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28. Feb 2023
Life as “humineral”? What is behind China’s high-tech boom?
business culture, China, InFocus
In early 2023, the term “human mine” or “huminerals” (renkuang 人矿) has sparked a widespread discussion on the Chinese Internet (China Digital Times, 2023). The term first appeared in 1984 in the People’s Daily to describe Chinese workers as a kind of material resource for economic development. Forty years later, young talents in the high-tech industry have used the term to criticise how their lives are used as “consumables” and exploited continuously. What is the underlying logic behind the sudden popularity of the term? How do young talents in urban China experience their work and life?
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15. Nov 2022
Could the Kanjuruhan stadium disaster spark Indonesian police reform?
Indonesia, InFocus
The 1st of October disaster at the football stadium on Java, in which 135 people lost their lives, is the second-worst footballing tragedy in history. Might it spark Indonesian police reform?
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24. Oct 2022
Workshops outdoors: means of coping amidst COVID-19 online mode in Suzhou, China
China, COVID-19, InFocus
Amidst global pandemic of COVID-19, online learning and teaching, video conferencing and online meetings are oftentimes treated as the new normal. Students, tutors, employees and supervisors are expected to accept it and perform as effectively as under face to face situation. However, online mode sustained over periods of longer time, e.g. several months, often results in decreased motivation, lesser ability to concentrate, and general fatigue. While exercise programs and other coping methods indoors are being suggested, there is still limited information available on best strategies to alleviate online learning challenges. Learning outdoors, when possible and relevant, would offer more comprehensive experience of inquiry and healing effects of nature that offers deep replenishment.
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30. Sep 2022
Sensing the Sinophone: Urban Memoryscapes in Contemporary Fiction
China, cultural studies, Hong Kong, InFocus, literature, Shangahi, Taipei, urban development
What happens when the city you live in changes so rapidly that space melts into time and your memories can find no recognisable place to take hold? This kind of morphing urban reality was and is experienced by many in east Asian mega cities, where what cultural critic Dai Jinhua calls the “destructiveness of construction work” (“Imagined Nostalgia.” Boundary 2 24 (3), 1997: 146) is a defining factor. For cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taipei, the 1990s saw a new level of urban transformation that fundamentally affected quotidian ways of life and urban identities, a tendency that continued well into the 21st century. In her new monograph Sensing the Sinophone: Urban Memoryscapes in Contemporary Fiction, Astrid Møller-Olsen argues that fiction writing has the ability to capture both the sense of ongoing transformation and the complex and often ambiguous identity politics that follow.
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13. Sep 2022
Bernard Fall: A Soldier of War in Europe, A Scholar of War in Asia
InFocus, Vietnam
Over the last fifty years, a lack of analysis on Bernard B. Fall (1926-1967) and his scholarship has been a significant gap in the historiography on the First Indochina War (1946-1954) and the Second Indochina War (1955-1975). Since the Vietnam War ended, the failure to recognize how military force cannot compensate for the lack of a politically attainable goal remains prevalent. As Fall once remarked, “A U.S. Marine can fly a helicopter better than anyone else, but he cannot give a Vietnamese farmer an ideology to believe in.” In much the same way, a Russian pilot will not be able to convince Ukrainians that political reconciliation is possible. Rather, Russia’s unprovoked invasion has made its political legitimacy impossible to maintain – even through far-reaching propaganda – with every passing day that Russia continues to destroy the Ukrainian people and their country.
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21. Apr 2022
Nationalist monks provide spiritual support to Myanmar’s brutal generals
InFocus
Myanmar’s military receives arms and aircrafts from Russia and Belarus used against the widespread civilian resistance after the coup. At the same time nationalist monks provide spiritual support to the generals, and Buddhism played a crucial role in disrupting the ousted civilian government. The following is a brief analysis of how Buddhism functions in Myanmar’s politics.
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1. Apr 2022
The People’s Map of Global China: Denmark profile
China, InFocus, International relations
While Denmark retains its pragmatic approach to China and largely frames the Sino—Danish relationship in terms of economic diplomacy, controversies related to human rights have strained bilateral ties in recent years.
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18. Mar 2022
Afghanistan: The Other Perspective
Afghanistan, conflict studies, democracy, development, InFocus, Nation-building, regional relations
The on-going war in Ukraine may serve as a grim reminder of history- how rivalry between major powers for global political advantage pushes a country – the theatre of rivalry – towards an inevitable crisis situation, and a bleak, grim future remains the only possibility. Afghanistan of today bears the testimony of such a scenario, after the experience of a long era of political insecurity and instability. This article attempts to focus on the other perspective of security, the people-centric approach of human security scenario in Afghanistan, to search how a prolonged situation of uncertainty fails the country of its basic necessities of today, and even betrays its past potentials.
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4. Mar 2022
How Transnational Corporations are rendering Myanmar’s Sanctions Ineffective
InFocus, InFocus, Myanmar
Presidential Palace, citing dubious claims of election fraud and reinstated stratocracy in Myanmar. Back on 18February 2021, the UK, in tandem with the US, EU, New Zealand, and Canada, issued a set of sanctions intended to limit the capacity and strength of the junta following an onslaught of violent suppression of protests fighting for the reinstatement of National League for Democracy government.
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18. Feb 2022
Rohingya Relocation and Repatriation: Bangladesh is in the Paradox of Buridan’s Donkey
Bangladesh, InFocus, minorities, Myanmar, refugees, regional relations
It has already been more than four years since more than seven million Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh for refuge to escape from violence and abuse by the majority Buddhist population and security forces of Myanmar (Beech, 2021). At the last count, more than 1.3 million Rohingya refugees are living in Bangladesh (Reid, 2021). Most of them live in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
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