On this page, we have gathered a number of Nordic Institutions and their recordings of webinars on Asia-related topics. To learn more about a specific webinar, please click on the link directing you to the youtube channel of the host institution. So far, the institutions include Asian Dynamics Initiative,  Fudan-European Centre for China Studies, the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies and Swedish South Asian Studies Network.

NIAS’ Webinars

NIAS Nordic Institute of Asian Studies

NIAS Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
This is the recording of the online book launch "South Asian Sovereignty: The Conundrum of Wordly Power", arranged by NIAS and Asianettverket and recorded September 3, 2020. The book is edited by David Gilmartin, Pamela Price, Arild Engelsen Ruud and published by Routledge India. Participating in the book launch are: Editor David Gilmartin, North Carolina State University, Comments by Duncan McCargo, NIAS and Alp Eren Topal, University of Oslo Q&A session chaired by Editor Pamela Price, University of Oslo South Asia’s history and especially India’s twentieth-century emergence as the world’s largest democracy have made the subcontinent a critical arena for thinking about how transformations and continuities in conceptions of sovereignty provide a vital frame for tracking shifts in political order. This edited volume deals with themes such as sovereignty, kingship, ideas of popular sovereignty, democracy, rule of law, courts, and political authority in the context of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. From the publisher’s website: This book brings ethnographies of everyday power and ritual into dialogue with intellectual studies of theology and political theory. It underscores the importance of academic collaboration between scholars of religion, anthropology, and history in uncovering the structures of thinking and action that make politics work. The volume weaves important discussions around sovereignty in modern South Asian history with debates elsewhere on the world map.
Book Launch of 'South Asian Sovereignty: The Conundrum of Wordly Power'
YouTube Video UC_1AvS6mLEk2speP0oieECA_b8aiDgn_np4
This is the recording of the online book launch "Fighting for Virtue: Justice and Politics in Thailand", written by NIAS Director and NYSEAN Co-founder Duncan McCargo and recently published by Cornell University Press. In this online book launch, the author engaged in a conversation with two US-based scholars – Tyrell Haberkorn of the University of Wisconsin Madison, and Frank Munger of New York Law School – both of whom have done extensive research on the Thai justice system. At the end of the event, a few questions from the audience were discussed too. "Fighting for Virtue" investigates how Thailand’s judges were tasked by the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) in 2006 with helping to solve the country’s intractable political problems—and what happened next. Across the last decade of Rama IX’s rule, Duncan McCargo examines the world of Thai judges: how they were recruited, trained, and promoted, and how they were socialized into a conservative world-view that emphasized the proximity between the judiciary and the monarchy. Drawing on a year of ethnographic fieldwork, McCargo delves into three pivotal freedom of expression cases that illuminate Thai legal and cultural understandings of sedition and treason, before examining the ways in which accusations of disloyalty made against controversial former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to occupy a central place in the political life of a deeply polarized nation. The author navigates the highly contentious role of the Constitutional Court as a key player in overseeing and regulating Thailand’s political order before concluding with reflections on the significance of the Bhumibol era of “judicialization” in Thailand. Ultimately, he argues, states and societies need to put greater trust in politicians, rather than creating ever more elaborate mechanisms that allow courts and judges to regulate politics. You can find more about the book here: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801449994/fighting-for-virtue/ Stay up to date for future NIAS events: http://nias.asia/events And listen to our newly launched 'The Nordic Asia Podcast' in Spotify, or any other podcast platform: https://open.spotify.com/show/3fYldQJBJ5ejGEYqpX63Fe
Book Launch of 'Fighting for Virtue' with Duncan McCargo, Tyrell Haberkorn and Frank Munger
YouTube Video UC_1AvS6mLEk2speP0oieECA_I_Unig9u0e0
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