International and Area Studies Commons^™

Applying Wisdom When Civilization Is At A Crossroads, John Berteaux

Comparative Civilizations Review

Whether we are talking about the ongoing climate crisis, the global wave of street protests, the plastic in our bodies, food, and water, or the near world financial meltdowns that seem to occur with increasing frequency, it appears for many a coming apocalypse is a real possibility. Journalist and author Jean-Baptiste Malet (2019, 16) reports, “Prophesying the end of the world is now fashionable.” In current parlance apocalyptic talk is called collapsology. Of course, there is nothing new about collapsology. After all, there was the Flood, the plagues in Egypt, and Christians have been predicting the Rapture or Second Coming …

Thirty Years Of Religious Freedom In Russia: The Case Of Ekaterinburg, Elena Glavatskaya

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The religious revival, which began nationwide during the USSR’s last decade, affected all religious denominations, including the so-called “traditional” religions, which had deep roots in Imperial Russia’s history, and new religions that appeared after the collapse of Soviet ideology. The religious renaissance manifested itself through the rapidly increasing number of religious communities, religion’s fast penetration into social and political life, and the church buildings that mushroomed all over the country. This article focuses on the history of the religious landscape in Russia since 1989, using the city of Ekaterinburg as a case study. We use the religious landscape concept to …

Guest Editorial: Interreligious Encounter And Religious Change In Former Yugoslavia, Aleksandra Djurić-Milovanović

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

In this issue of OPREE, three case studies by Gašper Mithans, Evelyn Reuter, and Aleksandra Djurić-Milovanović explore interreligious encounters in Yugoslavia and religious transformations that brought new dynamics in interreligious relations between majority and minority religions.

Atomization, Decentralization, And Sustainability: Prominent Trends On The Russian Protestant Church Scene, William Yoder

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"At least in Russia–and China–the age of euphoria prominent 30 years ago is gone. The church missions committed to short-term gains have left for greener pastures and the congregations remaining behind are now, more than ever, required to determine their own fates. Increasingly required to live from their own funding, church projects are becoming more sustainable. Huge building and educational projects are only a memory. This general and expected course of events can be attributed in part to short attention spans in the West; increased government pressure is only one of numerous factors."

What The Resilience Budget Can And Cannot Do In Helping Singapore Tackle Covid-19, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan discussed the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 global pandemic and explained the three broad objectives of the Resilience Budget in tackling the crisis. He also discussed the valuable learning points that Singaporeans can learn from this pandemic.

Asian Ip Law: An Area Of Rising Importance, Kung-Chung Liu, Shufeng Zheng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Intellectual property (IP) laws are an important instrument for promoting cooperation and peace in Asia. In their own ways, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and India all serve as IP success stories. Structural features of the IP landscape in major Asian jurisdictions include the following: technocrat-driven IP law, national IP strategies and specialized IP or patent judges. In addition, there are five distinctively Asian developments worth noticing: the sweeping criminalization of copyright infringement, an explosion in the number of registered trademarks, the very limited use of compulsory patent licensing and the convergence on certain standards for the licensing …

The Doctrine Of Wilful Blindness In Drug Offences: Adili Chibuike Ejike V Public Prosecutor [2019] 2 Slr 254, Rennie Whang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In Adili Chibuike Ejike v Public Prosecutor [2019] 2 SLR 254, the Court of Appeal clarified the operation of the wilful blindness doctrine in the context of knowing possession for drug offences. In particular, it affirmed wilful blindness as a doctrine of substantive rather than evidential law, which applies as a limited extension to the legal requirement of actual knowledge. The court then articulated a three-part test for the finding of wilful blindness in relation to knowledge as an ingredient of possession. However, it left open the content of the doctrine as applied to the element of knowledge in drug …

The Handmaid Of The Lord Redux: Constructing The New Orthodox Womanhood Between Cradle And Convert, Katherine Kelaidis

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"In an era when questions of sexuality and gender dominate much of the debate in theological circles, regardless of religious or confessional affiliation, the meaning of Orthodox Christian womanhood remains a simultaneously over-discussed and under-theorized aspect of these conversations. This article attempts to address this discrepancy by articulating and problematizing some of the myriad of forces that are shaping the construction of Orthodox Christian womanhood and the identity of Orthodox Christian women today. In particular, we explore how the “Culture Wars” (a once largely American political phenomenon) have internationalized and become a major force in the articulation of gender both …

Señor Jim Crow Still Roosts In Cuba: A Comparative Analysis Of Race And Resistance In The United States And Cuba, Leah P. Hollis

Comparative Civilizations Review

After touring Havana, Cuba, with a group of African American Scholars in the fall of 2019, I am inspired to identify the subtle and explicit racist experiences that we endured. A common message from those in the tourism industry is that Cubans love African Americans. This message was constant, yet it rang like a gong in our ears because the message did not match the treatment we received. In truth, this love was not for the African aspect of our identities but for the financial prosperity in the American part of our identities. The Cuban tour guide constantly announced the …

Religious Conversions And Religious Diversification In Interwar Yugoslavia And Slovenia, Gašper Mithans

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

With the foundation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, the respective nationalities and ethnic communities were faced with the reality of a multi-confessional state. Internal migration and minority policy, in particular, set in motion a slow diversification in the religious sphere, even in the ethnically and religiously extremely homogeneous territory of Slovenia. This paper aims to analyze the role that religious converts—who were largely former Catholics—played during the interwar period in Slovenian regions in the phenomenon of the gradual transformation of the religious landscape over a long period of time. Converts were an important part of almost all …

Anti-Jewish Propaganda In The Ndh And The Slovak State, Madeline Vadkerty

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"This paper examines the nature of the anti-Semitic propaganda used by the Slovak State and the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska -- NDH) during World War II, taking into account the two countries’ unique and common objectives, evolving political contexts, strategies, and tactics. The paper also analyzes how those activities fit into the wider strategy of nation building and the attempt to create a new collective identity which was to be predicated on the concept of exclusivity and racial/cultural superiority."

The Effect Of Language On Voter Opinion: Results From A Survey Experiment In Thailand, Jacob I. Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Politicians have long engaged in marketing themselves by employing distinct speaking styles to signal social standing, competence, or a shared background with their audience. What effect does this use of different language appeals have on voter opinion? Utilizing a survey experiment in Thailand, I test a set of hypotheses about the effect of language on respondent opinions. Relying on three distinct treatments, a formal language register, an informal language register, and an ethnic language, I demonstrate the multiple effects of language on political appeal. The use of a formal register has mixed effects, signaling both high education as well as …

With The Release Of Electoral Boundaries Report, All Eyes Now On Political Parties’ Next Moves, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan discussed the implications of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) report and what it means for the political parties and Singapore politics in general. He expects the election to be held sooner rather than later with the ERBC report's release, and there will be little time for parties, especially the opposition, to prepare.

Detecting Fake News In Social Media: An Asia-Pacific Perspective, Meeyoung Cha, Wei Gao, Cheng-Te Li

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In March 2011, the catastrophic accident known as "The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster" took place, initiated by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The only nuclear accident to receive a Level-7 classification on the International Nuclear Event Scale since the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986, the Fukushima event triggered global concerns and rumors regarding radiation leaks. Among the false rumors was an image, which had been described as a map of radioactive discharge emanating into the Pacific Ocean, as illustrated in the accompanying figure. In fact, this figure, depicting the wave height of the tsunami that followed, …

Early Polls Make Sense In A Worsening Pandemic, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan opined there is no good time for a general election amid the global pandemic, and it is a judgment call on when to hold Singapore's 13th general election, which must take place by April next year at the latest. He believes early polls make sense in a worsening pandemic if the Government ensures that even as candidates campaign, there is no let-up in the fight against the outbreak.

Tackling Regional Climate Change Impacts And Food Security Issues: A Critical Analysis Across Asean, Pif, And Saarc, Md. Saidul Islam, Edson Kieu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Climate change and food security issues are multi-faceted and transcend across national boundaries. Therefore, this paper begins with the premise that regional organizations are optimally positioned to address climate change and food security issues while actively engaging global partners to slow down or reverse current trajectories. However, the potential of regional organizations to play a central role in mitigating these vital concerns has not been realized. In this paper, we focus on three regional organizations—the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and set out to investigate …

Welfare Consequences Of Access To Health Insurance For Rural Households: Evidence From The New Cooperative Medical Scheme In China, Jessica Ya Sun

Research Collection School Of Economics

This study evaluates the welfare benefits of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS), the main public health insurance plan for the rural population in China. The findings show that the value of the NCMS to recipients is slightly lower than the government's costs of implementation, ranging from 0.79 to 0.97 per RMB of the resource cost of the NCMS. The estimated moral hazard costs are low compared with the total benefits. It is also estimated that the benefits originating from the NCMS's insurance function only constitute 20% of the total benefits, suggesting a need for higher generosity levels among rural …

Fertility And Rural Electrification In Bangladesh, Tomoki Fujii, Abu S. Shonchoy

Research Collection School Of Economics

We use contemporaneous and retrospective panel datasets to examine the household-level relationship between fertility and access to electricity in Bangladesh. We find that access to electricity reduces fertility by about 0.2 children over a period of five years or total fertility rate by about 1.2 in most estimates. This finding is robust with respect to the choice of the estimation method, the choice of sample, and potential presence of endogeneity. The finding also corroborates the theoretical predictions on time use and consumption pattern derived from our model of electrification and fertility. The results also suggest that television is an important …

Examining The Cross-Cultural Validity Of The Positive Affect And Negative Affect Schedule Between An Asian (Singaporean) Sample And A Western (American) Sample, Sean Teck Hao Lee, Andree Hartanto, Jose C. Yong, Brandon Koh, Angela K. Y. Leung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The positive affect and negative affect schedule (PANAS) is a popular measure of positive (PA) and negative affectivity (NA). Developed and validated in Western contexts, the 20-item scale has been frequently administered on respondents from Asian countries with the assumption of cross-cultural measurement invariance. We examine this assumption via a rigorous multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, which allows us to assess between-group differences in both strength of scale item-to-latent factor relationship (metric invariance test) and mean of each scale item (scalar invariance test), on a large sample of 1,065 respondents recruited from Singapore (Asian sample) and the United States (Western sample). …

The Spatial Optimization And Evaluation Of The Economic, Ecological, And Social Value Of Urban Green Space In Shenzhen, Yuhan Yu, Wenting Zhang, Peihong Fu, Wei Huang, Keke Li, Kai Cao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Urban green space (UGS) is important in urban systems, as it benefits economic development, ecological conservation, and living conditions. Many studies have evaluated the economic, ecological, and social value of UGS worldwide, and spatial optimization for UGS has been carried out to maximize its value. However, few studies have simultaneously examined these three values of UGS in one optimization system. To fill this gap, this study evaluated the economic value of UGS in terms of promoting housing prices, its ecological value through the relief of high land surface temperature (LST), and its social value through the provision of recreation spaces …

Translation Of: Interview With Jacques Derrida: The Western Question Of "Forgiveness" And The Intercultural Relation, Ning Zhang, Steven Burik

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

These two interviews with Jacques Derrida were conducted by Ning Zhang in 1999 and 2000, respectively, in preparation for the publication of his book Writing and Difference in Chinese and his first academic trip to China in 2001. In the first interview, Jacques Derrida tries to clarify the ethical concerns with regard to his deconstructive analysis of Western traditions, through his critical reading of the concept of forgiveness. In this interview he gives us a clearer insight into his ideas about the problem of intercultural exchange, especially concerning questions of translation, translatability, and untranslatability, as central issues of his work. …

Translation Of: Place: Derrida And Nishitani, Rolf Elberfeld, Steven Burik

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In his works Chora [Derrida, Jacques. 1993. Khôra. Paris: Galilée] and “Comment ne pas parler? Denegations” Derrida used the metaphor chora from Plato’s Timaeus (49a and following) to continue his struggle with the metaphysics of presence. In 1926 Nishida, the founder of the Japanese Kyōto School, used the same metaphor to create a new foundation of philosophy. Nishitani, a disciple of Nishida, developed the work of Nishida in close connection to Zen Buddhist experiences. Derrida tries to show the limits of language within the game of language, whereas Nishitani starts from an experience beyond language, but tries to make …

Georgina Artiga, Georgina Artiga

Coming to the Plains Oral Histories/ Llenando las Llanuras Historias Orales

Georgina Artiga nació y creció en El Salvador. Artiga creció en una familia feliz que incluía a su abuela quien la cuidó cuando sus papás estaban en el trabajo. Al crecer, Artiga enfrentó muchas experiencias peligrosas debido a la alta tasa de crimen en El Salvador. Cuando ella tenía quince años, ella y su familia decidieron inmigrar a los Estados Unidos porque recibieron amenazas de muerte. Artiga y su familia se mudaron a California. Sus papás empezaron a trabajar y ella y su hermana asistieron a la escuela. Artiga luchó en la escuela con el inglés. Artiga y su familia …

Review Of Ethical Questions In Name Authority Control, Itza A. Carbajal

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Ethical Questions in Name Authority Control is a new and thoughtful addition to the metadata and cataloging field of study and practice. Consisting of eighteen essays written by a number of libraries, archives, and information scholars, this edited volume investigates and responds to a number of ethical questions regarding name authority control.These include topics such as the privacy of the creator, use of geographic names for contested lands, critique of the use of gender in authority control systems, as well as considerations around multilingualism, to name a few. While the title mostly appeals to a particular field of work and …

Book Review: The Third Pillar: How Markets And The State Leave The Community Behind, George Morrow

Essays in Education

Rajan, Raghuram (2019). The Three Pillars: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind. New York: Penguin.

Mr. Rajan explains the success and failure of societies through the interrelationship of three social sciences (what he calls pillars): economics (the marketplace), political science (government), and sociology (communities). In Section I, Mr. Rajan describes the origins of each pillar starting at the end of the medieval era. Each pillar has its own tale related to it social science but their stories are interwoven as well. An example: the marketplace and the expansion of trade (both territorially and in complexity) could only …

The Public Reckoning: Anti-Debt Futures After #Rickyrenuncia, Sarah Molinari

Publications and Research

This essay argues that the summer 2019 mobilizations in Puerto Rico and the renewed demand for a debt audit help to imagine anti-debt futures that disrupt the terms and temporalities of public debt and indebted lives. The essay discusses one form of debt resistance-a comprehensive citizen debt audit-as central to deepen the process of public reckoning marked by #RickyRenuncia and to build upon the landscapes of protest and solidarity emerging in its wake.

Berita Winter 2019/2020, Dominik M. Müller

Berita

Table of Contents

Letter from the Chair ... 2

MSB Group Events at the AAS Conference 2020, Boston, MA (March 19-22) ... 3–4

Article: ‘A Fresh Look at Fish Through a Brief History of Fish Head Curry’ (Geoffrey K. Pakiam) ... 5–10

Article: ‘‘My Second Home’: An Interview with Rose Chew,Ticketing Officer of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, 1990–2016’ ... 11–13

MSB Member News ... 14

Publications ... 14–16

Job Opportunities ... 16

Call for Applications: M.A. and PhD Programs ... 17–18

Call for Papers ... 18

Editorial Information ... 18

Eu Diplomacy 2.0: The European Union’S Exercise In Soft Power In The Philippines Through Facebook, Manuel R. Enverga Iii

European Studies Department Faculty Publications

Digital diplomacy, also referred to as e-Diplomacy or Diplomacy 2.0, is a form of public diplomacy that entails the pursuance of foreign policy objectives using the Internet and social media. It is one of the ways that actors in contemporary global politics can exert soft power, thereby shaping a host country’s perceptions, agendas, and policies. The increasing use of digital diplomacy exemplifies a shift in diplomatic from purely government-to-government (G2G) relations, to one in which communication is directed towards publics (G2P), and can even encourage citizens to interact with one another (P2P). One actor that has become increasingly active in …

Children’S Voices About ‘Return’ Migration From The United States To Mexico: The 0.5 Generation, Víctor Zúñiga, Edmund T. Hamann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Since 2004, our research has focused precisely in those minors who ‘returned’ from the United States to Mexico. Our interest has been to know the social, geographical, educational, and symbolic trajectories of those migrant children and adolescents who are part of the contemporary move of returnees. Based on the children’s narratives (all collected before US November 2016 federal election), we now have a multifaceted response to the question: How and why are young Mexican migrants returning from the United States to Mexico? Some of these returnees were born in Mexico and arrived to the United States when they were young. …

Identity Crisis: How The Outcome Of The Cold War Affects Our Understanding Of The Crisis In Ukraine, Sara Catherine Lichon

Augsburg Honors Review

This paper discusses how history affects the present, arguing that the outcome of the Cold War aids our understanding of the current Ukraine Crisis by shedding light on the identity crises which Ukraine, Russia, and the United States faced after the Soviet Union collapsed. These new identities conflicted with each other, ultimately leading to the conflict we are facing today. The paper starts by discussing what the Ukraine Crisis is: current fighting between pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and Ukrainian troops, due to conflict that began after Ukrainian pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in 2014. The situation in Ukraine …