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International and Area Studies Commons™

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2009

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Articles 871 - 875 of 875

Full-Text Articles in International and Area Studies

Making Sustainable Creative/Cultural Space In Shanghai And Singapore, Lily Kong Jan 2009

Making Sustainable Creative/Cultural Space In Shanghai And Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Shanghai and Singapore are two economically vibrant Asian cities that have recently adopted creative/cultural economy strategies. In this article I examine new spatial expressions of cultural and economic interests in the two cities: state-vaunted cultural edifices and organically evolved cultural spaces. I discuss the simultaneous precariousness and sustainability of these spaces, focusing on Shanghai's Grand Theatre and Moganshan Lu and on Singapore's Esplanade-Theatres by the Bay and Wessex Estate. Their cultural sustainability is understood as their ability to support the development of indigenous content and local idioms in artistic work. Their social sustainability is examined in terms of the social …


Chinese New Year In West Kalimantan: Ritual Theatre And Political Circus, Margaret Chan Jan 2009

Chinese New Year In West Kalimantan: Ritual Theatre And Political Circus, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since 2002, when Chinese New Year became a national holiday in Indonesia, spirit medium parades on the fifteen day of the New Year (called Cap Go Meh) have been growing in size in certain West Kalimantan towns, especially Singkawang. This parade in particular has become a major tourist draw-card. Referring to local history, Chinese popular religion and Hakka culture, this article applies a performance analysis methodology to dissect this contemporary phenomenon from religious, historical and inter-ethnic perspectives. It shows how the parades have become enmeshed in current inter-ethnic politics in West Kalimantan, as well as revealing the way that adaptations …


Update Mental Pictures Of Rural China, Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson Jan 2009

Update Mental Pictures Of Rural China, Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Women in straw hats stoop over water-logged plots, working together to plant rice seedlings. A weather-worn man trudges behind an ox ploughing his family's field. Farmers throw newly harvested grain in the air so the wind can carry off the chaff. Tour buses navigate past grain carefully laid out on the black-topped road to dry. Though picturesque, these images of rural China perpetuate stereotypes of a conservative culture resistant to change - and affect public policy.


More Than A Cultural Celebration: The Politics Of Chinese New Year In Post-Suharto Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon Jan 2009

More Than A Cultural Celebration: The Politics Of Chinese New Year In Post-Suharto Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In the aftermath of the May 1998 riots that forced President Suharto to step down, ethnic Chinese received unprecedented freedom to assert their long suppressed cultural and religious identity. Following the transition from assimilation to multiculturalism, for the first time in over three decades Chinese culture became more visible and ethnic Chinese could finally enjoy the freedom to celebrate Chinese New Year (Imlek) publicly. This article focuses on the politics of the re-emergent Chinese New Year celebration in the Indonesian public sphere. It demonstrates the significance of Imlek as an ethnic symbol to Chinese-Indonesians. Borrowing Hobsbawm’s concept of “invented tradition”, …


Making History In The Bedroom: Americo-Liberians And Indigenous Liberians Sexual Unions, 1880s- C. 1950s, William E. Allen Jan 2009

Making History In The Bedroom: Americo-Liberians And Indigenous Liberians Sexual Unions, 1880s- C. 1950s, William E. Allen

Faculty Articles

The article discusses sexual unions between black American settlers and majority indigenes in Liberia. According to the author, these unions forged political alliances between indigenous Liberians and Americo-Liberians, furthered the so-called civilizing mission of the colony, and created space for social mobility. Details related to the different groups living in the region, including indigenous Africans, recaptives who had been taken off illegal slaving vessels and resettled in Liberia, and free and formerly enslaved blacks from the U.S., are presented. Other topics include Christianity, polygamy, and illegitimate children.