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The Network
Research
IIAS Research, Networks, and Initiatives IIAS research and other initiatives are carried out within a number of thematic, partially overlapping research clusters in phase with contemporary Asian currents and built around the notion of social agency. In addition, IIAS remains open to other potentially significant topics. More information: www.iias.asia
IIAS research clusters Asian Cities
Urban Knowledge Network Asia (UKNA)
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he Urban Knowledge Network Asia (UKNA) is an inclusive network that brings together concerned scholars and practitioners engaged in collaborative research and events on cities in Asia. It seeks to influence policy by contributing insights that put people at the centre of urban governance and development strategies. The UKNA Secretariat is at IIAS, but the network comprises universities and planning institutions across China, India, Southeast Asia and Europe. Its current flagship project is the Southeast Asia Neighbourhoods Network (SEANNET). See p.47 of this issue for a Call for Papers from UKNA. www.ukna.asia Coordinator: Paul Rabé p.e.rabe@iias.nl Clusters: Asian Cities; Asian Heritages
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EANNET is about research, teaching and dissemination of knowledge on Asia through the prism of the neighbourhood. The programme is supported by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, NY (2017-2020). Through case study sites in six selected cities in Southeast Asia (Mandalay, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Surabaya), SEANNET seeks to engages the humanistic social sciences in a dialogue with urban stakeholders as co-contributors of alternative knowledge about cities. This is done through a
This cluster deals with cities and urban cultures with their issues of flows and fluxes, ideas and goods, and cosmopolitism and connectivity at their core, framing the existence of vibrant ‘civil societies’ and political microcultures. Through an international knowledge network, IIAS aims to create a platform for scholars and urban practitioners focusing on Asian cities ‘in context’ and beyond traditional western norms of knowledge.
Southeast Asia Neighborhoods Network (SEANNET) combination of participatory field-research, in-situ roundtables, workshops, conferences, publications and new forms of pedagogy developed in collaboration with local institutions of learning. SEANNET’s second ambition is to help shape and empower a community of early-career scholars and practitioners working on and from Southeast Asia. SEANNET’s research teams comprise international and local scholars, students from local universities, and civil society representatives, all working together with the neighbourhood residents. www.ukna.asia/seannet Coordinators: Paul Rabé p.e.rabe@iias.nl and Rita Padawangi Singapore University of Social Sciences ritapadawangi@suss.edu.sg Cluster: Asian Cities
Asian Heritages This cluster focuses on the uses of culture and cultural heritage practices in Asia. In particular, it addresses a variety of definitions associated with cultural heritage and their implications for social agency. The cluster engages with a broad range of related concepts and issues, including the contested assertions of ‘tangible’ and ‘intangible’, concepts such as ‘authenticity’, ‘national heritage’ and ‘shared heritage’, and, in general, with issues pertaining to the political economy of heritage.
Global Asia Asia has a long history of transnational linkages with other parts of the world, thereby shaping the global order, as much as the world at large continues to shape Asia. The Global Asia Cluster addresses contemporary issues related to Asia’s projection into the world as well as trans-national interactions within the Asian region itself. In addition IIAS aims to help develop a more evenly balanced field of Asian Studies by collaborating in trans-regional capacity building initiatives and by working on new types of methodological approaches that encourage synergies and interactions between disciplines, regions and practices.
The Forum on Health, Environment and Development (FORHEAD)
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The Forum on Health, Environment and Development (FORHEAD) is an interdisciplinary network that brings together natural, medical and social scientists to explore the implications of environmental and social change for public health in China and beyond. www.iias.asia/programmes/forhead Coordinator: Jennifer Holdaway j.a.holdaway.2@iias.nl Cluster: Global Asia
Double Degree in Critical Heritage Studies of Asia and Europe
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nitiated by IIAS, this programme involves Leiden University in the Netherlands, two Institutes at National Taiwan University in Taiwan and one at Yonsei University in South Korea. Discussions with other possible partners in Asia are ongoing. The programme offers selected students the opportunity to follow a full year study at one of the partner institutes with full credits and a double degree. The curriculum at Leiden University benefits from the contributions of Prof Michael Herzfeld (Harvard) as a guest teacher and the Senior Advisor to the Critical Heritage Studies Initiative of IIAS. www.iias.asia/programmes/criticalheritage-studies Coordinator: Elena Paskaleva e.g.paskaleva@hum.leidenuniv.nl Cluster: Asian Heritages
