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Full-Text Articles in Asian Studies

Cultural Diplomacy And Co-Operation In Asean: The Role Of Arts And Culture Festivals, David Ocon Nov 2021

Cultural Diplomacy And Co-Operation In Asean: The Role Of Arts And Culture Festivals, David Ocon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Beyond their traditional role as entertainment, form of expression and meeting spaces within local communities, arts and culture festivals can perform various functions. They can serve as showcases of artistic pride, signal openness towards cultural diversity, support the local economy, contribute to reducing political tension and provide grounds to consolidate international relationships. On occasion, such festivals function as tools to support the vision of a multilateral co-operation institution, as is the case of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Through a comprehensive review of the arts and culture festivals curated in ASEAN, this article investigates the festivals’ ulterior motivations. …


Just Doing Their Job: The Hidden Meteorologists Of Colonial Hong Kong C.1883–1914, Fiona Williamson Sep 2021

Just Doing Their Job: The Hidden Meteorologists Of Colonial Hong Kong C.1883–1914, Fiona Williamson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article investigates the contribution made by indigenous employees to the work of the Hong Kong Observatory from its inception and into the early twentieth century. As has so often been the case in Western histories of science, the significance of indigenous workers and of women in the Hong Kong Observatory has been obscured by the stories of the government officials and observatory director(s). Yet without the employees, the service could not have functioned or grown. While the glimpses of their work and lives are fleeting, often only revealed in minor archival references, this article seeks to interrogate these sources …


The Influence Of Masculinity And The Moderating Role Of Religion On The Workplace Well-Being Of Factory Workers In China, Quan Gao, Orlando Woods, Xiaomei Cai Jun 2021

The Influence Of Masculinity And The Moderating Role Of Religion On The Workplace Well-Being Of Factory Workers In China, Quan Gao, Orlando Woods, Xiaomei Cai

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper explores how the intersection of masculinity and religion shapes workplace well-being by focusing on Christianity and the social construction of masculinity among factory workers in a city in China. While existing work on public and occupational health has respectively acknowledged masculinity’s influences on health, and the religious and spiritual dimensions of well-being, there have been limited efforts to examine how variegated, and especially religious, masculinities influence people’s well-being in the workplace. Drawing on ethnography and in-depth interviews with 52 factory workers and 8 church leaders and factory managers, we found that: (1) Variegated masculinities were integrated into the …


Circuits Broken, Remade, And Newly Forged: Tracing Southeast Asia's Foreign Relations After The Vietnam War, Wen-Qing Ngoei Jun 2021

Circuits Broken, Remade, And Newly Forged: Tracing Southeast Asia's Foreign Relations After The Vietnam War, Wen-Qing Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article (2021) in Diplomatic History's pandemic feature examines how the principles and consequences of Singapore's "circuit breaker" policy offers a conceptual framework for studying the history of Southeast Asia's foreign relations in the 1970s to 1990s. With this approach, the essay considers how a study of Southeast Asia's culture-makers (artists, writers, dramatists), their works and transnational circuits, may open a productive inquiry into a diverse array of regionalisms that compete and complement ASEAN.


The Ccp At 100: Can It Lead China To Be The Wave Of The Future?, Eugene K. B. Tan Jun 2021

The Ccp At 100: Can It Lead China To Be The Wave Of The Future?, Eugene K. B. Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The author discussed about the foremost geopolitical challenge China is facing as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) marks its centenary on July 1. He pointed out that bilateral ties between US and China are patently lacking in trust, but believes both can find convergence and achieve mutual respect if determined efforts are channelled towards policies, institutions, norms, and cooperation that seek to incrementally enhance security and cooperation for both countries even as they robustly engage each other on the issues.


The Substation: How Many More Canaries In The Coal Mine?, Su Fern Hoe Feb 2021

The Substation: How Many More Canaries In The Coal Mine?, Su Fern Hoe

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since 1990, The Substation has been the sole occupant of the conserved building at 45 Armenian Street. Over the years, it has transformed the once-abandoned power station into Singapore’s first artist-led multi-disciplinary arts centre. However, in February 2021, The Substation was officially asked to vacate the building. Although the current situation facing The Substation is not new or unique, its impending fate is emblematic of, and raises deep questions about the progressively precarious and capricious conditions of arts practice in Singapore. This editorial highlights four underlying problems that we should be concerned with.


Digitalising Endangered Cultural Heritage In Southeast Asian Cities: Preserving Or Replacing?, David Ocon Feb 2021

Digitalising Endangered Cultural Heritage In Southeast Asian Cities: Preserving Or Replacing?, David Ocon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In the last decade, the dramatic developments in digitalisation have reached cultural heritage. Digital archiving and reconstruction, virtual reality, and 3D laser scanning, modelling and printing, are influencing the way we consume, manage, and preserve it. As part of the latter, detailed virtual records of endangered urban cultural heritage, through digital archiving, capturing, and reconstruction techniques, can help preserve its memories and lengthen its life; particularly, once decision-makers resolve to end its tangibility. However, the application of digitalisation to cultural heritage is not always easy, faced with issues such as cost, lack of sources and skills, sustainability, and intellectual property …


The Substation: How Many More Canaries In The Coal Mine?, Su Fern Hoe Feb 2021

The Substation: How Many More Canaries In The Coal Mine?, Su Fern Hoe

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since 1990, The Substation has been the sole occupant of the conserved building at 45 Armenian Street. Over the years, it has transformed the once-abandoned power station into Singapore’s first artist-led multi-disciplinary arts centre. However, in February 2021, The Substation was officially asked to vacate the building. Although the current situation facing The Substation is not new or unique, its impending fate is emblematic of, and raises deep questions about the progressively precarious and capricious conditions of arts practice in Singapore. This editorial highlights four underlying problems that we should be concerned with.