By Jørgen Delman, University of Copenhagen As a social scientist working in the field of Chinese politics, I note with interest the speed with which perceptions of China changed these last months. A Cold War mentality is detectable. We hear
What’s Past Is Prologue – The Geopolitical Significance of Covid-19 for Southeast Asia
by Ann Marie Murphy, Seton Hall University. As countries begin to reopen during the Covid-19 pandemic, strategic analysts are debating its impact on the future of geopolitics. Some contend that the pandemic could reshape the global order, accelerating
Tackling intimate partner violence is not of interest to China
by Pia Eskelinen, Doctoral Candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Turku. In early 2016, a legislation on domestic violence was implemented in China. However, the law does not provide adequate protection for the victims. And furthermore, intimate partner
This Virus Is Tough, but History Provides Perspective: The 1968 Pandemic and the Vietnam War
By Nathaniel L. Moir, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University 2020 has been a rough year. 1968 was worse. Granted, as of late April, we are only a third of the way into this tumultuous and frustrating
Covid-19: The test of Pashtuns’ mechanical solidarity
By Naveed Ahmad Shinwari, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex At the time of writing this piece, Pakistan stood at number 33 in the list of countries affected by Covid-19 with 5,038 citizens having tested positive out of 61,801
Calm in the Eye of the Cyclone
By Jakub Polansky, University of Sussex In August 2019, I embarked on a year-long journey to Khorog, a town in the south-eastern part of Tajikistan, to research cross-border trade along the Afghan-Tajik border. As part of my fieldwork, I recently
The time to “sober up” has arrived: Could COVID-19 provide the global wake-up call the world needs?
By Saba Karim Khan, NYU Abu Dhabi Last week, my brother sent me a video from the China Global Television Network. The video opened with a warning, addressed to no one in particular but to the world in general: “Sober
Covid-19, International Trade and Global China: Reflections from Yiwu
By Magnus Marsden, University of Sussex The Covid-19 epidemic has in all likelihood brought to an end the fieldwork activities of the TRODITIES project. Since 2015, team members have documented and analysed the dynamics of the Chinese international trade city
Announcement: the InFocus blog has relaunched!
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the relevance of posting insightful analyses has become apparent. We are therefore content to announce that the InFocus blog has relaunched!
Craft, Currencies, and Ritual Orders in a Northern Thai village
Henrik Kloppenborg Møller is an anthropologist and PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology, Lund University. His PhD project examines the organization of the trade in jade between Northern Myanmar and China, and the role of jade in Chinese cosmology. Henrik