Sessions – Asian Melting Pot

Program file:

Session I: “Revisiting Sites of Modernity”

Panel 1

Moderator/Discussant

Dr. Thibodi Buakamsri
Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

Dr. Thibodi Buakamsri is a lecturer at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. He acquired his doctoral degree in South and Southeast Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley in 2018. His area of expertise include Post-Angorian Khmer social and literary history, the history of Cambodia’s relations with neighboring countries, and the history of Southeast Asia. He is the author of one among the most popular textbooks on Cambodian history (ประวัติศาสตร์กัมพูชา) in the Thai language, which is currently on its third publication.

Presenters

Name: Mr. Muhammad Izuan bin Abdul Rahman

Position: Graduate Student

Affiliation: History Department, School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia

“The Role Malay Elite in Modernization Johor, 1862- 1914.”

This paper aims to examine the role of the Malay elite during the era of modernization Johor from 1862 to 1914. The main objective of this study is to detail the role of the Malay elite in completing the modernization process initiated by the ruler of Johor. When Maharaja Abu Bakar took over the reins of Johor in 1862, he took the initiative to implement elements and techniques from the West into the administration of Johor. At the same time, Maharaja Abu Bakar also brought in European administrators to modernize Johor holistically. Therefore, is not surprising when historians tend to give focus and credit to Maharaja Abu Bakar and his British administrators on the success of modernizing Johor. This situation indirectly obscures the role and contribution of the Malay elite that played a significant role in the modernization of Johor. This study was stopped in 1914 because in that year Johor officially fell into British imperialism. Archival and library research methods were used in this study. Therefore, primary and secondary sources will be analyzed and synthesized to extract facts and information. The study proves that the Malay elite plays a significant role in completing the modernization process initiated by the ruler of Johor.

Keywords: Malay Elite, History of Johor, Modernization, British in Johor

Muhammad Izuan is a postgraduate student in the History Department, School of Humanities Universiti Sains Malaysia. His field of study is Malay Historiography & Malaysia Political History. He is currently conducting a study on the role of the local elite in the modernization of Johor with a focus on the local genius aspects and “history from the gap”.

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Name: Dr. Pimmanus Wibulsilp

Position: Lecturer

Affiliation: Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

“Dispute over “the Islamic School of Mr. Nana”: Bangkok as a site of confrontation between Siamese modernization, Islamic tradition, and British colonization”

As is generally known, European imperialism which arrived in Asia during the nineteenth century had a great impact on Siam (or present-day Thailand) no less than on other parts of Asia. In order to escape western colonization, the Siamese courts during the nineteenth-twentieth century employed diverse diplomatic schemes and launched various reforms to turn Siam into a modern nation according to contemporary western standards. One of the best sites to observe the process of self-westernization or self-modernization, as one might call it, was probably Thailand’s capital of Bangkok. From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, the city itself and the lives of the population living in this cosmopolitan center were heavily transformed by diverse modernizing programs.

This article centers on a dispute over “the Islamic School of Mr. Nana” in the early 1920s involving three main parties: the Siamese government, “Mr. Nana”—the head of an Indo-Muslim family of prestige in Bangkok, who was also a subject of British India at the time—, and the British Legation in Siam. The incident illustrates how the traditional way of life of an ethnic community in cosmopolitan Bangkok was affected by the Siamese’s attempts to modernize its educational and legal systems, and how the old establishment attempted to fight back. This event also shed light on another intriguing facet of modernization in Siam and, at the same time, can well reflect the complexity of the wider Asian modernity, for at one point in this transitional period, the interests of Siamese modernization and those of the British Indian colonization, came into collision. The conflict of interests curiously turned the Europeans—usually portrayed in history invariably as the stimulant of modernization; as an initiator, a forceful hand, or a helper—into a major obstacle to Siamese modernization.

Pimmanus Wibulsilp is currently a lecturer at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. After earning her bachelor’s degree in history from Chulalongkorn University, she moved to the Netherlands to pursue her graduate studies. She received her Ph.D. in April 2019 from faculty of Humanities, Leiden University. Her doctoral thesis is titled Nawabi Karnatak: Muhammad Ali Khan in the Making of a Mughal Successor State in Pre-colonial South India, 1749-1795. It is aimed to re-write the history of an eighteenth-century South Indian state through the voices and perspectives of its local ruler, in order to bring it out of the old Eurocentric frameworks. Her main academic interests have been the history of South Asia from early modern to colonial period and the history of early modern Thailand (Ayutthaya), especially on the aspects of cross-cultural encounters and transnational relationships. In 2017, in cooperation with a Thai historian Bhawan Ruangsilp, Wibulsilp published an article on Ayutthaya history title “Ayutthaya and the Indian Ocean in the 17th and 18th Centuries: International Trade, Cosmopolitant Politics, and Transnational Networks” (Journal of the Siam Society, 2017, vol. 105, 97-114). Recently, Wibulsilp has broadened her research interest into the history of Thai-Indian relationships and the Indian communities in Thailand.

Name: Assoc. Prof. Sawitree Charoenpong

Affiliation: Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

““Modernity” in Old Bangkok”

The establishment of Bangkok as the capital of Siam occurred in 1782. It was situated on the eastern side of the Chao Phraya River which, previously, had been a part of the former capital, Thonburi. The purpose of this study is to show that there have been some aspects of modernity in old Bangkok since it was founded even though, at that time, it was in the pre-modern period, according to Thai history. During the first century of the Bangkok period, from its foundation through its expansion, there are at least two main aspects to show that old Bangkok was built and enlarged under some concepts which also occurred later in most modern cities. These two aspects are the ideas of ring routes and city planning. With regard to the idea of ring routes, old Bangkok was surrounded not only, from the beginning, by water ring routes but also, later, by ring roads. According to city planning, the main factors causing Bangkok’s shape and the direction of expansion were the considerations of zoning, security and transportation. In conclusion, although there are some aspects of modernity that occurred in old Bangkok during the first century of Bangkok history, all these developments in the physical environment of Bangkok appeared to have been influenced by factors that arose from circumstances of those times.

Panel 2

Moderator/Discussant

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wasana Wongsurawat
Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

Wasana Wongsurawat is an associate professor of history at the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. Her research interests include transnational history, the history of the ethnic Chinese in Thailand and Southeast Asia, and the history of Sino-Thai relations. Her first monograph, The Crown and the Capitalists: The Ethnic Chinese and the Founding of the Thai Nation was published with the University of Washington Press in 2019.

Presenters

Name: Prof. Dr. Lwin Lwin Mon

Affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Yangon

“Impact of exposure to information technology on marriage trends among Urban Karen, Chin, Danu in Myanmar”

In Myanmar, over 100 ethnic groups live together and there exists diverse marriage patterns in rural and urban living areas. This paper explores the impact of exposure to information technology on marriage trends among Urban Karen, Chin, Danu in Myanmar. After Democracy of 2010 in Myanmar, there starts to know the information technology more and foreign investments for mobile phones were large and reached to the public throughout the whole country. People can use mobile phones not only in urban cities but also in rural villages. Over 100 ethnic groups live in Myanmar and among them, Urban Karen, Chin and Danu ethnic people have different traditions and diverse marriage patterns and various ways of seeking a marriage partner. Urban Karen prefers to marry internal marriage according to their traditions and religiously based matchmaking within their own communities. Chin people marry with their own consents more and in Northern Chin State; some have premarital sex, co-habitations, and internet-dating marriage. Danus prefers to marry within their own communities in olden days, parental choice of spouse, arranged marriage and nowadays, the youths seek their marriage partners online dating via social media like facebook, instagram and twitter. The aim of this research is to analyze the multiple disciplines of marriage trends and the effect of information technology on marriage trends among Karen, Chin, Danu living in various places in Myanmar with different identities and customs. It was based on ethnographic field works in 2017-2019 with using desk-reviews, IDI, KII, group discussion methodologies. (250 words)

Keyword: diverse marriage patterns, multiple disciplines of marriage trends, effect of information technology on marriage trends

Dr. Lwin Lwin Mon is a Professor of Department of Anthropology, University of Yangon, Myanmar. She had got her BA(Hons)(1991), MA(1995) and PhD(2012) degree in Anthropology Specialization, University of Yangon and Diploma(1998), MA(2000) and MRes(2001) degree in Archeology Specialization and Diploma in English (2004) in University of Yangon. Within over 26 years’ experience in teaching & researches, 11 International Conference Proceedings Publications, 12 internal publications, 5 internal and 2 international research projects, 7 other international presentation and public lectures were conducted.

In 2013, the Korea-Myanmar Joint International Project supported by KOICA for Inclusive Local Community Development in Myanmar participated as a researcher. And then, attended as a fellow of Asian leader at ALFP 2013 Program and gave the public lecture at Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan. In 2015, conducted research presentation at International Conference on the Australia Myanmar Institute, University of Yangon and conducted research presentation at Chaing Mai Conference, Thailand. She attended CEU research fellow development program and gave public lecture at Dhamma Gate College, Hungary and presented in Round-table discussion in Central European University, Hungary. During 2017, conducted research presentation at The 2017 Myanmar Update Conference, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. In 2018, presented research at 2nd International Conference on Burma/ Myanmar Studies, University of Mandalay and conducted “Curriculum Development program “at History and Social Anthropology Department, Konstanz University, Germany. She also presented research on International Conference of Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2019, she conducted presentations at International Conference on Passau University, Germany, and at Australian Myanmar Institute International Conference on University of Yangon. And then, she presented her research outcome at Webinar of DIIS- Danish Institute for International Studies, Online via Zoom in 2020 September.

Present days, she is doing as a joint research project with Dannish Institute for International Studies, Aarhus University and University of Yangon.

Name: Mr. Gunha Kim

Position: Graduate Student

Affiliation: Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, Seoul National University

“Iranian Martyrdom: Embedded Masculinity in the Discourse of Ali Shariati and Morteza Avini”

This research finds changing notions of masculinity in Iranian religious nationalism as a ‘site of modernity,’ where the concept of modern gendered subject is contested and negotiated. It analyzes embedded masculinity in late-twentieth century Iranian political discourses centering on martyrdom or shahadat by focusing on works of two prominent Iranian cultural theorists, Ali Shariati (1933-1977) and Morteza Avini(1947-1993). Both men focused on the potentiality of religious traditions for making political changes; the former, as a scholar-activist before 1979 Iranian Revolution, re-interpreted Islam into revolutionary ideology through the medium of books, articles, and speeches, and the latter, as a documentary filmmaker during the Iran-Iraq war, played crucial role in re-capturing revolutionary ideology and turning it into one that can be utilized in favor of the state, utilizing visual media. Previously, masculine nature of Iranian history and patriarchal religious interpretations constituting sociopolitical activities and apparatuses have been criticized by Iranian gender studies (Afary, Mir-Hosseini, Shahrokni), and the discourse of martyrdom has been proposed as being representative of this trend (Aghaie, Gerami, Moallem, Najmabadi). This research finds them problematic in the sense that ‘Islamic masculinity’ has been considered monolithic and static, devoid of change in contrary to heterogenic Islamic femininities. By tracking differentiated masculinity in the discourse of Avini from the one of Shariati, this research observes a destruction of family and construction of patriarchal state and differentiated notions of modern male subject from autonomous and independent thinker to loyal and unquestioning soldier in fraternal hierarchy.

Gunha Kim is currently in his master’s course, studying modern Iranian history at the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, Seoul National University. He achieved his B.As in West Asian Languages and Civilizations, and International Relations from the same institution, where he graduated with the highest grade from the former major and was awarded with the best paper award from the latter major. His current academic interest lies in masculinity embedded in political ideologies of Iran. Especially he would like to investigate proactive local masculinities in non-Western context, overcoming prevalent views toward non-Western masculinities as distorted ones inflicted by Western hegemonic masculinity. His current research focuses on masculinity of religious nationalism of Iran, but he intends to broaden his scope toward Middle East, Asia, and Islamicate world in future. He has been awarded in Korean Middle Eastern Studies Student Paper Contest with his article, “Blood, History, and Soil: Strategy of Iranian Jewish Diaspora in United States,” where he investigated alternative identity formation of Iranian Jews diaspora in United States vis-à-vis national identity proposed by Islamic Republic of Iran.

Name: Mr. Akkanut Wantanasombut

Position: Graduate Student

Affiliation: Thai Studies Center, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

“Sending money back home: Banking digitalisation, Myanmar migrant workers, and Thailand-Myanmar border trade.”

The ministry of labour of Thailand reports that Thailand has accepted approximately 3 million legal migrant workers from her neighbouring countries, two-thirds of these migrant workers came from Myanmar. For decades, this huge number of migrant workers from Myanmar, directly and indirectly, benefits Thailand-Myanmar border trade in many aspects, including when Burmese workers sending money, they earned in Thailand back to their family at home.

In the past, accessing to banking and financial services in rural Myanmar where most of the migrant workers came from were limited. In the areas where no formal channel available, the workers have no other choice to send money back home. The only informal system allows them to do so. Through this channel, not only workers can send money home with a cheaper fee, Burmese and Thai traders are able to offset their trade. As there are many Burmese workers in Thailand, the money workers sent home become a significant part of the Thai-Myanmar border trade. However, the digitalization of banking and financial system has offered the migrant workers choices of remittance.

This paper studies how the development of economic activities, financial, and banking that evolved and revolved around the border trade. Field research was conducted by using a semi-structured interview of totally 32 Myanmar migrant workers whose lives and work in Samutsakorn province and 9 Thai border traders at Mae Sot. Base on the interviews, it turns out to be that the digitalization of banking is, actually, strengthening informal banking as it makes a faster and better money distribution.

Keyword: Myanmar Migrant Workers in Thailand, Thailand-Myanmar Border Trade, Illegal Remittance, Banking Digitalisation.

Akkanut grew up in Bangkok. After receiving his B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering in 2002, he was active in various industries, such as construction, electronics, automotive, restaurant, and import-export. His career led him to travel throughout the Asian region and brought about a growing interest in the societies and cultures of his neighboring countries. He went back to school at Chulalongkorn University in 2011, where he received his M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies. Akkanut’s M.A. thesis research about the smuggling trade on the Thai-Myanmar border. After his M.A. he moved to Chiang Mai where he developed his research interested in a various issue including the digital transformation and social impact of the platform economy. Akkanut returned to Bangkok and enrolled for his Ph.D. in Thai Studies in 2017.

Akkanut’s Ph.D. research topic is about the Thailand-Myanmar-Ethnic Armed Groups relationship during the Cold War. He is currently working at the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University as a researcher focus on Thailand-Myanmar relations. Though his general research interest lies in historical and contemporary Myanmar, his passion for digital transformation continually drives him to pursue his research on digital economy.

Session II: “The Humanity of Migration”

Panel 3

Moderator/Discussant

Dr. Pimmanus Wibulsilp

Lecturer, Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

Presenters

Name: Mr. Hatib Abdul Kadir

Position: Lecturer

Affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Universitas Brawijaya,

“Orang dagang people of Eastern Indonesia”

This article tries to debunk numerous studies on migrant traders (orang dagang) who are depicted as people who live separately from the natives as they have different values of living (Chou, 2010; Landa, 1994; Russel, 1987). Orang dagang, in Maluku Province, Eastern Indonesia, are considered “outsiders” that do not belong to the local culture, even though they have lived in the Malukan islands for centuries. Orang dagang are mostly migrants from Sulawesi Island (Butonese, Buginese, and Makassarese). The presence of these migrants in Maluku has also influenced ethnic and cultural diversity. Mostly orang dagang work in the trade sector as moneylenders, middlemen, and shop owners. Although orang dagang have been disadvantaged by customary law and being seen as outsiders, they have developed strategies to offset these difficulties by managing a variety of economic exchanges to their advantage. Focusing on the way orang dagang develop their economic transactions as well as social relationships, this article describes factors that contribute to ease jealousy and exclusion that are coming from local people. I emphasize factors that connect between local and migrants on two main discussions, first is on political expansion from business, and second from the ways of moral economy in order to distribute public goodness, fairness and well-being to the place where they are living. This article was produced from digging up the historical roles of orang dagang in the market and trade exchanges in the Malukan archipelago as well as ethnographic research that was conducted in Ambon City, the capital of Moluccas Province, from March 2017 to March 2019.

Hatib A Kadir gained his BA of Anthropology from Gadjah Mada University in 2007. In 2010, he got his master on Religious and Cross-cultural Studies from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. He then got another MA on Anthropology from University of California, Santa Cruz, USA in 2014. He finishes his PhD of Anthropology from University of California, Santa Cruz. His dissertation is on the topics of exchanged commodities and upward mobility among the migrants in the aftermath of sectarian conflict in the Moluccas Province, Indonesia.

Hatib is a recipient of Fulbright Doctor Fellowship in 2012-2015. Recipient Ethnographic Summer Field School, Tallahassee, Florida, funded by NSF (National Science Foundation). He is also a recipient Dissertation Fellowship Award, Chancellor Blumenthal. He is now also a lecturer in the department of Anthropology, Brawijaya University and a visiting professor at School of Foreign Languages, at Peking University. He is now conducting a research focusing on migration, ethnic relations, contentious citizenship and racism in West Papua Province.

Name: Prof. Dr. Moe Moe Oo

Affiliation: Department of History, University of Mandalay

“Natural Settle Life and Literate Environment Status of Yinnet Ethnic Group in Myanmar with Special References to Kyu Yone Village”

The purpose of this work is to give a description of a new approach to study theYinnet ethnic group. They are descended from Mon-khmer stock. Since over one hundred years ago, Yin-net ethnic groups have migrated from hilly regions. They also live in Kyu-yon Village and neighboring hillstwo miles away from Panglon University, Panglon Township and villages in Kyethe-mansan region, Southern Shan State, Myanmar. Their role in ethnic origin and orthography were pointed out of natural settle life.This paper analyses adult literacy based on55 household listindicators of success. The paper analyses the status and characteristics of Yinnet literacy analyze research since 2009. Social trends are analysed in terms of the five key aspects of the suggested framework for successful ethnic literacy research. Four case studies on major literacy reference with Kyu Yone village is used to expand on these social trends in greater depth, particularly with regard to their specific features, challenges, notice factors and results. These include linking large-scale literacy to processes of social change and development and opportunities for further learning and improved availability, reliability and comparability of literacy data to facilitate improved planning and a more targeted approach. We hope that this work will create the ethnic orthography, regional research skill and literate environ.

Keyword: origin, orthography, education status

Name: Ms. Thi Thi Khine

Position: Lecturer

Affiliation: Department of Archaeology, Dagon University

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Name(Co-author): Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nyein Nyein Myint

Affiliation: Department of Archaeology, University of Yangon

“Cultural traditions of Kadu national in Bamouk Township, Katha District, Upper Sagaing Division, Myanmar”

The study of cultural traditions of Kadu national who live in Bamouk Township, Katha District, Upper Sagaing Division, Myanmar. Kadu and Kanan nationals lived together in the Katha District. Katha District was included Katha, Bamouk, Pinlebu, Wintho, Kawlin, Indaw and Hteechaint. Kadu villages are 42 villages in total. Settaw village is the largest of Kadu village. The people mostly depend on farming. Forming and agriculture are their economy. Gold is found in Bamouk area. Kadu dug gold and sent gold to the Myanmar King in Koungbound Period (1782-1885). Kadu national believe in Buddhism. But they worship the native traditional spirit or gods. The ethnic of Kadu national are small minority of ethnic group Myanmar. They are very simple ancient ethnic people. But, they have still kept their traditional culture. They have no their own alphabets and they used Myanmar writing for written language. For spoken language, they used Kadu language. Kadu language is very similar with Kachin language. Some words are similar with Shan language. The chronicle which mention that ancient Tagaung city was the central town of Kadu people in Man-shu of Chinese. In this paper, the study on beginning of Kadu national and their cultural tradition, we can study the people of Kadu and their customs, belief, traditional art, socio-economic and ethnic. So, we can maintain their culture and encourage of Kadu national to preserve of their heritage and to promote of education, health and regional concerns.

Keyword: Kadu, ethnic, socio-economic, ethno history, Kachin, Shan.

Thi Thi Khine is a senior lecturer at the Department of Archaeology, Dagon University, Yangon Region, Myanmar. She accepted her Master degree in the field of Archaeology from the University of Yangon, Yangon, Myanmar in 2003. She lectured in the classes of undergraduate and postgraduate at the Department of Archaeology, Yadanabon University, Mandalay Region, and Dagon University, Yangon Region, Myanmar. She also supervised the candidates of Master in writing thesis. She is doing the research project on beliefs, customs, cultures and arts of Kadu and Kanan Nationals in Katha District, Upper Sagaing Region, Myanmar, and she is writing the research paper on Myanmar’s Protohistoric sites of Halin ancient city and Tagaung ancient city (Today, A few of Kadu and Kanan nationals are found in Tagaung). She is interest in Ethno archaeology and trying to express the evolution and connection between the cultures and of living societies and past in Upper Myanmar. She published the research paper “The study on Ethno history and Cultural traditions of Kanan National in Nanzar village, Banmouk Township, Katha District, Upper Sagaing Region, Myanmar”, 1st Myanmar International Science and Culture Conference 2019 MISCC, Myitkyina University, Myanmar.

Nyein Nyein Myint is an associate professor at the Department of Archaeology, University of Yangon, Yangon, Myanmar. She accepted her PhD in the field of Archaeology especially burial practices of Pyu from the University of Yangon, Yangon, Myanmar in 2017. She She lectured in the classes of undergraduate and postgraduate at the Department of Archaeology, Yadanabon University, Mandalay Region, Dagon University and University of Yangon, Yangon, Myanmar. She also supervised the candidates of Master in writing thesis. She is doing the research project about the study of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Burial Practice at Samon Valley and Pyu Ancient Cities (World Heritage Site). She is writing the research paper about beliefs and religion in burial sites. She is interest in burial practices from Prehistoric to Protohistoric through Historic period until present time in Myanmr. Her purpose is to point out gender issues, religious, rituals and beliefs, the social and political positions of the deceased, the wealth of community networks of social relations, memory customs, dietary habits and characters of life style of past societies by studying burial practices. She published the research papers “Rectangular shaped burial structures outside the city wall of Beikthano” Yadanabon University Research Journal, Volume 9, 2018, and “Burial Structures of Beikthano Pyu” 2nd International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies, Proceedings, History: Cultural Evidences, Cultural Heritage and Social Memory, Volume 6, 2018.

Panel 4

Moderator/Discussant

Asst. Prof. Dr. Jack Meng-Tat Chia
Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore

Jack Meng-Tat Chia is an Assistant Professor of History and Religious Studies at the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on Buddhism and Chinese popular religion in maritime Southeast Asia, transnational Buddhism, and Sino-Southeast Asian interactions. His first book, Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity across the South China Sea (Oxford 2020), explores the connected history of Buddhist communities in China and Southeast Asia in the twentieth century. He is co-editor of Living with Myths in Singapore (Ethos, 2017) and has published articles in journals such as Archipel, Asian Ethnology, China Quarterly, Contemporary Buddhism, History of Religions, and Journal of Chinese Religions. Born and raised in Singapore, Chia received his Ph.D. from Cornell University, where his dissertation won the Lauriston Sharp Prize. Before teaching at NUS, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Buddhist Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

Presenters

Name: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lwin Lwin Aung

Affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Yangon

“Male Migration Effect on Families Left behind Evidence in Myanmar”

Migration is particularly important in developing countries like Myanmar where it is an important social practice and economic factor. Migration is widespread in Myanmar: large shares of households in the countries for which data are available have at least one member who migrated, either international or internal migration. The effects of migration on left behind families has primarily focused on the implications of absent fathers on children, particularly in Africa and Asia with historically-entrenched male migration systems (de Haas 2007; Reed, et. al. 2010). However, male migration from Myanmar may make heavy demand on women who are left behind and are required to shoulder all household responsibilities and production activities. This research examines the international migration on male left behind families often focuses on absent fathers, particularly in Myanmar. This study is to elicit how the socio-cultural challenges facing wife of migrants? What are they effect of cultural constrains on women adjustment to life in the absence of their husband? Data collected were ethnographic fieldwork among women in Myanmar. In this study, an effort has been made to understand the effect of relationship between male migration and the family left behind is an important.

Keyword: effect, family, left-behind, male migration, Myanmar

Lwin Lwin Aung is Associate Professor at Department of Anthropology, University of Yangon. She attained her B.A (2002) and M.A (2009) Degrees from Dagon University and Postgraduate Diploma in English, University of Yangon (2011) and Ph.D (2018) from University of Yangon. She has a strong interest to combine anthropological and socio-economic approaches in field research. She has published multiple papers on ethnographic research including studied on traditional festival of Ponna, socio-economic life of Bamar nationals, and Survival Strategies of Migrant Workers in Industrial Zone, Mandalay. She is also conducting research about indigenous knowledge on health care practices, traditional agriculture practices and ethnic identity of Kayah State, Chin State and Kayin State in Myanmar.

Name: Prof. Dr. Mon Mon Aung

Affiliation: Department of Myanmar, Dawei University

“The Cultural Linguistics study of ‘Missing beauty’ poem”

This paper will present the cultural linguistics study of ‘Missing beauty’ poem. The title of poem ‘Missing beauty’ means the beauty of Shwesandaw pagoda that lies in Pyay of Bago Division. The aim of this paper is to describe the Myanmar traditional culture of Shwesandaw Pagoda that is never forget beauty in ancient Pyu city of Sirikhittra (Pyay). Shwesandaw Pagoda is located on a hill in the southwest side of Pyay, about 850 meters inland from the east bank of the Irrawaddy River. The poem ‘Missing Beauty’ was written by Maung Lin Kyi in Chindwin Magazine in January 2012. The research questions are (1) Why did the beauty of Shwesandaw pagoda become Missing beauty? (2) How did the culture of Shwesandaw pagoda impact in Myanmar culture? This problem is focused by cultural linguistics method of Sociolinguistics. Cultural Linguistics is the more commonly used term ‘ethnolinguistics’ that is a field of sociolinguistics. It studies the relationship between language and culture conceptualizations. In the poem ‘Missing Beauty’, Shwesandaw Pagoda, demonstrate the beauty of the Ayeyarwaddy River and the blue mountains on the other side. Not wanting to be separated from those beauties for a while, the poet prayed at Shwesandaw Pagoda. This poem is presented in a simple and connected style to highlight the Buddhist tradition of the Myanmar people.

Keyword: Missing Beauty, Shwesandaw pagoda, cultural linguistics, Buddhist Tradition

Mon Mon Aung is a professor of Department of Myanmar at University of Yangon in Myanmar. She got Master of Art (Myanmar Studies) in 2003, Ph.D (Sociolinguistics) in 2009, Diploma in English in 2013 at University of Yangon. Her published books are as follows:

Myanmar Family and Myanmar Culture. (Pann Hnin Mon Mon) (2012). Yangon: Shwehinthar Published House.
Myanmar Family and Myanmar Culture. (2^nd)(Pann Hnin Mon Mon) (2017). Yangon: Shwehinthar Published House.
Valuable things of our Life. (Edited by Dr. Mon Mon Aung). (2015). Yangon. Shwe Linn Yone Published House.
A Structural Analysis in Min Maha Giri Nat folktale. (2018). Germany. LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, ISBN: 978-3-659-96288-2. (2019, Translated into 8 Languages)

Her hobbies are teaching, writing and doing research. Her native township is Paungde where is near Pyay (ancient Pyu city). She firstly worked a tutor at Yangon University of Foreign Languages from 2002 to 2008. Then, she worked at Yangon University of Distance Education, Yenanchaung Degree College and Dawei University. She presented papers in International Conference and Seminars. Among them, some of her published papers are as follows:

‘The traditions of Yay Gyan Zin in Myanmar’, International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development, Vol-3, Issue -4, 2019, June.
A sociolinguistics study of Maung Lin Kyi’s poem ‘I will come back shortly, the day after tomorrow. (2018) Proceeding: The 5th International Conference l “Language, Society, and Culture in Asian Contexts (LSCAC 2018)” ISBN: 978 602 162 2480(Page 842-862)
The Sociolinguistics study of Myanmar Syntax Error from Current Myanmar Journals (http://www.maas.edu.mm/sca19/Sub%20Theme%20II.pdf) 19^th SCA Conference (Sub-theme II)

Now she lives in Kamaryut township of Yangon with her elder sisters and bother. Now she works as a partner of ‘Online Education during COVID- 19 and Beyond Forum’ (June-October,2021) of Australia ASEAN Education center.

Name: Assist. Prof. Dr. Marja-Leena Heikkilä-Horn

Affiliation: Mahidol University International College, Salaya campus

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Name(Co-author): Ms. Khin Nwe Cho

Position: Graduate student

Affiliation: Graduate Studies, Mahidol University, Salaya campus

“Gurkha in Thailand: A transmuting identity from war mercenaries to migrant laborers and entrepreneurs in generations”

The history of Gurkhas migration from South Asia to Southeast Asia dated back to the period of the British colonialism arriving to Indian Sub-continent in the late 19th Century. Due to possessing extraordinary skills as “martial race”, Gurkhas were first recruited by the British after the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–16, to form the British Army’s Gurkha Regiments, as the British were impressed with their courage and hardiness. Gurkha soldiers arrived to British Burma via India during World War II. After Burma regained independence from the British in 1948, many Gurkha soldiers chose to live in the independent Burma with their families. Some soldiers continued to serve as military officers in Burma army in the early period, but they were later retired. A sizable Gurkha population was settled in Pyin Oo Lwin, Upper Burma, a hilly town having a similar cold weather like Nepal. They are also dispersed mostly to Kachin, Shan, Mandalay, and Yangon. The second generation of Gurkhas got involved in trading business in the country’s textile and gem industries as well as informal money transfer service called “Hundi”, whereas many Gurkhas work as manual laborers in the cash crop plantations. In recent decades, the third generation of Gurkha migrated to Thailand as economic migrants, making “twice migration” in generations. Now after living two decades in Thailand, some Gurkha migrant workers have been transmuted into migrant entrepreneurs.

Khin Nwe Cho. I have studied at Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences, specialized in Southeast Asia Studies, Mahidol University International College (MUIC) and graduated from the four-year program in 2012. My main interest was then ethnicity and migration in Southeast Asia, and I wrote my B.A thesis titled “Assimilation Process of Oversea Chinese in Thailand and Malaysia.” After graduating from MUIC, I worked as a researcher in Myanmar, conducting socio-economic research projects in remote ethnic areas in Myanmar from late 2014 to mid-2019. During that time, the research papers that I co-authored have been published both in English and Myanmar languages in Myanmar. There have been five published research papers such as 1) In Search of Social Justice along Myanmar-China Oil and Gas Pipeline Project (2016); 2) Indigenous Karen People: Inhabiting and Growing up together with the Forest (2017); 3) Social and Environmental Studies along Myanmar-Thai Transnational Gas Pipelines (2018); 4) Repatriation and Resettlement of Indigenous People in the Interim of Ceasefire: A Case Study of Kasawah Village, Dawei, Tanintharyi Region (2019); and 5) A Study of the Unique Socio-Economic and Environmental Characteristics of Mali Island in the Northernmost Island of the Myeik Archipelago (2019).

After taking these empirical research experiences in Myanmar for five years, I decided to get back to my alma mater as a graduate student at Master of Arts in ASEAN Studies for Sustainable Development, Mahidol University. Myanmar is in a transitional democratic country which is home to a hundred of ethnic minorities. Apart from the ethnic minorities, there are also several Indian r in our country and Gurkha is one of them, whose ability to adapt in a foreign country and transmuting identity from war mercenaries through migrant labors to entrepreneurs attracted my interest to choose it as my thesis that will contribute to understanding the Asian Melting Pot.

Name: Mr. Veerapat Phuepong

Position: Graduate Student

Affiliation: Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

“Lives of the Vietnamese in The Upper Northeast Thailand From the 1940s–1970s”

This research aims at studying the lives of Vietnamese people as a refugee in the upper northeastern region of Thailand between the 1940s – 1970s. The study focuses on the issue of struggle to survive under various forms of pressure and violence resulting from government’s policies, attitudes and actions. And the people in the community

This research focuses on the area of the upper northeastern region of Thailand in 5 provinces which are Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Phanom, Udon Thani, Nong Khai and Mukdahan. This is the area that has the most Vietnamese refugees in Thailand. The duration of the study is from the 1940s – 1970s. The year 1945 marked the end of the world war II, the period that caused the great migration of Vietnamese people to Thailand. This group of Vietnamese refugees become the most important national threat at that time. As can be seen from many policies of the Thai government that aimed at controlling Vietnamese refugees. Moreover, there were the protests to expel Vietnamese refugees that occurred in many areas of the upper northeast region in 1976, including the 6 October 1976 event, which is an important event in modern Thai history, is also associated with Vietnamese refugees.

However, studies from the government’s perspective or government policy on Vietnamese refugees are limited. Because it cannot demonstrate the diversity and complexity of society and can not completely show the factors that cause various changes. This research needs to study Vietnamese refugees as “actors,” unlike precedent researches that study Vietnamese refugees as “victims.” The primary sources used in the study are from the National Archives of Thailand and the Thai Red Cross Archives. The important evidence is the letter of complaint form of the Vietnamese refugees sent to the Thai government and the Thai Red Cross in each period. It also uses evidence from interviews with Vietnamese immigrants and local people.

This research suggests that Vietnamese refugee live under pressure from government policies, attitudes and actions and pressure from the people in the community. They use both legal channels and legal gaps in the regulations of the Thai government in order to continue living in Thailand. In addition, Vietnamese refugees have contacts and confederates. When threatened by the government, they can gather to protest or pressure the government in various ways to prevent violations.

Keywords: Vietnamese refugees, Communist, Threat, Survival

Veerapat Piwphong is a graduate student in the MA program at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. His research interests include Thai and Southeast Asian history, Vietnamese history, and the history of Vietnamese displaced people. Weerapat’s thesis project is titled, “From Displaced People to “Vietnamese Refugees”: Lives of the Vietnamese in the Upper Northeast Thailand, 1945-1976.” He was also the recipient of the Asian Graduate Student Fellowship 2020 at the Asia Research Institute (ARI) National University of Singapore (NUS).

Session III: “The Intra Asian State Networks”

Panel 5

Moderator/Discussant

Asst. Prof. Dr. Bhawan Ruangslip
Head, Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalonkgorn University

Bhawan Ruangsilp is currently the Head of the History Department, Faculty of Arts, and Director of the Interdisciplinary Department of European Studies, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. She obtained her doctoral degree in history at Leiden University. Among her published works is Dutch East India Company Merchants at the Court of Ayutthaya: Dutch Perceptions of the Thai Kingdom, c. 1604-1765 (Leiden: Brill 2007).

Presenters

Name: Dr. David M. Malitz

Position: Lecturer

Affiliation: Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

“Two observations on the feudal nature of the early 17th Japanocentric worldorder”

The creation of an imaginary Japancentric worldorder by the early Tokugawa rulers has so far been investigated with a focus on the relations with (North) East Asia (Ming-China, Korea, the Ryukyu-Islands, the Ainu) as well as with the Dutch in Nagasaki. The relations with Southeast Asian polities and rulers in the first three decades of the 17th century in contrast have so far been mainly researched in the context of the histories of bilateral relations (most famously in regard to exchanges between Ayutthaya and Edo during the time of Yamada Nizaemon Nagamasa).

This paper is based on a comparative analysis of the letters sent from Edo to Southeast Asia. The letters reveal that while letters were written in Chinese, the Tokugawa rulers included Southeast Asia symbolically into a network of feudal relationships centered on the shogun. First, Japanese weapons and armor were chosen as gifts rather than local produce as it was common in Sino-centric relations. This practice can be traced to Taira no Kiyomori (1118–1181), the first ‘samurai’ to dominate the central government. It was continued in the ‘diplomatic’ exchanges between the feudal lords of Japan in the time period of the warring states. Second, from 1612 onward Japanese letters consistently addressed Southeast Asian rulers with kika 麾下, as were direct vassals of the shogun on the Japanese islands, but not the rulers of East Asia.

David M.Malitz is a lecturer with the international program of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Arts (since August 2017). He holds a Doctorate Degree in Japanese Studies from the University of Munich and a dual Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Japanese Studies from the Universities of Mannheim and Heidelberg. His research interests are the history of Japanese-Siamese/Thai relations as well as the respective modern and contemporary histories of the two countries. His recent publications are

– “The Genesis of Dynastic Legitimacy in Absolutist Siam”. In: Global Journal of Intellectual History, 5/2020 (special issue edited by Milind Banerjee and Ilya Afanasyev).

– “The Nation as a Ritual Community: Royal Nation-Building in Imperial Japan and PostWar Thailand”. In: Elena Woodacre et al. (eds.), The Routledge History of Monarchy. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.

Name: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fuyuko Matsukata

Affiliation: Historiographical Institute, the University of Tokyo

“Consuls in Asia: How a Chief of Foreign Residents Became a Diplomat”

Narratives of European diplomatic consuls in East Asia have focused primarily on their relationship to “extraterritoriality” in the unequal treaties of the nineteenth century. The emergence of consuls themselves, however, has not been sufficiently described. Chiefs of European residents, such as the heads of the Dutch factories in Canton and in Nagasaki, transformed into consuls in the first half of the nineteenth century. I posit that this changed occurred in tandem with the decline of monopolizing trade companies in favor of free trade policies because “free” merchants had to be protected in different ways than Company officials.

I first highlight how the Tokugawa government began expecting the Dutch chief in Nagasaki to be its diplomatic channel to the West, ordering him to forward its edicts to Great Britain, France and the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century because it had cut off formal diplomatic ties mediated by state letters. I conclude by reassessing the role of the first American consul in Japan, who concluded the initial commercial treaty with the Tokugawa in a plenipotentiary capacity as a formal diplomatic agent.

Fuyuko Matsukata is a professor at the Historiographical Institute, the University of Tokyo. She has been engaged in editing and translating the diaries kept by the chief of the Dutch factory in Japan in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Her first research topic treated information history by investigating Dutch reports on world events to the Tokugawa government from 1641-1859. Since 2015, she has been focusing on the transcultural history of diplomacy, assessing the form and function of correspondence between crowns, passes for trade, treaties, and regulations. She organized two workshops on the topic, “Correspondence between Crowns: Diplomatic Practices in Siam and its Neighbors in the 17-19 Centuries” (Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 19 February 2019) and “Royal Letters, Imperial Documents: A Japanese, Korean and Thai Trialogue for a Global History of Inter-State Relations” (The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 29 November, 2019).

She is now leading several projects, including 1) translating the journal of Isaac Titsingh during his ambassadorship to the Qing court in 1794-1795 from Dutch into Japanese, 2) interdisciplinary research on the records of the Portuguese State of India, Jesuit letters, and VOC and EIC archives, 3) a comparative study of governmental controls on commercial exchanges and traffic in Eurasia, 1400-1900 and 4) writing history through the use of verbs as the key concepts to describe and understand the origin of power.

Name: Mr. Christophe Kerdodé

Position: Ph.D. student

Affiliation: Yonsei University

“STRENGTHENING THE ASEAN POLITICAL-SECURITY COMMUNITY PILLAR THROUGH CONSULAR ASSISTANCE: THE TRAVEL ADVISORY ECOSYSTEM INITIATIVE”

Freedom of movement-related provisions have been approved by most states through a legion of international agreements over time. Consecutively, they adhered to dispositions giving them rights to protect their citizens from health, safety, and security threats when they reside or travel overseas. Part of these dispositions define, both in form and content, to what extent governments may publicly comment and hierarchize worldwide risks’ geographical distribution and typology. From the 1967 Bangkok Declaration to the 2025 Blueprint, the ASEAN Community has progressively developed frameworks and tools to strengthen diplomatic ties, both inside and outside the Southeast Asia region. The PoliticalSecurity Community pillar fosters a people-centered policy, whose challenges pertaining to overseas travel are under scrutiny. In particular, it considers standard operating procedures and guidelines on consular assistance by ASEAN missions in third countries to nationals of ASEAN Member States where they have no representation.

This paper advances that the coordination of the respective travel advisory systems of ASEAN Member States should be the essential prerequisite for efficient and optimized field assistance abroad. Following the application of the Duty of Care concept to the foreign affairs sphere, this study provides qualitative and quantitative arguments to define the incentives and obstacles to such an initiative. Models are then proposed to build a common ecosystem. Finally, the consequences of this entrepreneurial form of leadership for non-ASEAN States are discussed.

Christophe Kerdodé pursues doctoral studies in Political Science at Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. In 2020, he concurrently holds the position of International Delegate for the Paris-based Jeunes IHEDN [France’s National Institute for Higher Defense Studies – Youth section] and Observer for the Geneva-based ICoCA (International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers’ Association). He was previously based in Africa, in charge of security for a multinational industrial conglomerate. He studied and worked with public and private organizations, mainly in Africa, Asia and Europe—including Caucasus. He is particularly interested in challenges pertaining to defense and international security.

Name: Ms. Thaingi Khin Htwe

Position: Lecturer

Affiliation: Department of International Relations, University of Yangon

“Japan’s Human Security Diplomacy in the 21st Century: A Case Study of Southeast Asian Countries”

The main purpose of this paper is to examine Japanese approaches to improve its human security diplomacy in Southeast Asian countries. With the development of globalization in the 21st century, there is a growth of human trafficking, weapons and drug smuggling, the increase of infectious diseases, and environmental problems. Moreover, the end of the Cold War structure has caused conflicts rooted in ethnicity, race, religion, bringing such problems as internally displaced persons and refugees. These problems are intertwined and threaten the lives and livelihoods of people. The human security concept introduced in the UNDP’s 1994 Human Development Report that defines as freedom from fear and want. With the provision of human security as the international cooperation concept of the 21st century, Japan has been attempting to make the century the “human-centered” century. Against rising China’s influence in Southeast Asia, human security is Japan’s promising approach to play an active role in Southeast Asia. The main research question of this paper is how Japan assists in enhancing the human security of the people of the Southeast Asian countries in the 21st century. In this background, this paper will mainly focus on Japan’s engaging peace-building in Mindanao and Myanmar, contributing humanitarian assistance not only when Southeast Asia struck by the natural disasters, such as Tsunami, Nargis in Myanmar, and Haiyan in the Philippines, but also when Southeast Asia hit by the pandemics such as SARS and COVID-19.

I am Thangi Khin Htwe and a Lecturer from the Department of International Relations, University of Yangon. My teaching career started as a Tutor at the University of Yangon in 2012. I have promoted as an Assistant Lecturer in August 2016 and then as a Lecturer in March 2020. I teach (1) International Relations in Southeast Asia course to Fourth Year and Second Year Honours International Relations Specialized Students, (2) Current International Relations course to Third Year and First Year Honours International Relations Specialized Students, and (3) Elements of Political Institutions course to Second Year Law Specialized Students. Furthermore, I have assigned for supervise to M.A student.

I have received my B.A (Honors) International Relations (2006), M.A (IR) with Credit (2008), and M. Research (IR) (2009) from Dagon University, Myanmar and Post-graduate Diploma in International Relations and Development Programme (2013) from University of Yangon, Myanmar. In 2014, I got JDS Scholarship for M.A Study in Japan. Therefore, I have got another MA in International Relations from Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Japan in 2016. My research title is “Myanmar’s Relations with India and China since the early 1990s: Changes and Prospects.” Currently, I am doing my Doctorate in International Relations at Department of International Relations, University of Yangon. The title of my Ph.D. Thesis is “A Study on the Regional Strategies of China and Japan: Implications for Myanmar.” My research interests include international relations, Myanmar’s foreign policy and foreign relations, geopolitics, non-traditional security and human security issues, regionalism in Southeast Asia, and regional integrations in Asia.

Panel 6

Moderator/Discussant

Name: Asst. Prof. Dr. Bhawan Ruangslip

Position: Head, Department of History

Affiliation: Faculty of Arts, Chulalonkgorn University

Bhawan Ruangsilp is currently Head of the History Department, Faculty of Arts, and Director of the Interdisciplinary Department of European Studies, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. She obtained her doctoral degree in history at Leiden University. Among her published works is Dutch East India Company Merchants at the Court of Ayutthaya: Dutch Perceptions of the Thai Kingdom, c. 1604-1765 (Leiden: Brill, 2007).

Name: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wasana Wongsurawat,

Affiliation: Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

Wasana Wongsurawat is an associate professor of history at the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. Her research interests include transnational history, the history of the ethnic Chinese in Thailand and Southeast Asia, and the history of Sino-Thai relations. Her first monograph, The Crown and the Capitalists: The Ethnic Chinese and the Founding of the Thai Nation was published with the University of Washington Press in 2019.

Name: Professor Dr. Wu Xiao An

Affiliation: Centre for the Studies of Chinese Overseas, Peking University

Wu Xiao An is professor of history at Peking University. His research interests include the histories of Southeast Asia, China-Southeast Asia relations, and the Chinese Diaspora. One outstanding piece among his numerous publications in both the English and Chinese languages is Chinese Business in the Making of a Malay State, 1882 – 1941: Kedah and Penang (Routledge, 2003).

Name: Asst. Prof. Dr. Jack Meng-Tat Chia

Affiliation: Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore

Jack Meng-Tat Chia is Assistant Professor of History and Religious Studies at the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on Buddhism and Chinese popular religion in maritime Southeast Asia, transnationalism Buddhism, and Sino-Southeast Asian interactions. His first book, Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity across the South China Sea (Oxford, 2020), explores the connected history of Buddhist communities in China and Southeast Asia in the twentieth century. He is co-editor of Living with Myths in Singapore (Ethos, 2017) and has published articles in journals such as Archipel, Asian Ethnology, China Quarterly, Contemporary Buddhism, History of Religions, and Journal of Chinese Religions. Born and raised in Singapore, Chia received his Ph.D. from Cornell University, where his dissertation won the Lauriston Sharp Prize. Before teaching at NUS, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Buddhist Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

Name: Dr. Thibodi Buakamsri

Position: Lecturer

Affiliation: Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

Dr. Thibodi Buakamsri is a lecturer at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. He acquired his doctoral degree in South and Southeast Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley in 2018. His area of expertise include Post-Angorian Khmer social and literary history, the history of Cambodia’s relations with neighboring countries, and the history of Southeast Asia. He is the author of one among the most popular textbooks on Cambodian history (ประวัติศาสตร์กัมพูชา) in the Thai language, which is currently on its third publication.

Presenters

Name: Ms. Chaiyraweepat Teerapanuchaikul

Position: Graduate Student

Affiliation: School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University

“The Dynamic of Knowledge Flow in Asia During the 2010-2019 Period: Patent Analysis and Social Network Analysis”

Across Asian countries, there were transferring and exchanging culture, technology, and knowledge to each other from the modern period. This paper explores the network of knowledge flow in Asia, how networks have been changing from time to time, and the key actors of knowledge flow networks. Existing literature on knowledge flow mainly focuses on one business sector or has some limitations about the analyst methods that limit capabilities to see the whole pictures of knowledge flow networks across Asian countries. This paper will adopt quantitative patent analysis and social network analysis. Patents that are the prevalent, plentiful, and reliable measurement of innovation, technology, or even knowledge will be indicators of knowledge flow by collecting data from Derwent World Patents Index (DWPI), which provides rich information. This study will apply text mining, which Derwent Data Analyzer will operate to build a network analysis matrix. After that, to analyse the association between authors and determine the geographic distance, the data will be operated by Ucinet software. The period will divide to be four years per range to explore the dynamic of the period’s knowledge flow that changed over time. The study discovers that there were slightly change in the knowledge flow structures over the two periods. The centrality of the network tends to increase due to the increase of the disconnected countries. The network’s key actors also had changed from China in the 2010-2014 period to Korea in 2015-2019. Additionally, some relationships change to be weaker, while some of them tend to be stronger. Finally, China also used to be the significant cutpoint and bridge to connect to many Asian countries.

Chaiyraweepat Teerapanuchaikul, MM, is a postgraduate student in the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University and a recipient of China – ASEAN University Network Scholarship 2019/2020. Currently, Chaiyraweepat serves as a teaching assistant at Tsinghua University and research assistant at China Institute for Engineering Development Strategies. Her research interests focus on public policy, innovation policy, technology diffusion, and international technology transfer on academic achievement. For bachelor degree, she graduated from Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Political Science, Public Administration major with second class honour. She always has passionate to learn and explore the methods of policy analysis.

Chaiyraweepat recently has been learning the patent analysis which able to investigate the situation of knowledge, technology and innovation of various industries, areas, or regionals, since the patents are one of the plentiful indicators of technology and innovation. She also attempts to apply social network analysis on her works to explore the association between agents. Moreover, she desires to use statistics to concrete her studies which could bring to the policy implication.

Thailand, her home country is a developing country, Chaiyraweepat always desires that her research in innovation policy field would have impacts in some ways and would bring some benefit to academic circles. Furthermore, she expects that she would become a great researcher and lecturer in the future.

Name: Dr. B. Bryan Barber

Position: Teaching Fellow of Human Geography

Affiliation: Nazarbayev University

“Dove Tails: Japan and Kazakhstan’s Converging Narratives and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Values”

The experiences of American bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the multiple Soviet atomic weapons tests at Semipalatinsk have allowed Japan and Kazakhstan to coalesce respective narratives to support a single normative anti-nuclear weapons position. Yet, there are paradoxes in both countries’ positions. Kazakhstan is the world’s leading uranium exporter, including a 2017 sale to Iran and a suspected smuggling to North Korea. While it is part of a nuclear-free zone, it vaguely receives nuclear defense assurances from Russia vis-à-vis the CSTO. Japan has its Three Non-Nuclear Principles, yet it remains under the US nuclear umbrella and recently declined to support the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. To what extent do Japan or Kazakhstan have credibility to lead an international anti-nuclear weapons movement? What is the durability of such a movement, if the two states which have suffered the horrors of nuclear weapons more than any other are inconsistent in their positions? This paper argues that while Japan and Kazakhstan have found a way to coalesce values based upon experiences of violence afflicted upon their peoples through the use of atomic weapons by, coincidently, their closest security allies at present, they also use these experiences to bolster their moral standing in the international community, and construct a shared intra-Asian, values-based linkage between themselves. This paper makes a vital contribution to studies in traditional and nontraditional security in Asia, Japanese and Kazakhstani foreign policies, and understanding an intra-Asian state network predicated upon anti-nuclear weapons values constructed from shared experiences.

B. Bryan Barber PhD is a Teaching Fellow in Human Geography at the Department of Science and Society at Nazarbayev University. He is contemporaneously a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the Jaffer Center for Muslim World Studies at Florida International University. He earned his PhD in International Relations from Florida International University, majoring in Foreign Policy Analysis and Security Studies. Prior to his career in academics, Dr. Barber worked for nine years in business management and education in Japan. Dr. Barber’s current research focuses on Japan’s relations with broader Asia, and specifically Muslim states in Asia. His book, Japan’s Relations with Muslim Asia, was published in 2020 with Palgrave Macmillan. He also has numerous article publications on Japan’s foreign policy. He is currently working on a manuscript which investigates notions of Orientalialism present in Japan’s thinking about Muslim societies. His research specializations are Japan’s security policy and foreign policy, international resource politics, religion and international relations, and contemporary Asian geopolitics.

Name: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thida Sann

Affiliation: Department of International Relations, Yangon University of Foreign Languages

“The Prospect of Myanmar-China Economic Ties under Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)”

Myanmar- China Economic relations usually change depend on political situations of the two countries. Since the early years of PRC, Myanmar was the first non-Communist country to recognise and started diplomatic relations with China. In 1962, relations deteriorated under the military regime of General Ne Win. He nationalised all private business especially Chinese and Indians. The situation changed dramatically after Myanmar’s 1988 revolution when another military government come to power. From 1988 to 2011, Myanmar’s external political and economic relations were heavily depended on China. Beijing was the key source of diplomatic protection from Western Powers. In 2011 under semi-civilian government headed by President U Thein Sein, the government wants to rebalance its international relations. The U.S became strategic counterweight to China. After the government decided to the Myitsone dam project suspension, China’s influence in Myanmar significantly declined. When NLD government took power on 30 March 2016, China did not rely solely on the government and parallel engagement with the Tatmadaw (Military Leaders). NLD’s tenure has coincided with Chinese efforts to expand and strengthen its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) worldwide. There are many consequences of China’s BRI in Myanmar. This paper examines the following research questions -What are the main problems of China’s efforts to expand BRI investment projects in Myanmar? Is China’s BRI investment projects really contribute to Myanmar’s economic development? How can Myanmar successfully rebalance China and Western influences?

Keyword: democratization, FDI, transformation, military regime, investment projects

Dr Thida Sann, Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations, Yangon University of Foreign Languages, Yangon, Myanmar. She received BA (IR) degree in 1995, M.A(IR) in 2003, and PhD (IR) in 2009 from the University of Yangon. Her teaching career started at the International Relations Department of the University of Yangon from 1998 to 2015. In 2015 she transferred to Yangon University of Foreign Languages with the promotion of Associate Professor. She has been a member of Yangon University of Foreign Languages’ International Relations Office and also a member of University Senate Committee on MOU/MOA. She was a CEU/OSF Faculty Development Fellow at CEU’s Department of International Relations, from 2018 January to March. She participated as a research paper presenter in the International Conference on Language and Humanities 2020 which was heled on 6 to 7 January 2020 at the Yangon University of Foreign Languages, Yangon, Myanmar. She published the following Publications,  “The Role of INGOs for the Development of Health Sector in Myanmar: Save the Children- Myanmar (1995-2005)”, Myanmar Academy of Arts and Science journal, Vol8, No-8, June 2010  “Democratization and Transformation Process: Comparison between The Republic of the Union of Myanmar and Indonesia” Research Journal, Yangon University of Foreign Languages, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2015 December  “Democratization and Transformation Process: Comparison between Myanmar and The Republic of Korea”, Local Proceedings, The 1st International Conference on Languages and Humanities 2020, YUFL, ISBN-978-99971-40-05-0, 2020 January

Name: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thi Thi Soe San

Affiliation: Department of International Relations, University of Mandalay

“China’s Foreign Direct Investment in Myanmar: A political Economy Approach”

Since 2010, Myanmar government has implemented political and economic reforms aimed at increasing the country’s participation in the global economy. Efforts to advance this objective center on the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and foreign direct investment (FDI). Among Myanmar’s inward FDI , China is the biggest investor in Myanmar being engaged in almost all sectors of the economy. For China, Myanmar’s strategic location on a tri-junction between South Asia, Southeast Asia and China is economically and strategically significant. Chinese strategic interest in Myanmar is to implement economic corridor of Belt and Road Initiative that is a way to access to the India Ocean. In this study, I would like to explore the perspective of China’s structural approach in Myanmar’s political and economy. What is the idea behind China’s structural approach and how does it fit into broader pattern of regional or global economic structure? In the study of International Political economy (IPE), structuralism is connection and relationships between states, markets, and society, and it decides who benefit or loses using scared resources in the game of political economy. My research will analyze using this fundamental framework to pinpoint the ways to judge whether it is a benefit or a burden.

Dr Thi Thi Soe San, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Mandalay (Myanmar), received her B A ( Hons.) (1995), M A (2000), M Res (2001) and Ph D in International Relations (2007) degrees from University of Mandalay. Her teaching career started at University of Mandalay’s International Relations Department and subsequently taught at Monywa University’s International Relations Department under the transfer system of the Ministry of Education. Her area of specialization is Geopolitics, Political economy and Public Administration. She has been a member of Mandalay University’s International Relations Office. She has published on issue of Public Administration, especially on Civil Service reforms in Myanmar and has published on issue of Geopolitics, especially the role of Myanmar in the China and India competition in academic journals and books. Her current research interest is the role of China in Myanmar Peace process, China’s FDI in Myanmar. She was a CEU/OSF Faculty Development Fellow at CEU Department of International Relations, from 2014 September to November, a visiting research fellow at International University of Japan, from 2016 September to 2017 June. She participated in the 13 th Berlin Conference on Asian Security (BCAS) as a research paper presenter.