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May 2020

May 2020

Arief Budiman (1941-2020): liberated intellectual in authoritarian times

When I last met him, in his stylish bamboo-walled house in Salatiga in April last year, I thanked him for what he had done for me. Arief looked puzzled. “You taught me politics,” I said. Then he smiled. My hair had grown white. His body, eleven years older than mine, was wasted by Parkinsons. We […]

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The current state of Japanese Studies in Australia in 2020

Rebecca Suter, ASAA Japan liaison Japanese language and culture courses are offered in more than 20 universities in Australia. Some universities only offer a few language classes, but several universities including UWA, ANU, University of Sydney, UNSW, Melbourne, Monash have dedicated programs with eight-ten continuing staff members, supplemented by several casual teachers; they offer full

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Censorship and Sinology in the Era of Chinese Neo-Authoritarianism

As China changes, so does Sinology or the study of China. Under President Xi Jinping, China has become more repressive at home and more assertive internationally. These changes are having direct impacts on the Chinese studies community in Australia and beyond, causing scholars to make some difficult decisions about what they say in public, what

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The state of Indonesian language in Australian universities: the past 20 years.

A recent volume tracing ‘the journey of Australia’s first Asian language’ (Thomas, 2019) finds that, while successive Australian governments have identified Indonesia as Australia’s most important neighbour and as a key to Australia’s prosperity and security, this recognition has not sustained interest among Australians in studying the language. For the last two decades, the study

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