Asian Affairs最新文献

{"title":"FROM MODEL TO MUDDLE: IRAN’S CAR INDUSTRY AND ITS CHINESE TECHNOLOGICAL KNIGHT","authors":"Shirzad Azad","doi":"10.1080/03068374.2023.2254081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2023.2254081","url":null,"abstract":"Following the signing of the JCPOA nuclear deal between Iran and the 5+1 countries in June 2015 and the subsequent lifting of international sanctions, many observers predicted that Chinese carmakers would be squeezed out of the Iranian market by European and South Korean manufacturers. In 2018 however, after the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the agreement and reinstated sanctions, the situation moved in favour of the Chinese car industry. China has now become the biggest overseas player in Iran's automobile market. This article argues that the abandonment of the JCPOA by Washington led to the ‘China-ization’ of the car industry in Iran and shows how Iranian carmakers played an instrumental role in this process.","PeriodicalId":44282,"journal":{"name":"Asian Affairs","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135950896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Raj: A Journey through Ten Documents","authors":"Rosie Llewellyn-Jones","doi":"10.1080/03068374.2023.2244272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2023.2244272","url":null,"abstract":"Not many new books come with a “trigger warning”. This one does. Just in case the reader thinks the opinions of the East India Company and the British Raj are endorsed by the publisher, there is a stern disclaimer in a prefatory note. “These are not the views of the editor or Bloomsbury India and do not reflect our mission and values which are clearly stated on our website.” It would be strange if they did, given that the book begins with the Charter awarded by Elizabeth I to the nascent “Company of Merchants” in 1600. Things have moved on since then. Having said that, this is an original approach to the colonial history of the Indian subcontinent. The author, who teaches in the English Department at Hyderabad University, has chosen extracts from 10 significant texts by Britons writing about their work, their lives and their experiences across 350 years of involvement and interaction. His choice is good, including chapters on mapping the vast country by the geographer James Rennell, the narrative of the Black Hole of Calcutta by a survivor, Zephaniah Holwell, the suppression of thugee (ritual murder) by William Sleeman and guidance for memsahibs on running a successful household.","PeriodicalId":44282,"journal":{"name":"Asian Affairs","volume":"54 1","pages":"594 - 596"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46970356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trafficking Data: How China is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty","authors":"Huw Roberts","doi":"10.1080/03068374.2023.2255487","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2023.2255487","url":null,"abstract":"shows how, despite censorship and propaganda, netizens’ counter-censorship activities sometimes prevailed. But the overriding message here is of a party-state determined to create an appearance of harmony and cooperation by promoting “positive energy” and decrying critics for their “negativity.” In chapters eight and nine, Yang deals with the important topics of COVID nationalism, and “mourning and remembering.” As the party-state sought to avoid blame for the lockdown and for the death of whistle-blower Li Wenliang in early February 2020, it shifted the narrative to heroic medical professionals, the people’s war on the virus and then to national pride in the successes of “prevention and control” – taking advantage of the many dismal government responses internationally. Again, Yang reminds us of how this narrative draws on rising nationalism and “wolf warrior” trends before 2020. But he also argues that erratic censorship, at least in the early phases of the lockdown, did allow “plural voices” to be heard, even if they have subsequently been silenced and erased. For this reason, and because it collates and contextualizes voices as they emerged in early 2020, The Wuhan Lockdown is a valuable document. Drawing on a wealth of material – over 6000 diary entries – it is a sympathetic account of the experiences of people trapped in Wuhan and an example of the rich work that can be produced using such sources. But of course, it could never be a complete account of citizens’ experiences or a panoramic window onto Wuhan society. Given the digital divide, online material inevitably tends to reflect the experiences of the better off and better educated as well as younger citizenry. There is very little here on the lives of migrants trapped in Wuhan, on the experiences of farmers in Wuhan’s rural hinterland, or on the difficulties experienced by people on low incomes. Yang’s book therefore both demonstrates the importance of documenting history and reminds us of how much we do not know. This is particularly true of experiences of the pandemic in China since the Wuhan lockdown, which includes the privations of millions in Xinjiang due to apparently stringent lockdowns from August to November 2022 – a period longer than the 76 days endured by the citizens of Wuhan. Despite the efforts of scholars such as Yang, with China so isolated during the pandemic, it seems we may only ever have a patchy understanding of its effects on people’s lives and livelihoods. While this book is an important contribution to that understanding, many more stories are left untold.","PeriodicalId":44282,"journal":{"name":"Asian Affairs","volume":"345 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135950713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"DISOWNING FAMILY MEMBERS IN PALESTINE","authors":"Bilal Hamamra, Asala Mayaleh","doi":"10.1080/03068374.2023.2255485","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2023.2255485","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, dozens of families in Palestine have publicly disowned male relatives who have transgressed social or sexual norms in some way. In this article, we contend that such acts of disowning are, for Palestinian families, a means of protection from public shaming. We contrast the discourse of disowning transgressive males with the ‘honour killing’ of transgressive females. Disownment is almost never an option for female relatives who commit similar transgressions. By severing contact with male relatives who have violated hegemonic ideals of loyalty to one’s nation, self-control, and sacrifice, families can deflect accusations of complicity. The hegemony of these ideals is maintained by punishing those who ally themselves with the Israeli occupation, are homosexuals, or are seen as ‘transgressive’ women. The article demonstrates that familial relations can be regarded as discontinuous: biological ties can be severed both linguistically and physically. The discourse of disowning, which, to the best of our knowledge, has not been scrutinised in contemporary Palestine will be analysed within the interrelated webs of traditions, religion, and politics.","PeriodicalId":44282,"journal":{"name":"Asian Affairs","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135950720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Imperial Gateway: Colonial Taiwan and Japan’s Expansion in South China and Southeast Asia, 1895–1945","authors":"Christopher Ruane","doi":"10.1080/03068374.2023.2255489","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2023.2255489","url":null,"abstract":"\"Imperial Gateway: Colonial Taiwan and Japan’s Expansion in South China and Southeast Asia, 1895–1945.\" Asian Affairs, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2","PeriodicalId":44282,"journal":{"name":"Asian Affairs","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135950898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tantra, Magic, and Vernacular Religions in Monsoon Asia: Texts, Practices, and Practitioners from the Margins","authors":"Vineet Gairola","doi":"10.1080/03068374.2023.2245270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2023.2245270","url":null,"abstract":"Tantra is the science of personality. It is all about understanding who you are as a human being in the context of embodied life. This book strives to provide a historical context to Tantra, expanding scholarly attention to the culturally interconnected region which it refers to as “Monsoon Asia”. Additionally, it examines Tantra as a point of convergence between Sanskritic, folk, vernacular, and shamanic traditions, challenging the intellectual misconceptions and historical inaccuracies that have artificially divided these categories.","PeriodicalId":44282,"journal":{"name":"Asian Affairs","volume":"54 1","pages":"588 - 591"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44338284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“CHINESE” STUDIES FOR THE 21st CENTURY","authors":"Gregory Lee","doi":"10.1080/03068374.2023.2244313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2023.2244313","url":null,"abstract":"The 20 century saw major shifts in the way China and “things Chinese” were studied in Western universities. Old-fashioned Sinology continued to be dominant, but the Cold War era witnessed the rise of “area studies” which, in the China field, meant the social sciences took centre stage. In the literary and cultural field, however, change was slow to arrive; China’s 20 century literature and culture was still considered a poor relative next to the Sinological canon. In this commentary, having told my story about the landscape of Chinese studies of which I was part, I shall look at the shape that academic studies related to China, Chinese, and Chineseness might take from now on. How should academics account for and represent the UK’s historical vision of, and relationship with, “China” and “Chinese” people? How should the vast diversity that is China and the rest of the Chinese-speaking world be broached without risking the creation of new, fixed “objects” of study?","PeriodicalId":44282,"journal":{"name":"Asian Affairs","volume":"54 1","pages":"419 - 431"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41646547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Return of the Junta – Why Myanmar’s Military Must Go Back to the BarracksOliver Slow. <b> <i>The Return of the Junta – Why Myanmar’s Military Must Go Back to the Barracks</i> </b> . Bloomberg, London, 23 Feb 2023. Pp. 256. Pb. £21.99. ISBN 9781350289659","authors":"Andrew Heyn","doi":"10.1080/03068374.2023.2256195","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2023.2256195","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsAndrew HeynAndrew Heyn served as a UK diplomat for over 30 years, including as Ambassador to Myanmar (2009–2013) and Consul-General in Hong Kong (2016–2020).","PeriodicalId":44282,"journal":{"name":"Asian Affairs","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135950733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A WINDOW TO INDIA? THE TRILATERAL GAS UNION AND RUSSIA’S ENERGY PIVOT TO ASIA","authors":"Mikhail Strokan","doi":"10.1080/03068374.2023.2254077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2023.2254077","url":null,"abstract":"In November 2022, the government of the Russian Federation proposed the creation of a “Trilateral Gas Union” with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Commentators were quick to focus on the Central Asian dimensions of the proposal, in particular the potential expansion of Russian influence in the region or Russia’s attempts to substitute exports to the region for the drop in its natural gas exports to Europe. This article suggests there is a bigger picture to consider. It argues that the Central Asian natural gas market is too small for Russia to justify investing millions of dollars in modernising the old Soviet gas network. Instead, it analyses the capacities of various regional markets, traces the logic of earlier moves by Russia and connects them with ongoing infrastructural projects in the broader region, notably the “Pakistan Stream”, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan–Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, and the North–South corridor. It argues that Russia’s proposal makes economic sense only if the redirection of gas flows would expand Russia’s natural gas exports at least to China (via Central Asia) while potentially setting the stage for Russian piped gas to enter South Asian markets, opening a “window to India”. The article discusses possible scenarios and structural pre-conditions for the realisation of these possibilities while analyzing the various motivations, causal linkages, and mechanisms that have been driving the Trilateral Gas Union.","PeriodicalId":44282,"journal":{"name":"Asian Affairs","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135950897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"HERITAGE OF THE HINDU KUSH: A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE IN NURISTAN, AFGHANISTAN","authors":"Jonathan Rider, Bastien Varoutsikos","doi":"10.1080/03068374.2023.2254653","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2023.2254653","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractAs the last part of Afghanistan to be converted to Islam (in 1896), Nuristan retains a distinct material and intangible cultural heritage. However, for nearly forty years, Nuristan has been virtually inaccessible to researchers of cultural heritage due to protracted insecurity in the province. With the Taliban in control of the country once more, conflict has largely ceased, enabling access to many hitherto inaccessible parts of the country, including Nuristan. There is now a window of opportunity to conduct much-needed work on the state of cultural assets across the province. The authors conducted two separate field visits between May and July 2022 to undertake a preliminary assessment of Nuristan’s intangible and intangible cultural heritage and to conduct a feasibility study for future mapping and conservation efforts. This paper presents initial findings from the fieldwork and highlights the urgent need for investing in cultural protection work in Nuristan. Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 G. Robertson, The Kafirs of the Hindu-Kush, London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1896. Robertson was by no means to the first European to travel to Nuristan in modern times. Scotsman Alexander Gardener allegedly made the trip in 1826, and William McNair undertook an expedition there in 1883.2 M. Klimburg, ‘A Former Kafir Tells His “Tragic Story”: Notes on the Kati Kafirs of Northern Bashgal (Afghanistan)’. East and West Vol. 58. Issue 1/4 (2008): 391–402.3 See the works of Georg Morgenstierne who travelled in the region in 1929, as well as the reports of the Haslund-Christensen’s Third Danish Central Asian Expedition (1947—1949) and the Haslund-Christensen Memorial Expedition of 1953-54. There is also the account from 1935 of the German Hindu Kush Expedition: Deutsche Im Hindukusch: Bericht der Deutschen Hindukusch-Expedition 1935 der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft. More famously, Wilfred Thesiger made two brief visits to Nuristan in 1956 and 1965.4 T. Alvad, ‘The Kafir Harp’. Man Vol. 54 (1954): 151–154.5 N. Dupree, An Historical Guide to Afghanistan. Tokyo, Japan: Afghan Tourist Organization. Jagra Ltd, 1977, p. 233.6 Among the most prodigious contributors to Nuristani scholarship is Max Klimburg, whose work in the Waigal Valley remains seminal. See M. Klimburg, The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush: Art and Society of the Waigal and Ashkun Kafirs. Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart, 1999. Richard Strand’s web resource found at https://nuristan.info/ provides a rich repository of research and data on Nuristan. Shuyler Jones’ work is also notable, see S. Jones, and K. Campbell, Men of Influence in Nuristan: A Study of Social Control and Dispute Settlement in Waigal Valley, Afghanistan. Seminar Press, 1974; and S. Jones, An Annotated Bibliography of Nuristan (Kafiristan) and the Kalash Kafirs of Chitral. Copenhagen, 1966; and L. Edelberg, and S. Jones, Nuristan. Akademische Druck-u Verlagsanstalt Graz/Austria, 19","PeriodicalId":44282,"journal":{"name":"Asian Affairs","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135950729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}