Scholarship on racial politics in Japan has tended to take a dichotomous view of Japan as either a culturally homogenous, racially exceptional society where racism does not exist or a perniciously racist one. This talk examines how racism and antiracism have interactively shaped modern Japan’s political development, focusing on national and international coalitions, social movements, […]
Fixing the Huai River: Engineering Designs and Earthwork Methods Across the 1949 Divide. The Control of the Huai River System was the first massive hydraulic project after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. A close comparison of the 1932 and the 1950s Huai Control projects illuminates important differences in the hydraulic […]
Book Talk: Disorienting Politics mines 21st-century media artifacts to make visible the economic, cultural, political, and ecological entanglements of China and the United States. These “Chimerican media,” originating in America but circulating beyond national boundaries, co-create the figure of rising China and demonstrate the ways in which race is embedded in geopolitics evenwhen the subject […]
Book Talk - Affective Spaces as Method: The Cultural Politics of Emotion in China East Asia is saturated with complex emotions. Although emotions play an essential role in the sociopolitical formations of the region, their implications are poorly understood. Affective Spaces: The Cultural Politics of Emotion in China (forthcoming, Edinburgh University Press) explains why and […]
Immobilization and Decolonization in Singapore, 1945-1953 Perhaps the greatest challenge in preparing Singapore for independence was defining and assigning citizenship to its highly heterogeneous populations, a challenge magnified by the entrepot's majority of ethnic Chinese residents and its uncertain political relationship to Malaya. Affixing citizenship rights would determine balances of power in these future, presumably […]
China: A Century of Family Revolutions A recent reproductive crisis has brought renewed interest in the century-old “family problem” (家庭问题) and “women’s problem” (妇女问题). Related issues have not only been debated in the discursive field, but also informed cross-border fields such as social policymaking and the law. Intrigued by questions such as why the state […]
Union Responses to Gender-based Violence in Cambodia’s Construction Sector. Gender-based violence and harassment at work (workplace GBVH) is a global, complex and intractable issue that impacts millions of workers' lives. In Cambodia, unions - both local and international - have also attempted to influence policy, promote law reform and strengthen law enforcement, and raise awareness […]
Extreme Protests - Changing Protest Repertoires in Labor Movements in Neoliberal Korea. Yoonkyung Lee, Department of Sociology & Center for the Study of Korea, University of Toronto, will discuss the question of changing protest methods of labor contention in neoliberal Korea, and asks what explains the emergence of extreme repertoires in labor movements in times […]
Gotta Read 'Em All - Decoding Braille in the Pokémon Series. To obtain a trio of legendary monsters in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (2002), players can embark on an elaborate side quest where they must decode two-dimensional representations of Braille. Removed from its original context as a tactile language, this visual “Pokémon Braille” is at […]
Disability Rights, Activism and Changing Governance in South Korea and Japan. Through comparisons of anti-discrimination and accessibility reforms in South Korea and Japan, this talk analyzes the rise of legalistic governance. More formal rules and participation in policymaking and enforcement, including through the courts, mark a change. Celeste Arrington, Korea Foundation Associate Professor of Political […]
Beyond Birth Rates: South Korea's Policy Response to Demographic Aging. Examining how demographic shifts shape policy priorities and challenges, Darcie Draught-Véjares from the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, will explore the multifaceted implications of population aging, low birth rates, and shrinking workforce on South Korea's domestic politics and international engagements. By […]
Labor Unrest in Chinese-Invested Enterprises in Turkey: Local Dynamics and Global Implications. Burak Gürel is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Co-director of the Center for Asian Studies at Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey. China, once a hub for foreign manufacturing investment, has become a major investor in overseas factories and mines. Disputes at Chinese-owned […]