Events

MODERATOR

Assoc Prof Jamie S. Davidson, Asia Research Institute, and Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore

PROGRAM

ABSTRACT

Identity-related research on Asia has blossomed in the recent past. One can now state with a great deal of confidence that such research has become mainstream. But as this identity literature has grown, so too has confusions and controversies surrounding it. Notable among them is that, more so than more traditional focus on ideologies, interests, institutions, culture and history, identity research encompasses and envelops the identities of the scholar. The entanglement is undeniable and inescapable. So, this roundtable will provide a forum for our esteemed panelists to reflect on and situate their own personal and professional histories and identities within the body of identities research.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Ien Ang is Professor of Cultural Studies at Western Sydney University and was the founding Director of the Institute for Culture and Society. Several of her books have been translated into many languages. Her most recent book is Chinatown Unbound: Trans-Asian Urbanism in the Age of China (Rowman and Littlefield, 2019, co-authored with Kay Anderson et al). She is the recipient of numerous prestigious Australian Research Council grants. Her current ARC research project is entitled The China Australia Heritage Corridor (with Dr Denis Byrne). She is frequently called on for keynote addresses in Australia and internationally and has worked with partner organisations such as NSW Migration Heritage Centre, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, The Special Broadcasting Service, Museum of Contemporary Art and City of Sydney. Professor Ang has had the title of Distinguished Professor conferred on her by her university in recognition of her outstanding research record and eminence.

Jamie S. Davidson is Associate Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore. Based on extensive fieldwork conducted principally in Indonesia, he has written on ethnic violence, indigenous peoples movements, law and society, infrastructure, food politics, and democracy. He is the author of more than a dozen articles and his books have been translated into Indonesia and Chinese. His latest manuscript (in progress) compares rice politics in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Peter A. Jackson is Emeritus Professor in the College of Asia and the Pacific’s School of Culture, History and Language. He has written extensively on modern Thai cultural history with special interests in religion, sexuality, and critical theoretical approaches to mainland Southeast Asian cultural history. He currently holds a three-year 2021-2023 Australian Research Council Discovery Grant for the project “Ritual, Culture and Health in Thai Gay and Transgender Communities”. His current book projects include “A World Ever More Enchanted“, with Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière, “Deities and Divas: Queer Ritual Specialists in Thailand and Burma” with Benjamin Baumann, and “Modernity Enchanted: Capitalism Magic, Thailand”.

Srirupa Roy is Professor and Chair of State and Democracy at the Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS), University of Göttingen. Roy serves on the advisory boards of the Asia Research Institute at National University of Singapore, the Inter-Asia Program at Arab Council for the Social Sciences, and the Securities in Context initiative of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences. She has been a co-director of CETREN, the CeMIS-CeMEAS Transregional Research Network funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and a founding director of ICAS:MP, the Merian-Tagore International Centre for Advanced Studies “Metamorphoses of the Political” (ICAS:MP). Roy’s research interests are on nationalism and state-formation, democratic theory, identity and institutions, comparative InterAsian studies, media and populist politics, and visual politics. She is the author (or co-author) of four books, with the latest being include Saffron Republic: Hindu Nationalism and State Power in India (with Thomas Blom Hansen, Cambridge Press, in press/2021).

ARI20 ANNIVERSARY ROUNDTABLE SERIES

The ARI20 Anniversary Roundtable Series marks the founding of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore in 2001. The series celebrates our current scholarship while exploring how these themes and topics continue to inspire new trajectories of research. The ARI20 Anniversary Roundtable Series concludes with the convening of a final roundtable featuring the Institute’s current research cluster leaders, who will discuss ARI’s role in charting future humanities and social science research on Asia. While the virtual roundtable format arises from pandemic-related necessity, it will enable ARI alumni and partners around the world to join the discussion on the Institute’s research directions and prospects.

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this webinar has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to aritm@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the webinar.