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301. Understanding Climate Change on the Tibetan Plateau: Climate Data and Community Knowledge

Author:
Emily Yeh, Huatse Gyal, Kelly Hopping, Hung Nguyen, Boniface Fosu, and Brendan Buckley
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
The Tibetan Plateau spans more than one million square miles at the center of Eurasia with an average elevation of over 12,000 feet - by far the most extensive high-altitude region on Earth. Resulting from the collision of continental plates more than 50 million years ago, the Tibetan Plateau continues to play a major role in determining the climate that we experience today. More recently, the Tibetan Plateau has seen more significant warming than surrounding regions due to its higher altitude. As such, Tibetan communities are at the forefront of experiencing the impacts of climate change and their knowledge of such changes may contribute to better understanding the effects of a changing climate on this most significant region. This round table brought together social science researchers working with Tibetan pastoralist communities on the Tibetan Plateau and climate scientists who have worked in the Himalayas and Asia to discuss how interdisciplinary approaches might enrich understandings of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau and contribute to our knowledge of global climate change.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Pastoralism, and Social Science
Political Geography:
Asia and Tibet

302. Japan, Parasitology, and Framing Developmental Ambitions

Author:
Alex Bay, Aya Homei, John P. DiMoia, Simon Toner, and Paul Kreitman
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
This panel considers the central and formative role of parasitology in Modern Japan (1868-present); and, moreover, explores how Japanese parasitology affected the home islands and the region, not just during the imperial period (Meiji, Taisho, early Showa), but also during post-1945 Showa, suggesting some form of reconfiguration in the post-colonial era. The three papers span specific parasitic diseases and micro- / local Japanese history (Bay), to next considering larger questions of Japan’s public health and ODA (overseas development assistance) structure (Homei), as well as how these ambitions ultimately affected regional partners and neighbors such as South Korea and Vietnam (DiMoia). Simon Toner is the panel discussant, and Paul Kreitman will moderate. If the panel brings together a specific field and a nation-state at its beginning, the aim ultimately is to move forward, looking at how this field influences environments at the micro, regional, and global levels. In sum, the ambition of this panel is to examine parasitology not only as field of practice within Japan / Japanese empire, but also to look at (1) its colonial / imperial implications, and (2) its post-colonial / developmental ambitions. In this sense, the panel seeks to join and contribute to a newer, emerging literature for Japan looking at pre / post-1945 continuities, as well as looking at the effects of Japan’s ODA (overseas development aid) efforts within broader East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Topic:
Development, History, Public Health, and Parasitology
Political Geography:
Japan and East Asia

303. Mobility and Empire in Japanese History

Author:
David Ambaras, Martin Dusinberre, Takahiro Yamamoto, Youjia Li, and Paul Kreitman
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
This panel will gather four scholars engaged in ongoing research on the history of mobility (and immobility) within and beyond the borders of Imperial Japan. Takahiro Yamamoto (University of Heidelberg) will present on “Identification documents and human mobility in the Japanese empire,” exploring how foreign diplomatic pressure and the need to surveil the mobility of colonial populations influenced the Japanese government’s border control policy. Martin Dusinberre (University of Zurich) will present a paper titled "The Archiving of Japanese Mobility in late-nineteenth century Queensland", analysing the history of Japanese migration to Australia under British colonial rule. Youjia Li (Harvard University) will focus on the role of human locomotive power in Japan's formal empire in her paper "The Unexpected Network: Push-car Railways and the Change of Local Mobility in Colonial Taiwan" . David Ambaras (North Carolina State University) will serve as discussant.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Migration, Border Control, History, Colonialism, Empire, and Mobility
Political Geography:
Japan and Asia

304. China’s COVID Response and the State of Local Finance in the Xi Jinping Era

Author:
Christine Wong, Carl Riskin, and Qin Gao
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
In China’s decentralised fiscal system, since virtually all vital public services such as education, healthcare, and social welfare are provided by local governments, a well-functioning intergovernmental fiscal system is essential to ensure local governments have adequate incentives and resources to perform their role. Since 1978, China has overhauled its public finances to create a system able to finance government operations, support economic growth, and supply revenues for the government’s ambitious industrial policies and international initiatives. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed new challenges to China’s public finance that is likely to continue in the years to come. This lecture provides an update on local finance through three decades of reform including those implemented since 2013, when a comprehensive package was announced, with promise of a realignment of central-local revenues and expenditures by 2020. The findings are that local fiscal status has deteriorated since 2015 due to a combination of slowing growth, tax cuts, and reform pressures. This has already led to a decline in social spending as a share of GDP, threatening to reverse some recent gains in improving public services and undermining other policy goals. This event is part of the 2021-2022 lecture series on “COVID-19 Impacts and Responses in China and Beyond” and is co-sponsored by the China Center for Social Policy and the APEC Study Center at Columbia University
Topic:
Reform, Finance, Fiscal Policy, Xi Jinping, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
China and Asia

305. Mediums and Magical Things: Statues, Paintings, and Masks in Asian Places

Author:
Laurel Kendall, Lesley Sharp, Max Moerman, and Myron L. Cohen
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
Paintings, statues, and masks—like the bodies of shamans and spirit mediums—give material form and presence to otherwise invisible entities and sometimes they are understood to be enlivened, agentive on their own terms. This book explores how magical images are expected to work with the shamans and spirit mediums who tend and use them in contemporary South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Bali, Indonesia. It considers how such things are fabricated, marketed, cared for, disposed of, and sometimes transformed into art market commodities and museum artifacts. The two discussants approach this discussion of animated images from two different but intersecting directions. Max Moerman is a scholar of Japanese religion whose work focuses on visual and material representation. Lesley Sharp is a medical anthropologist with an interest in material culture whose recent work has focused on organ transplants and related questions of “life” and “death.” As moderator, Myron Cohen brings a broad knowledge of East Asian popular religion. The event is organized by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by the New York Southeast Asia Network.
Topic:
Religion, Arts, Culture, Spirituality, Museums, Magic, and Mediums
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Asia, South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Bali

306. The Dilemma of the Chinese Diaspora in the Decoupling Era

Author:
Rong Xiaoqing and Qin Gao
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
For a long time, the Chinese diaspora living in the US has played a critical role in building the bridge between China and the US, a role that had been appreciated by both the American and Chinese governments and businesses. But the increasing hostility between the two countries in recent times has undermined these efforts. The deepening tensions have been broadly covered by the media but there has been a lot less attention paid to how this has created perilous situation for many Chinese living in the US. Amid the rising nationalism in both countries, Chinese in the US are often looked at with suspicion, and some have been accused of spying for China. Meanwhile, Chinese immigrants are called “betrayers” of their motherland by fervent nationalists in China simply because they left the country. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic adds to their stress level and makes every Chinese in the US vulnerable as anti-Asian hate crime surges. The speaker, who has been covering the Chinese diaspora in the US for more than two decades and is the author of the New York Times’ recently launched weekly newsletter “Overseas Chinese Journal,” will discuss the struggles of Chinese living in the US in today’s heated political climate, the pain of connecting to both countries but not being accepted by either, their dilemma of picking sides (or not) between the two nations and their confusion about race, nationality, roots, and identity in a decoupling era. She will also shed light on how the media coverage sometimes helps promote the misperceptions about the Chinese community. Rong Xiaoqing is the author of The New York Times’ weekly newsletter “Overseas Chinese Journal.” She is also a reporter for the Chinese language Sing Tao Daily in New York and an Alicia Patterson Fellow (2019). She writes for various English and Chinese language publications in the US and China. Her articles appeared in Foreign Policy, the National Review, The New York Times, the New York Daily News, the South China Morning Post, and China Newsweek, among others. Rong has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, and New America Media. She was the first reporter from a non-English language media to win an award from the Deadline Club. She was a grant recipient of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Fund for Investigative Journalism, and the California Health Endowment. This event is part of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute series “Asia in Action: Knowledge and Inclusion in a Time of Fear and Ignorance" and cosponsored by the China Center for Social Policy at Columbia University.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Nationalism, Diaspora, Media, and Nationality
Political Geography:
China and United States of America

307. Japan's 2021 Elections: What to Watch For

Author:
Tobias Harris, Amy Catalinac, Kenneth McElwain, and Daniel Smith
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
This event took the form of a one-hour roundtable (~10 minutes for each speaker plus Q&A) of experts’ views on what to watch for in the 2021 Japanese general election, which will be held on October 31st.
Topic:
Politics, Elections, and Domestic Politics
Political Geography:
Japan and East Asia

308. Japan's 2021 Elections: What Happened, What's Next?

Author:
Yusaku Horiuchi, Yesola Kweon, Charles McClean, and Daniel Smith
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
This event will take the form of a one-hour roundtable (~10 minutes for each speaker plus Q&A) of experts’ views on the main takeaways from the 2021 Japanese general election, which was held on October 31st, 2021. This roundtable of experts will explain the results of the election, and what they might signify for Japan’s domestic and foreign policy going forward. This event is cosponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the APEC Study Center.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Politics, Elections, and Domestic Policy
Political Geography:
Japan and Asia

309. Human Rights in Southeast Asia and China

Author:
Donald Emmerson, Sarah Cook, and Amy Freedman
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
Human rights in Southeast Asia have deteriorated along with democratic freedoms. Don Emmerson will give an overview of human rights issues in Southeast Asia and look at how Chinese foreign policy in Southeast Asia affects, and is affected by, the more despotic character of ASEAN’s mainland compared with its maritime member states. He will address how much or how little influence China has in the region. Sarah Cook will then address the issue from the other side; looking at China’s internal political dynamics and rights abuses and how China’s foreign policy towards Southeast Asia is affected by those domestic conflicts. This event is co- sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Global Asia Institute at Pace University.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Democracy, and ASEAN
Political Geography:
China and Southeast Asia

310. Open Science: Sino US Collaboration in an Age of Surveillance

Author:
Xiaoxing Xi, Ben Liebman, Aruna Viswanatha, Robert Mawhinney, X. Edward Guo, Jennifer La'O, and Eurgenia Lean
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
This panel is a part of “Asia in Action: Knowledge and Inclusion in a Time of Fear and Ignorance,” a series focused on discrimination and violence towards Asians and individuals of Asian descent, systemic racism, and topics of race and ethnicity in relation to Global East Asia more broadly. The Weatherhead East Asian Institute’s (WEAI) Asia in Action initiative is a dynamic showcase of scholarly work, artistic endeavors, and political action related to East and Southeast Asia. Asia in Action highlights the work and experiences of groundbreaking professionals, including writers, designers, artists, and activists working in East and Southeast Asia, and explores topics that are pressing and timely in our rapidly changing world. Past events have covered a variety of topics, including shifts in Asian diasporic identity, and gender, fashion, and sustainability.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Discrimination, Surveillance, and Collaboration
Political Geography:
China and United States of America