"Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies"

The Institute of Asian Research is pleased to announce an important new seminar series to address the changes that are transforming Asia and setting the conditions for entry into the Twenty-First Century. The immediate stimulus to organize such a seminar was the economic crisis and questions about changing state organizations, increased popular participation and the dissolution of existing social categories.

The seminars will be held from 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. in the Conference Rm. at the Choi Bldg. You are invited to participate. If anyone is interested in making a presentation on a subject related to our theme of "Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies", please contact either Barrie Morrison or Pitman Potter. As the seminar program takes shape further announcements will be made.  If anyone wishes further information please contact either: Pitman B. Potter, Institute of Asian Research, 251-1855 West Mall, C.K.Choi Bldg.  Tel. 822-4686 e-mail: potter@interchange.ubc.ca or Barrie M. Morrison, same address Tel. 822-6475 e-mail: barrie@interchange.ubc.ca

Tuesday 30 May 2000
4:30 - 6:00 pm. C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room #120. PCAPS.
Taiwan Roundtable #1

"Political Transition in Taiwan: Opportunities and Dangers"
A Panel Discussion, featuring:
Chu Yun-han, Professor, Department of Political Science, National Taiwan University
Thomas Gold, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of California at Berkeley
Pitman Potter, Director, Institute of Asian Research, UBC
Chair: Paul Evans, Director, Program on Canada-Asia Policy Studies, UBC

This is the inaugural meeting of the Taiwan Roundtable, a non-partisan forum discussing current developments in Taiwan and their regional and international implications.  It is open to the public and all are welcome. To facilitate room arrangements, we would appreciate advance notice if you are planning to attend.

For further information contact Shirley Yue, Program on Canada-Asia Policy Studies, 822-0436, syue@interchange.ubc.ca

"Mountain Opportunities, Livelihood Creation and Development Outcomes in Bhutan"
by Adam Pain and Deki Pema

Mountains are often read and described in a very negative way with respect to development opportunities. Development frameworks in Bhutan have largely emphasised the negative connotations of being mountainous and been normative in the way in which policy and interventions have been applied. In addition, policy practice, set within a framework of five-year plans, has focussed primarily on delivery and largely been unaware of consequences. Bhutan remains, as Rose (1977) described it as about " as 'data-free' as is possible for a polity over three hundred years old to be".

There can be no doubt that planned interventions since the 1950s have had major positive consequences in terms of rural livelihood strategies and outcomes. But what these are, how such interventions have enmeshed in relation to "traditional" strategies, and how their impact (and delivery) has varied in such a highly heterogeneous physical and cultural environment has remained unexplored.

The seminar will present the preliminary results from research undertaken during the last year (building on fieldwork in Bhutan over the previous 7 years), which has had the broad objective of seeking to describe and analyse how rural households in Bhutan have made their livelihoods and how this has changed over the last 50 years. The investigation has used documentary and historical sources related to civil administration, oral evidence from key players both within government and at the village level but has been based primarily on detailed household interviews in seven different locations in Bhutan selected to capture variability in history, agro-ecology, economy and patterns of change.

Fundamental importance has been given in the study to assets and access to assets since it is these that have provided not only the means to build livelihoods but also give meaning to life. The role of informal and formal institutions in giving access to assets has been investigated for individual households as well as village "communities". The consequences of livelihood changes to environmental outcomes, in an environment that is often held to be "pristine" have been considered emphasising more non-equilibrium perspectives on environment and landscape as a product of social and ecological history.

The discussion will focus on issues of livelihood diversity, village histories and the role and maintenance of cultural and social capital.

Thursday 11 May 2000
4:30 - 6:00 pm. Green College, Small Dining Room. IAR and Green College.

"In defence of custom, cultural capital and invented tradition - a narrative from Bhutan"
by Adam Pain

There are two major "narratives" or stories told about Bhutan. The first, which is mirrored by both external and internal commentators, is essentially a Shangri La story in which a remote isolated Himalayan Kingdom with a largely unchanged way of life defined by Himalayan traditions and the influences of Mahayana Buddhism is emerging, on a unique trajectory of development, into the modern world. The second, reflects the above elements but in a highly critical manner building on the conflicts in Southern Bhutan that emerged during the late 1980's and the consequent departure of up to 80,000 individuals of Nepali ethnic origin.

Culture is a slippery concept and is constituted by dimensions of ethnicity, language, and beliefs manifested in behavioural norms, physical representation and underpinned by customs and traditions. While culture itself emerges as a distinctive identity out of historical processes and location, the contribution towards cultural identity can be both organic as well as constructed.

Through a discussion of various aspects of Bhutan (religion, institutional arrangements, language, environment and material culture) the seminar will explore how Bhutan has sought to defend its cultural identity to perceived threats through the advocacy of particular patterns of development and specific institutional arrangements. The mechanism by which this defence has been mounted has been in part through attempts to "construct" a national tradition and culture and through investment in its cultural
capital. The paper will also investigate the less obvious elements of Bhutan's cultural identity, and it is these that in many ways may be under greatest threat through modernisation processes. These are the customary dimensions of interaction between households, villages and the state in which "high" trust and patterns of negotiation have reflected the norm.

8 - 12 May 2000
11:00 - 2:00 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room 120. IAR.

Asian Heritage Week
In conjunction with Vancouver's Asian Heritage Month, a city-wide celebration of Canadian Asian art and culture, the Institute of Asian Research will launch Asian Hertiage Week with a festival from May 8-12. In addition to this week-long celebration, a photo exhibition titled "Faces of the Irregular Migrants" will be sponsored by the Asian Library & the Institute of Asian Research from May 15 - 31, 2000 9:00am - 4:00 pm at the lobby of C.K. Choi Building.

******************PROGRAM************************

Monday, 8 May   11:30 am - 2:00 pm
        Chinese knot tying & paper folding demonstrations; musical performance
        Sponsored by the Centre for Chinese Research

        1:00 pm "An Introduction to the Electronic Siku Chuanshu"
        by Professor Yang Na, National Library of China, Beijing

Tuesday, 9 May  1:00 - 2:00 pm
        Traditional gamelan performance.
        Sponsored by the Centre for Southeast Asia Research

Wednesday, 10 May   12:30  - 2:00 pm
        Classical and traditional dance and musical performances.
        Sponsored by the Centre for Korean Research

Thursday, 11 May  11:00 am - 4:00 pm
        Exhibition of photographs, watercolour & ink paintings, and pottery work. Workshops in ikebana (flower arrangement),
        bonsai, and the arts of tea. Various musical performances, including karaoke.
        Sponsored by the Centre for Japanese Research

Friday, 12 May  11:00 am - 4:00 pm
        Poetry readings, classical musical, yoga demonstration and dance performances

        Seminar - 12:30 " Mountain Opportunities, Livelihood Creation and Development Outcomes in Bhutan"
        by Adam Pain and Deki Pema
        Sponsored by the Centre for India & South Asia Research

May 15-31  9:00 am - 4:00 pm
        Photo Exhibition - "Faces of the Irregular Chinese Migrants"
        Sponsored by Asian Library and Institute of Asian Research

For more information call Karen 822-2629

Monday 8 May 2000
1:00 - 2:00 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room 120. CCR.

"An Introduction to the Electronic Siku Chuanshu"
by Professor Yang Na, National Library of China, Bejing

Thursday 4 May 2000
12:00 - 2:00 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Seminar Room #129. CCR.

"A Review of Marine Smuggling"
by Ray Bowes, Citizenship and Immigration Canada

"Democratising India's Federation and Federalising India's Democracy"
by Professor Sandeep Shastri, Department of Political Science, University of Bangalore

Professor Shastri has written extensively on Indian politics, including two recent books: "Towards Explaining the Voter's Mandate" and "Dynamics of Legislative Control over Administration"

Wed. 12 or 26 April 2000
4:30 - 6:00 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room 120. IAR.

GLOBALIZATION AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF ASIAN SOCIETIES
"Indian migration to Canada and the building of trade connections"
Margaret Walton-Roberts, PhD. Student, Department of Geography

Wednesday 19 April 2000
12:30 - 2:00 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Seminar Room #129. CSEAR.

"Hindu and Buddhist Thought in Khmer/Cambodian Architecture and Dance"
by Julie Mehta

Julie Mehta, who holds a Master's degree in English Literature and is a gold medallist from Jadavpur University Calcutta, has worked as a journalist covering Cambodia and Thailand for eleven years, having lived in Australia,  Singapore and Thailand during this time. She has traced the India influences in Cambodian and Thai art and culture and has lectured and written widely on these subjects in her capacity as a journalist and an independant scholar of Asian art history.

Julie is married to award winning journalist Harish Mehta, the co-author of the book Hun Sen Strongman of Cambodia, the first and only biography of the prime minister of Cambodia. Harish Mehta, whose first book Cambodia Silenced, The Press Under Six regimes, won him international recognition, is a fellow of The Freedom Forum, Washington DC (1995),and has published widely in international journals. The book on Hun Sen, published in Dec 1999, was the culmination of 10 years of far-ranging interviews and extensive research on Cambodia by both authors, and currently rankd no 7 on the bestseller list in Thailand.

Julie and Harish are permanent residents of Singapore, and they now reside and work in Bangkok, while travelling extensively in the region.  Julie is currently working on a book that attempts to highlight the most significant areas of Hindu and Buddhist religious influences on Cambodian art and life.

Monday 17 April 2000
12:30 - 2:00 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Seminar Room #129. CSEAR.

"Hun Sen: Strongman of Cambodia - The Man Behind the Myth"
by Julie and Harish Mehta

Wednesday 12 April 2000
12:00 - 2:00 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room 120. CAS and RIIM.

CENTRE FOR AUSTRALIAN STUDIES IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH
AND IMMIGRATION AND INTEGRATION IN THE METROPOLIS (RIIM)
"Auckland Buy The Sea: Urban Spectacle and Polarization"
by Dr. Wardlow Friesen, Department of Geography, University of Auckland, New Zealand

GLOBALIZATION AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF ASIAN SOCIETIES
China's Township Enterprises At A Crossroads

Friday 7 April 2000
3:30 - 5:00 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room 120. CKR.

"Canada and the Korean War: The Decision to Intervene 1950"
By Dr. Steven Lee, Dept of History, UBC

This paper will examine the background to the decision by Canada's Liberal Government to send naval and ground troops into the Korean conflict during the summer of 1950. Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, Secretary of State for External Relations Lester B. Pearson, and Minister of National Defence Brooke Claxton were the three figures in the Canadian government most closely associated with the decision to commit troops to the Korean theatre. Their deliberations centred on several key themes, including domestic public opinion, the postwar role of the United Nations, wider developments in East Asia, particularly the PRC- Taiwanese struggle, and the Canadian relationship with the United States in the Cold War. Canadian anxiety about US policy in East Asia was directly related to the degree that the Korean War threatened Canada's core area of concern, Europe. Although Canadian-Korean relations were overshadowed by these other considerations, the paper will also explore what the Korean- Canadian relationship meant to Canadian policymakers at this juncture of the postwar era.

"Krishna and the Gender of Longing"
by John Straton Hawley, Professor of Religion, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York

"Ritual Value of Y2K in North America and New Year's in Japan"
by Dr. Millie Creighton, Anthropology & Sociology, UBC

In this study Dr. Creighton will apply the theory of ritual magic and categories of meaning to the New Year's (Oshogatsu) customs in Japan and compare those to the kinds of things happening in North America associated with Y2K.

"Malay-speaking communities in the Indian Ocean"
by Dr. K.A. Adelaar, Associate Professor
Melbourne Institute of Asian Languages and Societies
University of Melbourne and Visiting Associate Professor, Dept. of Asian Studies, UBC

Malay is spoken in the Indian Ocean by the Malays of Sri Lanka and the inhabitants of the Cocos Keeling Islands. These communities have unique histories and speak their own forms of Malay. The Sri Lanka Malays are basically the descendants of political exilees, soldiers, convicts and slaves brought to Sri Lanka by the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. Under the British many of them served in a colonial police force. Nowadays the community is stressing its separate ethnic identity in order to avoid affiliation with any of the civil war factions in the country. One feature typical of Sri Lanka Malay language is its very different (Tamil-type) grammar although its basic vocabulary has remained remarkably authentic.

The "Cocos Malays" or "Cocos Keeling Malays" are the descendants of servants and slaves who were brought to the Cocos Keeling Islands in 1827 by the erratic adventurer Alexander Hare. The latter was ousted by his administrator John Clunies-Ross, whose family ruled the islands with unlimited power until the Australian government (under pressure from the UN) bought them out in 1984. The Cocos Malay dialect is a form of 'low Malay' or 'trade Malay' with an admixture of Javanese and English vocabulary.

Dr. Adelaar, Associate Professor at the Melbourne Institute of Asian Languages and Societies at the University of Melbourne, is currently a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Asian Studies at UBC, January-July 2000. Trained as a linguist at Leiden University, he has published on a variety of topics related to Austronesian languages. At MIALS Sander Adelaar teaches courses such as Advanced Indonesian Language, Modern Indonesian Literature, History and Varieties of Malay, and Peoples and Languages of Indonesia.

Thursday 23 March 2000
4:30 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room 120. CCR.

"Precious Volumes: An Introducation to Chinese Sectarian Sciptures From the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries"
(Havard University Asia Center, 1999), and introduction to the new book by Daniel L. Overmyer, Dept. of Asian Studies, UBC

"Precious volumes," or pao-chuan, were produced by popular religious sects inthe Ming nd Ch'ing dynasties. These scriptures were believed to have been divinely revealed to sect leaders and contain teachings and ritual instruction that provide valuable information about a lively and widespread religious traditon outside the mainstream religious systems of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Proscribed by the Chinese state and largely neglected until now, they testify to the imagination and devotion of [p[i;ar re;ogopis ;eaders/ Tjos bppl. tje ,pst detao;ed amd cp,[rejemsove stidu pf ear;u [ap-chuan in any language, studies 34 examples of this literature formthe Ming and Ch'ing dynasties in order to understnad the origins and devlopment of this textual tradition. Although the work focuses on content and stucture, it also treats the social context of there works as well as their transmission and ritual use. In addition to detailed studies of paritcular books, topics discussed include information found in pao-chuan about sect leaders and the organization of sects; mythologies of creation, salvation, and the end of the age; meditation; sectarian self-consciousness, ehtical teachings and perspectives on society; and attitudes toward Confucianism. Translations are provided throughout both to provide evidence and to enable the study to be used as a sourcebook. The book begins with an investigation of influences on pao-chuan consititue a fourth type of religious writing in China, in addition to the texts of Confucianism Taoism, and Buddhism, and continue to influence contemporary religious practices. The teachings of these books are an important source of all later Chinese popular religious movement and are interesting to compare with those fo similar groups in other culture.

              The Centre for India and South Asia (CISAR) invites graduate students at UBC and SFU to join:

"A 'Gaggle of Grads': Our Work on Contemporary South Asia"

This informal gathering is a chance for graduate students to share their research, build ties within Vancouver's academic community and discuss South Asian issues with peers in a welcoming atmosphere. Sometimes billed as a "graduate colloquium", this event is largely of our own making; interested grads can present papers or speak out soapbox-style. Our first goal is to stimulate discussion and new ideas through spontaneity.

Events will include an opening address by CISAR Director Mandakranta Bose, introductory words by CISAR faculty and research associates, followed by four speakers touching on their areas of expertise. This year's topics include sustainable land use in New Delhi; the Indian environmental movement; the novelty of nuclear politics in South Asia; and state-formation in Indian democracy. We hope these elicit a lively discussion. Our second goal is to foster a positive, mentoring environment in which we can discuss the field's academic past, present and future. Experienced scholars will share some of their insight on how the field has changed; graduates might discover new, uncharted waters for future research. On this note, we will also provide graduates with information about grants and funding for further study.

While grads will be in the spotlight, so to speak, we also want to extend a welcome to all staff and faculty interested in current issues in South Asia. Here is a chance to see up-and-coming scholars, and to benefit from their original work. Future events will address ancient and medieval topics, but this year we will look at South Asia today. With U.S. President Bill Clinton visting the subcontinent this week, we could not have chosen a better time! Hope you can drop by.

Robert Faulkner
roberfaulkner@bigfoot.com
CISAR: 822-6463

"Globalization and The Transformaton of Asian Socitites"
"Raced Bodies and the Public Sphere in Ichikawa Kon's Tokyo Olympiad"

by Sharalyn Orbaugh, Department of Asian Studies, UBC

Director Ichikawa Kon is best known for his film adaptations of major literary works, such as Soseki's Kokoro; he is a noted master in the tranferral of narrative text from one medium to another. In 1964, when Japan became the first Asian country to host an Olympiad, Ichikwaw took what was for a new kind of text--the Olympic Games--and tranferred it to what was for him a new genre of film--documentary. His 1965 Tokyo Olympiad became the highest grossing film in Japan to that pint, and has garnered lasting international attention and acclaim.

Ichikawa's documentary uses narrative and visual focus on the body to create a powerful statement about race and nation inthe context of Cold War global power relations and Japan's "economic high-growth period." This paper uses the Habermasian concept of the public sphere to examine the film's role in the national and international discourse of raical politics in the 1960s.

"Patterns in Asian Philanthropy"
by Peter Geithner, Senior Advisor to the Asia Center at Harvard University

Over the past decade there have been major developments in philanthropy in Asia and its connectionto the non-profit sector. These include changes in the motivations of philantrhopists, regulatory and fiscal frameworks in individual countries, heightened public awareness, and the creation of new regional orangizations including the Asia Pacific Philanthropy Consortium. The presnetaion will examine these developments, including the impact of the Asian economic crisis, and assess some of their implications for the non-profit sector in North America.

Peter Geithner has had an extraordinary career in the foundation world and US-Asia relations. He is currently senior advisor to the Asia Center at Harvard University and a consultantt to several foundations around the Pacific. He serves on the boards of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, the China Center for Economic research (Peking University), Center for the Advanced Study of India, (University of Pennsylvania), the US-China Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and Clemente (Holdings) Asia, Inc.

Previously he was with the Ford Foundation for 28 years where he served as Director of Asia Programs in New York from 1990 to 1996, the Foundation's first representative in China, represntative for Southeast Asia and deput representative for India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. He has received the State Department's Distinguished Service Award, and the Royal Thai Government Order of the White Elephant.

The seminar is hosted by the Program on Canada-Asia policy Studies and St. John's College. For further information contact Shirley Yue at 822-8436.
 

Globalization in Australia and Canada
Dr. David Elkins of the Department of Political Science, UBC

Most analyses of globalization assume or try to demonstrate that countries will become more similar as they experience its effects. Economic competition and freer trade should lead to convergence in many areas of economic and social policy. Political independence and cooperation are assumed to result in emulation of political formations and policies as well as weakening territorial states.

Australia and Canada seem to be excellent test cases for the opposite point of view - namely, that globalization need not lead to convergence, or at least, that some aspects may be much more resistant to convergence than other aspects. If two such similar countries - former British colonies, federations, liberal democratic politics, affluent with highly educated populations, multicultural but largely English speaking - can be shown to have developed in divergent ways and to have stable differences on key political, economic, and other dimensions, that raises serious questions about the nature and consequences of globalization. By comparing Australia and Canada, the seminar will consider a range of of what these consequences might be.

"Drifting Destinations"
Reading by Dr. Vidyut Aklujkar, PICSA Write-in-Residence

Dr. Aklujkar is editor of Ekata, a Marathi quarterly published from Toronto, Ontario. She is also the author of four books in Marathi (1990, 1991, 1996, 1998). Her latest novel is Kahani.

Wednesday 8 March 2000
4:30 - 6:00 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room 120. IAR.

"Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies"
"Modernization and Monotheism in Korea" by Dr. Donald Baker, Dept. of Asian Studies, UBC

One of the distinctive features of Korea's rapid modernization in the 20th century, one that sets it apart from neighbors such as Japan and Taiwan, has been the role of Christianity. One century ago less than 1% of the Korean people were Christian. Now over one out of every four South Koreans attends either a Protestant or a Catholic church. Moreover, Christians have taken the lead in many of the important modernizing projects of the 20th century, such as the resistance to Japanese colonial rule, the introduction and spread of modern medical and educational facilities, and the democratization movement of the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, in Korea Christianity has become identified with modernization. This has made it difficult for the traditional religions of Korea to maintain viability in a modernized environment. To meet the Christian challenge, these religions have begun imitating Christianity.

They have redesigned their worship services, repackaged their sacred writings, and even reinterpreted their doctrines in order to conform more closely to the Christian paradigm of what a modern religion should look like. In my talk, I will look at how Buddhism, Confucianism, and the new religions of Korea have been influenced by that Christian paradigm.

"Japanese Direct Foreign Investment and The Asian Financial Crisis"
By Dr. David Edgington, Dept. of Geography, UBC

This paper examines the extent to which the Asian currency crisis of 1997-8 impacted upon the behaviour of Japanese direct foreign investment in the manufacturing sector. Much literature has claimed that transnational corporations (TNCs) are unlikely to be firmly embedded in the host countries where they operate. If this is the case then Japanese firms in Asia might have exhibited a high degree of disinvestment or plant closure and transfer of operations to other countries following the onset of the financial crisis in Asia. Although the events of the Asian crisis and subsequent recovery are still unfolding, foreign direct investment (FDT) data, surveys of Japanese firms, and initial reactions by Toyota Motor Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. were reviewed to examine this proposition. In general, the evidence suggests that Japanese TNCs have responded in the following manner. First, flows of Japanese FDI into Asia overall held steady throughout fiscal year 1997-8, although it is set to decline thereafter, at least for the short-term. Second, at the level of individual corporations, there is some evidence to show that major firms have maintained their operations, and that they have shifted to an export-orientation so as to earn income from their Asian production in overseas currencies. Third, the survey evidence points to a long-term commitment to Asia by Japanese transnationals.

"Buisness in a Knowledge-Based" Economy and the Need for a Paradigm Shift"
by Dr. Ranganath Bharadwaj, Chairman,
Institute for Educational Research and Development, Mumbai/Bangalore Visiting Shastri Fellow

"Mei Lan-fang and Beijing Opera in Republican China"
by Elizabeth Wachmann-Walczak, Professor,
Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Hawaii

"Indonesia from the margins: Restive Regions"
Speakers: Ravenska Wagey, Yorianta Sasaerila, and Jonathon Manthorpe

Perhaps the thorniest problem for the new democratic government of Indonesia is "horizontal conflicts" between Christian and Muslim communities in Maluku and elsewhere, coupled with the upsurge of pro-independence sentiment in a number of regions, notably Aceh and Irian Jaya, especially following the withdrawal of Indonesian claims to East Timor. The issues are being grappled with at the centre, but are often not addressed or widely discussed from the perspective of the margins.

Ravenska Wagey is from Ambon and a student at UBC, also active in the Vancouver Indonesian and Ambonese communities. Yori Sasaerila is from Jayapura and is a currently a student at SFU. Jonathon Manthorpe, the Vancouver Sun's Asia Pacific columnist, has recently written a series of articles from Aceh (as well as many other articles on Indonesia).

Tuesday, 29 February 2000
11:30 am - 1:00 pm, C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room 120. CAS.

"Multicultural Policy and Local Governments:  A Comparison of Sydney and Vancouver"
by David Edgington, Dept. of Geography and
Tom Hutton, School of Community & Regional Planning, UBC

'The presentation addresses how local governments in Canada and Australia have addressed the challenges of multiculturalism. The results of a major comparative suvey will be presented for municipalities in metropolitan Sydney (55 councils) and metropolitan Vancouver (21 concils). The survey was designed to ascertain existing multicultural policies and programmes - such as the degree to which councils use basic interpreting and translating services, as well as more innovative ways to reach immigrant populations. The survey results use both quantitative and qualitative analysis comparing the two cities in order to reveal broad-scale intra metraopolican variations in the provision of services for migrants. In addition, an array of case studies will be discussed which focus on both successful strategies as well as 'policy failures', with regard to complex policy questions related to equity and access to government. The results allow consideration of similarities and differences in the policy framework of both metropolitan regions, and the role local government can play with regard to multiculturalism and immigration planning.'

"Tang and the 'Little Tigers' of the ninth and tenth centuries: the export of institutions"
by Professor Denis Twitchett, Gordon Wu Professor of Chinese Studies, Princeton University

"Governance in New Asia: The Conflict Between Globalization and Regionalism"
Paul Evans, Program for Canada-Asia Policy Studies, Institute of Asian Research
IAR Lecture Series: Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies

For much of the past decade regional institutions in Asia Pacific were dedicated to facilitating a convergence between global norms and processes and regional ones.  In the aftermath of the economic crisis in Asia and NATO intervention in Kosovo, political and economic elites in Eastern Asia are taking a slightly different approach to institution building that is self-consciously defensive.  One obvious consequence is the emergence of a new Asians-only summit process.  The presentation looks at some of the contemporary dynamics of interest and identity in inter-governmental institutions and non-governmental processes in an area alternatively defined as Asia, East Asia and Asia Pacific.  Specific attention will be given to current debates on economic issues, especially finance, and political security issues, especially the concepts of human security and humanitarian intervention.

"Plant Location and Embeddedness of Firms in the Higashi Osaka Industrial District"
by Professor Kenkichi Nagao, Osaka City University

The prolonged recession in Japan has forced many firms to reconsider their strategy regarding where to locate their production plants.  This seminar will discuss a case study of the plant location problems faced by firms in the east part of the city of Osaka.

Tuesday, 22 February 2000
12:30 - 2:30 pm, UBC Faculty of Commerce, David lam Amphitheatre, 2053 Main Mall

"Guangdong: Economic Powerhouse of China"
by Mr. paul Lau, Consul General, Canadian Consulate in Guangzhou

Sandwiches and Coffee wil be offered @ 12:30pm. Talks begins promptly at 1:00pm.
For more information contact: international_programs@commerce.ubc.ca

Thursday, 17 February 2000
3:00 - 4:15 pm, C.K. Choi Building, Conference Room 120. CJR.

"Canada and Japan 2000: Changing Relations in a Changing World"
by Leonard Edwards, Canada's Ambassador to Japan
A diplomat's view of the changing relations between Canada and Japan in a
changing world will be discussed.

"Globalization and Canada-Asia Relations"
by Mr. Yuen Pau Woo, Vice President for Research and Chief Economist the Asia Pacific Foundation

"Law for the Beaver, Law for the Kangaroo"
by Professor Wes Pue, Faculty of Law

The Centre for India and South Asia Research invites you to an informal discussion entitled
"Recent Crises in South Asia: The Kargil War, The Pakistan Coup, The Indian Election and the Hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC-814"

In attendance will be: Dr. John Wood, CISAR Faculty Associate, on the context; Haider Nizamani, CISAR Research Associate, on Kargil; Csaba Nikolenyi, CISAR Student Associate, on the Indian Election; and Scott Kugle, CISAR Visiting Research Fellow, on Pakistan.

Friday, 4 February 2000
3:30 - 5:00 pm, C.K. Choi Building, Conference Room 120. CKR.

"North Korea: The Dilemmas of 'Change Without Reform' "
by Dr. Brian Job, Director, Institute of International Relations and Dept. of Political Science

This talk will be based on Professor Job's recent trip to North Korea.

Friday, 4 February 2000
12:00 - 1:30 pm. Asian Centre, Seminar Room 604. CCR.

"CIDA's China Program: Present and Future"
by Ian Wright, Director, China Program, Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA)

Monday, 31 January 2000
C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room 120. CCR.

"Who Governs Hong Kong?"
by Martin Lee, Chairman of the Democratic Party, Hong Kong

Martin C.M. Lee (Lee Chu Ming) is Chairman of the Democratic Party, Hong Kong's largest and most popular political party. Prior to the founding of the Democratic Party in October 1994, Mr. Lee was Chairman of the United Democrats of Hong Kong - Hong Kong's first political party - which won the first-ever democratic elections to the territory's Legislative Council in 1991. Since then, the Democratic Party has won every set of elections held in Hong Kong and has received wide public support for its stance that Hong Kong must develop democratic institutions and preserve freedom, human rights and the rule of law if the territory is to continue to prosper as part of China.

A barrister, Mr. Lee was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1979 and chaired the Hong Kong Bar Association from 1980-1983. He was first elected to the Legislative Council in 1985 and has been re-elected in every election since. He served from 1985-1989 as a member of the Basic Law Drafting Committee, the body appointed by Beijing to draft Hong Kong's post-1997 constitution, until his expulsion in the aftermath of his denunciation of the Tiananmen crackdown.

On July 1, 1997, Hong Kong was transferred from Britain to China. China's first act of sovereignty was to abolish the legislature elected by Hong Kong people in 1995, replacing it with a Beijing-appointed body, the Provisional Legislative Council. Many members in China's appointed legislature were defeated in the 1995 polls. This appointed body rubber-stamped a number of laws restricting freedom of speech and assembly, rolled back the Bill of Rights and changed the electoral rules to favor pro-China candidates. In the May 1998 Legislative Council elections, 50% more citizens turned out to vote than in any previous election. But because of the biased electoral rules, democrats ˆ won two-thirds of the votes cast ˆ occupy only one-third of the legislative seats.

"Destined Immortals: Korean Taoists in the mid-Choson"
by Dr. John Goulde, Sweetbriar College, Virginia, USA

Professor Goulde, from Sweetbriar College in the United States, will examine Korean Taoist writings from the 16th through the 18th centuries for information on who in Korea practiced internal alchemy and how they were connected to one another.  Some of those writings are instruction manuals for those who wished to prolong  their life span. Others are histories of internal alchemy in Korea, tracing an tradition of the pursuit of immortality all the way back to Tangun.  Both types of writings have been neglected by scholars of Korea who have  preferred to focus their research on Confucianism, Buddhism, and shamanism instead.  Professor Goulde, in his talk, will shed light on this little-known facet of Korean culture.
 

Film: "From the Ground Up"
by Dr. Evelyn Nodwel, Anthropologist and Producer Research Associate, Institute of Asian Research, UBC

"From the Ground Up" documents a Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Partnership project between SFU, UBC, and Barkatullah University in Bhopal. It shows what was learned from the project by researchers and community members.  The project was unique since it involved an exchange between Indian and Canadian interdisciplinary teams of faculty and graduate students.  As well, three community members from the Canadian study site, Lillooet - including a forestry supervisor, newspaper editor and St'at'lm Nation representative - had the opportunity to travel to India. Preconceptions and stereotypes by members on both teams were challenged, and as one student expressed, "I was absolutely shocked at the similarities I found ...in terms of access to natural resources and traditional ways of economic survival ... also in people's responses to what is sustainable development."

"Dollars and a lot of dead fish: consequences of the integration of Gujarat's fishery into the global market"
Derek Johnson, PhD. student, University Guelph
IAR Lecture Series: Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies

Since the 1950s, the fishery of Gujarat state has grown from insignificance to being the largest in India. That growth is due in large part to increased world demand for fish products and the availability of industrial technologies and models of production that have spurred productive capacity. Responsibility for rapid growth also lies with the state government of Gujarat, which has not sought to impose its vision of fisheries management, thereby allowing the fishers of Gujarat to direct development as they see fit. Despite the high degree of popular control over fisheries development in Gujarat, there are increasing indications of overfishing in the state. Two related factors account for this resource depletion: insatiable and highly remunerative international demand for fish products and the failure
of Gujarat's fishers to devise or strengthen institutional mechanisms to manage access to fishing. If the fishery of Gujarat is to avoid the ecologically destructive effects of its encounter with globalisation, fishers and the state government must co-operate to establish collective management of the state's marine resources.

Roundtable discussion of Land Issues in Indonesia led by:
Arianto Sangaji, Yayasan Tanah Merdeka (Free Earth Foundation) based in Central Sulawesi; Iwan Diansyahputra, Serikat Petani Sumatera Utara (North Sumatra Farmers Union); and Chris Dagg, SFU Eastern Indonesia Universities Development Project (to be confirmed)

Land rights & struggles over land are becoming a major issue in Indonesia. Sangaji, director of YTM, an environtal group based in Central Sulawesi, will address the threatened displacement of indigenous people and transmigrants by a planned expansion of Inco's mining operations in Sulawesi (Inco is the largest Canadian investor in Indonesia). Diansyaputra will speak on his Vancouver-based work in support of the activist farmers federation in North Sumatra.

"From 'Civilization and Enlightenment' to 'Good Wives and Wise Mothers': Education for Two Generations of Meiji Women"
by Dr. Patricia Tsurumi, Professor Emerita, Dept. History, University of Victoria
Research Associate, Centre for Japanese Research, UBC

"Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scriptures From the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries"
(Harvard University Asia Center, 1999), an introduction to the new book by
Daniel L. Overmyer, Dept. of Asian Studies, UBC

"Precious volumes," or pao-chuan, were produced by popular religious sects in the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties.  These scriptures were believed to have been divinely revealed to sect leaders and contain teachings and ritual instructions that provide valuable information about a lively and widespread religious tradition outside the mainstream religious systems of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.  Poscribed by the Chinese state and largely neglected until now, they testify to the imagination and devotion of popular religious leaders.  This book, the most detailed and comprehensive study of early pao-chuan in any language, studies 34 examples of this literature from the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties in order to understand the origins and development of this textual tradition.  Although the work focuses on content and structure, it also treats the social context of these works as well as their transmission and ritual use. In addition to detailed studies of particular books, topics discussed include information found in pao-chuan about sect leaders and the organization of sects; mythologies of creation, salvation, and the end of the age; meditation; sectarian self-consciousness, ethical teachings and perspectives on society; and attitudes toward Confucianism.  Translations are provided throughout both to provide evidence and to enable the study to be used as a sourcebook. The book begins with an investigation of influences on pao-chuan by earlier forms of Chinese religious literature. The author argues that pao-chuan constitute a fourth type of religious writing in China, in addition to the texts of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, and continue to influence contemporary religious practices. The teachings of these books are an important source of all later Chinese popular religious movements and are interesting to compare with those of similar groups in other cultures.

"Family Values Change in the Pearl River Delta"
Professor Po-Keung IP, Research Network Associate, Institute of Asian Research, UBC

The talk aims to describe and explain the value changes in the families in the upper Pearl River Delta Region as a result of the rapid economic changes from the late seventies to the mid nineties. A survey via questionnaire interviews was conducted in the urban area of Guangzhou and one of its increasingly industrialised rural suburb, Xiayuan. Xiayuan represents the early stage while Guangzhou the later stage of economic development of the Region. A representative sample of the population in Guangzhou and Xiayuan was identified and interviewed respectively. The response rate in both localities was highly satisfactory (Guangzhou 67%; Xiayuan 61%).

Interesting differences in the values that people hold have emerged between Guangzhou and Xiayuan. While people in both localities endorse community, family and socialistic values, people in urban Guangzhou agree to a community value to a greater extent than do their Xiayuan counterparts. On the other hand, they endorse family values to lesser extent, plausibly reflecting a lessened impact of traditional Chinese culture in the more urbanized community. People in both localities view being materialistic, utilitarian in interpersonal relationships, and having a business orientation rather negatively. Urbanities, in comparison with their Xiayuan counterparts, are more negative towards being materialistic, and interpersonally utilitarian, but relatively less negatively towards a business orientation. Such results may attest to the decreased impact of traditional Chinese values in urbanized Guangzhou. Nevertheless, urbanities, much like their Xiayuan counterparts, still highly endorse most of the traditional Chinese virtues, such as filial piety, honesty and trustworthiness, due probably to the tenacity of cultural tradition. The survey shows that there have been changes of values in the family in the upper Pearl River Delta Region. However, the traditional cultural values are so entrenched that many of them are still exerting strong influence over people. The paper ends with a comparison with a recent value study in the Yangtze Delta Region.

"The Utility of the Concept of Globalization in Understanding Change in Modern China"
Pitman Potter, Director, Institute of Asian Research
IAR Lecture Series: Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies
During the past twenty years, China's links with the world economy have grown substantially.  As well, many features of Chinese social and political life reflect international influences.  While it is tempting to attribute these changes to the phenomenon of globalization, and to expect yet further assimiliation of global norms and behaviours in China, conclusions about China's ongoing relationship with the outside world should not ignore the power and resiliency of local cultures in China. Professor Potter will discuss these issues in the context of a broader conceptual framework that challenges concepts of globalization and looks instead at local reception of material and ideological features of liberalism.

Friday 10 December 1999
2:30 - 4:30 PM, C.K. Choi Bldg. Conference Room 120. CJR.

"The Nature of Japanese Ingroup Relations in Contrast to Those of Indians"
by Professor Steven J. Heine, University of Pennsylvania
We now know that the "independent" self, with which Western psychologists are familiar, does not generalize well to the rest of the world. Recently, the "interdependent" self has been proposed and described, and it is assumed to be the most common form of self in Eastern and Southern Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Southern Europe. Surprisingly, however, little research has explored whether the nature of this interdependence differs across these diverse cultures.  Anecdotal evidence and observations by Japanologists and Japanese anthropologists suggest that the kind of interdependence typical in the Japanese self-concept may be of a fundamentally different nature than the kind elsewhere.  I am exploring the differences between Japanese and Indian ingroup relations. Japanese ingroup relationships, I argue, are based on a "shared context" model, where those with whom one interacts frequently become one's closest relationships. This view of relationships likely has roots in the Japanese ie. Indian interdependence, in contrast, I argue is based on a "shared essence" model, where those with whom one shares certain essences, such as blood or caste, become one's closest relationships.  I will discuss the results of anempirical investigation that support this distinction.

"Gender Dimensions of Modernity and Globalization in Southeast Asia."
by Leonora Angeles, Community and Regional Planning, and Women's Studies

In Memoriam Gerald Segal
Gerald Segal died in October 1999.  His death cut short a brilliant career which started in Canada and led him to England where he was the senior fellow director of the Internatinal Institute of Strategic Studies.  He was a trenchant and perceptive commentator on Asian affairs.  His last piece of writing was an essay published in Foreign Affairs entitled "Does China Matter?"  This essay was obviously meant to provoke debate.  As a tribute to Gerry, we have decided to hold that debate. Please try and read the essay before you come to the seminar.

Tuesday, 30 November 1999
12:30 - 2:00 pm, C.K. Choi Building, Seminar Room 129. CAS.

"Performing opinion: the Case of John Laws"
Dr. Cate Poynton, Senior Lecturer, School of Communication & Media, University of Western Sydney, Australia. Visiting Scholar, Centre for Research in Women's Studies & Gender Relations, UBC
John Laws has been the highest rating Australian radio host for many years, broadcasting from Sydney but syndicated nationally. He is the subject of several current enquiries concerning payments of large amounts of money paid by the  banks to get Laws to speak more positively about banks than he has been used to. The issues Dr. Poynton will explore are concerned with the radio performance of 'truth' and 'authenticity' than with payola and bribery. The presentation will address relations between media opinion talk and democracy, particularly in relation to the general 'conversationalisation' of public discourse posited by critical discourse analyst, Norman Fairclough.

"Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies: The Confusing Case of East Timor"
IAR Series: Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies
by Professor T. McGee, Dept. of Geography and Institute of Asian Research, UBC
This presentation will focus on reinterpreting the main ideological dimension of the globalization thesis that emphasizes that the process is unilinear, international and omnipotent.  Rather, I want to suggest that the process is reflexive creating place based on imagination and resistance.  This argument is developed by exploring the East Timor as a 'site of resistance' in which various spheres of global, national and local interaction have sparked the tragic events of the last few months.  The presentation suggests that a more careful analysis of 'sites of resistance' and 'place-based' imagination in other locations is an important thrust tool research and will almost certainly lead to the dismantling of the globalization thesis.  As a final shot, the presentation argues that the much criticized approach of 'area studies' is the most powerful way to organize knowledge in order to research these fundamental weaknesses of the globalization thesis.

"Some Facets of Hindu Law"
by Professor Dr. Albrecht Wezler, Institut fuer Kultur und Geschichte Indiens und Tibets (Institute for the Culture and History of India and Tibet, University of Hamburg, Germany

"Local  Geographies  of  Globalization: Rural  Agglomeration  in  the Chinese  Countryside"
by Dr. Andrew M. Marton, Reader/Assistant Director Institute of Contemporary China Studies, University of Nottingham
China's rural enterprises were responsible for 48 percent of the $US 151 billion in exports and absorbed nearly 20 percent of total foreign direct investment in 1996. Clearly, the significance and increasing role of rural enterprises in China's integration with the world economy demands attention. The penetration of global capital into the rural enterprise sector and the desire of such enterprises to benefit from expansion into international markets has important implications at the local level. This paper examines the shifting structures of rural industrial organization and management. The impact of international, domestic and local forces on institutional and structural reforms is reflected in particular spatial outcomes in rapidly developing non-urban regions. Local authorities have responded to external forces in ways which do not conform to the conventional expectations. Evidence from the lower Yangzi delta reveals how the supposedly universalizing pressures of globalization have been mediated and adapted at the local level, particularly in terms of enterprise location and the proliferation of special zones. The notion of rural agglomeration is introduced to capture the paradox of spatial economic transformation as it was linked to local circumstances, and localized responses to external pressures of globalization.

"Within the Family"
by Usha Rajagopalan, Andrew Fellow, Dept. of Creative Writing, UBC
Based on a real incident showing the extent of toleration a woman has as a wife and to what lenghth the mother in her will go in making choices.

"CIDA's Approach To Development Corporation"
by Dr. Nipa Banerjee, Senior Performance Analyst, Strategic Planning and Policy Division, Asia Branch

"The Future of Civil Society in Cambodia"
by Prince Norodom Sirivudh and KAO Kim Hourn, Executive Director of Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace

"WTO Rules and the Conduct of Japanese Companies: Trade and Competition"
by Professor Kaz Masui, Scholar in Residence, Davis and Company
This seminar will discuss the WTO panel decision on the Japanese film industry 1998.  Particularly the seminar deals with the long history of the battle between Fuji Film and Kodak.  We find some important aspects of an interface between competition and trade.

"Birth, Death, and Reincarnation of Shim Ch'ong: Mistress of the Spiritual Domain"
by Chan E. Park-Miller, Assistant Professor of Korean Language and Literature Department of East Asian Language and Literature, Ohio State University
One subject of active feminist debate centers on locating woman's domain in nature- away from the male domain of culture. There is another option: culturally marginalized, she may create a new center beyond the dyadic hierarchy of "nature" and "culture," in "the spiritual." Locating women's power in religious practices finds rich resonance in Korea, where in the merging of diverse faith systems women publicly and privately have acted as mediators between the human world and the netherworld. Shim Ch'ong, a heroine of this in-between realm, is immortalized in p'ansori, a Korean folk narrative tradition, which for over 100 years has been a medium of expression for Korean woman's poetic and narrative sensibility and her expression for Korean woman's poetic and narrative sensibility and her world-view. Chan E. Park-Miller presents a talk and performance of The Song of Shim Ch'ong.

"Secret Trades of the Straits: Smuggling and State-Formation Along a Southeast Asian Frontier, 1870-1910"
by Eric Tagliacozzo, Post-doc Fellow, Department of History, UBC

"China's International Relations"
by Mr. DUAN Jin, Vice-President of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, Beijing
Mr. Duan has had an outstanding career as a diplomat in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  He served as a Consul in the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, and as Consul General in Vancouver and Sydney, Australia.

"China's Economic Reform and Income Distribution"
by Professor Zhao Renwei, Inst. of Economics Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing

"Reformasi: Comparing Democratization Efforts in Malaysia and Indonesia"
IAR Series: Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies
by Diane Mauzy, Professor, Dept. Political Science, UBC

"South Korea's Old Middle Class Neither Old Nor Necessarily Middle Class: An Analysis of the Korean Status Order"
by Denise Lett, Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington
Building on my previous work on South Korea's class/status system, this paper is based primarily on seven months of fieldwork in a combination market/residential area and adjacent Mok-dong Apartment Complex in southwestern Seoul in 1996 and 1997.  As a region that experienced overt class conflict and which (re)produced stark physical and social boundaries and differences in lifestyle between so-called middle and lower classes, including merchants, this locale is a perfect site for exploring class formation, identity, status, and relations.  I employ Murray Milner, Jr.'s general theory of status relations to analyze South Korea's status order.

"The Limits Of Economic Nationalization In India: Economic Policy And Reform Under The Bjp-Led Government?"
by Prof. Baldev Raj Nayar, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, McGill University

"Of Wigs and Gowns:  A Short History of Legal and Judicial Dress in Australia."
by Rob McQueen, Lecturer, Law and Legal Studies, La Trobe University; Member, Board of the Melbourne Postcolonial Institute.
McQueen's co-edited collection on Misplaced Traditions: Lawyers and Colonialism has just appeared as a special issue of Law in Context. McQueen is a member of the Canadian Law and Society Association, and a past visitor to both Green College/ UBC and the University of Manitoba.  He has forthcoming publications in the area of cultural histories of legal professions as well as a book on corporate law.

"Local Government, Firms & Individuals: Local Economic Transformation in the Pearl River Delta - A Case Study of Shunde City"
by Desheng Xue, Visiting Scholar, Centre for Chinese Research,
Lecturer, Center for Urban and Regional Studies, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, PR China
Economic transformation in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) is among the most dynamic in China. The causes and effects of three economic indicators economic output, income structure and employment structure as it relates to social change and industrial transformation will be discussed.  A case study of developments from the late 1970's to present day Beijiao Township in Shunde City will illustrate a key development model in the PRD.

29-30 October 1999
CISAR.

Biennial meeting of SACPAN (South Asia Colloquium of the Pacific Northwest)
29 October: Social gathering at a Faculty member's home (to be determined later).
30 October: Conference all day - Conference Room, C.K.Choi Building.
For further information please contact Centre for India & South Asia Research 822-6463 or mbose@interchange.ubc.ca

"The Development of Multicultural Policy in Australia"
by Dr. Kevin Dunn, The University of New South Wales
Australia's national identity and political institutions have been remarkably dynamic over the last few decades. Australia has shifted from an overtly racist 'White Australia' identity and practice, through a phase of assimilationism, to the contemporary polices and programs of what I describe as the Multicultural Project. The development of multicultural policy in Australia is discussed within four broad categories of multicultural policy: symbolic representation, access to services, inter-communal relations, and cultural expression. Some groups have resisted reform, and are critical of a politics of difference for Australia. This recalcitrance has been sustained by a substantive intellectual opposition to, and critique of, multiculturalism. As in North America and elsewhere, multiculturalism in Australia has weathered hypercritical scrutiny. Neo-conservatives (the 'right' in Australia) oppose the declining normativity of the hegemonic culture, liberals (the left) take issue with the manner in which fundamental questions of social justice are skirted around or submerged, and radicals are cynical of any public policy which does not dethrone the authority of the hegemonic culture. Nonetheless, a most important change of 'cultural governance' has been underway: there is both a shift in national identity and an official acceptance of the fact of Australia's multicultural composition. That symbolic shift has been a crucial structural change at the national level. It has provided an expanded basis of citizenship, and justified wider access to services and diverse cultural expression. However, contemporary forces of cultural imperialism, ethnocentric assumptions and constructions, all remain potent enough to challenge the aims of the Multicultural Project.

"Emerging Southeast Asian Identities in an Era of Volatile Globalization"
A joint Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Studies (CCSEAS) and Northwest Regional Consortium of Southeast Asian Studies (NWRCSEAS) Conference.  For further information please call CSEAR 822-3805 or refer to http://www.iar.ubc.ca/centres/csear/conference1999.html

"Culture, folk epistemology, and human inference"
by Dr. Kaiping Peng, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley

"The Present Stage of China's Economic Reform and its Broader Implications" by Fan Gang, National Economic Research Institute, Beijing

"The World I see through strangers' eyes"
by Yoko Tawada (Seminar will be in Japanese. English transcripts are planned.)
Yoko Tawada was born in 1960 and graduated from Waseda University. She currently resides in Germany. She received the Gunzo Prize for New Writers in 1991. In 1993 she received the Akutagawa Prize for "The Bridegroom was a Dog." In 1996 she won the delbert-von-Chamisso-Prize, a German award to foreign writers recognized for their contributions to German culture. She has also received the Prize of Literature from the City of Hamburg in 1990 and the Lessing Prize in 1994, among many other prizes.

"Can Deflation and Growth Co-exist? - Some Macroeconomic Issues Facing China Today"
by Fan Gang, National Economic Research Institute, Beijing

"Made in Korea: An Evening with Contemporary Korean Fiction Writers"
Reading by Pak Wan-so and Ch'oe In-ho Translated by Yu Young-Nan and Bruce Fulton
Authors Pak Won-so and Ch'oe In-ho and translators Yu Young-Nan and Bruce Fulton will present a bilingual reading of their works and translations as part of 'Made in Korea'. A literary tour of Seattle, Vancouver, New York City, Athens, Georgia and Washington, D.C., designed to showcase contemporary Korean fiction. The tour is sponsored by the International Communication Foundation, Seoul.

"Is Japan Decentralized?: The Perceptual Gap Between Public Finance and Political Science"
by Professor Andrew DeWit, Japan Foundation Abe Fellow

Japan was once regarded as the epitome of the centralized state. Most observers argued that close, centralized control of the regions was reintroduced after the Occupation reforms, as Tokyo sought to recapture lost turf. Moreover, high-speed developmentalism was also said to encourage centraling tendencies. But a revisionist trend developed among political scientists in the mid-1970s, as they tried to explain the increasing significance of Japan's local developments on the national scene.
This trend soon became a consensus, opening a large perceptual gap between political scientists and public finance scholars (especially the progressive ones), who have continued to stress that Japan's intergovernmental fiscal structure and legal framework greatly restrict local autonomy.  This paper looks at the two schools' opposed perceptions in light of Japan's most recent and continuing decentralization drive, which dates from the early 1990s and has brought about some major legal-institutional changes.
That a demand for decentralization exists does not, of course, ipso facto mean the country is overly centralized. But I argue that the 1990s have shown that the Japanese public finance community's arguments carried more weight than they are given credit for.

"Art and Architecture of Socialist Realism in North Korea" by Barry Till, Curator, The Royal British Columbia Museum
Mr. Till will discuss the use of art and architecture for propaganda in a KIM Ilsung centric culture.

"Stockbrokers Turned Sandwich Vendors: The Economic Crisis and Food Retailing in the Philippines and Thailand"
IAR Series: Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies
by Gisèle Yasmeen, Sustainable Development Research Institute and Institute of Asian Research, UBC

"The Mountain is Moving Japanese Women's Lives"
Reading by Patricia Morley

The "Mountain is Moving" describes postwar Japanese society and the roles women are expected to play within it. Patricia Morley examines many spheres of women's lives, including education, marriage and child-rearing, work outside the house, caring for the elderly, political power (or lack thereof), and volunteerism. She also explores a diverse and compelling body of fiction by Japanese women, revealing both the patterns that concern sociologists and the exceptions that interest philosophers and writers. Her research included long interviews with hundreds of women.

"Religious Issues in China: The Contemporary Context"
Speakers: Daniel Overmyer, Asian Studies
Andre Laliberte, Political Science
Anwar Ablimit, Centre for Chinese Research

"Treading the Hallowed Halls: Women in Higher Education in India"
by Karuna Chanana, Professor in Sociology at Zakir Husain Centre for Education Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

"The Role of the Philippine Media in a Still-Maturing Democracy"
by Ellen Tordesillas (1999 Marshal McLuhan Fellowship Awardee)
Ms. Tordesillas is a leading Filipina journalist who is this year's recipient of the Marshal McLuhan Fellowship Award, visiting Canada under auspices of the Asia Pacific Foundation. Her presentation will address issues of press freedom in the emerging democracies of Southeast Asia and recent developments in the Philippines that appear to threaten press independence. Often considered to be the most free and boisterous in Asia, the Philippine media faces severe challenges from established institutions that find it too undisciplined for comfort. Reporters and publishers thus have to confront the reality of pervasive corruption and increasing political intervention as they seek to monitor and investigate government operations.

"CHINA AT FIFTY: Reflections on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the People's Republic of China"
Commentators: Graham Johnson, Anthropology & Sociology
Samuel Ho, Economics
Pitman Potter, Institute of Asian Research

"Community-Based Ecotourism: Theory and Reality"
by Dachanee Emphandu (NWRCSEAS visitor from Thailand, sponsored by CAPI UVic)

Dr Dachanee was the team leader of the community-based ecotourism planning project in Khao Nor Chu Chi area in Krabi, Thailand. She will draw upon this case study in her presentation. It is particularly interesting in that the area contains a very rare bird species, Gurney's pitta, and is not within a recognized protected area.

"Kyongju's Changing Landscape: From Saro to United Silla"
by Dr. Sarah Nelson, John Evans Professor of Archaelology and Vice Provost for Research, University of Denver

Kyoungju is a city that flaunts much of its past in the present.  But not all of its past is visible.  Some must be reconstructed from archeology and
documents. The experience of living in Kyongju is Silla times changed dramatically from the six villages of Saro to the capital of United Silla. GIS maps show the differences in the city in Stage I, the formataive, Stage II, the mounted tomb period, and Stage III, the Buddhist period.  The lecture is illustrated with slides.

Thursday, 30 September 1999
12:30 - 2:00 pm, C.K. Choi Building, Conference Room 120. CISAR.

"Women and Development in India"
by Professor Amrit Srinivasan, Dept. Anthropology, Delhi University, India

"Remaking Master Narratives: Mononokehime and the Myth of Progress"
by Susan Napier, Associate Professor, University of Texas (Austin)

Professor Napier is the author of Escape from the Wasteland: Romanticism and Realism in the Fiction of Mishima Yukio and Oe Kenzaburo  (Harvard University Press, 1991) and The Fantastic in Modern Japanese Literature: The Subversion of Modernity (Routledge, 1996).  She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

"Globalization and its Impact on South China: The Pearl River Delta Region of Guangdong and 'Greater China' "
IAR Series: Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Societies
by Dr. Graham Johnson, Dept. Anthropology and Sociology, UBC

10:00 am: "Fundamental Metaphors In Early Buddhism"
by Professor Richard Gombrich, Boden Professor of Sanskrit and Buddhism at the University of Oxford, England
12:00 pm: The annual gathering of all South-Asianists on Campus will beheld to welcome new-comers and old friends. A light lunch will be served (RSVP Karen 822-2629 or kjew@interchange.ubc.ca before 20 September)

Information and "one-month-to-go" planning session on the October CCSEAS/NWRCSEAS Conference
All interested faculty and students welcome. http://www.iar.ubc.ca/centres/csear/conference1999.html

"Population, Development and Environment: The Rural Areas of Cebu City, Philippines"
by Felisa Etemadi, Professor of Political Science, UP-Cebu

ÓRethinking the Colonial Relationship in Australia"
by Ravi de Costa, Ph.D. candidate, Institute for Asian Research

Many Australians see an overwhelming need for reconciliation between Aboriginal and settler peoples in their country. It is a view with considerable political, social and cultural support -- no one it seems, objects to the idea. However, the substance of reconciliation and its definition remain unclear. Moreover, there is great reluctance and little understanding within the reconciliation movement, that a policy of this scope must fundamentally reconfigure Australian life if it is to achieve anything.
This paper argues that a new nationalist project has subsumed the policy of reconciliation and to a lesser extent, of native title. It is a project that valorizes the existing liberal values of Australian society, meaning that we can be comfortable in our diversity, while rejecting new forms of social and cultural difference. Most pressing of these are those embodied in Aboriginal claims to self-determination. Indeed the concept of native title, or of thinking that Aboriginal people may have a different relationship to Australian sovereignty, causes many great anxiety.
Combining recent work in social and political theory with a reading of recent political debate, the paper identifies limits to those policies that promote Aboriginal rights, while remaining within the project of Australian nationalism.

Ravi de Costa is a Ph.D. candidate at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, where he studies Australian politics and Aboriginal history.  He is currently a visiting student scholar at the Centre for Australian Studies where he is conducting additional research for his Australian Studies where he is conducting additional research for his thesis which focuses on the comparison of Aboriginal rights in Australia and Canada.

"Nostalgic Journeys: Literary Pilgrimages between Japan and the West"
A conference in honour of Professor Kin'ya Tsuruta, Dept. Asian Studies.
To register please call Susan at 228-8517 or e-mail: sfisher@interchange.ubc.ca.
Registration fee: $10 per day; $15 for entire conference (includes coffee). http://www.iar.ubc.ca/centres/cjr/tsuruta_conference.html

Roundtable discussion: "The Crisis in East Timor and its Possible Implications"

"The Transformation of Sri Lankan Society: the Patronage State, Dissolving Social Categories and Conflict"
Barrie Morrison, Institute of Asian Research

Book Launch: "Women's Writing, Women's Life"
by Keum Sook Kang, Honorary Research Associate, Centre for Korean Research

"Workshop on Chinese/Japanese/Korean Products and Their Technological Breakthroughs"

1:00 - 1:30 Eleanor Yuen, Asian Library, UBC
Major CJK products : Application to the operation of Asian Library
Product demonstration supported by Softworld Advanced Electronics Inc.

1:30 - 2:15 Apollo Wu, Gowell Corp. (New York)
Single Byte (ASCII) Chinese and a new input method

2:15 - 3:00 Tamotsu Nagata and Daken Ariel, Coastway System Technology
Unicode : its impact on the display and input of Japanese characters on Internet

3:00 - 3:15 Tea Break

3:15 - 3:45 Peter Kubotani, Kanji Data Systems
Demonstration of Japanese software - options for communication

3:45 - 4:15 Sunah Cho, Asian Centre, UBC
Staying on top of the Korean Web jungle

4:15 - 4:30 Break up to try out products

4:30 Workshop closes

"GLOBALIZATION AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF ASIAN SOCIETIES"

The Institute of Asian Research is pleased to announce an important new seminar series to address the changes that are transforming Asia and setting the conditions for entry into the Twenty-First Century.
The immediate stimulus to organize such a seminar was the economic crisis and questions about changing state organizations, increased popular participation and the dissolution of existing social categories.  The seminars will be held from 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. in the Conference Room at the C.K. Choi Building.  You are invited to participate.  As the seminar program takes shape further announcements will be made.  If anyone wishes further information please contact either:
Pitman B. Potter, Institute of Asian Research, 251-1855 West Mall, C.K.Choi Bldg. Tel: 822-4686  e-mail: potter@interchange.ubc.ca or
Barrie Morrison (same address) Tel: 822-6475 e-mail: barrie@interchange.ubc.ca
 

---

OFF CAMPUS

SEVENTEEN HAIKU
R. Murray Schafer, Japan's Utaoni Choir, Haiku Poetry

Wednesday,  May 3  2000

Haiku symposium  1-5 pm
Concert 7:30 pm
Haiku Writing: entries close Friday, April 28.

In celebration of the inspiring interplay of noted Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer and a first prize winning choir from Japan-Utaoni-Simon Fraser University is pleased to present a special concert featuring the Choir's first Canadian performance of Schafer's "Seventeen Haiku" which was commissioned by them. This special event will be accompanied by a symposium on haiku poetry. The haiku is a short poetic form written in 5-7-5 syllabic style, usually in three lines. In haiku, it is not what is said but rather what is suggested and evoked. Its power and beauty lie in its ability to convey the essence of something with profound insight in only a few lines. Orginating in old Japan, today children and adults around the world, using many languages, enjoy expressing themselves in haiku.

^’ CONCERT 7:30 pm   (tickets required)
Ryerson United Church, West 45th and Yew
Tickets $20; seniors/students $15. Call 604/291.5117
*Comments by R. Murray Schafer on "Seventeen Haiku": the impact of Japanese culture on a Canadian composer.
*Performance by the Utaoni Choir of "Seventeen Haiku" and "Magic Songs" by R. Murray Schafer, "Wind Horse" by Toru Takemitsu, and other Japanese works.

R. Murray Schafer has won national and international acclaim not only as a composer but also for his work as an educator, environmentalist, literary scholar, visual artist and all round provocateur. He is a recipient of many awards and recognitions. In awarding Schafer the Glenn Gould Prize, Yehudi Menuhin said of him, "He is a strong and benevolent, a highly original imagination and intellect, a dynamic power whose manifold personal expressions and aspirations are in total accord with the urgent needs and dreams of humanity today." "Seventeen Haiku" was commissioned by the Utaoni Choir in 1997. All of the poems chosen make some reference to the soundscape or the music of the environment.

The Utaoni Choir won first prize at the 1995 All-Japan Choral Competition singing Murray Schafer's "Magic Songs." Schafer describes their singing as "the best performance of 'Magic Songs' I had ever heard!" Following this successful collaboration, the Choir then commissioned Schafer to compose "Seventeen Haiku." It was performed by the Choir at the 1997 All-Japan Choral Competition and received another first prize. Under its founding conductor, Koji Hane, the Utaoni Choir, established in 1974 in Tsu City Mie prefecture, is a frequent first prize winner at the prestigious All-Japan Choral Competition. Consisting of 45 professional and amateur male and female singers, the Choir is known for the contemporary music of Japanese and non-Japanese composers such as Takemitsu, Shibata, Miyoshi, Kodaly, Poulenc, and Schafer. The current conductor is Nobuyuki Koshiba, who was the long time president of the Choir.
 

^’ HAIKU SYMPOSIUM 1-5 pm   (free admission)
Simon Fraser University at Harbour Centre
Admission is free but reservations required. Call 604/291.5117
*Video screening-"Haiku-Short Poetry of Japan." International Motion Picture Co., Inc., Tokyo, 1980. 28 min.
*Presentation topics-history and social role of haiku; haiku cultures; haiku in Japanese culture; writing and reading haiku; haiku translation and transformation; A-I-U-E-O and haiku.

*Speakers-Winona Baker, BC poet and winner of the 1989 Grand Prize World

Haiku Contest in Japan. Jan Walls, Simon Fraser University. John Koerner, BC artist. Sonja Arntzen, University of Alberta-University of Toronto. Tomoo Ueyama, Mitsu. Mitsuko Hasse, ULIPO Hasse Co., well known word performer in Japan and creator of Super A-I-U-E-O show.

^’ HAIKU WRITING
Submit your haiku in English or Japanese by e-mail or fax. Submissions from children and adults are welcome. Entries close on April 28. Prizes will be given by draw. All haiku submitted will be posted on our Web site www.cic.sfu.ca/Japanese.

Telephone  604/291.5117
Fax  604/291.5112
Email japanese@sfu.ca
Web www.cic.sfu.ca/Japanese

Organized and sponsored by the David See-Chai Lam Centre for International Communication, Simon Fraser University at Harbour Centre. Major Canadian sponsors: The Canada Council; New Music Concerts, Toronto. Co-sponsors: Consulate General of Japan Vancouver; Japan Foundation Toronto; Canada Japan Society of British Columbia; Ryerson United Church; Vancouver Chamber Choir; Canadian Music Centre; Koerner Foundation Lecture Series in the Liberal Arts, Simon Fraser University; Asia-Canada Program, Simon Fraser University; The Vancouver Japanese Language School; Sophia Bookstore; Oolichan Books; Vancouver Shinpo; Japan Airlines.

 

Seminars in: 1998 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008