SEARC Blog

Forthcoming Seminars: Why NIE Fails: Institutional Persistence and Development Dilemmas in Middle-income Countries

2014-11-25T20:47:00.000+08:00

Why NIE Fails:
Institutional Persistence and Development Dilemmas
in Middle-income Countries

Dr Veerayooth Kanchoochat

Forthcoming Seminars: In the Shadow of the King: Rural Resistance and Special Rebellion Law in Colonial Burma, 1930-1937 by Dr Maitrii Aung-Thwin

2014-11-24T20:42:00.000+08:00

Seminar In the Shadow of the King: Rural Resistance and Special Rebellion Law in Colonial Burma, 1930-1937

Dr Maitrii Aung-Thwin

Forthcoming Seminars: What Voters Want: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Thailand by Dr Allen Hicken (17 Nov 2014 (Monday)

2014-11-17T15:10:00.000+08:00

What Voters Want:
Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Thailand

Dr Allen Hicken Associate Professor of Political Science Research Associate Professor at
the Center for Political Studies, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies University of Michigan

Date: 17 November 2014 (Monday)
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Venue: G5-131, AC1, City University of Hong Kong

Upcomong seminar in Nov: Democracy and the market economy: Examples of Hong Kong and Singapore

2014-11-07T16:01:00.000+08:00

SEARC will have a seminar about Singapore in the 1st week of November.
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SEARC annoucement (31st Oct 2014)

2014-10-31T16:03:00.001+08:00

YCAR/ABMP Short-Term Postdoctoral Visitor in Asian Governance
York University, Toronto
The York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) invites applications for a short-term (four month) post-doctoral fellowship in Asian Governance. The successful applicant will have completed a PhD within the last four years and will be developing a research and publication program related to contemporary local, national or transnational governance in Asia.
Review of applications for the 2015 fellowship will begin on October 31, 2014. The expectation is that the postdoctoral visitor appointed will likely take up the fellowship in the Winter term (January-April) of 2015.
For further information, please contact: ycar@yorku.ca.
Applications should be emailed to ycar@yorku.ca with the subject line Postdoctoral Visitor in Asian Governance.

Call for Papers - Graduate Student Conference, "Identities in the Making: Dutch Colonialisms and Postcolonial Presents"
Sponsored by the Dutch Studies Program, UC Berkeley
Date/Time: December 3 - 4, 2014
Location: University of California, Berkeley
Participants have the opportunity to submit their papers, in extended and annotated form, to the peer-reviewed journal Dutch Crossing, which will publish a selection of the conference proceedings.
Keynote Speaker: Rudolf Mrazek (Emeritus Professor of History, University of Michigan). Prof. Mrazek has published extensively on the history of colonial and modern Indonesia. He is the author of Engineers of Happy Land. Technology and Nationalism in a Colony (2002) andSjahrir: Politics and Exile in Indonesia (1994). Throughout the 1990s, Prof. Mrazek interviewed elderly Indonesian intellectuals about their memories of colonial Indonesia, which he collected in the unconventional A Certain Age. Colonial Jakarta through the Memories of its Intellectuals(2009). Prof. Mrazek will speak on December 3.
Panel Discussion: The conference will also include a panel discussion from the seminar 'Blackness in European Folklore Tradition �The Dutch Case: Black Pete' that will discuss the controversial Dutch blackface tradition of 'zwarte piet' from several perspectives and shed light on its historical and political contexts. With Dr. Kwame Nimako (UC Berkeley),Quinsy Gario (Dutch activist and artist, via Skype), and others. The panel will meet on December 4 at 6:00 p.m.
Students wishing to participate can send a 250�word abstract and a short CV todutchstudiesconference@gmail.com by November 1, 2014. Presentations should last no longer than 20 minutes.
For more information, contact:
Center for Southeast Asia Studies
UC Berkeley
1995 University Ave., No. 520H
Berkeley CA 94720-2318
Tel. (510) 642-3609; Fax (510) 643-7062
http://cseas.berkeley.edu

Inter-American Foundation (IAF) Grassroots Development Fellowship Program
http://www.iie.org/Programs/IAF-Grassroots-Development-Fellowship-Program

The deadline for applications for the 2015-2016 Fellowship Cycle of the IAF Grassroots Development Ph.D. Fellowship Program is JANUARY 20, 2015.

Fellowships are available to currently registered students who have advanced to candidacy (by the time research begins) for the Ph.D. in the social sciences, physical sciences, technical fields and the professions as related to grassroots development issues. Applications for clinical research in the health field will NOT be considered.

Awards are based on both development and scholarly criteria. Proposals should offer a practical orientation to field-based information. In exceptional cases the IAF will support research reflecting a primary interest in macro questions of politics and economics but only as they relate to the environment of the poor. The Fellowship Program complements IAF's support for grassroots development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and preference for those applicants whose careers or research projects are related to topics of greatest interest to the IAF.

Institute for Southeast Asian Archaeology Early Career Award
ISEAA announces establishment of a new award of $1000 for early career Southeast Asian archaeologist. Nominees must have defended their dissertations and received their Ph.D. degree within the five year period from August 31, 2010 to September 1, 2015. For more information, please visit http://www.iseaarchaeology.org/award-committee-announcement
Submission Deadline: December 1st, 2015

Activated Borders: Re-openings, Ruptures and Relationships
Dates: 8 - 10 December 2014
Venue: Southeast Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong
Keynote speech: Prof. Brantly Womack, University of Virginia, USA
The conference
All over Asia, international borders condition encounters between diverse ethnic, linguistic, economic, religious, and political groups. Recently, many formerly disregarded borders have been 'activated'. Some have become more permeable for people, goods and ideas. By contrast, elsewhere in Asia borders have actively hardened. Such border dynamics (which have a history of centuries) shape cross-border linkages and are in turn shaped by them. The 4th Asian Borderlands Research Conference in Hong Kong will feature papers and panels that address continuities and transformations along routes and borders in Asia, broadly related to the theme "Re-openings, Ruptures and Relationships."

Fifth International Conference on Lao Studies: Lao PDR in the ASEAN Context
The Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University and the Center for Lao Studies (CLS) are pleased to announce that the Fifth International Conference on Lao Studies (ICLS V) will be held from July 8 to 10, 2016 on the Tha Phrachan campus in Bangkok, Thailand. The main objective of the conference is to promote Lao studies, broadly defined, by providing an international forum for scholars to present and discuss various aspects of Lao Studies.
When: Friday, 08 July 2016 to Sunday, 10 July 2016
Where: Thammasat University; Bangkok, Thailand

Intensive Beginners Burmese Language Course, taught by Dr Justin Watkins of SOAS, University of London
Date: Nov. 3 - 7, 2014
Location: Barcelona, Spain
If you are planning a visit to Burma (Myanmar), are fascinated by Burmese culture or would simply like to learn some of the fascinating Burmese language, Casa Asia offers a unique opportunity: Dr Justin Watkins, expert in Burmese language and linguistics of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will teach this intensive beginners' course in Burmese language.

Interviews with Two Presidents in the Latest issue of Foreign Affairs

2014-10-22T22:47:00.001+08:00

The latest issue of Foreign Affairs contains interviews with the presidents of Indonesia and the Philippines in which they discuss their presidencies.
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SEARC Weekly Announcements (17/Oct)

2014-10-17T14:43:00.002+08:00

SEARC Weekly Announcements
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To know Thailand's by National Reform Council an Infographic made by @prachatai_en

2014-10-10T23:16:00.001+08:00

@prachatai_en released an infographic which shows the composition of the newly formed National Reform Council (NRC) in Thailand.

Based on @prachatai_en search, the NRC in Thailand is dominated by civil servants (over 50% members are with a civil service background).

[Infographic] Scanning the National Reform Council: Who's who? http://t.co/OsUHEyQeFc pic.twitter.com/LiFPPqsfN4
— Prachatai English (@prachatai_en) October 9, 2014

Here is the source image link:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3948/15298213957_4df7d1d514_h.jpg

Dr London, core member of SEARC, was quoted FT on Thai PM trip to Myanmar

2014-10-10T14:52:00.000+08:00

Dr London was quoted in Financial Times 2 days ago on an article about the Thailand PM's visit to Myanmar.

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Dr London, a core member of SEARC, was interviewed by CNA

2014-10-09T11:32:00.001+08:00

Dr Jonathan London, a core member of SEARC, was interviewed by Channel NewsAsia about US partially lifts an arms embargo on Vietnam.

Two coming seminars on Indonesia organized by SEARC

2014-10-08T03:35:00.000+08:00

SEARC will soon have two seminars about the 2014 general election in Indonesia in early October.

SEARC Weekly Announcements (up to 6 Oct)

2014-10-06T14:43:00.000+08:00

We have gathered information related to recent and upcoming academic activities about Southeast Asia.
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New article written by SEARC core member

2014-10-01T00:47:00.000+08:00

Dr. Stephen Ortmann, a SEARC core member, has an article in the latest Taiwan Journal of Democracy.

The title is: Democratization and the Discourse on Stability in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Taiwan Journal of Democracy, Volume 10, No. 1: 123-145
Democratization and the Discourse on Stability in Hong Kong and Singapore
Stephan Ortmann

Abstract
Democrats in both Hong Kong and Singapore face a discourse on stability that is hostile to liberal democracy, but only activists in Hong Kong have successfully reframed this discourse to motivate potential supporters to actively push for democratization. The difference between the situations in Hong Kong and Singapore can be explained by the concept of collective action frames, which demonstrates that it is not sufficient to associate stability with democracy, for supporters also need to establish a motive for activism. The study shows that the success of reframing rests with the saliency of the notion that authoritarianism is a problem for stability, in part influenced by the degree of access to the media.
Keywords: Discourse on stability, opposition, Hong Kong, Singapore, collective action frames.

Mark Thompson, SEARC director, published a piece in the East Asia Forum today

2014-09-30T21:27:00.002+08:00

SEARC director published a piece in the East Asia Forum today about the problems of governance reforms under the Aquino administration in the Philippines.
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SEARC Weekly Announcements (up to 29th Sep)

2014-09-29T15:10:00.000+08:00

We have gathered information related to recent and upcoming academic activities about Southeast Asia.
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Two new SEARC working papers

2014-09-17T23:05:00.001+08:00

There are two new working papers released today.
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Understanding the Problems of Southeast Asia's Railways

2014-09-16T20:24:00.001+08:00

Southeast Asians are increasingly unhappy about their national railways and proposed high speed rail networks.
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SEARC Director has New Article in Critical Asian Studies

2014-09-08T13:42:00.000+08:00

The latest article of SEARC director, Prof Mark Thompson, has been published in Critical Asian Studies.

Population Figures of Myanmar Released

2014-09-03T12:54:00.000+08:00

Last week, the provisional results of Myanmar’s first census in 30 years were released.
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Academic article released in August 2014

2014-09-01T21:33:00.001+08:00

Here is the list of academic articles recorded in citation database in August 2014: Read more »

Here's an infographic about General Prayuth, leader of the 2014 Thai coup

2014-09-01T13:30:00.000+08:00

Do you know how many chairmanships General Prayuth, leader of the 2014 coup in Thailand, holds? This infographic will tell you.

Energy subsidies in Southeast Asia

2014-08-28T16:35:00.001+08:00

There is a blog post in Asia Pathways which briefly discusses the policy issue of energy subsidies in Southeast Asia.

Ne Win and present-day Myanmar

2014-08-25T12:00:00.000+08:00

Prof Robert Taylor tells us how Ne Win might feel about Myanmar if he were still alive

On constitutional reform in Myanmar, Thailand and Philippines

2014-08-21T12:30:00.000+08:00

Mong Palatino writes about the current debate on constitutional reform in Myanmar, Thailand and Philippines in The Diplomat.
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New article written by SEARC core member

2014-08-18T15:10:00.000+08:00

Dr. Stephen Ortmann, a SEARC core member, has an article in the latest Asian Survey. The title is “The Significance of By-elections for Political Change in Singapore’s Authoritarian Regime.”