Asian Studies Commons^™

Reflections On Cop27: How Egypt And India Can Work Together, Sanjay Verma

Faculty Journal Articles

In the face of the global climate crisis, India and Egypt must continue to lead the Global South in pursuing equitable climate action and building on the outcomes of the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Belonging And Identity In Mustang: Lived Experiences, Social Identities, And Mobility Patterns Among Himalayan Peoples Of Nepal, Lauren Carter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper delves into an immersive exploration and contemplation of a pivotal transformation unfolding in the heartland of Lower Mustang, Nepal. What began as an endeavor to channel my creative expression and unearth the diminishing world of yak herding soon necessitated a broader, more nuanced analysis of the profound changes sweeping across the region. This paper, mainly drawing upon the narratives of the inhabitants, seeks to portray the contemporary cultural and capital significance of yaks, as well as the various factors— climate change, outmigration, national policy discrepancies, conservation initiatives, and shifting cultural paradigms— that render specific patterns of movement increasingly …

The Fate Of The Language Is The Fate Of The People: A Cultural Analysis Of Language Education Policy In Central Asia, Bethany A. Reeve

Senior Theses

With a shared history under the Soviet Union, the five Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have spent the past one hundred years dealing with quickly changing language policy and ethnic relations. Under the policy of the USSR, native languages of Central Asia were repressed, and Russian was introduced as the main language of interethnic communication. After they gained independence in 1991, however, each of the five countries embarked on missions to restore the strength of each of their national languages and de-Russify their political, economic, and educational systems. Throughout the region, one of the main …

Cross-Cultural Managerial Behavior – A Comparative Study Between The Republic Of Korea And The United States Of America, Colson Richter

Senior Honors Theses

Among the many trade partners the United States engages with, the Republic of Korea is the nation’s seventh largest trading partner – exchanging over $154.9 Billion in 2020 (USTR, 2021). Despite this strong economic relationship between these two nations, the cultural distance that these societies have is one of the largest within anthropological academia (Hofstede, 2017). This reality creates the need for a solid framework of a management-focused, cultural understanding between these two countries.

In this study, academic literature will be collected and reviewed to lend insight into particular areas of culture that an American and Korean perspective would be …

Local Traditions, Global Influences, National Belonging: Conditional Acceptance Of Cross-Gender Dance In Central Java, Indonesia, Calla Rhodes

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Indonesia has a long and rich history of cross-gender performance in which males embody femininity onstage. Until recently, these diverse, locally-specific traditions were a widely accepted cultural practice. However, modern negative associations with the LGBTQ+ community and, by extension, the West, threaten the survival of traditional Indonesian cross-gender dance. By investigating feminine male gender performance in Java, I will uncover how Indonesians draw from localized cultural traditions, as well as globalized practices like Western-style drag, to destabilize restrictive national constructions of gender. I posit that traditional cross-gender dance serves as a culturally- sanctioned outlet for male expressions of femininity that …

Sunan Kalijaga: The Birth Of A Self-Actualized Pilgrimage Culture, F. P. Meachem

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Javanese Islam is incredibly unique in its style and practice. Despite boasting a Muslim population larger than the entire Middle East, Indonesia and its Islamic cultural practices are largely unknown in academic circles. This has made an introduction to Islam in the archipelago even more difficult for the rare interested Western reader. Frustratingly, what is lost on the rest of the world is basically second nature to 155 million Javanese Muslims, who learn from their families, schools, and pilgrimages about the Wali Songo, a group of nine semi-mythical figures credited with spreading Islam to Java. When we stop casting …

The Archetype Of The Ocean In Balinese Culture, Ava Hull

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

An archetype is essential for expressing an understanding of symbols and adding depth to the meaning derived from everyday life. It is a connection of source and meaning through the lens of the human experience. In the case of the ocean, people all over the world turn to the sea as a source of healing and a symbol of the murkiness of the unconscious mind. This holds true for the people of Bali as their beautiful Island is in deep connection with the force of the ocean. From the everyday contact like fishing and relaxing at the beach, to the …

Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah: Navigating The Intersection Of Gender Nonconformity And Islam In Indonesia, Tali Hastings

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Stigma Against Hiv And Tuberculosis On Patient Mental Health And Healthcare-Seeking Behavior In Dharamshala, Isabel Powell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

HIV and tuberculosis are highly impactful diseases in India, causing severe morbidity, mortality, and suffering for millions. The stigmatization of these diseases unnecessarily exacerbates suffering for those afflicted and their families, compounding to the existing physical and emotional burden of diagnosis. Individual interviews with healthcare workers were conducted at Delek Hospital and the Tibetan Children’s Village in order to identify the existence and effects of stigma in the Tibetan refugee population in Dharamshala. Respondents reported an extremely high burden of tuberculosis in the community, complicated by the refugee status and unique infrastructural challenges of the population. The burden of HIV …

What Makes A Family: How An Empowerment-Based Health Care Delivery Model Employs Family Planning To Positively Impact Families In Rural Maharashtra: A Study In Jamkhed, Ahmadneger, Sezin Sakmar

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The paper examines how an empowerment-based health care delivery model employs family planning services to positively impact families in rural Maharashtra. Family planning services provide those with the ability to become pregnant the option to control their own reproductive lives, whether they choose in favor of or against having children. Contraceptive use advances people’s human rights to choose whether they want to bear children and how many children they want, and people should have the choice of their preferred contraceptive method. The paper examines this issue within the framework of the Comprehensive Rural Health Project’s Jamkhed Model. Through the Jamkhed …

Dairy & Development: An Investigation Into The Economic And Sociopolitical Dynamics Of Yak Cheesemaking In Nepal, Audrey Peiker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cheesemaking in Nepal is full of love, passion, and creativity. What began as a Swiss development project in the 1950s has now grown into a full-fledged industry, providing jobs, creative outlets, and cultural expression for many. Nepal’s Dairy Development Corporation owns several factories throughout the country, setting the tone for the industry by establishing the standard price for milk and process for cheesemaking. From there, privately held factories innovate and compete, bringing new products to the market and increasing wages, but also struggle with consistency and reliability. Now, Nepal’s cheesemaking market is at a turning point—much of the herding population …

Pop Spirituality In The Context Of Nepal, Kalinda Benson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this research report, Pop Spirituality in the Context of Nepal, I look to add clarity to what it means to be “spiritual” and how that has been applied historically in context of Nepal. This paper focuses on what has led up to our modern day perceptions on spirituality. In the first section of the paper, I briefly describe what I mean when I say, “pop spirituality” or a “modern spirituality.” I define spirituality and how it differs from religion, a religion, and what secularization is. I want to acknowledge that there are many types of spirituality that exist of …

Status Of Pangolins: A Case Study On "The Most Trafficked Mammal In The World" In Central-South Of Nepal, Tsogyal Wangmo Lama

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Pangolins are subject to constant trafficking in Asia and increasingly in Africa for their meat and scales. Very little research is done on this species due to its nocturnal, burrowing, and elusive nature. The larger the size of an animal is, the better it is known to the people and vice versa. Hence all these eight species of pangolins despite being under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list with the four Asian species declared endangered or critically endangered, are still illegally abused and used for ulterior motives due to a lack of awareness among the general …

Tibetan Vegans In Diaspora, Ringzen Wangmo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite the Tsampa (Roasted Barley) eating culture and yak cheese merchandise in the market, the Tibetan culture is widely known as highly dependable on meat eating by non-Tibetans, little is known about the Tibetan Vegans officially known as karkyong. Overall vegetarianism is known and practiced in the Tibetan history throughout the centuries that’s what’s commonly known as vegan diets in modern society. But not known as Vegans in the Tibet then. This study also shed some light on Tibetan vegans in the diaspora and their journey of becoming vegan through interviews with restaurant owners, vegans, monks, nuns, and lay Tibetans …

The Impact Of Ipo Pricing Model On The Issuing Price: Evidence From China, Shancheng Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

IPO pricing effectiveness refers to the deviation between the IPO price in the primary market and the actual trading price in the secondary market at the initial stage of listing. IPO underpricing ratio is the main research index used to investigate the effectiveness of IPO pricing in capital market. The phenomenon of excessive IPO underpricing brings many problems to the development of Chinese capital market. The GEM from the establishment of the initial audit system to the registration system, to the inquiry of the implementation of the new rules, IPO underpricing rate has been gradually controlled. This paper mainly studies …

Grabbing The Paycheck: A Glimpse Into The Modern Economic Livelihoods Of Xe Máy Grab Drivers In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Maddie Davis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Woven into the very fabric of urban life in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam is commuting via motorcycle (Vietnamese: xe máy). The versatility of xe máy can be witnessed in the surge of rush hour traffic, the shipment of a great variety and quantity of goods, and the crunch of people in order to get the whole family atop a single bike. Due to xe máy as the primary way much of the population gets around, Ho Chi Minh City’s transportation infrastructure and traffic patterns are highly conducive to this method of transit. Resulting from these favorable conditions, a multitude …

Kiasu (Fear Of Losing Out): An Indigenous Psychological Construct In Singapore And Its Impact, Chi-Ying Cheng, Sheila X. R. Wee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

“Kiasu,” a Hokkien term, which directly translates as the “fear of losing out” is synonymous with the Singapore identity. Yet, there has been little empirical research investigating this indigenous psychological construct in Singapore. This paper first delves into Singapore’s Kiasu culture and existing research of Kiasu, which diverges on the operationalization and measurement of Kiasu as a psychological construct. While early research conceptualized Kiasu as a behavioral tendency, more recent investigations have begun to construe Kiasu as a mindset. Next, we review Kiasu-related outcomes in four domains: academic performance, learning strategies, well-being, and creativity. Finally, we propose a new theoretical …

Regime Type, Censorship, And Trust In Government With A Special Look At China, Avery K. O'Neill

Student Publications

This research stems from a fascination with the unique social media censorship efforts in China. In order to determine if such heavy social media restrictions are unique to China this study uses data from the World Values Survey to investigate the relationship between regime type and social media censorship. The paper then examines the relationship between government censorship effort and citizens’ trust in government. Ultimately, I find that while regime type is a predictor of censorship, censorship does not have a substantial effect on citizens’ confidence in government overall. However, the data does seem to suggest that censorship may be …

Public Cleanliness Satisfaction Survey 2022, Paulin Straughan, Mathews Mathew

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Singapore Management University undertook the fifth wave of the Public Cleanliness Satisfaction Survey (PCSS) with 2,020 Singapore residents providing responses to the survey from July to October 2022, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2022 wave of the PCSS continued to reflect an overall satisfaction with public cleanliness in Singapore, similar to the last PCSS in 2021. Majority of survey respondents (92%) were satisfied with the cleanliness of public spaces that they had recently visited, with no change from 2021. Satisfaction with the cleanliness of food outlets saw the largest decrease (by 2.1%) among all location types, to 82.7%. Nevertheless, …

A Study On The Business Models Of Chinese Video Websites And Its Evolution, Xiaohui Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation delves into the 20-year developmental history of Chinese video websites, with specific emphasis on major players currently in operation such as iQIYI, Tencent Video, Youku, Bilibili, and Mango TV. It critically analyzes the business model of Chinese video websites from five key dimensions—developmental evolution, market operation, content production, user relationships, and policy relations—providing a comprehensive understanding of the industry’s landscape. Research has shown that the business models of Chinese video websites present not a simple chain relationship but a complex network of relationships. Elements such as capital, market, content, technology, users, and policies dynamically interact and balance each …