Nordic Perspectives - Your Nordic view on Asia

University of Iceland,
Lilja Hjartardóttir is a political scientist and a doctoral student in gender studies at the University of Iceland, focusing on Sino-Icelandic trade relations.
http://www2.hi.is/page/hi_is_english_frontpage
Keywords: Iceland, In Focus, In Focus 2009, In Focus 2009 Week 24, Nordic Perspective, Person, Women and gender studies,

Search for researchers at Aarhus University
http://person.au.dk/en/find/21041
Keywords: Denmark, Nordic Perspective, Person,

Department of Japanese Studies, Stockholm University
Ph.D., Assistant Professor Working on research projects that primarily address political development in Japan and East Asia, with civil society as an anthropological lens. The research program is a grounded analysis of practices and values expressed by local actors in the context of civil society. The first book project, which was recently completed, is an ethnographic study of a Japanese voluntary organization, the Non-Profit Organization (NPO), the seed of the institutionalization of civil society under the 1998 NPO Law. The major contribution of the first project is to fill a substantive gap in the current civil society scholarship. Most of the work in the field contains normative theoretical formulations with Western intellectual origins. The book remedies these points as an original ethnography, bringing Japan’s civil society experiences squarely into the global discourse on civil society. This book, "The Failure of Civil Society?: The Third Sector and the State in Contemporary Japan", will be forthcoming from the State University of New York Press. The second topic, lifelong learning, builds on the previous research done on Japanese NPOs, where Akihiro Ogawa has participated at an NPO providing lifelong learning opportunities to local residents of a downtown Tokyo community since 2001. Akihiro Ogawa has been keenly aware of domestic debates on Japanese lifelong learning policies and the conditions under which they are held. Doing comparative research on Nordic countries where lifelong learning is deeply rooted in daily life, this project primarily aims to offer a transnational perspective in developing Japan’s lifelong learning. As a larger project as a scholar, Akihiro Ogawa also looks at grassroots participation in one of the most vital policy concerns in contemporary East Asian and global politics – the revision of Japan’s constitution, particularly focusing on Article 9, which articulates Japan’s pacifism.
http://www.akiogawa.net/
Keywords: Civil society, Conflicts. Terrorism, East Asia, Education, Japan, Nordic Perspective, Peace-building, Person, Politics and society, Sweden,

NIAS Nordic Institute of Asian Stuides
Re-creating Community: The Revitalization of Buddhism in Cambodia This study examines the reinvention of Buddhism taking place in Cambodia and how this influences collective rebuilding of community after decades of organized violence. It views Buddhism as a form of cultural capital that is negotiated and contested within emerging relations of power. Political legitimacy in Cambodia is related to leaders’ ability to honour and protect Buddhism, but Buddhism is also a potentially subversive institution that may be engaged in political struggle. The revitalisation of the monkhood and Buddhist ritual may assist in the reconstitution of local cultural, moral and social order. However, the legitimacy of those involved in this cannot be taken for granted. These dimensions of local, popular Buddhism are explored in a village setting using anthropological methods. The material is analysed against a backdrop in which national leaders and international interest groups are trying to support, but also co-opt and control Buddhism in the service of various interests. NIAS research theme: Violence, security needs and regional cooperation in Asia. Sponsored by: Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation Geographical specialization: Previous work on South Asia and India, now focus on Cambodia.
http://nias.ku.dk/research/alexandra_kent/?l0=1&who=
Keywords: Denmark, Nordic Perspective, Person,

Department of Anthropology and Ethnography Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Linguistics, Aarhus university
Project Title: National Narratives – sociohistorical continuity and political legitimacy in The People’s Republic of China
Project description: This ph.d-project analyzes how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under changed socioeconomic circumstances continues to legitimize its monopoly of power in the single-party-state. What political legitimacy replaces that of class struggle in the new chinese market economy, what part does chinese history and culture play in this, and how is this discourse received? Taking the sixtieth anniversary of the people’s republic october 1st 2009 as its starting point, this project aims to answer the following research questions:
1) How is chinese history and culture employed by the CCP in the narration of a unified, meaningful cultural history?
2) What national identity and which ideals for China’s future is produced within this discourse?
3) How is CCP’s discourse received among Beijing’s youth and how does it affect their orientations of identity?
http://person.au.dk/etnoash@hum
Keywords: Anthropology, China, Cultural and social anthropology, Cultural identity, Culture, Denmark, East Asia, Nationalism, Nordic Perspective, Person, Political parties, Politics and society,

Århus University. Østasiatisk Afdeling
professor, cand.phil. Tlf: 8942 6590 E-post: anne.wedell-wedellsborg@hum.au.dk Kontor: bygn. 1328 lok. 224 Postadresse Østasiatisk Afdeling Nordre Ringgade, bygning 1328 8000 Århus C
http://person.au.dk/anne.wedell-wedellsborg@hum.au.dk/
Keywords: China, Culture, Denmark, East Asia, Literature, Location, Nordic Perspective, Person,

freelance
Danish freelance journalist (Danish school of Media and Journalism 2006) writing for a range of mainly Danish media about news, trends and politics in South East Asian countries. Lived in Cambodia 2006-2008. Now based in Bangkok.
http://www.palmwritings.com
Keywords: Cambodia, Denmark, Human rights, Malaysia, Nordic Perspective, Person, Southeast Asia, Thailand,

The Asia Specialist Database is maintained by the Finnish Polytechnic Network for East and Southeast Asia. The Database supports the general mission of the Network in facilitating Asia-related education and research within the Finnish system of higher education and between Finnish, Asian and third country universities, polytechnics and research intitutes. In addition, the Database provides information for the public sector, companies and NGOs. The Database is accessible free of charge for anyone seeking information on specialists and expertise in East and Southeast Asian affairs. · Specialist application forms are reviewed before submission to the Database. · All listed specialists are given personal ID-codes to access and update their personal profile pages. · At certain intervals all registered Asia Specialists are reminded to update their information.
http://www2.jamk.fi/~asianet/english/asiaspecialistdb.htm
Keywords: Asian area studies, Finland, Nordic Perspective, Person,

Department of Asian Studies, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Copenhagen University
Presently working on the research project "Traditional Chinese Philosophy in Post-Deng China"
http://hjem.tele2adsl.dk/yijing_in_post-Deng_China/yijing_in_post-Deng_China/
Keywords: China, Denmark, East Asia, In Focus, In Focus 2009, In Focus 2009 Week 42, Nordic Perspective, Person, Philosophy. Religion,

Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen
Camilla T. N. Soerensen is a research fellow at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. Her research focus is Northeast Asian security, and in July 2008 she has handed in her PhD thesis titled “The contingent rise of China. The development in Chinese post-Cold War security policy”. Prior to her current position at University of Copenhagen, Camilla T. N. Soerensen has been a research assistant at NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies in Copenhagen. Camilla T. N. Soerensen's research interests are Chinese foreign and security policy, the security situation in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese foreign and security policy, security relations between China, Japan and the U.S., the North Korean nuclear issue, and domestic politics on Taiwan.
http://www.polsci.ku.dk/english/staff/detaljer/?id=284217
Keywords: China, Conflicts. Terrorism, Denmark, East Asia, Foreign policy, International relations, Japan, Nordic Perspective, North Korea, Peace-building, Person, Politics and society, Security, Taiwan,