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MONASH ASIA INSTITUTE BULLETIN [11/2007]
1 November 2007
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In this bulletin
1. Call for papers: ASAA 17th biennial conference
2. Seminar: Ghost story of Mandogi
3. Conference: Civil and military relationships
4. Seminar: Discourses of corruption
5. Seminar: Gold in Kerala
6. Seminar: The Execution of the War with Iraq
7. MAI-Arts Faculty India Internship Programme
8. 5th Herb Feith Memorial Lecture
9. Seminar: Mahathir Mohamad: Islam and the 'New Malaysí
10. Conference: Pushing Against Globalisation
10. Master of Humanitarian Action 2009 Program
11. Seminar: Dateline Burma
12. 2008 Asialink Leadership Program
13. "Great Beings" series at the NGV
14. The 7th Human Rights Oration
15. Galle Literary Festival, Sri Lanka
16. 11th Harvard East Asia Society Graduate Student Conference
17. BASAS Annual Conference 2008
18. Website of the month: GandhiServe Foundation
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Monash Asia Institute and Monash University News and Events
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Item 1. Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) 17th biennial conference
Call for papers
Closing date for receipts of abstracts: 20 February 2008
"Is this the Asian Century?"
1-3 July 2008, Sebel Albert Park Hotel, Melbourne
This conference will bring together specialists to assess trends in Asian law, medicine and health, science, ethics/human rights, politics, regional security, economics, culture, religion, environment, media, the performing arts and many other fields. Given the theme we encourage cross-country and inter-regional analysis. To assess how Asia is progressing, we need to think broadly about Asia and compare trends in India and China, the new giants of Asia, with the older industrial power of Japan and newly emerging economies of Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. We also need to link up these trends with events outside Asia.
Join us either as a presenter of a conference paper or as a participant to debate what is happening in the Asian region and its impact on the rest of the world. In some fields, trends in Asia are driving world affairs but in other areas Asia lags behind. What is the case in your field? Will this be the Asian century?
Conference website:
Register now:
Abstracts:
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Item 2. Japanese Studies Seminar
Thursday 1 November 2007, 1:00-2:00 pm
SG03 (Manton Rooms), Menzies Building (11) Monash University Clayton campus
"Kim Sok Pomís Mandogi Yurei Kitan [The extraordinary ghost story of Mandogi]"
Speaker: Elise Foxworth
This paper presents a postcolonial literary analysis of the 1971 Japanese novel Mandogi Yurei Kitan, by Japan-based second-generation Korean writer Kim Sok Pom (1935-). Kimís ghost story is the sentimental tale of a sweet but simple blundering temple boy of mixed cultural identity, who finds himself facing execution in the little known 1949 Cheju Massacre in South Korea. Kim applies literary devices such as allegory and magic realism to a subtext about the historical effects of colonialism and war on Japanís diasporic Koreans. Kim draws a distinction between tradition and modernity, while at the same time highlighting the moral dimension of each in order to discredit a dissolute modernity. A running discourse in Mandogi Yurei Kitan draws attention to a Buddhist philosophy, one that offers strategies for maintaining psychological integrity in the face of cumulative catastrophes. This paper calls attention to how Kimís novel can be read as both an astute study of cultural identity as well as a critique of twentieth century modernity.
Enquiries: Assoc Prof Alison Tokita,
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Item 3. International Conference on Civil & Military Relationships
9 November 2007, 9:30am - 5:30 pm
Venue: Rydges Melbourne Hotel, 186 Exhibition St, Melbourne CBD
"International Conference on Civil & Military Relationships: Implications for the Health, Mobility and Wellbeing of Civilian Populations in the Asia-Pacific"
Conference sponsored by the Australian Research Council and Monash Asia Institute
Keynote speakers:
Major General (Retd) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, Bir Pratik, eminent security and strategic analyst, columnist in Bangladesh
Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa Agha, eminent security and strategic analyst, columnist in Pakistan
This conference brings together eminent academics, researchers and practitioners from the region focusing on the complex issue of civil and military relationships in the contemporary era. The conference is particularly targeted towards postgraduate students and early-career researchers investigating the implications of the intricate interplay between the military and civil society.
For more information visit the conference website:
ALL WELCOME
Registration
Full: $50
Students (with current valid ID card for full time studies): $10 (new, revised price, cash payment only on day but must register by 7 November 2007)
To download a registration form,
or send your name, address, contact and other registration details to Dr. Tony Donaldson, , with email subject heading "Registration - Conference on Civil and Military Relationships"
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Item 4. MAI Reports from Asia seminar (Double seminar ñ see also Item 5)
Wednesday 14 November 2007, 1:00pm
Room S822, Level 8 South, Menzies Building (11)
Monash University Clayton campus
"Everyday practices of local government offices and the discourses of corruption"
Speaker: Mr. Nadeem Malik, University of Melbourne
For the past few years public sector corruption in less developed countries has been identified by the World Bank, IMF, NGOs, donor countries, as well as academics as a major stumbling block towards these countriesí progress. The social planners and the policy analysts have frequently maintained that the problems of corruption can be solved through the application of instrumental solutions that are applicable universally.
On the other hand, some anthropologists of the state such as Akhil Gupta and others have suggested that corruption is a discursive field imagined differently by people belonging to different societies. Solutions to corruption, therefore, are not universally applicable. This paper attempts to argue that corruption is not merely a discursive field and an imagined phenomenon but has its roots outside peopleís minds as well. Through an ethnographic exploration of the functioning of certain lower level officials in rural Pakistan, it is argued that the objectivity of the discourse of corruption outside peopleís minds can be explained in a radically different manner; that is by analysing the specific way in which the local level bureaucracy is structured in a strategic interface between the people and the central state institutions.
More details:
RSVP to Dr Tony Donaldson, , using the subject line "Corruption seminar" in your email.
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Item 5. MAI Reports from Asia seminar
Wednesday 14 November 2007, 3:00pm
Room S822, Level 8 South, Menzies Building (11)
Monash University Clayton campus
"Gold as multiple and event: Appadurai, commodity question and gold in Kerala"
Speaker: Mr. George Varghese, PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne
In this seminar, Mr. Varghese explores certain critical drawbacks in Arjun Appaduraiís theory of commodity as enunciated in "The social life of things" and tries to reach a new formulation of commodity through the examination of gold. Mr. Varghese argues that Appadurai falls into an idealist Hegelian trap, perhaps unaware, in his zest to reach an axiomatic and idealist notion of commodity by aggregating partial ethnographic insights randomly drawn from the far and wide corners of the world. The counter-thesis to Appadurai is specifically worked out through an ethnographic examination of goldís crucial involution in Kerala society at present. Kerala, a small South Indian state, arguably has turned out to be the highest gold-consuming single ethnic locale in the world with more than 14000 gold shops and an annual turnover of over 200 tons. This is roughly equivalent to half of the USís annual import or 60% of Australiaís annual production. This celebration of gold in Kerala cannot be analysed in terms of traditional economic or anthropological analysis. For the author the research should start from the very materiality of gold itself which is a complex "event" or "multiple" that should be approached through a philosophical framework that combines ideas of both Alain Badiou and Gilles Deleuze.
More details:
RSVP with subject heading "Gold in Kerala seminar" to Monash Asia Institute's Dr Tony Donaldson,
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Item 6. Seminar
Centre for Muslim Minorities and Islam Policy Studies with the Monash Asia Institute
Friday 18 November 2007, 11:30 am
Room H5.45, Building H, Monash University Caulfield campus
"The Execution of the War with Iraq: Dilemmas & Controversies"
Professor Frederick 'Skip' Burkle
Senior Scholar, Scientist, and Visiting Professor at the Center for International Emergency, Disaster & Refugee Studies at Johns Hopkins University and Professor, Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice, Monash University
In 2003 Professor Burkle served in the US State Department as the Senior Medical Officer in Iraq on the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) for the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. He also served as the Interim Minister of Health in Iraq during the relief phase of the crisis.
Coffee and biscuits provided
For further information, please contact Dr Benjamin MacQueen,
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Item 7. MAI-Faculty of Arts India Internship Programme
Due date for applications: 20 November 2007
ARTS invites applicants for internships in India
The Monash Asia Institute in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts is pleased to invite applications from talented Arts students interested in working in India over the summer break.
Four students will be selected to work with an organization in Bombay as part of an internship program for a period of 4 - 6 weeks. Two students will travel in early January 2008 and two in early March.
The program seeks to promote a better understanding of the culture and business environment of Bombay and Melbourne. It is supported by the City of Melbourne, the Indian Merchants Chamber in Bombay and the Hyderabad Sind National Colleges of Bombay.
The selection process will focus on academic results and preference will be given to students intending to take up honours or a masters degree in 2008.
Conditions
1.The in-country costs of placing Monash interns in Bombay for between four and six weeks are covered by the Indian host institution - The HR College of Commerce. Basic food, accommodation and local transport costs are covered by this Bombay partner.
2.The costs of international airfares, insurance, visas and incidental costs in Bombay are covered by the students selected for the program.
Applying
Interested applicants should send their resume and transcripts of academic results to or deliver the documents to Juliet Yee, Room S811, 8th floor Menzies Building South Wing.
Deadline: 20 November 2007
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Item 8. 5th Herb Feith Memorial Lecture
Thursday 22 November 2007, 6:00pm refreshments for 7:00pm start
Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre
Corner Sturt Street and Southbank Boulevard, Melbourne
The Centre of Southeast Asian Studies of Monash Asia Institute and the Faculty of Arts, Monash University, in association with ABC Radio Australia and the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne, present
The fifth annual Herb Feith Lecture
"Indonesia then and now"
Speakers: Emeritus Professors John Legge and Jamie Mackie
Together with Herb Feith, Emeritus Professor John Legge AO (Foundation Professor of History and Dean of Arts 1978-1986) and Emeritus Professor Jamie Mackie (Foundation Professor of Politics in the Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University) established the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies at Monash University in the 1960s. In this lecture, they reflect on Indonesia, then and now, as they have observed its history, society and politics over more than fifty years.
John Leggeís publications include Indonesia (3rd ed., 1980), 'Sukarno: a political biography' (3rd ed., 2003) and 'Democracy in Indonesia, 1950s and 1990s' (joint ed., 1994). Jamie Mackieís publications include 'Konfrontasi: the Indonesia-Malaysia dispute, 1963-1966' (1974), 'Indonesia: the making of a nation' (joint ed.,1980) and a recently completed study on 'The future of Australia-Indonesia relations' (The Lowy Institute, forthcoming), a paper analysing the reasons behind the turbulence in these bilateral relations over the last decade and whether it is likely to continue.
Prior to the lecture, refreshments will be served from 6:00pm.
ALL WELCOME
Details:
Herb Feith Foundation Website,
RSVP (ESSENTIAL for this event) to Monash Asia Institute's Dr Tony Donaldson, using the subject line "Herb Feith Lecture 2007" in your email to
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Item 9. PhD confirmation seminar
Thursday 29 November, 10:00am
Room S822, Level 8 South, Menzies Building (11) Monash University Clayton campus
"Mahathir Mohamad: Islam and the ëNew Malaysí"
Mr. Sven Alexander Schottmann, PhD Candidate, Monash Asia Institute
Malaysia has reached an important crossroads in 2007. Apart from celebrating fifty years of independence, the most vital question before multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and most significantly, multi-religious, Malaysia concerns its status as a Muslim-majority country. Is it indeed already an Islamic State, as declared by the government in late 2001, or does the constitution actually call for a secular Malaysia, albeit with Islam elevated to the status of official religion? Mr. Schottmann's thesis analyses the engagement of Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar Ibrahim and Abdullah Badawi with Islam and politics over a period spanning more than sixty years. He will present an overview of his confirmation document and his initial findings for the Mahathir chapter entitled: ìMahathir Mohamad: Islam and the ëNew Malaysí.î
Mr. Schottmann is a doctoral candidate at the Monash Asia Institute examining contemporary Islamic politics in Malaysia.
ALL WELCOME
RSVP to Dr Tony Donaldson, , using the subject line "Islam and the new Malays seminar" in your email.
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Item 10. Conference
"Pushing Against Globalisation: A Local Perspective on Regulation in Asia"
29 - 30 November, 2007
This conference is supported by the ARC Asia Pacific Futures Research Network
Venue
Seminar Rooms 2 & 3, Monash Conference Centre, Level 7
30 Collins Street, Melbourne
The momentum for legal harmonisation in Asia increased following the East Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. The adoption of international trade agreements (e.g. WTO and AFTA) and protocols into domestic legal systems, however, created a dilemma for regulators. How should they devise regulatory systems that accommodate global commercial standards and at the same time respond to diverse domestic forces that straddle economic, urban-rural and ethnic divides?
This conference will investigate how domestic forces within nation states shape the way government regulators localise global legal texts. Domestic forces may include both indigenous and foreign investors together with business associations, religious groups and international donor programs. A central inquiry is whether specific systems or networks linking regulators and domestic forces privilege the interests of particular social groups. Another inquiry is whether the shift in some Asian countries towards representative democracy, deliberative democracy, professional lobbying and consultative lawmaking have broadened public participation in lawmakers? Have changes to public participation affected the way states conceptualize and adapt global legal texts?
More details:
Enquiries:
Leanne Hunt, Department of Business Law and Taxation, Faculty of Business and Economics
Monash University, Tel: + 61 3 9903-4198
Email:
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Item 11. Master of Humanitarian Action 2009 Program
Deadline: 30 November 2007
Call for Applications from Monash Students for this Prestigious EU Erasmus Mundus Program
The Monash Asia Institute, on behalf of Monash University, joined the NOHA (The Association of European Universities) consortium in 2005 in a successful bid to the European Commission in Brussels for an Erasmus Mundus Partnership. This involves collaborative teaching and research in NOHA's International Masters of Humanitarian Action. This is the only Masters program of its kind with official EU support and recognition. The Masters program has been taught by NOHA for ten years; each year 140 students have been trained. In 2005 the EU Commission agreed to extend the Erasmus Mundus program by admitting eight non-European universities - Monash is one of these eight universities.
Monash University has been invited to send one Monash postgraduate to the EU each year. This is the third time we have advertised for eligible students to apply. The winning candidate will be able to travel to the EU and complete the Master of Humanitarian Action, a program of coursework and research over a period of 16 months. The Masters program is fully funded by the EU. We now invite applications from Monash honours and postgraduate students who would be interested in taking up this opportunity. Given the prestigious nature of the Master of Humanitarian Action, and the requirement to write a research dissertation, Monash students involved in this program will be offered a full PhD scholarship on their return to complete a doctorate in the Monash Asia Institute.
Applications are now invited from Honours and Masters students willing to undertake the European program from 1 September 2007 to 1 December 2009.
The deadline for applications is Friday 30 November 2007 at 5:00 pm to
Professor A M Vicziany c/- Ms Juliet Yee
Director, Monash Asia Institute
Room S812, Menzies Building no. 11
Monash University, Clayton Vic 3800
Email:
Your printed application should include a short letter stating why you wish to undertake this program, a resume of professional and academic track records for all university courses; copies of degrees/diplomas; certified copies of academic transcripts; letters from two referees.
For further information please check the EU website:
The winner of the award will be announced by personal email within a week of the submission deadline. The award is for EU 10,000 to cover the fee plus EU 1,600 each month for living expenses. NB The Monash Asia Institute can only nominate a candidate: we will forward the name of the ëwinnerí to NOHA in December but the final decision about the scholarship is made by the EU Commission. In 2007 and 2006, our nominations were accepted without further queries.
Eligibility
Australian citizenship; current enrolment at Monash University in any faculty; 1st class honours or its equivalent in any field of study related to humanitarian action.
Membership of the NOHA consortium involves the following prestigious European universities: UniversitÈ Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), UniversitÈ d'Aix-Marseille III (France), Ruhr-Universit‰t Bochum (Germany), University College of Dublin (Ireland), Universidad de Deusto ( Spain), University of Uppsala (Sweden) and University of Grˆningen (The Netherlands).
The eight non-European universities which joined the consortium in 2005 are: York University (Canada), Saint-Joseph University, Beyrouth (Lebanon), Universidade de Brasilia (Brasil), Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia), Universidad Javeriana (Colombia), University of Western Cape (South Africa), Columbia University in New York (USA) and Monash University (Australia).