International and Area Studies Commons^™

The Gender Of The Sangha And The Reform And Bureaucratization Of Thai Buddhism, Varaporn Chamsanit

Asian Review

This paper casts a gender lens on the history of the Thai Buddhist monkhood and the monastic order, or the sangha, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It argues that the historical development of the Thai Buddhist sangha has been a gendered process, in which the exclusive maleness of the sangha has had to be maintained and reconsolidated over time to keep it a predominantly male domain. This was particularly the case during the period of Buddhist reform and bureaucratization of the sangha, which is the focus of this paper. In this gendered historical process, women were often …

Counter-Movements In Democratic Transition: Thai Rightwing Movements After The 1973 Popular Uprising, Prajak Kongkirati

Asian Review

After 1973, the Thai student movement was limited and weakened by several right-wing movements that collectively operated as counter-movements. This paper explores the factors and processes that account for the emergence and success of these counter-movements. The impact of the student movement, the changing political rules, and the incapacity of the Thai elite to employ old tactics to crush the student movement created critical conditions for a counter-movement to mobilize. Such conditions, however, cannot guarantee success. The success of the right-wing movements resulted from three factors: 1) effective organization and framing; 2) fragmentation of authority; and 3) state inaction. This …

Causal Patterns And Chance In The Narratives Of Jorge Luis Borges, Suradech Chotiudompant

Asian Review

The essay investigates how the narratives of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges explore the role of the human mind in problematizing, and intervening in, the causal pattern, thereby exposing the reader to an awareness that causal patterns are no longer a transcendental system, but an open-ended procedure in which our mind always has a part to play. The first part of the essay discusses how Borges, especially in his short story 'Emma Zunz,' views causality as a complex human construct. The second part analyzes Borges's treatment of chance in 'El jardin de senderos que se bifurcan' (The garden of forking …

Severing Body From Mind: The Cartesian Model Revisited, Supakwadee Amatayakul

Asian Review

This paper attempts to reevaluate Descartes's doctrines of mindbody distinctness and mind-body union and their contribution to feminist theories. The understanding that Descartes's substance dualism establishes an absolute demarcation between mind and body is philosophically misleading, especially when his investigations of "genuine human beings" that are capable of having "passions" are considered. Descartes's accounts of the mind-body union and the passions can be interpreted as consistent with feminist tenets and thus deemed a possible resource for feminist philosophical analyses.

Contributors

Asian Review

No abstract provided.

Recordar Para Creer: Bildungsroman En Nadie Alzaba La Voz (1994), De Paula Varsavsky, Karina Elizabeth Vázquez

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

Introducción: ¿Cómo contar el trauma?

La historia, con frecuencia, se recobra de sus traumas trasponiéndose en la literatura: determina el lugar de enunciación de escritores y críticos, y prescribe su pertenencia a tendencias estéticas y generaciones. Por eso, analizar el Bildugnsroman que aborda la experiencia de la última dictadura militar argentina (1976-1983), profundiza la comprensión de la relación entre realidad política y literatura, y describe con mayor precisión la manera en que la narrativa argentina de los noventa trató la desaparición, la tortura y la pérdida de ideales.

Defining (Multiple) Selves: Reflections On Fieldwork In Jakarta, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The 'Self' in late-modernity is never singular but multiplies across different discourses, practices and positions. It is constructed through difference. It is only through a relation to the 'Other' that the 'Self' can be defined. This paper endeavours to map the endless negotiations of my 'Self' as male Australian academic of Chinese descent, a Malaysian citizen, a Bruneian resident, and an Indonesian specialist, over a period of fieldwork in Jakarta in 2004. It discusses how I defined my multiple 'Selves' to different individuals and communities, how they in turn defined me, and how these constructions were always shifting. Depending on …

A Code Of Conduct For Indonesia: Problems And Perspectives, Riccardo Pelizzo, Bernice Ang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The purpose of the present paper is fairly straightforward. We want to show that institutional reforms, such as the adoption of a conduct code, represent a necessary albeit insufficient condition to curb corruption and promote good governance. As several scholars have pointed out the success of institutional reform in general and the success of codes of conduct in particular depends, among other things, on ideational conditions. With regard to codes of conduct, parliamentary ethics experts believe in fact that the success of a code of conduct depends on whether the individuals who are supposed to be regulated by the disposition …

Westernization Of Business Organizations In Japan And China. Continuity And Change, Wai Keung Chung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Contract Law, Chee Ho Tham, Pearlie Koh, Pey Woan Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The issue of contract formation arose in the unusual context of civil procedure in Wellmix Organics (International) Pte Ltd v Lau Yu Man [2006] 2 SLR 117 (see also para 10.60 on “Mistake”). The plaintiff in this case unsuccessfully sought to enforce a consent unless order against the defendant. Andrew Phang Boon Leong J (as he then was) emphasised that, keeping in view its very drastic consequence of depriving a party of his cause of action, such an order will only be established where the terms of the agreement are clear and unambiguous. It was clear on the facts that …

Singapore: Intimations Of A Budding Global City, Kheng Boon, Eugene Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Singapore: The Missing Babies Problem, Kheng Boon, Eugene Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Examination Of Ipo Underpricing In The Chinese A-Share Market, Ting Yu, Yiu Kuen Tse

Research Collection School Of Economics

Research in the literature shows that initial public offerings (IPOs) of common stocks are systematically priced at a discount to their subsequent initial trading price. The large underpricing magnitude in the Chinese IPO market has attracted much attention. We consider three hypotheses that may explain the IPO underpricing in China. These are the winner's curse hypothesis, the ex ante uncertainty hypothesis and the signaling hypothesis. Among these hypotheses, the winner's curse hypothesis has not been tested in the Chinese market. Using IPO data for online fixed-price offerings from November 1995 to December 1998, our results show that the winner's curse …

Commune-Level Estimation Of Poverty Measure And Its Application In Cambodia, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

Cambodia is still suffering from the legacy of civil conflict after more than a decade. With over one-third of the population living below the poverty line, poverty remains one of the most serious problems in Cambodia. A number of governmental bodies, local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international organizations operating in Cambodia have made eradicating poverty a priority and have established many social programmes to this end. In designing such programmes, the efficient allocation of resources is essential for making poverty alleviation more cost-effective. Targeting is often helpful for this purpose because one can avoid wasting resources on the …

Does Governance Matter? Yes, No Or Maybe Some Evidence From Developing Asia, M. G. Quibria

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper seeks to explore the relationship between economic growth and governance performance in Asian developing economies. This exploration yields some interesting conclusions. First, notwithstanding its tremendous economic achievements, the state of governance in Asia is not stellar by international comparison. Indeed, a majority of these countries seem to suffer from a governance deficit. Second, contrary to our expectation, data do not suggest any strong positive link between governance and growth: paradoxically, countries that exhibit surpluses in governance on average grew much slower than those with deficits. The paper ends with some conjecture about this apparent paradox.

Southeast Asian Warfare, 1300-1900, Handbook Of Oriental Studies, Section Three: South-East Asia, Volume 16 By Michael W. Charney [Book Review], Tobias Frederik Rettig

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Review Of Scott Cook, Ed., Hiding The World In The World: Uneven Discourses On The Zhuangzi, Alan Kam Leung Chan

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

The ten essays collected in this volume offer different perspectives on key issues in the Zhuangzi and should be warmly welcomed as a helpful addition to the field. The authors disagree on many things about the Zhuangzi; but there is certainly nothing "uneven" about the quality of their "discourses," which is uniformly high.

Guo Xiang, Alan Kam Leung Chan

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

A champion of the Learning of the Mysterious (Xuanxue) or neo-Daoism that gained prominence in third-century China, Guo Xiang (c. 252–312 CE) is best known for his commentary to the Zhuangzi, which offers to reconcile orthodox teachings (mingjiao) with Daoist naturalness (ziran).

Wang Bi, Alan Kam Leung Chan

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Third-century Chinese philosopher Wang Bi (226–249CE) achieved fame as an interpreter of the Laozi and the Yijing (Classic of changes), whose radical reformulation of the concept of Dao as nonbeing (wu) helped spark a new current of thought called Xuanxue (Learning of the mysterious), sometimes translated as “neo-Daoism.” To Wang, Confucius, Laozi, and the other sages of old had discerned the true meaning of Dao as the root of all beings. This was misunderstood, which necessitated a reinterpretation of the classical heritage.

Hungary: Protection Of Ethnic Minorities And Institutional Balance, Anna Gwiazda, Kenneth Benoit

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

United in support for the EU constitution, the Hungarians none the less remember the past dismemberment of their country, as a result of which a significant number of Hungarian minorities live in neighboring countries. Hence, it was not surprising that the Hungarian government’s position at the IGC 2003–4 focused on the protection of minority rights, although institutional balance was also important. The only “exclusive” Hungarian proposal of the “protection of ethnic and national minorities” was supported by both the socialists and the opposition Fidesz–Hungarian Civic Party. Hungary joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. EU membership had been a …

Disrupting Preconceptions: Postcolonialism And Education, Ed. By Anne Hickling-Hudson, Julie Matthews, And Annette Woods, James C. Carl

Education Faculty Publications

Book review by Jim Carl:

Hickling-Hudson, Anne, Julie Matthews, and Annette Woods, eds. Disrupting Preconceptions: Postcolonialism and Education. Brisbane: Post Pressed, 2004.

ISBN 1-876682-56-6

The book grew out of a conference held in August 2001 at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. It is composed of a collection of thirteen essays that address postcolonialism in education. The presenters examine the postcolonial in educational structures and practices in Asia, Africa, North America, and Australia, but the colonial legacy remains—the language of the conference is English, the publisher is Australian, and the book is printed in Great Britain.

Overall, this …