
Duara, Prasenjit
“Network Asia: China and its Asian ‘Routes’”, Transitions in
China, Delhi University, 10-11 January 2014.
“Circulatory and Competitive Histories: Temporal Foundations
for Global Theory”, Intra-Asia Connections Conference,
Copenhagen University, Denmark, 22 October 2014.
“Network Asia: Futures of the Past”, Vietnam National University,
Ho Chi Minh City, 26 February 2014.
Feener, R. Michael
“Islamic Art in Asia: Regional Traditions of a World Civilization”,
Minzu University of China, Beijing, 4 November 2014.
“The Agenda of Asian Studies in the Anthropocene”, New
Horizons of Asian Studies, Seoul National University Asia Centre,
Seoul, 20-21 March 2014.
“Muslim Cultures and Pre-Islamic Pasts: Changing Perceptions
of ‘Heritage’”, Islamic Pasts, UCL Qatar, Doha, 10 December
2014.
“Sustainability and the Crisis of Transcendence: The Long View
from Asia”, David Deal Memorial Lecture, Whitman College,
Washington, 31 March 2014.
Kerr, Eric T.
“Experimental Philosophy and Ethnoepistemology in the Context
of ‘Asia’ and the ‘West’”, Soochow International Forum on Moral
Education and Virtue Epistemology, Virtue Ethics and Chinese
Philosophy, Soochow University, Taiwan, 15 May 2014.
Dharma Drum Lecture, Peking University, Beijing, 28 April 2014.
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
87
9.0
ARI RECOGNITION
Quah, Sharon
“‘The Whole Village Must Help’: Exploring the Effectiveness of
Social Support for Singaporean Divorced Parents”, 11th Family
Research Forum, Civil Service College, Ministry of Social and
Family Development, Singapore, 28 April 2014.
Yeoh, Brenda S.A.
“Indonesian Domestic Workers and the (Un)Making of
Transnational Livelihoods and Provisional Futures” (with M.
Platt, C. Y. Khoo, T. Lam & G. Baey), Transnational Migration
and Global Work, Geovetenskapens hus, Stockholm University,
Sweden, 6-7 March 2014.
“Care and Cosmopolitanism in the Global City: Transnational
Care Workers and the Eldercare Crisis in Singapore” (with
S. Huang), 10th Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference,
Tampere, Finland, 1-4 July 2014.
“Emotional Entanglements, Transnational Affect and the Shaping
of Migration Trajectories among Indonesian Domestic Workers
in Singapore” (with M. Platt, C. Y. Khoo, T. Lam & G. Baey),
The Emotions of Migration Workshop, University Malaya, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, 8-9 August 2014.
“Migration and the Politics of Diversity in Postcolonial Singapore”,
The Second Bremen Conference on Language and Literature
in Colonial and Postcolonial Contexts – Space in Colonial and
Postcolonial Contexts: Language, Literature and the Construction
of Place and Diaspora, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany,
3-7 September 2014.
“Singapore as an Island-nation-city-state: Polarizing Debates
and Productive Futures” (with T. Lam & H. Chen), Conference
on Island Cities and Urban Archipelagos 2014, Copenhagen,
Denmark, 21-25 October 2014.
“The Global City of Encounters”, Migrant Cross-Cultural
Encounters: A Multidisciplinary Conference, Castle Lecture
Theatre Complex, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand,
24-26 November 2014.
88
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
10.0
SUPPORT FOR
UNDERGRADUATE AND
GRADUATE STUDIES
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
89
10.0
SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDIES
Graduate and
Other Teaching
at NUS
In 2014 ARI researchers, mostly those on joint appointment with
their respective faculties in NUS, contributed to the University in
the following teaching and supervisory roles:
Chua Beng Huat: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and
Social Sciences, taught SC4101 Reflections on a Sociological
Education.
Supervised 5 PhD students, Cultural Studies in Asia Programme
(Sociology), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Clancey, Gregory: Supervised 1 undergraduate student,
GEM3901 Undergraduate Research Opportunity (UROP),
Tembusu College.
Coderey, Céline: Tembusu College, taught SSU2000
Biomedicine and Singapore Society (Senior Seminar).
Douglass, Mike: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and
Social Sciences, taught SC4224 The Sociology of Cities and
Development Planning in Asia; SC6770 Graduate Research
Seminar (PhD); and SC5770 Graduate Research Seminar
(Master).
Tembusu College, taught GEM2909 Asia Now! The Archaeology
of the Future City.
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, taught PP5153 Urban
Policy and Planning.
Duara, Prasenjit: Supervised 1 MA student, Department of
History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and 1 PhD student,
Comparative Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Feener, R. Michael: Supervised 2 MA students, Department of
History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Graham, Connor: Tembusu College, taught SSU2004/
GEM2905 Singapore a “Model” City?; GEM1902F Leadership:
Technology, Configuration, Work; and GEM1902S Living and
Dying in the Internet Age.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014
Huang Jianli: Supervised 1 honours, 1 MA, 3 PhD students,
Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Member of thesis committee for 2 PhD students, Department
of History, and 1 PhD student, Department of Chinese Studies,
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Jung, Sun: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences / 2014 Summer School FASSTrack, taught SC2880B
(FASSTrack) Korean Pop Culture: Postmodernism and the
Transnational.
Kerr, Eric: Tembusu College, taught GEM2908: Technology and
the Fate of Knowledge.
Tan Ai Hua, Margaret: Tembusu College, co-taught SSU2004/
GEM2905 Singapore a “Model” City?; GEM1902P Murals:
Expressions from/on the Walls; co-coordinated SSU2006/
GEM2909 Asia Now! The Archaeology of the Future City.
Vaughan, Tyson: Tembusu College, taught GEM1902U
Disasters.
Yeoh S.A., Brenda: Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts
and Social Sciences, taught GE3237 Geographies of Migration.
Supervised 1 MA and 2 PhD students, Department of Geography;
and 1 PhD student, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and
Social Sciences.
Yeung Wei-Jun, Jean: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts
and Social Sciences, taught SC3222 Social Transformation in
Modern China; and SC 6213 Families in Transition.
Supervised 3 PhD students, Department of Sociology, Faculty of
Arts and Social Sciences.
Member of thesis committee for 1 PhD student, Department of
Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDIES
10.0
Asian Graduate
Forum
9th Asian Graduate Forum on Southeast
Asian Studies
25-27 Jun 2014, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
Convenors:
Dr Michelle Miller (Chair)
Dr Nausheen Anwar
Dr Philip Fountain
Dr Kumiko Kawashima
Dr Maria Platt
Assoc Prof Titima Suthiwan
Dr Shawna Tang
Dr Zhang Juan
ARI’s annual Summer Institute and Graduate Forum on
Southeast Asian Studies has now become an institution.
Increasing numbers of postgraduate students from around the
world, and particularly from other parts of Asia, are applying
to attend this week-long programme of activities. The threeday event focuses on the presentation of papers by graduate
students from across the region on various aspects of Southeast
Asian studies. This gives graduate students an opportunity to
present their work, often for the first time in an international
forum and also to communicate and interact, as they mature
into the next generation of academic leaders.
The Graduate Forum is linked with the Asian Graduate Student
Fellowship Programme, which brings 25 graduate students
working on Southeast Asia to Singapore each year for a sixweek period of research, mentoring and participation in an
academic writing workshop. Those presenting papers at the
Graduate Forum include ARI’s Asian Graduate Students, as well
as graduate students from Singapore, elsewhere in Asia and
other parts of the world. The unifying factor is that their research
is on Southeast Asia.
A total of 50 papers were presented at this year’s forum in
parallel sessions over the three days. The diversity of themes can
be seen from the headings of the 17 different panels. Examples
include: Disaster Governance, Non-Normative Gender and
Sexual Identities, Archeological Artifacts and Historical Texts,
Education, Religious Minorities and Migration and Diasporas.
As usual, there were times when some of the audience wished
they could be in two places at once, but parallel sessions are
the only way to accommodate so many papers within the time
constraints. Three keynote speakers lent depth and interest
to the programme. Prof Jonathan Rigg from the Department
of Geography, NUS, spoke on "Building the Neo-Liberal Asian
Family: Dislocated Families, Fragmented Living, and Fractured
Societies?"; Dr Chee Heng Leng of the Women’s Development
Research Centre (KANITA), Universiti Sains Malaysia, spoke on
“Medical Travel/ ‘Medical Tourism’: A Transnational Social Space”,
and Prof Vineeta Sinha from the Department of Sociology, NUS,
spoke on “The Worlds of ‘Religion’ and ‘Commerce’: Kindred
Spirits or Estranged Bedfellows?.”
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
91
SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDIES
10.0
Asian Graduate
Student
Fellowships
The Asian Graduate Student Fellowships are offered to graduate
students from Asian countries working in the Humanities and
Social Sciences on Asian topics, and allows the recipients to be
based at NUS for a period of one and a half months. The aim
of the fellowships is to enable scholars to make full use of the
wide range of resources in the libraries of NUS and the Institute
of Southeast Asian Studies, and to provide them with guidance
from mentors. They have access to writing classes, as well as
other “academic bootcamp” activities, such as how to make
academic presentations and write proposals. The graduate
students take up their appointments from May to July each year.
As part of their programme at ARI, Asian Graduate Students
are also given an opportunity to present a synopsis of their
research at ARI’s annual Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian
Studies and to describe how their stay at NUS has contributed
to their intellectual development. This enables the students to
receive feedback and additional resources from the academic
community here during their time at ARI.
5-YEAR STATISTICS FOR THE ASIAN GRADUATE STUDENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME
2014
2013
2012
Applications
Received
Shortlisted
Bangladesh
1
1
Cambodia
3
1
China
5
1
East Timor
2
1
India
12
1
3
1
2
Indonesia
34
4
33
11
59
Country
Applications
Received
7
Shortlisted
1
Applications
Received
2011
Shortlisted
2010
Applications
Received
Shortlisted
Applications
Received
2
1
2
Shortlisted
1
1
2
2
6
1
5
2
5
5
6
1
4
1
35
9
40
7
4
4
3
2
2
18
5
2
2
11
5
11
Iran
1
Japan
1
1
1
Korea
2
1
1
Laos
1
1
2
2
14
5
Malaysia
4
2
3
Myanmar
2
2
2
2
1
Nepal
2
Pakistan
12
Philippines
12
7
9
8
9
Sri Lanka
3
3
6
8
4
Taiwan
Thailand
1
Uzbekistan
1
1
9
5
10
6
11
9
Vietnam
16
4
10
4
11
4
10
3
6
3
Total
110
25
80
35
115
33
88
35
94
33
92
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDIES
10.0
ASIAN GRADUATE STUDENTS 2014
Name
Institution
Research Topic
1
Chanthy Sam
PhD Candidate, School of Environment, Resources
and Development, Asian Institute of Technology,
Thailand
Practitioners’ Perspective and Practices
of Environmental and Social Valuations
in Environmental Impact Assessment in
Cambodia
2
Elsa Joaquina Araujo
Pinto
MA Candidate, Peace Studies, National University of
Timor-Lorosa’e, Timor-Leste
The Women in Cooperative Setting:
A Case Study in Timor-Leste
3
Fatima Gay J. Molina
MA Candidate, Anthropology Programme, University
of the Philippines – Diliman
Panguiguilon: The Dynamics of Milkfish
Production in the Context of Disaster Risk
Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation
4
Fidy Ramzielah
Famiersyah
MA Candidate, Literary and Cultural Studies, Faculty
of Humanities, Airlangga University, Indonesia
Modernising “Warkop”: A Symbolic Capital
of Middle-Lower Class in Surabaya Public
Space
5
Geraldine P. Eligan
MA Candidate, Education, Xavier University-Ateneo
de Cagayan, Philippines
Expressions of Affirmation in English from
a Southeast Asian Perspective
6
Hannah Lim Go
MA Candidate, Literary and Cultural Studies, Ateneo
De Manila University, Philippines
Ghost of Chinese Past: ‘Chineseness’
amongst the Huayi in Southeast Asia
7
Haokam Vaiphei
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science,
North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India
Democratic Transition in Myanmar:
An Analysis
8
Khamindra Phorn
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang
Mai University, Thailand
Formation, Expansion, and Evolution of
the Shan Buddhist Sangha of Theravada
Buddhism in Burma
9
Khun Moe Htun
MA Candidate, Development Studies, Faculty of
Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
The Political Economy and Discourse of
Opium, and Livelihood Strategy of Farmers
in Pa-Oh Region, Southern Shan State,
Myanmar
10
Lai Siow Li
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Economics and
Administration, University of Malaya
Fertility Trends and Differentials in Three
ASEAN countries
11
Lamea Momen
MA Candidate, Japanese Studies, University of
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Self-inquiry for Self-development: A
Participatory Action Research (PAR) Analysis
of Rohingya Refugees’ Involvement in Early
Childhood Learning in Refugee Camps
12
Lutfiyah Alindah
PhD Candidate, Islamic Studies, Graduate School,
Islamic State University (UIN) Sunan Kalijaga
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Translating Text and Context: Cultural
Negotiation in the Manuscript of Mas ’il
Sayyidi ‘Abdull h Bin Sal m li-Nab in
Arabic, Malay and Javanese
13
Maiza Elvira
MA Candidate, Department of History, Faculty of
Humanities, University of Andalas, Indonesia
The Comparative Study of the Netherlands’
Colonial Methods and British Colonial
Methods to Control the Epidemics in East
Indies
14
Maria Natividad I.
Karaan
MA Candidate, Literary and Cultural Studies,
Department of English, Ateneo de Manila University,
Philippines
Mythical Relations: Re-coordinating Philippine
Mythology in SEA
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
93
10.0
SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDIES
Name
Institution
Research Topic
15
Maria Angelica Viceral
MA Candidate, Department of Art Studies, College of
Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines–Diliman
The Aesthetics of a Therapeutic Site:
The Philippine Heart Center Hospital
16
Nguyen Phuc Anh
PhD Candidate, Sino-Nom Studies,
Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam
Academy of Social Sciences
HÙNG KING Myths and Ideological Struggle
to Establish Vietnamese Identity
17
Nguyen Thi Minh
Nguyet
MA Candidate, Faculty of History, University of
Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National
University
The American Silver Flow via Manila to
China and its Impact on the Chinese SocioEconomy, Late 16th to Early 18th Centuries
18
Pham Thi Mui
MA Candidate, Anthropology, Department
of History, Faculty of Anthropology, Vietnam National
University
Vietnamese Seasonal Migrants in Luang
Prabang Province (Laos)
19
Pim-on Kaewdang
PhD Candidate, Architectural Heritage Management
and Tourism (International Programme), Silpakorn
University, Thailand
Developing a Programme of Interpretation
in The Portuguese, The Dutch and The
Japanese Ancient Settlements at Ayutthaya
20
Qin Wenjun
MA Candidate, Department of Sociology, College
of Humanities and Development, China Agricultural
University
Gambling amidst Turmoils: Casino along the
China-Burma Border
21
Rey Runtgen Martin
L Del Rosario
PhD Candidate, Development Studies,
De La Salle University – Manila, Philippines
Impact of Migration Policy in Singapore on
the Economic and Social Welfare of Filipino
Domestic Workers
22
Suwarto
PhD Candidate, Theological Faculty, Duta Wacana
Christian University, Indonesia
Religious Entrepreneurship among Javanese
Christian Churches (A Case Study of the
Practice of Economic Transformation)
23
Tan Swee Mee
PhD Candidate, Department of Languages and
Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
Thematic Choice in Selected Short Stories
from Malaysian Women Writers: Woman
Identity from a Systemic Functional
Perspective
24
Timothy F. Ong
MA Candidate, Literary and Cultural Studies,
Ateneo de Manila University, Phillipines
Geographical Features of Southeast Asia
alongside the Coordinates of Tropicality
and Modernity
25
Vu Thi Xuyen
MA Candidate, Faculty of History,
University of Social Sciences and Humanities,
Vietnam National University
The “Ngu n” and the Commodities in
Cochinchina in the Regional Context From
the 16th Century to the 18th Century
94
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDIES
10.0
Research
Scholarships
ARI Internship
Programme
A number of NUS PhD scholarships have been allotted to
ARI, although administration, coursework and assessment of
graduate students remain with the relevant departments. In 2014,
8 students graduated, bringing the total number of graduates on
ARI’s PhD scholarships programme to 19 since the start of the
programme. 6 students remain on ARI’s scholarships and are
supervised through the different departments.
ARI has been receiving undergraduates and postgraduates from
local and overseas tertiary institutions under the ARI Internship
Programme since 2006. The objectives of the programme are to
create opportunities for students to be exposed to an academic
research environment, to observe the workings of a research
institute, and to participate more fully in one particular designated
area at the Institute. The intern gains work experience in a
research environment, and is introduced to professional research
practice and administration. Interns may join the research work
of a cluster, and/or assist the administrative team in providing
support functions.
Graduated in 2014
Hannah Keren Griffiths
PhD (Architecture)
Kim Ji Youn
PhD (Sociology)
Claire Lee Seung Eun
PhD (Sociology)
Stefani Haning Swarati Nugroho
PhD (Sociology)
Fiona-Katherina Seiger
PhD (Sociology)
Yenny Rahmayati
PhD (Architecture)
Tabassum Zaman
PhD (Cultural Studies in Asia)
Fan Xue
PhD (Chinese Studies)
On-Going
Bubbles Beverly Asor
Department of Sociology
Angeline Eloisa Javate Dios
Department of Geography
Danicar Mariano
Department of Geography
Over the years, ARI has provided internship opportunities to
students from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, City
University of Hong Kong, University of British Columbia, Canada,
University of California-Berkeley, USA, Tsinghua University, China,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, NUS Faculty of
Arts and Social Sciences, and others. In total, ARI provided
internship opportunities to the following 5 interns in 2014.
Meherin Anjum Kabir
University of British Columbia
From 4 Feb to 25 Apr 2014
Jessica Ng Tsz In
City University of Hong Kong
From 9 Jun to 15 Aug 2014
Ingrid Cheung Yin Nung
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
From 16 Jun to 8 Aug 2014
Christy Chong Wing Yee
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
From 16 Jun to 8 Aug 2014
Daniel Ng Kwan Wai
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
From 16 Jun to 8 Aug 2014
Shelley Mae Jalandoon Sibya
Department of Sociology
Robert David Williamson
Office of Programmes
June Yap
Office of Programmes
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
95
10.0
SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDIES
11.0
EXTERNAL RELATIONS
96
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
EXTERNAL RELATIONS
11.0
MOU/External Funding Received
Organisation/ Foundation
Date of
Agreement/
Award
1.
John Templeton Foundation
March 2014
The Singapore Religion and Spirituality
Project
GBP13,743
2.
John E. Fetzer Memorial Trust
April 2014
Brain to Brain Synchonisation in Collective
Awareness
USD6,000
3.
Max Planck Institute for the Study
of Religious and Ethnic Diversity
May 2014
Workshop on Encountering Urban
Diversity in Southeast Asia: Class and
Other Intersections
EUR5,000
4.
Mr Muhammad Alagil
May 2014
Muhamammad Alagil Distinguished
Professorship in Arabia Asia Studies
USD120,000
5.
Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences, NUS
May 2014
Workshop on Youthful Futures?
Aspirations, Education and Employment
in Asia
SGD2,031.50
6.
Harvard-Yenching Institute
May 2014
Workshop on Changing Role of State in
Asia II: Comparative Perspective
SGD28,280
7.
Humanities and Social Sciences
Fund, Office of Deputy President
(Research and Technology), NUS
May 2014
Workshop on Changing Role of State in
Asia II: Comparative Perspective
SGD15,720
8.
National Library Board (NLB),
Singapore
May – November
2014
Asia Trends 2014
Sponsorship of
lecture venues
9.
Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences, NUS
July 2014
Conference on Growing Up in One-Parent
Family in Asia
SGD3,790
10.
Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada
July 2014
Workshop on Futures of Migrant
Care Labour: Gender Geographies of
Aspiration and Servitude
Sponsorship
of airfare &
accommodation
costs for
speakers, research
assistance, meals,
and refreshments
11.
La Trobe University
August 2014
Conference on Globalising History and
Philosophy of Science: Problems and
Prospects
AUD10,000
12.
Situating Science Cluster
August 2014
Conference on Globalising History and
Philosophy of Science: Problems and
Prospects
CAD10,000
Amount/
Sponsorship
Project Title/ Description
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
97
11.0
EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Organisation/ Foundation
Date Of
Agreement/
Award
Project Title/ Description
Amount/
Sponsorship
13.
Humanities and Social Sciences
Fund, Office of Deputy President
(Research and Technology), NUS
August 2014
Conference on Globalising History and
Philosophy of Science: Problems and
Prospects
SGD2,374
14.
National Library Board (NLB),
Singapore
October 2014
ARI-MBRAS Lecture - The Raffles
Paradox: Liberal, Autocrat, or
Something Else?
Sponsorship of
lecture venue
15.
Ministry of Education
October 2014
Asia Trends – Symposium on Migration
and Construction Work in Asia
SGD709,410
16.
*SCAPE
November 2014
Migration and Precarious Work:
Negotiating Debt, Employment
and Livelihood Strategies amongst
Bangladeshi Migrant Men Working in
Singapore’s Construction Industry,
Phase 2
Sponsorship of
lecture venue
17.
DFID, UK
(through University of Sussex)
November 2014
Workshop on Youthful Futures?
Aspirations, Education and Employment
in Asia
GBP1,794
18.
Young NTUC
November 2014
The CityPossible Film Festival III
Sponsorship of film
screening venue
19.
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation
December 2014
Adaptation: What the US Can Learn from
International Models
SGD12,176.35
98
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
EXTERNAL RELATIONS
International
Visits
By Director, Prof Prasenjit Duara
26 February – 4 March 2014
Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
20 – 22 March 2014
Seoul National University Asia Center
25 March – 5 April 2014
Duke University, USA
Association For Asian Studies Annual Conference, USA
Whitman College, Washington, USA
University of California-Irvine, USA
24 April – 5 May 2014
China Agricultural University
Minzu University of China
Peking University, China
Hong Kong Baptist University
School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, China
19 – 24 May 2014
Stanford University, USA
University of California-Santa Cruz, USA
4 – 6 August 2014
Portland State University, USA
University of Oregon, Portland, USA
6 – 8 September 2014
Global Economic Symposium (GES), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
22 – 29 September 2014
Institute for European Global Studies,
University of Basel, Switzerland
The Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland
8 – 25 October 2014
Colgate University, USA
Dartsmouth College, USA
Harvard University Asia Center, USA
Aarhus University, Denmark
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
7 – 9 November 2014
University of Hong Kong
11.0
Visitors
16 January 2014
Prof Astrid Söderbergh Widding, Vice-Chancellor,
Stockholm University, Sweden
28 January 2014
Prof Michael Yahuda, Professor Emeritus, London School of
Economics, & Visiting Scholar, George Washington University, USA
8 April 2014
Dr Abraham Lotha, Principal, St. Joseph's College, Jakhama,
Nagaland, India
22 April 2014
Prof Rick Halpern, Dean and Vice-Principal (Academic),
University of Toronto Scarborough, Canada
2 June 2014
Prof Elizabeth J. Perry, Director,
Harvard-Yenching Institute Comparative
Assoc Prof Peter Pang, Assistant Vice-President (University &
Global Relations), Department of Mathematics, NUS
8 July 2014
Dr Cynthia Joseph, Senior Lecturer, Monash University, Australia
15 July 2014
Ms Qin Higley, Acquisitions Editor, Asian Studies, Brill
16 July 2014
Assoc Prof Alexander Horstmann
Department of Cross-Cultural Studies
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Ms Helena Kolenda, Programme Director for Asia,
Henry Luce Foundation
17 July 2014
Dr Ted Bestor, Harvard University, USA
Mr Haruhisa Takeuchi, Ambassador of Japan to Singapore
30 September 2014
Prof Hans van de Ven, Department of East Asian Studies,
Cambridge University, UK
14 – 16 November 2014
7th All-India Conference of China Studies (AICCS)
2 October 2014
Prof Le Hong Ly, Director, Institute of Cultural Studies,
Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences
10 – 22 December 2014
China in the Global Academic Landscapes, Hanover, Germany
Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi, India
Tezpur University Assam, India
28 October 2014
Dr Ralph Weber, Senior Researcher and Lecturer, University of
Zurich, Switzerland, & Lecturer in the History of Political Ideas
and in Political Theory, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
ANNUAL REPORT 2014
99
Editorial Team and Production Team
Huang Jianli
Saharah Abubakar
Sharlene Anthony
Sharon Ong
With the Assistance of
Tharuka Prematillake
Wajihah Hamid
Valerie Yeo
Kalaichelvi Sitharthan
Noorhayati Hamsan
Theodora Lam
Henry Kwan
Vernice Tan
Priya Latha
Asia Research Institute
NUS Bukit Timah Campus
469A Bukit Timah Road
Tower Block #10-01 Singapore 259770
T | +65 6516 3810 F | +65 6779 1428
www.ari.nus.edu.sg