SSEAC Newsletter
September 2022 edition
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Welcome to the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre's Newsletter.
Featuring some of our current research projects, education initiatives, development programs, news, and past and upcoming events.
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ASEAN in Focus: Strengthening engagement with Southeast Asia
As Australia’s approach and relationships in Southeast Asia take on renewed diplomatic interest, what would more meaningful engagement look like? What shared challenges should be addressed as a priority? And what are the potential stumbling blocks to closer ties?
Now in its tenth iteration, our annual ASEAN in Focus forum delved into these questions, bringing together policy experts and professionals with long-held connections to the region for a stimulating panel discussion, chaired by SSEAC Director Professor Michele Ford. Held online in August, in partnership with the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership (AASYP), the event kicked off with each of the five panellists identifying a key area Australia could focus on to drive forward engagement with the region Dr Huong Le Thu (Perth USAsia Centre) singled out the potential for collaboration and integration on technology and digital infrastructure.
Mr Richard Maude (Asia Society Australia) asserted that Australia should target economic engagement, and noted digital trade and e-commerce, technical and vocational education, health security, and clean energy, as priority areas.
Ms Susannah Patton (Lowy Institute) argued that Australia’s international education strategy should be reframed, away from a market-based focus and toward an emphasis on relationships, in addition to new initiatives to support human capacity-building.
Ms Josephine Lovensa (ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership) emphasised the importance of engaging with young people in the region, as part of a more sustainable, long-term relationship.
Finally, Ms Tamerlaine Beasley (Australia-ASEAN Council) highlighted the importance of people-to-people relations in sharing experiences and driving collaboration to meet common challenges facing Australia and the region.
These opening remarks were followed by a wide-ranging discussion, which touched on digital education; the region's information environment and Australia’s soft power potential; Australia’s diplomatic approach to the crisis in junta-ruled Myanmar; and the need to strike the right balance between engaging governments and civil society.
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AI gender bias in the Asia-Pacific
Congratulations to Dr Aim Sinpeng, who is leading a team of researchers awarded funding through the University of Sydney's International SDG Collaboration Program for a project examining algorithmic bias in STEM opportunities for women in Asia. Led by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the project, 'Cracking the Code: AI Gender Bias in the Asia Pacific', will involve partnerships with Google, UNESCO, and three Asia-based universities, and aims to uncover and counter sources of bias. The research team includes SSEAC Director Professor Michele Ford, Dr Olga Boichak, Dr Yeow-Tong Chia, and Dr Chang Xu.
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John Legge Prize
In June, SSEAC alumni Dr Jarrah Sastrawan (École française d'Extrême-Orient) was announced as runner-up in the John Legge Prize for his outstanding thesis on historical practices in Indic Java. You can hear more about Jarrah's research in this webinar, which was part of our Heritage and the Arts online series in 2021. Awarded by the Asian Studies Association of Australia for the best thesis in Asian studies in Australia, the top prize went to Dr Kaira Zoe Alburo Cañete, a graduate from the University of New South Wales, for her thesis titled ‘Becoming Resilient: Disaster Recovery in Post-Yolanda Philippines through Women’s Eyes’.
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New book: Signs of deference, Signs of Demeanour
Associate Professor Dwi Noverini Djenar has co-edited a new book due out in October 2022, Signs of Deference, Signs of Demeanour (National University of Singapore Press, 2022), which examines interlocutor reference based on analysis of Southeast Asian languages. Acts of interlocutor reference do more than simply identify the speaker and addressee; they also convey information about the proposed relation between interlocutors. Bringing together studies from both small-scale and large, urbanised communities across mainland and insular Southeast Asia, the book makes an important contribution to the regional linguistic and anthropological literature. This book arises from a workshop convened by Associate Professor Djenar in June 2019 on address and self-reference in Southeast Asia, funded by SSEAC. Held in Sydney, the workshop included scholars based at universities across Australia, Canada and Germany.
Read more on the publisher's website.
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New book: Turning Land into Capital
In Southeast Asia, reversals of earlier agrarian reforms have rolled back "land-to-the-tiller" policies created in the wake of Cold War–era revolutions. This trend, marked by increased land concentration and the promotion of export-oriented agribusiness at the expense of smallholder farmers, exposes the convergence of capitalist relations and state agendas that expand territorial control within and across national borders.
Turning Land into Capital: Development and Dispossession in the Mekong Region (University of Washington Press 2022) examines the contradictions produced by superimposing twenty-first-century neoliberal projects onto diverse landscapes etched by decades of war and state socialism. Co-edited by Philip Hirsch, emeritus professor of human geography at the University of Sydney, the book explores geopolitics, legacies of colonialism, ideologies of development, and strategies to achieve land justice in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. The resulting picture reveals the place-specific interactions of state and market ideologies, regional geopolitics, and local elites in concentrating control over land.
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Recent highlights
—workshops, webinars, events & more
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ASAA conference highlights– Written by Dr Sophie Chao
SSEAC members made stellar contributions to the 2022 Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) Conference at Monash University on 5–8 July. These included SSEAC-led postgraduate and early career researcher workshops on building academic community, staying motivated with research, applying for jobs in academia, and researching Asia in the time of COVID-19.
Panels organised by SSEAC members spanned an equally wide range of themes – from writing Southeast Asia back into Chinese Australian history, to the Indonesian tobacco industry, responding to gendered violence at work in Southeast Asia, and labour under authoritarian regimes. SSEAC Deputy Director Elisabeth Kramer also launched her book, The Candidate’s Dilemma:Anticorruptionism and Money Politics in Indonesian Election Campaigns (Cornell University Press, 2022). The Annual General Meeting provided an opportunity to celebrate the winners of the 2022 John Legge Prize, which I acted as judge for alongside James Leibold (La Trobe University) and Dr Kayoko Hashimoto (The University of Queensland), and which saw fellow SSEAC member Jarrah Sastrawan receive the runner-up prize for his thesis’ outstanding contribution to the historiography of Indic Java.
While hard to pick among its many highlights, this year’s ASAA conference stood out for me in three respects. As a participant in the roundtable ‘Podcasting in Academia’, I had the opportunity to learn about the growing potential of podcasts in disseminating research to scholarly and general publics from experts Professor Michele Ford, Professor Edward Aspinall, and Dr Nick Cheesman. Chaired by SSEAC Communications and Events Officer Ariane Defreine, the roundtable shed important light on the experiences, lessons learned, and tips and tricks of guests and hosts of the SSEAC Stories and the New Books in Southeast Asian Studies podcast programs.
The ASAA conference also enabled me to bring my anthropological research on environmental degradation in Indonesia’s West Papua into conversation with scholars examining structural violence in the panel ‘Injustice, violence and inequality’. Together with fellow speakers Sri Wiyanti Eddyono, Sulfikar Amir and Stania Puspawardhani, this panel included a generative, transdisciplinary discussion about the form and effects of violence in the contexts of COVID-19, sexual harassment on campus, and economic and environmental precarity in Indonesia.
More than anything, the ASAA conference brought home for me the incredibly rich and diverse forms of scholarship that continue to be produced by scholars at all levels from and about Asia – even as the pandemic continues to hinder much of our personal and professional lives. In this respect, and in the spirit of its central theme (‘Social Justice in Pandemic Times’), the conference spoke to the lively possibilities that exist for ongoing learning and sharing across disciplines, positionalities and geographies.
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Postgraduate writing retreat
Our postgraduate writing retreat returned in person in May–June 2022, with 41 students taking part in a three-day program of structured writing time, informal discussions and debriefing sessions, designed to encourage meaningful progress on an academic output. The retreat included postgraduate students from 12 universities around Australia, working in a range of disciplines, but all with a Southeast Asia focus.
Throughout the retreat, students were encouraged to reflect on their writing habits and productivity, set and share writing goals, and connect with their postgraduate peers. A key feature of the retreat was the daily work-in-progress discussions, in which students came together in small groups to share writing challenges and offer constructive feedback to each other. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many students reflecting that the sense of community and sharing of ideas helped inform their writing and drive them to keep going!
"Feeling reenergised and inspired after being back at an in-person event again, surrounded and supported by so many researchers doing amazing work on Southeast Asia. I finished a book chapter I’d been avoiding and have sent it off to the publishers…Thank you SSEAC for everything you do to support postgrads.”
- Participant
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SSEAC Emerging Scholars Conference
This year’s Emerging Scholars Conference was held in person and online, and featured fascinating papers and live discussions, ranging across disciplines and countries. This annual conference is an opportunity for postgraduates and early career researchers to present their research on Southeast Asia-related topics. Held on 20 June, sessions were organised across SSEAC’s five research areas: economic and social development; environment and resources; health; heritage and the arts; and state and society.
Students and researchers from universities across Australia, as well as Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam, presented at the conference. Among the topics covered included papers on the stigmatisation of gay men in Indonesia; the operation of the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone in Cambodia; commodity trade mispricing in Laos; views on China’s rise among the upland ethnic Khmu community in far north Laos; palm oil sustainability standards in Indonesia; and refugee-led mobilisation among Rohingya communities living in Malaysia. You can check out the full conference program here.
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Honours Bootcamp
Our annual Honours Bootcamp was held in June, with an engaged group of students drawn from several Australian universities joining us on campus for three days of activities designed to help them with their research and plan for life after study. Open to Honours students in Australia researching Southeast Asia, the program included interdisciplinary workshops, seminars, discussions and group activities. Students were able to learn from scholars about researching in the time of COVID, life in academia, and how to pivot from research to a non-academic profession, as well as tips for thesis success and how to nail a conference presentation.
"A huge thank you once again for all the work you put into organising the Honours Bootcamp - it was a truly inspiring and valuable experience!"
- Participant
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Creative minds tackle real-world issues in Southeast Asia
Postgraduate students in the University of Sydney’s Business School shared a range of innovative ideas in June, as part of a new initiative that invited proposed solutions to real-world issues in Southeast Asia. The result of a collaboration between SSEAC and the Business School, the ‘Make a Real Difference’ initiative offered Master of Commerce students the opportunity to apply their analytical and problem-solving skills in the Southeast Asian context.
On 17 June, 12 shortlisted proposals were presented as a business case to a panel of academics as well as industry leaders, including from CISCO AppDynamics, Maven Data, Nestlé, SSEAC and Ogilvy Australia. The winning entry, as judged by the panel, was a proposal to launch a rap competition in Indonesia—IndoRap Champion—to help preserve and promote the rich diversity of Indigenous languages in the country, particularly among younger people.
Read more about this initiative, and the other innovative entries, on our website.
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Land and Environmental Rights in Thailand
In July, undergraduate students from the University of Sydney, Chiang Mai University and Thammasat University were brought together to learn about land and environmental rights in Thailand, as part of SSEAC’s virtual mobility program. Over 20 dedicated students took part in the four-week interdisciplinary virtual field school that offered students a unique learning opportunity and helped develop their cross-cultural, research and problem-solving skills.
The program included guest lectures, seminars and workshops with leading scholars, activists and community representatives, and students worked together in small groups to design and deliver a research project on specific issues relating to land and environmental rights. Not only did students gain a wealth of new knowledge and skills, but also new networks across Thailand and Australia. Well done to all who took part!
"It has been an absolute pleasure to be a part of this program and I have made so many connections. Thank you for such an amazing month! This class has definitely been one of the highlights of my uni career so far."
- Student participant
"The final wrap up reflection session and discussion with the class was an amazing end to the course. It was truly an unforgettable experience that has taught me the power of accepting the unknown, asking questions and embracing positivity even in times of stress, and provided incomparable insight into Thailand!"
- Student participant
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Australia’s Asia Engagement: Current and Future
The scale and pace of Asia’s transformation is unprecedented and the implications for Australia are profound. The Australian Government’s White Paper on “Australia in the Asian Century”, published in 2012, argued that fundamental policy and attitudinal changes will be required if Australia were to make the most of the opportunities presented by the Asian century.
Co-presented by the China Studies Centre, the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, and the University of Sydney Business School, this on-campus event brought together industry and government representatives to explore how Australia can deepen its engagement with Asia as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the midst of geopolitical uncertainties. Panellists included Professor Suresh Cuganesan (University of Sydney Business School), Greg Bodkin (Cochlear), Tim Browne (Commonwealth Bank of Australia), Dr Wei Li (University of Sydney Business School), Mukund Narayanamurti (Austrade), Elizabeth Ryu (Happytel), and SSEAC member Dr Sandra Seno-Alday (University of Sydney Business School).
Held in June, the event also featured a presentation of findings from the latest report on Asian Business in Australia by the University of Sydney Business School and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
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TS4 | Australia-Thailand COVID-19 Pandemic Response in Comparative Perspective
Dr Chavalin Svetanant (Macquarie University) examined Australia and Thailand's respective COVID-19 responses in this TS4 webinar. She presented on the Australian-Thai Pandemic Responses Project, supported by the Australia-ASEAN Council, which aims to harness cross-disciplinary expert knowledge, based on socio-cultural, political, and media analysis, to examine how the two countries tackled the pandemic and to highlight the lessons learned for strategic future management. Watch it on YouTube.
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Early and mid-career researchers retreat
This dedicated writing retreat, held on 20–22 July, was designed to provide participants with both inspiration and peer support to tackle a writing project, such as a chapter or journal article. Open to early and mid-career academics researching Southeast Asia at an Australian tertiary institution, the program included structured writing time, informal discussions and debriefing sessions, and plenty of good food and coffee to keep everyone refueled and on track. Progress was made, strategies were shared, and writing goals were set for the year ahead! We look forward to seeing the results of everyone's hard work.
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PhilS4 | Electoral Dystopias: From Colonial Democracy to Authoritarian Rule in the Philippines
Professor Vicente L. Rafael (University of Washington) joined us to methodically analyse the historical use of antidemocratic means to bolster electoral democracy in the Philippines, and expose some of the darkest coercive practices at the heart of Duterte's presidency. Against the backdrop of the final days of the Duterte presidency and the recent election of Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr., this talk examined the colonial roots of elections in the organisation of local collaboration and counterinsurgency under Spain and the United States. Watch it on YouTube.
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2022 ISA RC44 Asia-Pacific Conference | Labour Movements in a Post COVID-19 World
The International Sociological Association’s Research Committee on Labour Movements (RC44) convened its inaugural Asia-Pacific Conference on 27 June. Held virtually, the conference provided scholars with the opportunity to consider the agency and potential of workers and their labour movements to shape a post-COVID-19 world. SSEAC Director Professor Michele Ford, who is also president of RC44, co-convened the conference with Associate Professor Michael Gillan, who is based at the University of Western Australia.
There were fascinating panel sessions, with papers covering labour rights issues in Australia, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Korea, and elsewhere, offering audience members a regional view of evolving issues, trends and experiences. Among several
University of Sydney scholars who presented papers was Dr Kristy Ward, who explored the contradictory role of unions in advocating for worker rights in Cambodia while simultaneously sustaining gender inequality.
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Roundtable on the 2022 Philippine Presidential Election
The May 2022 presidential election in the Philippines was a landslide victory for Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr, the son of the late Ferdinand Marcos. While his promise of unity brought hope to millions of his supporters, many critics worry the country could descend into autocracy if Bongbong follows in his father’s footsteps. This roundtable discussion brought together a stellar lineup of experts from diverse disciplinary perspectives to examine what’s next for the Philippines. Speakers included Dr Sandra Seno-Alday (University of Sydney), Professor Aries Arugay (University of the Philippines Diliman), Mr Rado Gatchalian (Australia for BBM-Sara Group), Mr Primitivo III Ragandang (Australian National University), and Dr Aim Sinpeng (University of Sydney). Catch up on this discussion on YouTube.
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TS4 | HRH Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and PRC-Thai Relations in the Post-Cold War
Associate Professor Wasana Wongsurawat (Chulalongkorn University) joined us in July to discuss the role of long-time Sinophile Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in bolstering ties between Thailand and the People's Republic of China. Thailand is the only country in the Asia-Pacific rim that managed to de-democratise following the wave of democratisation that swept across the region in the 1990s. An important contributing factor was the conservative elite’s ability to acquire a new external superpower patron - the People’s Republic of China - once US influence had receded at the conclusion of the Cold War. Watch it on YouTube.
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Rare books workshop
The Rare Books and Special Collections team at the University’s Fisher Library kindly allowed a group of keen academics to peruse a selection of their materials in August, as part of our Rare Books Workshop. Participants were able to leaf through a range of seldom-seen treasures that engaged with Southeast Asia, from old maps and manuscripts, to official reports, collections of photographs, videos, travel diaries, and books in varying states of fragility. The materials included books on birds of the Malay peninsula, sport in colonial Burma, and mural paintings in Thailand; activist pamphlets against the Vietnam War; and architectural drawings of Angkor monuments. The workshop allowed for participants to explore themes and materials that stood out to them, and many ideas were hatched for further research and exploration!
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What's coming up?
—events and opportunities
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Locating ‘Human Dignity’ in Cambodia
Since its inclusion in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1949, ‘human dignity’ has become a foundational human rights concept, frequently used in the context of international human rights and sustainable development programs around the world. Yet despite assertions of ‘universality’, what ‘human dignity’ requires is frequently contested, while the term itself can be understood in diverse ways in different socio-cultural and political settings.
The research project ‘Locating “Human Dignity” in Cambodia’ explores these tensions, interrogating both how ‘human dignity’ is used in Cambodian law, policy, and advocacy, and how it is understood by Cambodians from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. In this event, the research team explore some of the project’s key findings, and discuss the ways ‘human dignity’ resonates and conflicts with legal, social and cultural norms in Cambodia.
This event is co-hosted by the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre (SSEAC) and the Sydney Centre for International Law (SCIL). Speakers include Dr Rachel Killean (USYD), Dr Rosemary Grey (USYD), Mr Kimsan Soy (Royal University of Law and Economics, Cambodia), and Ms Boravin Tann (Royal University of Law and Economics, Cambodia).
When: Thursday 1 September 2022, 5.00pm (AEST)
Where: Online via Zoom
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Mid-Autumn Festival Lunch for SSEAC postgraduates
Join us for a casual picnic lunch to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival with other SSEAC postgraduate members. This is a casual, low-stakes gathering with no agenda other than meeting up to chat and enjoy some delicious mooncakes and Southeast Asian lunchboxes together. Also joining us will be a few of SSEAC’s Early Career Researchers, who are happy to answer any questions you might have about getting through your PhD (relatively!) unscathed. Please spread the word!
Who: Honours, MRes and PhD candidates based in Sydney and researching Southeast Asia
When: Friday 9 September 2022, 12:00-2:00pm AEST
Where: Outdoor venue on Camperdown Campus to be advised two days prior
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TS4 | Living in Interesting Times: Patterns and Problems in Contemporary Thai Politics
Join Professor Allen Hicken (University of Michigan) to delve into some of the complex issues impacting contemporary Thai politics. The last quarter century has been politically tumultuous, even by Thai historical standards. In this talk, Professor Hicken will discuss the evolution (and de-evolution) of political attitudes, behaviors, and institutions in Thailand. The talk will highlight the changes he observed (both promising and worrisome), as well as some surprising continuities.
When: Thursday 15 September 2022, 7am PT / 10am ET / 4pm CET / 9pm ICT / 12am AEST
Where: Online via Zoom
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Object-Based Learning Workshop for Research Portfolio Staff
Back by popular demand, we're delighted to partner with the Chau Chak Wing Museum to bring Southeast Asia to you!
Southeast Asia remains as vibrant, important, and engaging as ever, and we are keen to share our passion for this region with researchers and professional staff from across the University. Using the Chau Chak Wing Museum's rich and varied collections, and working inside the Museum itself, we invite Research Portfolio staff to join us for an object-based learning workshop designed to explore Southeast Asia through material culture. This workshop will provide a unique opportunity to network with fellow staff, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the Chau Chak Wing Museum’s collections and facilities.
Registrations close 16 October 2022.
When: Friday 21 October 2022, from 3:00-4:00pm (AEST)
Where: Chau Chak Wing Museum
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Postgraduate writing retreat
Join us for another iteration of our much-loved writing retreat for postgraduate students. Over three days, you will disconnect from the noise around you, reconnect with each other, and make inroads on your writing project. On the final day of the retreat, you will have the opportunity to discuss your writing progress and plans with SSEAC early and mid-career researchers.
The program will include structured writing time, informal discussions and debriefing sessions, and plenty of good food and coffee. November is a particularly beautiful time of year in Kirribilli, and we’ll also be encouraging you to enjoy the flowering jacarandas and views over Sydney Harbour during your breaks!
Who: Higher Degree by Research students focusing on Southeast Asia at an Australian tertiary institution
When: 9:30am-5:30pm, Monday 21 November to Wednesday 23 November 2022
Where: H.C. Coombs Centre, Kirribilli, Sydney
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Early and mid-career researcher writing retreat
Join us for our residential writing retreat for early and mid-career researchers. Over three days, you will disconnect from the noise around you, reconnect with each other, and make inroads on your writing project.
The program will include structured writing time, informal discussions, and debriefing sessions, and plenty of good food and coffee. November is a particularly beautiful time of year in Kirribilli, and we’ll also be encouraging you to enjoy the flowering jacarandas nearby! In the evenings, join us for old-fashioned parlour games or simply enjoy the rest and refreshment that comes with participating in a residential retreat.
Who: Early and mid-career researchers with interests in Southeast Asia currently affiliated with or employed at the University of Sydney
When: 9:30am-5:30pm, Wednesday 23 to Friday 25 November 2022 (including overnight)
Where: H.C. Coombs Centre, Kirribilli, Sydney
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IS4 | “I have a right to a better imam”: Women, Divorce, and Islam in Indonesia
Join Associate Professor Rachel Rinaldo (University of Colorado Boulder) to reflect on the progressive influence of Islamic courts on longer term shifts in gender practices and relations in Indonesia. How do Islamic courts and family laws matter for Muslim women’s ability to negotiate marriages and divorces, particularly in an era when women are increasingly educated and often demanding more from their societies? And how does the institutionalisation of Muslim family law matter more for gender more broadly?
In this talk, Associate Professor Rinaldo will discuss her recent research on divorced Indonesian Muslim women. She finds that the institutionalisation of Islamic courts in Indonesia has enabled women to get out of marriages with clear legal status and rights, but this does not necessarily promote more egalitarian understandings of gender. Nevertheless, by facilitating women’s exit from unhappy marriages, Islamic courts may be contributing to longer term shifts in gender practices and relations.
When: Thursday, 29 September 2022, 7am PT / 10am ET / 4pm CET / 9pm WIB / 12am AEST
Where: Online via Zoom
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TS4 | Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture
Join Dr Thomas Baudinette (Macquarie University) as he shines a spotlight on the transnational pop culture phenomenon of “Boys Love” (BL) soap operas, and how it has transformed contemporary Thai consumer culture. This talk draws upon six years of traditional and digital ethnographic research into Thai Boys Love media to trace both BL’s significant impacts on depictions of same-sex desire in Thai media culture and its simultaneous transformation of this culture through the development of new forms of celebrity and fandom.
Through his analyses, Dr Baudinette demonstrates that Boys Love media possess important queer potentials which problematise heteronormative assumptions within Thai society concerning the naturalness of heterosexuality and the concomitant privileging of heterosexual romance as representative of both personal and national development.
When: Thursday 13 October 2022, 4pm PT / 8pm ET
Friday 14 October, 7am TST / 11am AEST
Where: Online via Zoom
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IS4 | The Solidarity Economy Experiments of Indonesia's Peasant and Fisher Movements
Join Dr Iqra Anugrah (Kyoto University) to reflect on Indonesia's rural political economy, and learn about the achievements and limits of solidarity economy projects carried out by farming and fishing communities. Studies on Indonesian rural social movements and communities have mainly focused on rural dispossession, contentious politics, and everyday forms of (non)resistance. What this conversation overlooks is economic forms of rural resistance against capitalist expansion. This economic strategy manifests in different institutions, such as cooperatives, credit union, and community school system, among others. These initiatives can be categorised as examples of solidarity economy – a democratic economic philosophy-cum-practice that seeks to provide alternatives to both market capitalism and authoritarian statism.
Examining several solidarity economy projects by farming and fishing communities, Dr Anugrah seeks to evaluate the limits and achievements of such experiments. Tentatively, he argues that these experiments offer possibilities for a democratic and sustainable arrangement of communal ownership and resource allocation.
When: Thursday 27 October, 5pm PT / 8pm ET
Friday 28 October, 7am WIB / 11am AEST
Where: Online via Zoom
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Art + Information
In Art + Information, three outstanding University of Sydney scholars collaborate with director, Kate Gaul, and an impressive theatrical team, drawing on the art of live performance to communicate their research to new audiences in new ways.
Dr Beth Yahp, an award-winning author and creative writing lecturer, is illuminating the importance of small pleasures – of noticing the unnoticed, finding joy in the little things, and ‘stealing time’ from the institution to write, think, and be creative as a form of cultural resistance. Dr Yahp’s previous work has included collaborating with the Malaysia Design Archive, with support from SSEAC, to design a series of writing workshops that drew on personal objects.
She will be joined by Tara Murphy, professor of astrophysics, who is studying radio emission from distant explosive events, and helping us understand what happens at the very moment a black hole forms, as well as Dr Mitchell Gibbs, a proud Dunghutti man through kinship and a postdoctoral geoscience researcher. Dr Gibbs is making space for research that draws on the experience of First Nations people, asking how we can learn from thousands of years of knowledge to help our aquatic environments thrive long into the future.
It’s all happening at the Seymour Centre on 17 to 26 November, and is co-presented by the University of Sydney’s Department of Theatre & Performance Studies. Find out more and purchase tickets here.
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TS4 | Divination for Resistance: Religion, Magic, and Youth Protest in Thailand
Join Assistant Professor Edoardo Siani (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) for a journey into the world of divination, revealing how religion and magic blend into a powerful potion for Thailand's Gen Z opposing the government of General Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Since the COVID-19 crisis, divination has boomed among Thai youth. Trendy bookshops stack piles of tarot cards for eager consumers, fortune tellers report record numbers of clients, and young practitioners become rising stars in the industry for magical services. Some among these divination-loving youth are actively involved in the protests against the Prayuth government.
While often critical of institutional religion, they incorporate divination and related forms of lore in their repertoire of resistance. They choose astrologically propitious days and times for protest, organise rituals to achieve specific political ends, and deploy sorcery against the ruling elite. Drawing from ethnographic data collected in Bangkok in 2022, this talk explores the political uses of magic among young activists and the discourses that govern them.
When: Thursday 10 November 2022, 8am CET / 2pm TST / 6pm AEST
Where: Online via Zoom
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 | Edging Towards New Politics?
After decades of authoritarian rule by the Barisan Nasional coalition, a new alliance, Pakatan Harapan, was voted in in 2018, marking Malaysia’s first-ever transfer of federal power through elections in what was widely heralded as the start of a democratic transition. But that new government collapsed within two years, and Malaysian politics has remained unstable ever since. With elections likely to be called soon, what accounts for the remarkable turbulence in Malaysian politics, and what does it say about how regimes are remade?
Professor Meredith Weiss (University at Albany, SUNY) discusses the state of politics in Malaysia, reflecting on the promises, both fulfilled and broken, brought about by GE14, and what the future may hold. Her recent books, The Roots of Resilience: Party Machines and Grassroots Politics in Southeast Asia (Cornell, 2020) and Mobilizing for Elections: Patronage and Political Machines in Southeast Asia (Cambridge, 2022) address issues of social mobilisation, civil society, identity, electoral politics, and regime change in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Singapore.
| |  | East Timorese Politics
Timor-Leste is regularly ranked the most democratic nation in the region, and since reclaiming independence in May 2002, the country’s political situation has grown increasingly complex, with the emergence of new parties, new coalitions and new leaders. Yet the recent presidential election in April 2022 delivered the return of a familiar face: Jose Ramos Horta, once an activist in exile, and now President of Timor-Leste for a second time with the powerful backing of politician Xanana Gusmão.
Professor Michael Leach (Swinburne University) analyses the implications of Jose Ramos-Horta’s return to the presidency in Timor-Leste, exposing two fundamental competing trends in national politics. On the one hand, the recent electoral campaign was testament to the dynamism of Timorese politics, with a broader field of candidates vying for the presidency. On the other, the ballots laid bare the continuing influence of the 1975 generation of male politicians on national politics. Looking forward, Professor Leach reflects on the significance of these results for the parliamentary elections to be held in early 2023.
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 | Opposing Power
On 9 May 2018, an ideologically diverse opposition alliance called Pakatan Harapan (PH) defeated the long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition which had dominated politics in Malaysia since the 1980s. However, a series of defections culminated in the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government in February 2020, after just 22 months in power. A new government was sworn in in March 2020, led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, but only lasted until August 2021, when another new government led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yakoob was formed.
As Malaysia gears up for its 15th general election, Professor Elvin Ong (University of Singapore) joins SSEAC Stories to discuss the tumultuous state of Malaysian politics. Drawing on his book Opposing Power: Building Opposition Alliances in Electoral Autocracies (University of Michigan Press, 2022), Professor Ong reflects on the numerous challenges that can often undermine the opposition, and discusses what may happen at the upcoming ballot.
| |  | Reshaping the Politics of Science
The last few years have brought to the fore the brilliant work of scientists as they worked to find a vaccine for COVID-19. But have you ever stopped to think about the role of biological materials in this and other science- and health-related research?
In this episode of SSEAC Stories, Dr Natali Pearson is joined by Associate Professor Sonja van Wichelen to take a closer look at the complex world of global health governance, with a particular focus on biotechnology and bioscience governance in Indonesia. They discuss the crucial role of biological materials exchange for scientific research, what rules govern their use, and the history of inequality that has underpinned scientific use of biological materials. Taking Indonesia’s recent efforts to gain leverage in the uneven space of the global bioeconomy, they explore how bioscience governance mechanisms can perpetuate, or sometimes help address, global power inequalities in the way biological material is used.
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 | HouseMate
While Australia prides itself on being an egalitarian society, and owning a detached house on a fenced block of land plays a much-revered role in the Great Australian Dream, in practice, home ownership remains a luxury afforded to the few. As skyrocketing house prices have gradually locked millions out of the Australian real estate market, economist Dr Cameron Murray turned to our neighbour Singapore to find a solution to the housing affordability crisis.
Dr Murray reveals how the small Southeast Asian island-state can teach Australia some valuable lessons on universal cheap home ownership. Inspired by Singapore’s successful policies to boost home ownership for 25-34-year-olds from 60 to nearly 90 per cent over the past four decades, he proposes a similar scheme, called HouseMate, that aims to offer home ownership to any eligible buyer who doesn't already own property, at a discounted price.
| |  | All Industry is Creative Industry
Recent economic development in Vietnam has seen a proliferation of manufacturing. At the same time, Vietnam has embraced creative innovation as part of its move towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Throughout the country, new creativity and innovation practices are emerging. These practices provide a creative outlet, but also connect to bigger themes around industry, wellbeing, productivity, and climate change.
Associate Professor Jane Gavan untangles some of these threads, explaining the relationship between creativity and manufacturing, and reflecting on sustainable, innovative ways of raising productivity and valuing creativity in Vietnam. Associate Professor Gavan is an artist-researcher who curates in-country collaborations between creative practitioners and organisations. Her recent major exhibition, Manufacturing Creativity, at the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, was supported by UNESCO and the Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies.
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In the media...
- In June, ABC Religion & Ethics published a piece by Dr Susan Banki on what Australia can do to support people fleeing violence in Myanmar.
- In July, Dr Sandra Seno-Alday published a piece on East Asia Forum debunking the myth of the golden age of economic growth in the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos.
- ALSO: on our website, Associate Professor Jeffrey Neilson wrote about his fieldwork in Vietnam as part of a four-year project to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the Central Highlands region.
- We also rounded up the recent publishing highlights of our members, including books on electoral campaigning in Indonesia, the legal landscape in Malaysia, the impact of oil palm plantations, histories of trauma, and underwater maritime heritage.
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Join the conversation!
SSEAC is connecting with thousands of individuals and organisations engaging in Southeast Asia every month on social media. Join the conversation to share your work, hear about our latest events and seminars, and be the first to know about grants, research, and opportunities in Southeast Asia.
If you have a recently published article, book review, or interview that you'd like to share with a Southeast Asia-focused community, let us know! Email sseac@sydney.edu.au with the details, or tag us in your tweet @seacsydney.
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