2014年7月23日

11/22-24 Southeast Asia Seminar "Connectivity in Southeast Asia"

京都大学東南アジア研究所では、11月22~24日に、カンボジアのシエムリアップでConnectivity in Southeast Asiaと題するセミナーを開催します。同セミナーは、1977年より毎年一度、東南アジア研究所が、若手の学生・研究者を集めて東南アジア研究に関わるホットイシューを検討するものです。2010年以降は、海外に場所を移して開催してきましたが、今年はカンボジアで行うことになりました。

参加希望者は、まず、以下のURLにアクセスして登録を行ってください。その後、8月後半に予定されているセレクションで受講者を決定します。日本からは、2~3名の予定です。参加費用は、東南アジア研究所が負担します。

英語ベースのセミナーですが、東南アジア各国から集まる若手研究者と交流を深める良い機会ですので、ぜひ応募をご検討ください。

http://www.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/fostering-research/young-researcher-education/southeast-asian-seminar-2014/

Southeast Asia Seminar

The Southeast Asia Seminar has been held every summer since 1977. Initially, the seminar ran for two weeks, offering intensive lectures that provided an overview of the nature, culture, society, economy, and other aspects of the region and the basic knowledge needed to understand the concept of area studies. Subsequently, it became more topically focused, and the period had been shortened to one week for the convenience of participants. The seminar is open to the public and has attracted numerous participants each year, particularly postgraduate students starting their engagement with Southeast Asian studies. Since the 1990s, with the increase in similar seminars off-campus, we attracted continued interest by choosing relevant topics and changing the format of participation. In seeking to go with the times, at the 33rd seminar in Kyoto, we attempted an all-English seminar including lecturers from outside Japan. Since then, we have been holding a series of seminars in different countries in Southeast Asia, and participants have applied from all over the world. It provides a great opportunity for Japanese graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to exchange ideas with young scholars outside of Japan. The 36th seminar was held in collaboration with the Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos and was entitled “Cities and Cultures in Southeast Asia.” 20 researchers from 13 nations in Southeast Asian and also the U.K., Germany and the U.S. participated. The seminar has come to offer a framework for exchanges between young and upcoming scholars in the region.

Southeast Asia Seminar 2014 »

Connectivity in Southeast Asia:
Multidisciplinary approaches to understanding global transformations

    Connectivity has always been a part of Southeast Asian culture and nature and defined relations both within and beyond nations in the region. This seminar will explore and examine the interface between both old and new forms of connectivity in the region. Through multidisciplinary approaches that tackle the concept of connectivity, it will also shed light on how people, products and ideas are linked across spatial and temporal boundaries both in the past and the present. Vibrant forms of connectivity have always existed in Southeast Asia.

    However, how did cultural, religious, political, and economic flows enable long-distance connectivity between places and peoples across the region in the past? And what are the significant new lines of connectivity that enhance or disrupt the old modes of connectivity?

    Increasing participation in a global economy, increasing mobility, and regional integration has accelerated connectivity in people’s lives in Southeast Asia at a national, regional, and global level. People, goods, services, and information are moving faster than ever creating new connections. Under these dynamic global conditions, how are the mutual interactions between human activity and the natural environment changing?

    In 2015, Southeast Asia will undergo a major transformation and become ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). On one hand, this shows an effort to formalize region-wide connectivity and integration. What forms of grassroots and informal connectivity are emerging in the region? How will institutional connectivity between nations and across civilsocieties influence each other?

    The seminar will focus on themes of particular relevance to reviewing connectivity in Southeast Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective in order to assess the dynamism and interconnectedness of the region. We approach this region in terms of connectivity: historical, geographical, religious, and cultural. Though four sessions “Scale of connectivity: linking places across borders,” “Mobility and Connectivity,” “Human Nature Connectivity,” and “Communicative connectivity: information, media, and language” as well as field observations in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the seminar will examine how places and people have been connected and consider the multiple spatial connections in Southeast Asia, including migration flows, media, telecommunication lines, cultural diffusions, trade networks, resource flows, and social movements.

The Southeast Asia Seminar has been held annually by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University since 1977. Organized thematically around a variety of topics, the seminar offers three full days of intensive lectures by experts in the field and group discussions and presentations by the participants.This year, the Southeast Asia Seminar will be an international seminar held in Siem Reap. It is currently looking for applications from young and up-and-coming scholars in Southeast and East Asia.

Participation is free. Roundtrip airfare, accommodation, and per diem
allowance for the seminar will be covered by the sponsors.

Applications
We are accepting applications for the seminar. Successful applicants will be contacted toward the end of August.