The Southeast Asia Exchange’s Post

European Society for Central Asian Studies 2023 Regional Conference: “Power, people and cultural change in an ever evolving Central Asia” has started today. Tomorrow will be my turn to present research.

Professor Johan Edelheim (Hokkaido University, Japan) presents "Navigating Polarising Discourses: Cultivating Values-based Literacies in a Multimodal Society?" at the joint conferences on Arts & Humanities (ACAH2024), Cultural Studies (ACCS2024) and Social Sciences (ACSS2024) in Tokyo, Japan. The full video is now available to watch on YouTube. https://lnkd.in/gipJ_fnE #iafor --- In modern society, literacy extends beyond mere reading and writing skills to encompass the ability to navigate the diverse modes through which meanings are constructed. Therefore, a literate person is, by definition, somebody who interprets and designs meaning-making entities in a competent manner. Fostering multiliteracies is vital for cultivating critical literacy in a world where ‘texts’ found throughout society and on various media platforms shape our perceptions. Addressing social conflicts and polarising views requires a nuanced approach rooted in the ethics of care and dialogue, emphasising empathy, and cultivating respectful communication. By scrutinising the axiological dimensions of media messages and recognising the influence of diverse societal values, we gain insight into the underlying dynamics of social discourse. This presentation underscores the interconnectedness of these ideas and stresses the importance of cultivating an ethical and critical framework for engaging with diverse perspectives in our interconnected, "glocal" society.

Friday, Oct. 13 at 12 p.m., join the School of Arts, Media and Engineering's Associate Professor Kristy Kang for The Asia Center at Arizona State University's Global Asia Lecture Series. Titled "City Stories: Digital Placemaking and Public History in Singapore," this talk will discuss the development of Chinatown in Singapore and a more complex understanding of place and public history. Visit asianstudies.asu.edu for more information. #Storytelling #AsianStudies #PublicHistory

Next up at #ChartingDSEA, #Taiwan : Jen-jou Hung on Taiwanese #DigitalHumanities consolidation from the first digital archives in the 1980s, the digitization activities by the National Project for Digital Archives in the 2010s, to today's Digital Archives and Digital Humanities (DADH) conferences and the Taiwanese Association of Digital Humanities (TADH)'s activities. Focus on education, fostering collaboration and exchange!

Does International Publishing Still Matter for China’s Social Sciences Scholars? Qiang Zha’s new article in #IHE116 argues that recent changes in China's academic appraisal system are shifting incentives away from international publishing and towards domestic outlets, especially for social sciences scholars. There is also increased emphasis on aligning research with Marxist ideology and interpreting China's development experience positively. As a result, international publishing is becoming more burdensome for Chinese academics without the previous systemic support. While some committed scholars will continue publishing globally, many others may focus more on domestic relevance given the changing incentives. There seems to be a tension between the inward turn and desire to promote China's voice and ideas internationally. It will be interesting to see how this impacts international collaboration and knowledge sharing in the social sciences in the years ahead. Read the full article below: https://lnkd.in/eYKhhaJG

Honored to be invited to share my work next week at the Asia Center at ASU: As part of ASU's commitment to global engagement, sustainability and future-oriented knowledge and research, the Asia Center at the Arizona State University is organizing a series of virtual lectures for the 2023-2024 academic year on the theme of "Global Asia in a Multipolar World." This virtual lecture series highlights research from prominent scholars in an array of disciplines in the humanities, social sciences and beyond, broadly centered on Inter-Asian networks and flows of ideas, peoples and texts across national and linguistic borders. This is the second lecture in our series, and it will be provided by Dr. Kristy Kang, associate professor of Urban Media Art and Design at the School of Arts, Media, and Engineering. Titled "City Stories: Digital Placemaking and Public History in Singapore," this talk will discuss the development of Chinatown in Singapore and a more complex understanding of place and public history. Please go to the link for more details and to register!

Yesterday's Qualitative Research Hub, with Dr Aizuddin Mohamed Anuar & doctoral researcher Olga Mun on "Proverbial teachings: Critical dialogues on traditional proverbs and zine-making in higher education" was excellent! Their study explored the use of traditional proverbs, from Malaysia & Kazakhstan, as sources of wisdom for sustainability; along with using arts-based zine-making to depict these proverbs & their students' interpretations. They even allowed us to spend some time making our own pictures based on different proverbs! As a South African and researcher who seeks to be decolonial, I really appreciated their reflections around the tension between potential cultural appropriation vs epistemic reparation. We know that the coloniality of power has led to capitalism and the exploitation of land and resources; along with the coloniality of knowledge which suppressed and silenced indigenous knowledge systems. Here, traditional knowledge was seen as valid and valuable, with indigenous peoples as those who were the experts on sustainability praxis, in opposition to colonial narratives. Thank-you Aizuddin & Olga for your seminar! Department of Education, University of Oxford #QualitativeResearch #decoloniality #zines #sustainability #InterCulturalLearning #ArtsbasedPraxis

On March 18, I will deliver the keynote speech of a new initiative at the European University Institute (#EUI) in Florence, with a focus on global history, postcolonial studies, and 'cancel culture'. It will revolve around 4 main points: “The greater the specialization of knowledge, the more advanced the level of research, the longer and more venerable the scholarly tradition, the easier it is to ignore discordant facts”. “It is even more artificial to detach ancient Greece from, say, Egypt or Persia, as if the Greeks were always ‘European’, living a separate history, and not part of a larger Mediterranean and ‘Eastern’ world”. "We need to integrate non-Western perspectives and values into higher education curricula in a meaningful way, rather than in a dilettante or tokenistic fashion where a few famous non-Western figures are dropped into the lecture slides to ‘spice up’ a course". "Fostering occluded and marginalized knowledges conducive to a more just, and not merely a more diverse, world”. 

Pioneering Futures: Rethinking #Cultural and #Heritage Ecosystem. This Tuesday, May 14th, in #Leuven, I will take part in this promising discussion about future perspectives in #education, #research, and #policy in #culture and #culturalheritage. We'll discuss CHARTER - European Cultural Heritage Skills Alliance work and guidelines on #innovative and #emerging cultural heritage education and training paths in #Europe https://lnkd.in/dyWRRj29