The 35th Southeast Asia Seminar Call for Application “Transformations of the Human Landscape in Southeast Asia ”
Date：November 22- November 25 2011
Sponsors：
Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University,
Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University
and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Asian Core Program
Venue：Mekong Delta Boutique Hotel, Mae Sai, Thailand
The Southeast Asia Seminar has been held annually by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University since 1976, on various topics. This year, it will be an international seminar co-sponsored by the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University. We welcome your application.
Application Form (Deadline: September 12th, 2011)
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Transformations of the Human Landscape in Southeast Asia
Over the past two decades following the end of the Cold War era, Southeast Asia’s human landscape has been visibly transformed by regional economic and institutional integration, shifting state priorities and policies, cross-border migration, the growth of money economies, and the economic and geopolitical rise of China. These and other global, regional, national and local developments have had impact on the ways in which the people in this region live in, interact with, perceive, and reshape their environments (both natural and human). This seminar focuses on the Upper Mekong sub-region―eastern Myanmar, northern Thailand, and Laos―covering the archipelagic Southeast Asia at the turn of this new century. Drawing on historical, comparative, and contemporary sources and perspectives, the seminar seeks to identify the causes and consequences of the socio-cultural, political, economic and ecological transformations in the region. We will be covering the following issues:
- changing patterns of land use
- infrastructure and transportation
- large-scale movements and resettlements of people
- exploitation and exhaustion of natural resources, environmental degradation and resource management
- socio-cultural and economic displacements, and the reconfiguring of life-worlds of local communities and their diverse cultures
Topic 1: Infrastructure, Resource Contestation and Land-use Change
The development of large-scale infrastructure, particularly transportation and communication networks, is heralded as an opportunity to transform the Upper Mekong sub-region from a land-locked to a land- and water-linked region. These developments have a profound impact on the political economy of resource contestation in the region. At the macro level, the vast expense of these projects requires large-scale foreign investment. For many observers, funding this infrastructure results in an unacceptable increase in foreign dependence and sacrifice of national resources, threatening national sovereignty. How can history and changing concepts of resource mobilization contextualize these changes? At the micro level, changes trigger influxes of traders and entrepreneurs, and intensified exploitation of natural resources such as land, forest and water. This brings increased intra-regional migration and rapid transitions in local peoples’ livelihoods. At the same time, positive pressures to strengthen environmental governance demand the conservation of globally valuable biodiversity. What are the co-existing mechanisms of rapid fluidization of natural and human landscapes, and how are these reflected in resource contestation and changes in land use?
Topic 2: Human Flows and Resettlement
The region is on the periphery of bordering states, inhabited by linguistically and culturally heterogeneous populations. At the same time, it is rich in natural resources, including land, forest and water. While the region has been the site of human mobility over centuries, the past few decades can be characterized by transnational movements of people due to economic, political and ecological factors, instigated by liberalization of the socialist countries, development and economic growth in the region in the face of globalization, and the rising power of China. Migrant laborers, as well as traders and entrepreneurs, seek better opportunities across borders, refugees seek political asylum. At the same time, resettlement of people progresses in both state-driven and spontaneous forms, driven by initiatives with political, economic and ecological objectives. What is the nature of the socio-cultural and economic displacements, and how do local communities face such changes?
Topic 3: Political Economy and Resource Management in the Face of the Rise of China
The influence of China has always been a key force in the making of Southeast Asia. However, with the rapid pace of economic integration, and China’s strategy of engaging its southern neighbors “through trade rather than aid”, there is a feeling among many observers that the current “rise of China” has significantly different implications from those of the past. Transboundary investment, notably in industrial crops such as rubber, although very modest by Chinese economic standards, have major implications for the human and natural landscapes of the region. At the regional level, the environmental governance of the Mekong River basin has been characterized by a divide between China and the lower basin countries. Until recently, the dam cascade being implemented on the Chinese stretch of the river has dominated the debate over how to manage the region’s international water resources. It seems now that a lower basin mainstream dam may be realized. What are the implications of the new political economy of the regional environment, in which the rise of China is accompanied by increasingly confident lower basin countries?
- Period： November 22 (Tues.) – 25 (Fri.), 2011, with optional tour on Nov. 26 (Sat.) – 27 (Sun.)
- Program： please click here (The program will be conducted in English)
- Venue：Mekong Delta Boutique Hotel, Mae Sai, Thailand
- Participants： Applicants must have strong academic interest in the topic of the seminar, and should be able to participate and join in the discussion for the full four-day seminar. We accept applications from young scholars in Southeast and East Asia and will select 24 participants.
- Seminar fee： Participation is free.
Those coming from Japan will be required to pay their own airfare. Accommodation and per diem during the seminar will be covered by CSEAS. - Application form： Please fill in this online application by clicking here.
- Application deadline： September 12, 2011
- Selection：The seminar committee will select on the basis of the application forms and notify all applicants by the end of September.
Contact: please address all inquiries to
Yoko Hayami
CSEAS Kyoto University
46 Shimo-adachi, Yoshida, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501
Tel 81-75-753-7336
Fax 81-75-753-7350
e-mail: yhayami[at]cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp
