I am a Master's student in Anthropology from the University of Copenhagen. I am currently writing my Master's thesis with the tentative title 'Staying pleasurably, staying well - staying Kachin'. In this thesis I explore popular notions of how well-being and the good life is conceptualized among young Kachin from the northernmost state of Myanmar, Kachin State. I argue that dominant conceptions of well-being among these youth revolve around collectivist notions of Kachin ethno-nationalism. Thus, the principles of the Kachin nationalist movement and the somewhat utopian idea of an autonomous Kachin nation led by Kachin people influence both how people perceive and pursue a better future. I write the thesis based on three months of ethnographic fieldwork in the end of 2016 in Myitkyina, Kachin State, Myanmar.
SUPRA Nordic Scholarship for MA and PhD students Fall 2017
If you are working on a MA or PhD thesis during Fall 2017 and need some inspiration, literature or simply just time to write on your thesis, then NIAS has something to offer: the Nordic Scholarship!
The Nordic Scholarship covers inexpensive travel to Copenhagen, two weeks board and accommodation plus a working place at NIAS! A perfect chance to concentrate on your thesis, have inspirational talks with our researchers or collect material in Northern Europe's most comprehensive Asian studies library.
Gender equality matters in China and the Nordic countries. In a Policy Brief on Sino-Nordic policy solutions to gendered globalization written for the Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development Policy, Cai Yiping, Executive Committee member of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) and Dr Cecilia Milwertz, senior researcher at NIAS, point to opportunities for China and the Nordic countries to address gender inequalities internationally. They also suggest that joint Sino-Nordic research is needed in order to more fully understand newly emerging gender issues in interconnected global processes.
China’s human trafficking court cases: An analysis on the human trafficking judgements in China between 2006-2016 and the impact the National Plan of Action on Combatting Human trafficking I analyze court judgements made to human trafficking cases between 2006-2016 in five different provinces where trafficking crimes are considered to be prominent. During these ten years, China implemented its first National Plan of Action on Combatting Trafficking of Women and Children (NPA) and is currently implementing a second one, which will be effective until 2020. I am analyzing the impact of these action plans by comparing the judgements that are done between this time period. Through this analysis I am also portraying the overall human trafficking situation in China in the past ten years, where it has succeeded in its anti-trafficking efforts and what are the challenges ahead.
Kanamik Kani Khan, Mphil student, University of Bergen
Relationship between Renewable Energy and Socio-economic Development: A Study in Patuakhali District Solar energy use has been creating positive impact on socio-economic changes in rural areas of Bangladesh. The households who use solar energy achieve comparatively more socio-economic and environmental benefits than the non-users of solar energy. The research attempts to identify the limitations that hinder the accessibility of renewable energies in Bangladesh. Solar energy has been becoming cheaper day by day but surprisingly there are still many villagers do not use it. Financial reason could merely affect this since it has become cheaper so the question remains whether any psychological or other reason exist that does not encourage villagers to use solar energy.
Serena De Marchi, PhD candidate, Stockholm University
Political prison literature of China: analyzing the authors' different re-constructions of the prisonscape. My research seeks to investigate the articulations of the prisonscape in the writings of selected Chinese authors. The point of departure is the study of the evolution of Chinese prisons and the Chinese penal system, that will provide the historical framework; while in the analysis of the literature, I rely on existing studies on the aesthetics of political prison camp writings (William & Wu, 2004), as well as on trauma studies. The idea is to build a very comprehensive definition of the "prisonscape" that will allow me to analyze and compare the works of different writers, both from mainland China and exiled dissidents. The main research questions is: how can a physical place associated with pain, fear and death eventually become a literary space of survival, witnessing and (in some cases) dissidence?
Guri Strand Karlsen, MA student, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
The role and development of the multi-religious Kataragama sacred area My thesis is focused on understanding why certain religious places in Sri Lanka are recognized as more sacred than others. This will be done by comparing the multi-religious Kataragama shrine and temple with similar shrines in Kotabowa and Kandy, and by looking into the development of the place over time. In order to do this I pay special attention to the changes after the Civil war of 2009, when considering both the ethnic and religious boundaries. By using theory on the concept of place from a cultural geography perspective I intend to investigate the different claims to this holy area and how this interacts with its heritage. This is a complex issue as the Kataragama sacred area is a site of pilgrimage for not only the majority religion Buddhism but also by Hindus, Muslims and Christians, as well as the indigenous Vedda during the annual festival celebrating the deity Kataragama’s marriage.
The Nordic Institute of Asian Studies’ journal Asia in Focusis looking for a new volunteer student assistant!
Are you interested in scientific writing and academic publishing? Asia in Focus needs a student assistant from August 2017 to support the editorial team.
About us:
Asia in Focus is published by a young, motivated and international team of editors from a variety of backgrounds, all with an interest in Asia. We all work on a voluntary basis, and that means we are in this because we care about it. You will be part of the team as a volunteer, participating in all meetings, supporting the entire work cycle of the bi-annual publication. You will work closely together with the managing editor.
About You:
A structured person with an eye for detail, who can keep a grand overview of the process and status of each issue, and reliably solve administrative tasks, including:
• Email communication with editors and authors
• Webpage management (familiarity with WordPress required)
• Support with final layout (familiarity with InDesign required)
• Take and distribute minutes from editorial meetings
• Assist with funding applications
• Maintain and update the catalogue of internal and external reviewers in Excel
Andrea Menéndez Arboleya, Master student, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Myanmar Mobile Citizenships in a Context of International Labor Migration in Peri-Urban Bangkok
In a world with steady increasing rates of worldwide mobility, cross-country migrants experience losses of their democratic rights while living abroad. This happens because full democratic rights linked to the current notion of citizenship only apply to certain individuals (citizens) within a specific geographical area limited by political boundaries (nation-states). The main motivation behind my study is to challenge these limitations by exploring alternative, in particular non-Western bottom-down, notions of citizenship that can contribute to improve levels of democracy in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region.
Lisa Lindkvist Zhang, Master student, University of Copenhagen
Himalayan Interludes: Chinese Kinetics in Indo-Tibetan Lattices
Lisa Lindkvist Zhang is an MA student in Chinese Studies at University of Copenhagen. She also holds an MA degree in Chinese Philosophy from Fudan University and a BA in Philosophy from University College London. Lisa's research interests revolve around transregional interactions with focus on translation practices, the writing of intellectual histories, and the articulation of 'Otherness'. Her current MA thesis, tentatively titled “Himalayan Interludes: Chinese Kinetics in Indo-Tibetan Lattices”, seeks to shed light on the politics of Chinese interactions in the Indian Himalaya between the 1940s to the 1960s.
Johan Schoonhoven is one of our new workplace students at NIAS.
Johan is a Master's student from the Centre of East and South East Asian Studies at Lund University, and he writes:
In my thesis, I focus on South Korea’s development path and current challenges to contemporary society characterized by high youth unemployment, increasing economic inequality and lack of social mobility. In specific, I investigate the meaning of the emerging expression “Hell Joseon” and how language might reflect and/or ignite societal change. My thesis work is based on in-depth interviews with Koreans in their 20s and 30s.
Stephanie Winkler, PhD student, Stockholm University
Power shift East Asia – the Politics of Soft Power
My PhD project is concerned with the puzzle of the “stickiness” of soft power. The recent years have seen a rapid proliferation of academic work on soft power, specifically related to China and Asia, even though the concept and its utilisation in academic research and policy making has from its very inception been sharply criticized from nearly all academic traditions. How is it possible that despite bad policy, bad research practices and bad experience, academics and policy makers still hold on to the concept of soft power? My project suggests that understanding this paradox on the “stickiness” of soft power requires an analysis of the intentional practical use of reflexivity, in other words, the politics of soft power.
Rather than treating concepts such as soft power as innocent, a-political or value-neutral conceptual tools to make sense of a reality “out there”, in my project I intend to trace the reification processes of the concept of soft power in East Asia and the consequences of such politics of soft power for East Asia and our understanding of the impending “power shift”.
Matti Puranen, PhD student, University of Jyväskylä
Towards a World Without Borders?: Tianxia and the theory of world politics with Chinese characters
Matti Puranen (MSSc & MA) is a doctoral student in Political Science at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. He is studying contemporary Chinese political thought, focusing on the "tianxia" discourse.
Cheng Zeng is a PhD candidate in Intercultural Communication at the University of Jyväskylä. He draws on both qualitative and quantitative methods to study how organizational dissent, a concept that has been studied extensively in western literature, functions in a different cultural setting. More specifically, he explores the influence of national and organizational culture on employee voice behavior and perception of freedom of speech in workplaces in China.
Xinrong Ma is a PhD candidate from LIAS (Leiden University Insitute for Area Studies), Leiden University, the Netherlands. Xinrong’s PhD research focuses on labour migrants in China, in particular, ethnic Yi labour migrants in the Pearl River Delta area of China. Her research focuses on examining the co-ethnic brokerage system of ethnic Yi labour migrants from the lens of the intersectionality of ethnicity and class.
I am a Master's student in Anthropology from the University of Copenhagen.
If you are working on a MA or PhD thesis during Fall 2017 and need some inspiration, literature or simply just time to write on your thesis, then NIAS has something to offer: 
Noora Hakulinen, MA student, University of Turku
Kanamik Kani Khan, Mphil student, University of Bergen
Guri Strand Karlsen, MA student, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
The Nordic Institute of Asian Studies’ journal Asia in Focus 
Andrea Menéndez Arboleya, Master student, 
Johan Schoonhoven
Stephanie Winkler, PhD student, Stockholm University 
Matti Puranen, PhD student, University of Jyväskylä
Cheng Zeng is a PhD candidate in Intercultural Communication at the University of Jyväskylä. He draws on both qualitative and quantitative methods to study how organizational dissent, a concept that has been studied extensively in western literature, functions in a different cultural setting. More specifically, he explores the influence of national and organizational culture on employee voice behavior and perception of freedom of speech in workplaces in China.
Xinrong Ma is a PhD candidate from LIAS (Leiden University Insitute for Area Studies), Leiden University, the Netherlands. Xinrong’s PhD research focuses on labour migrants in China, in particular, ethnic Yi labour migrants in the Pearl River Delta area of China. Her research focuses on examining the co-ethnic brokerage system of ethnic Yi labour migrants from the lens of the intersectionality of ethnicity and class.