THE RIDDLE OF THE TEXTILES

The striking similarities of two antique textiles—one from a town in Java, the other in the National Museum of Cambodia—raise intriguing questions. Gill Green goes in search of answers.

Batik-patterned cloth has been made in Java for centuries. Patterns on court batiks are traditionally conservative, but from the mid-19th century boldly innovative patterns began to appear. These are termed generically batik belanda (‘Dutch batik’).They were created in workshops set up by women with Dutch or Chinese ancestry living in Java. Towns along the north Java coast celebrated for batik belanda production included Pekalongan, Lasem and Semarang.

These women entrepreneurs responded to the changing milieu of 19th century coastal Southeast Asia, producing these new designs. Postcards, European books and magazines, posters and photographs in circulation provided a rich source of imagery representing the cutting edge of innovation at the time. Themes included European-style floral designs and fairy tales, public events, depictions of local military campaigns, and card games.

Of particular interest, however, is another distinctive group of themes which depict modern developments in technology. These featured commercial buildings, trains, ships and airplane services, cars and bicycles—all impressive manifestations of modernity.

Batik belanda were worn by women in sarong style—that is stitched into a tube shape and folded and tucked in at the front. They were also fashioned into pants style for men. Batik lengths were used as a baby or goods carriers, and as a veiling head cover (kudung) in Sumatra and Malaysia.

Moving to the mainland and to Cambodia, some 50 tie-dye patterned textiles comprise the majority of the textiles remaining in the collection of the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.

There is evidence for the production of tie-dye silk textiles on the Northeast Malay Peninsula. Winstead describes in detail the skill of tie-dyers in Trengganu, these local craftswomen said to have learned the techniques from Boyanese living there (1925:66). Significantly, Hill notes that ‘…Kain pelangi [tie-dyed textiles] are produced [in Trengganu]. The patterns are rather crude and resemble some of those produced by batek (sic) work on fabrics seen in Malaya’ (1949:84).

This observation concerning the connection between batik belanda and pictorial tie-dyed silk textiles in the National Museum of Cambodia collection presents two key questions. Firstly, by what route did batik belanda or knowledge of these textiles reach Cambodia, where the batik technique is not practised, and secondly what was the context that supported production of these novel, non-traditional patterns on silk.

To address the first question, there are at least two possible physical routes. The first involves lively intra-regional maritime trade in the mainland Southeast Asia region with goods, including batik sourced in Javanese markets. Arab merchants, the Hadhramis in particular, were very active in centres on the north Java coast. Veldhuisen mentions that:

After 1900, batiks were displayed in Bandung from all over Java. Traders from other cities in Java, from the other islands of the archipelago and from Singapore, Malaya, Thailand, Cambodia and Birma (sic) were attracted by the generous assortment (1993:88).

Not only did Arab merchants trade in batik along the east coast of Sumatra and in Singapore, but their networks also connected with other Hadhramis along the Northeast Malay Peninsula.

The second proposition is that batik skills and batik itself were transmitted by Javanese workers and their families who migrated to Sumatra and Trengganu from the mid-19th century onwards (De Klerk 1938: 422). This circumstantial evidence argues for the likely presence of batik, including lengths with modernist themes, in Trennganu and possibly Kelantan. Both these Northeast Malay Peninsula provinces are in close contact with Cambodia geographically, economically and culturally through their Malay affinity.

In Cambodia there are two groups who adhere to the Islamic faith—Cham and Malays. Cham, though fine weavers, are not recorded as making tie-dye cloth. Silk headscarves have a veiling function for Muslim, but not Khmer, women, but pictorial tie-dye patterned textiles are inappropriate as headcloths. Is it possible that Malay women in Trennganu and/or in Cambodia crafted the museum collection?

Though with this evidence it is possible to propose who the makers of these tie-dye textiles were, the reason why pictorial tie-dyes, equivalent in theme to batik belanda, were created is not apparent.

There is, however, one early 20th century initiative which could have fostered innovation in Cambodia. George Groslier, who set up the Royal School of Arts in Phnom Penh in 1918, recruited craftworkers from the king’s court to this newly instituted school. His aim was to keep Cambodian craft skills alive by producing items of interest for sale to tourists, to French residents and for exhibition and sale at international exhibitions abroad. The sales were mediated by a local French arm of government, Corporations Cambodgiennes, whose brief was to market the items crafted at the school both locally and abroad.

This is a context that could have provided the impetus for designing innovative textile patterns, such as those seen on the pictorial tie-dyes, by those who had the skills to produce them. The rationale for their manufacture accorded with French entrepreneurial ambitions for the territories they administered in Southeast Asia in the early 20th century.

Gillian Green M.Phil, MA, is an Honorary Associate in the Department of Art History and Film Studies, University of Sydney. Her research interest covers Southeast Asian textiles with a special emphasis on the traditional textiles of Cambodia

References

• De Klerk, E 1938. History of the Netherland East Indies, WL & J Brusse, NV, Rotterdam :422.
• Hill, A.1949. The Weaving Industry in Trennganu, J. of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol.XXII, Pt.III, :75-84.
• Othman, M 1997, Hadramis in the Malay States, in Freitag U. & Clarence-Smith, W. 1997. Hadrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s- 1960s, Brill.
• Veldhuisen H 1993. Batik Belanda 1840–1940, Gaya Favorit Press: 88.
  Winstedt, R 1925 HRAF AN1, Malays AN5: 66–68.

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POST-DOI MOI ARTISTS IN VIETNAM

Art historian Annette van den Bosch is one of a handful of scholars who have started to open up the new research field of post-war Vietnamese art. Here she looks at the work of three post-Doi Moi* () artists.

There was significant maturation in the work of some Vietnamese artists after 2000. The context for their work changed from the late 1990s, as new galleries opened in Vietnam’s main cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Artists sold work and travelled abroad, international artists and writers visited Vietnam, and the National Museum of Fine Arts began to exhibit a wider range of contemporary artists.

Very little contemporary Vietnamese painting and sculpture is collected by any Australian collection, and the only contemporary collection is at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, GOMA.

Lê Thua Tien is from Hue and lectures at the Hue College of Arts. Nguyen Thanh Son is from Pleiku and works in Tây Nguyen and Ho Chi Minh City. Dang Anh Tuan is from Hanoi and works in Tây Nguyen.

The three artists reached mid-career in their professions in 2000 when exhibition and market opportunities expanded. These artists draw on the architectural heritage and intangible cultural heritage of central Vietnam to create their artworks.

Lê Thua Tien draws his inspiration from the citadel, tombs and pagodas, and their locations on the Sông Huong, surrounded by moats and lotus ponds to paint his Reflection series. Nguyen Thanh Son and Dang Anh Tuan draw their inspiration from the burial rituals, the sculpture of the nha mo, burial tombs and ceremonies of the Djarai and Bahnar peoples of Tây Nguyên, Truong Son Mountains.

A central theme in Lê Thua Tin’s artwork is the impact of colonialism, globalisation and cultural destruction in Vietnamese contemporary and heritage culture. He illuminated the intersection of heritage or tradition through creating more contemporary interpretations and practices.

Tien creates paintings on do paper, the traditional rice paper of Vietnam, and lacquer, a traditional form that became a fine art form in the art schools of the French colonial period. His Unsent Letters series used do paper on painting surfaces to create a weathered appearance. He also introduced the use of shadow text and erasure to create ambiguity. In Untitled (2003), Tien exploits the effect of shadows to create sculptural relief in stonework or raised calligraphy. The use of text and textural effects are characteristic of all his works.

Lê Thua Tien’s installations became large-scale community-based projects. The Lotus Lantern Project was installed first in Japan, then in heritage sites in Hue around the Citadel and Sông Huong. Tien created the small lotus flower origami then involved hundreds of people in creating origami lotuses for mass-scale installations in which many people participated as creators and audience. His paintings and installations often draw on the contrast between man-made objects and the natural environment. This contrast was most visible to a mass audience in the Lotus Lantern Project.

In the Reflection Series (2006–07), Lê Thua Tien developed quite radical ways of working in lacquer using marble dust, sand from the river, old bronze relics or textiles found on abandoned sites, or timber from destroyed old buildings. Tien’s contemporary use of the traditional lacquer medium enables him to develop paintings which have the density of sculptural objects and the patina of heritage artefacts.

The Reflection Series drew inspiration from the mirrors and glass paintings in the tombs of the Nguyen Lords, and the use of water as phong thuy in the pagodas. The instability of light, shadow and reflection is presented as a metaphor for the Buddhist concept of existence and non-existence. Reflection also refers to the artist’s introspection on his life and heritage.

The artists Nguyen Thanh Son and Dang Anh are successful contemporary artists whose work creates powerful imagery of new cultural formations in which inter-ethnic forms are fused. They re-imagine concepts of cultural identity as more heterogeneous. The concepts that these artists employ are not the same as earlier representations which aimed to gloss over ethnic antagonisms and to promote allegiances adopted during the three Indochina wars from 1945 to 1979.

Nguyen Thanh Son and Dang Anh Tuan draw their inspiration from the burial rituals, the sculpture of the nha mo, burial tombs and ceremonies of the Djarai and Bahnar peoples of Tây Nguyên. These artists demonstrate respect for the specific cultural rites of the Djarai and Bahnar groups with whom they have sustained relationships over years.

Nguyen Thanh Son’s portraits of individual elders are compassionate and honest depictions of age and hardship as well as wisdom. A good example is the painting, Innermost Feelings (2007) which was included in the Post-Doi Moi exhibition, Singapore Art Museum (2008).

The Holiness of Land and Man (2003), and The Journey of Yin Yang (1997), are earlier paintings which portrayed the elders in relation to their ancient cultural symbols. The composition of these paintings successfully portrays almost life-size figurative portraits in designs that include sculptural figures and symbols.

Another group of Son’s paintings, Exposition (2002), Nude and Sacred Land (2002), and Nude and Mask (2002), introduce sacred totems, the Chorao bird and the Gecko. Other totemic objects depicted in Son’s compositions are masks and earthenware urns, used with reference to the practice of fertility rituals.

The figures in these earlier compositions are drawn from the sculpture on the nha mo so that the people and life forms are absorbed into their ancestors rather than presented as distinct individuals. Son’s painting design became more complex over this period in a way that carved wood designs and weaving patterns were used to create surface texture across the canvas. His composition became more layered and off-centre.

Dang Anh Tuan also draws his inspiration from the imagery of the nha mo and the natural environment of the Tây Nguyen. The painting Family (2004) is not conventional portraiture. His imagery expresses profound feelings, even agony.

The large work, Red Highland (2004), is complex and more abstract. The red design is balanced by the dark panel that features a ghostly figure. Tuan’s composition uses vertical shapes displayed across the canvas, bleeding into one another as if they are fragments of bodies, masks and burial houses. He also uses mixed media to build surface and space in the design of his paintings. This painting integrates bodies and cultural forms while conveying the sense of space in the central highlands, the least populated region of Vietnam.

The paintings from the Highland Impression series refer not only to distance and change in the central highlands but to the artists’ own artistic journey. Highland Impression 4 (2004) resolves the elements of imagery from Tây Nguyen into an overall design.

Tuan’s paintings create new formal compositions that merge sculptural and tomb shapes, minority totems such as the gecko, the darkness of night in the highlands, or firelight effects into the overall painting design. The use of strong colour contrasts and mixed media builds a tactile surface that replicates the natural materials and space of the Djarai and Bahnar environment, drawing attention to their culture and place in contemporary Vietnam.

Nguyen Thanh Son and Dang Anh Tuan represent in their artworks a profound understanding of the link between biodiversity and cultural diversity in Tây Nguyên. Their imagery displays greater maturity in intercultural concepts of cultural identity than that produced throughout the conflicts and ideological struggles of 20th century Vietnam.

* The Vietnamese government’s economic reforms announced in 1986 were otherwise known as Doi Moi.

Dr Van den Bosch is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Monash Asia Institute. She will be publishing an article in the Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society, in Autumn 2009 on 'Professional Artists in Vietnam: Intellectual Property and economic and cultural sustainability'.

Recent Papers on Vietnamese Art History

1. ‘Signs of grief, memory of violence and the suppression of freedom of expression in the work of three Vietnamese artists,’ Presented at the 17th Asian Studies Association of Australia Conference, ‘Is This the Asian Century?’ Monash Asia Institute, Melbourne 2008 www.monash.edu.au/mai/asianstudiesconference
   
   
2. “New Directions in Contemporary Vietnamese Art’ Post Doi Moi Conference, Singapore Art Museum, May 2008,
   Publication: TK. Sabapathy (ed.) Post Doi Moi Art in Vietnam, Folio Art Anthology University of Singapore and Singapore Art Museum 2009 (forthcoming).
   
   
3. “The Impact of Censorship, Conflict and the Diaspora on Vietnamese Art History” with Dr. Boitran Huynh-Beattie, Crossing Cultures: Conflict, Migration, Convergence, Committee of the International History of Art, CIHA 32nd Congress Melbourne University, Miegunyaii Press, June 2009

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Student of the month

NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NEW PERSPECTIVES

A CHINESE SCHOLAR-GENTLEMAN: LIU TS'UN-YAN (1917-2009)

 

Liu Ts'un-yan was one of the last and most significant native exponents of his country's grand cultural tradition. He was a great master, in the real sense of that term. The range and depth of his knowledge and understanding of Chinese culture, and his effortless ability to interpret and integrate all of its branches, were simply breathtaking.

To give one small example. In 1952, Liu Ts'un-yan wrote a couple of short essays, reminiscences of Cheng Yanqiu, the famous Opera actor he had known in Beijing in the late 1920s. In the second essay, Liu Ts'un-yan remarks in passing that the foundation of this great performing artist's success lay in his lifelong pursuit of Taoist self-cultivation, including the practice of tai chi, and of breathing techniques. This, done steadily and consistently over the years, was what maintained the high standard of his singing. This profound observation, lightly made, reflected Professor Liu's everyday thinking and informed his conversation.

Liu Ts'un-yan’s lifelong involvement with Taoist philosophy and religion, a subject on which he became one of the world's unrivalled authorities, had arisen directly out of a personal experience during his childhood in Peking.

He was a sickly child, and no physician, Chinese or Western, could be found to help him mend his health. He was finally taken to a Taoist monastery and there he was taken in hand by one of the monks. That was when he started learning some of the basic qigong practices that helped him in a very practical way throughout his long life.

Liu Ts'un-yan was so many things at one and the same time. He was a Chinese scholar-gentleman at home in many branches of Chinese literature, classical and vernacular, and in many varieties of the Chinese language—Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghai dialect, even Shandong. Shandong was his family's ancestral home. And yet for centuries his family had been Chinese Bannermen, honorary Manchus, inheritors of that proud tradition within a tradition.

He was the most meticulous scholar and teacher, able to rise to the demands of the most exacting textual scholarship, at home in the most arcane byways of the Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist classics. His scholarship was founded not on ideology or theory, but on close, indefatigable reading of central texts.

He was a painstaking bibliographer, making copious notes wherever he went, at libraries all over the world. And yet behind this scholarly (and sometimes daunting) persona, was a man of great humanity and warmth, a playful man of letters, a witty essayist (again in both classical and colloquial Chinese), a fluent novelist and playwright.

Liu could be a devastating critic, wherever he discerned incompetence and pretentious, phony scholarship. And yet he was a prodigiously kind and generous mentor if he sensed the presence of a receptive mind.

What students of Chinese are learning appears to be an instrument. But it is an instrument only in the sense that it is a medium through which advanced studies in much broader fields may be made. A mere knowledge of the language does not in fact constitute the real understanding of that language. In order to understand the feelings expressed in the Chinese language one must be acquainted with at least some of the many rich works of literature which have been written in Chinese... We are concerned not only with a language and a literature but, through the learning of that language and literature, with something more lasting, a deeper, and hence more intimate and even sympathetic, understanding of the people whose language and literature we are studying.

Professor Liu was happy and proud during the past three years to see for himself that this humanistic legacy of his was being taken seriously once more, that traditional Chinese Studies were being revived, and that the ANU was once more taking the lead and standing up for these enduring values.

All his life he had, in his own writings, in his own teaching, in his own person, embodied the very things we are striving to put back at the centre of our curriculum: a sense of cultural continuity and actuality, of the past in the present, and of the present in the past; a sense of the interconnectedness of literature, history and philosophy, of the lively links between scholarship and life.

Liu Ts'un-yan was bearer of a great tradition. As his own stature grew, he himself went on to become one of the key members of a worldwide circle of great scholars and critics, many of whom were his personal friends. He saw such friendships as pools of light in the darkening times around him.

The very idea of friendship, friendship of kindred spirits, of like-minded scholars and men of letters working together across the boundaries of geography and language, indeed of time itself, the notion that all of this was a force for good lay at the heart of everything he did.

In a short casual essay republished in China in 2001, he ascribed to the perennial philosophy of China a crucial role as mediator in a chaotic and materialistic age. But when he said this, he was referring to hard-won truths, to genuine wisdom, not to the facile pressing into service of Taoism for political ends, of which he took a very dim view.

More and more with the passing of the years he spoke with utter simplicity of the need to distinguish between what was genuine and what was false. In the end, he insisted many times, this was all that really mattered.

Liu Ts'un-yan's passing leaves us bereft of an irreplaceable voice, a voice speaking quietly but eloquently for China in all of its power and glory, in all of its triumphs and failings, at a time when the importance of such a true understanding of China is greater than ever.

John Minford

Professor Minford is professor of Chinese and head of the China Centre at the Australian National University. This is an abridged version of the speech which he delivered at Professor Liu's funeral on August 14, 2009.

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Recent Interesting Books on Asia

Asia Bookroom

Contributed by Sally Burdon

This selection includes recent books by ASAA members Laura Dales and Barbara Hatley. As these are ASAA publications, special member prices apply. If you are a member please check the ASAA website for more details—if you are not yet a member you might like to join and take advantage of these and other benefits.

Feminist Movements in Contemporary Japan

Laura Dales

xiii + 151pp, notes, bibliography, index, Routledge, London, 2009, ASAA Women in Asia Publications Series, ISBN 9780415459419. $215

In contemporary Japan there is much ambivalence about women's roles, and the term 'feminism' is not widely recognised or considered relevant. Nonetheless, as this book shows, there is a flourishing feminist movement. The book investigates the features and effects of feminism in non-government women's groups, government-run women's centres and the individual activities of feminists Haruka Yoko and Kitahara Minori.

Javanese Performances on an Indonesian Stage. Contesting Culture, Embracing Change

Barbara Hatley

Colour and black and white photographic illustrations, xvii + 336pp, notes, bibliography, index, paperback, National University of Singapore, Singapore 2008, ASAA Southeast Asia Publications Series, ISBN 9789971694104. $49.95

During the dramatic economic and social transformation of late 20th century Indonesia, theatre performances in Central Java featured a familiar cast of rulers, nobles, clown servants and ordinary people. However, these presentations were not a repetition of age-old cultural traditions. Instead, by stretching the framework of Javanese theatrical convention, theatre troupes challenged dominant cultural and political values. As political pressures intensified in the final months of the New Order regime, their witty, critical performances drew enthusiastic, oppositionist crowds.

Muslim–non-Muslim Marriage. Political and Cultural Contestations in Southeast Asia

Gavin W Jones, Chee Heng Leng and Maznah Mohamad (eds)

xvi + 322 pages, index, hardback, ISEAS, Singapore, 2009, ISBN 9789812308740. $64.95

‘This is an excellent and rare exploration of a sensitive religious issue from many perspectives: legal, cultural and political. The case studies from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand portray the important and exciting, yet very difficult, negotiation of Islamic teachings in the changing realities of Southeast Asia, home to the majority of Muslims in the world. Interreligious marriage is an important indicator of good relations between communities in religiously diverse countries. This book will also be of great interest to students and scholars of religious pluralism in a Southeast Asian context, which has not been studied adequately.’—Zainal Abidin Bagir, Executive Director, Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS), Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia".

Eurasian Crossroads. A History of Xinjiang

James A Millward

Maps, black and white illustrations and photographic illustrations, xix + 440 pages, index, bibliography, appendix, paperback. University Presses of California, Columbia and Princeton United States. 2009, ISBN 9780231139250. $46.95

This is the first comprehensive history of Xinjiang. Drawing on primary sources in several Asian and European languages, Millward presents a thorough study of Xinjiang's history and people from antiquity to the present and takes a balanced look at the position of Turkic Muslims within the People’s Republic of China today. While offering fresh material and perspectives for specialists, this engaging survey of Xinjiang's rich environmental, cultural, and ethno-political heritage is also written for travellers, students, and anyone eager to learn about this vital connector between East and West.

Burmese Painting. A Linear and Lateral History

Andrew Ranard

Colour photographs, xv + 368 pages, index, bibliography, notes, dustjacket, Silkworm Books, Thailand 2009, ISBN 9789749511763. $158.85

This is the first comprehensive history of Burmese painting, from 11th century Pagan to the present, including over 175 painters and more than 300 photographs. The book explores the historical transformations of the art, with psychological interpretations of major artists, the legends which followed them, and analysis of their oeuvres.

Cheng Ho and Islam in Southeast Asia

Tan Ta Sen

Colour and black and white photographic illustrations, xi + 291 pages, index, bibliography, paperback, ISEAS, Singapore, 2009, ISBN: 9789812308375. $89.95

‘Tan Ta Sen's book on Cheng Ho and Islam in Southeast Asia is not the first one on the subject, but it is the first book that puts Cheng Ho's voyages in the larger context of "culture contact" in China and beyond. He has garnered numerous sources, from published documents to architectural sites and buildings, to support his arguments. He has done much more than previous scholars writing on this subject’— Professor Leo Suryadinata, Chinese Heritage Centre (Singapore).

NEW BOOKS FROM THE ASAA SERIES

Southeast Asia Series

Thailand and T’ai Lands: Modern Tai Community
Andrew Walker (ed.)
Paperback, 256pp, NUS Press, 2009, ISBN 9789971694715. US$28, S$38

Kampung, Islam and State in Urban Java
Patrick Guinness
Paperback, 272pp, NUS Press, 2009, ISBN 9789971694708, US$28, S$38

Workers and Intellectuals: NGOs, Trade Unions and the Indonesian Labour Movement
Michele Ford
272pp, paperback, National University of Singapore, 2009, ISBN 9789971694883. $49.95

Javanese Performances on an Indonesian Stage: Celebrating Culture, Embracing Change
Barbara Hatley
Paperback, 321pp, NUS Press, 2008, ISBN 9789971694104. US$28, S$38

Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya: Negotiating Urban Space in Malaysia
Ross King
Paperback, 320pp, NUS Press, 2008, ISBN 9789971694159. US$28, S$38

Women in Asia Series

Gender Islam and Democracy in Indonesia
Kathryn Robinson
Hardback, 230pp, Routledge, 2009, ISBN 9780415415835. $160

Gender and Labour in Korea and Japan: Sexing Class
Ruth Barraclough & Elyssa Faison
Hardback, 160pp, Routledge, 2009, ISBN 9780415776639. $125

Feminist Movements in Contemporary Japan
Laura Dale
Hardback, 176pp, Routledge, 2009. ISBN 9780415459419. $125

Sex, Love and Feminism in the Asia Pacific
Chilla Bulbeck
Hardback, 288pp, Routledge, 2009, ISBN 9780415470063. $150.00

Young Women in Japan: Transitions to Adulthood
Kaori Okano
Hardback, 320pp, Routledge, 2009, ISBN 9780415469418. $150

Gender, State and Social Power in Indonesia
Kate O’Shaughnessy
Hardback, 304pp, Routledge, 2009, ISBN: 9780415476508. $150

Women, Islam and Everyday Life: Renegotiating Polygamy in Indonesia
Nina Nurmila
Hardback, 216pp, Routledge, 2009, ISBN 9780415468022. $130

Books can be ordered through Asia Bookroom.

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Awards and grants

INDONESIAN ADDED TO FULBRIGHT LIST
Fulbright has added Indonesian to the list of eligible languages for Critical Language Enhancement Award funding. Students interested in proposing study or research in Indonesia, including music, dance and theatre, have an excellent chance of receiving extra funding. Go to the Fulbright website (in both the Critical Language Enhancement Award Program information and the individual Participating Country Summary for Indonesia for more information.

AWARDS AND GRANTS FOR THE STUDY OF JAPAN

NLA JAPAN FELLOWSHIP

The National Library of Australia’s annual Japan Fellowship is open to established Australian and international researchers in Japanese studies to undertake extended research based on the NLA collections. Fellowships are not provided to assist with the completion of degree studies, and applications from currently enrolled students will not be considered. The fellowship funds travel to and living costs in Canberra for a 3–6 month period.

Applications for the 2011 calendar year will be accepted from February 2010 until 30 April 2010. For further information on the Japan Study Grants program, contact Amelia McKenzie, Director, Overseas Collections Management, 02 6262 1519. For enquiries about the Japanese Collection, contact Mayumi Shinozaki, Librarian, Japanese Unit, Asian Collections, 02 62621615.

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Positions vacant

 

JOB WEBSITES

These sites offer career prospects for graduates and postgraduate in Asian Studies. If you know of other useful sites advertising jobs for postgrads in Asian Studies, please send them to allan.sharp@homemail.com.au.

http://www.jobs.ac.uk and http://www.acu.ac.uk/adverts/jobs/ advertise worldwide academic posts.

http://isanet.ccit.arizona.edu/employment.html is a free-to-access website run by The International Studies Association.

http://www.reliefweb.int is a free service run by the United Nations to recruit for NGO jobs.

http://www.aboutus.org/DevelopmentEx.com has a paid subscription service providing access to jobs worldwide in the international development industry.

http://h-net.org/jobs is a US-based site with a worldwide scope. Asia-related jobs (mostly academic) come up most weeks.

http://www.aasianst.org/ is the website of the Association for Asian Studies. New job listings are posted on the first and third Monday of each month. You must be a current AAS member to view job listings.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/. The Times Higher Education Supplement.

http://www.comminit.com/ is the site of The Communication Initiative Network. The site includes listings of jobs, consultants, requests for proposals, events, trainings, and books, journals, and videos for sale related to all development issues and strategies. You can view all posts on these pages without registering, but will need to register to post your items.

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Diary dates

TRADE AND INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC: HISTORY, TRENDS AND PROSPECTS, ARC Asia Pacific Futures Research Network 2009 Signature Event, Canberra, 19–20 November 2009. The conference will be held at The Australian National University in partnership with La Trobe University. It will explore the regional and global market integration in trade and industry in Asia Pacific in the context of major changes in the global economy and its historical, institutional and political economy aspects. Online registration open now.

JAPAN: DESCENDING ASIAN GIANT? workshop, Adelaide, 23–24 November 2009, organised by the Japan–Korea node of the Asia Pacific Futures Research Network. Professor J A A Stockwin, University of Oxford, will chair and facilitate the workshop for postgraduates and early career researchers at the University of Adelaide. Ten to 15 speakers from Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States will discuss aspects of contemporary Japanese economy, politics, society, demography and international relations.

MEETING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS: OLD PROBLEMS, NEW CHALLENGES, conference, Melbourne, 30 November–1 December 2009. Organised by the Australian Council for International Development and Institute for Human Security, La Trobe University, the conference will critically engage the Millennium Development Goals and the processes or rather possibilities for change. A key aim is to bring together development practitioners, academics, policy makers and the business community. For more information, see the conference website.

GENDER AND OCCUPATIONS AND INTERVENTIONS IN THE ASIA PACIFIC, 1945–2009, workshop, Wollongong, 10–11 December 2009. Sponsored by the Asia Pacific Futures Research Network, CAPSTRANS and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Wollongong, this small workshop, at the University of Wollongong, will bring together for the first time established scholars, ECRs, postgraduates and community members and activists to discuss issues related to gender, occupation and intervention. A few competitive places for sponsored positions (travel within Australia only and accommodation for two nights) for postgraduates and ECRs are available. See the workshop website for more information or contact the organisers: Dr Rowena Ward or Dr Christine de Matos.

INTERSECTIONS OF AREA, CULTURAL AND MEDIA STUDIES, workshop, Canberra, 25–26 March 2010. Hosted by The Southeast Asian Centre of the Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National University, the workshop represents a collaboration between the Southeast Asia Centre and the Australian National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA). The Workshop coincides with the screening of a selection of new cinematic works from Southeast Asia by the NFSA. Further details. Contact: Kirrilee Hughes.

CONTEXTUALISING GEOGRAPHICAL APPROACHES TO STUDYING GENDER IN ASIA, University of Delhi, 3–5 March 2010. An international seminar organised by the Department of Geography, University of Delhi and the College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU, with the support of the International Geographical Union. Submission of abstracts by 15 November 2009. Contact Anindita Datta or Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt.

IN THE IMAGE OF ASIA: MOVING ACROSS AND BETWEEN LOCATIONS conference, Canberra, 13–15 April 2010. This interdisciplinary conference explores how ‘Asia’ has been imagined, imaged, represented and transferred visually across linguistic, geopolitical and cultural boundaries. It aims to challenge established assumptions (and consumptions) of cultural products of ‘Asia’, from arts, artefacts and film to performance.

ASAA BIENNIAL CONFERENCE, Adelaide, 6–8 July 2010. The 18th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia will be held at the University of Adelaide. Its theme is ‘Asia: Crisis and Opportunity’. See the conference website for further details and call for papers and panels.

DISPLACEMENT, DIVISION AND RENEWAL conference, Sarawak, Malaysia, 8–9 July 2010. The Curtin University Research Unit for the Study of Societies in Change (RUSSIC), in conjunction with Curtin University in Sarawak, is calling for panel proposals for its conference, which will be held at Miri, Sarawak, as a sequel to the conference ‘Crossing Borders’, held in Sarawak in 2007. Call for papers will open on 1 October 2009. A conference website with further registration and location details will open soon. Enquiries and expressions of interest to Dr Aileen Hoath.

You are welcome to advertise Asia-related events in this space. Send details to Allan Sharp.

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About the ASAA

The Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) promotes the study of Asian languages, societies, cultures, and politics in Australia, supports teaching and research in Asian studies and works towards an understanding of Asia in the community at large. It publishes the Asian Studies Review journal and holds a biennial conference.

The ASAA believes there is an urgent need to develop a strategy to preserve, renew and extend Australian expertise about Asia. It has called on the government to show national leadership in the promotion of Australia’s Asia knowledge and skills. See Maximizing Australia's Asia Knowledge Repositioning and Renewal of a National Asset.

Asian Currents is published by the ASAA and edited by Allan Sharp. The editorial board consists of Kathryn Robinson, ASAA President; Michele Ford, ASAA Secretary; Mina Roces, ASAA Publications officer; and Lenore Lyons, ASAA Council member.