Positioning Photography in China: Liang See Tay and Elite Subjects
Background When examining the arrival of western photographers to China in the 19th century, men wielding cameras, armed with a revolutionary means of image-rep...
Category: Asia
Our Asia-Oceania desk covers South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Eurasia, Oceania, and most of the Pacific Ocean.
Dictatorship of the Vengeful: The Rise of Civic Authoritarianism in Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines
This piece was published in the Spring Issue Print Edition (Volume 11) “The real inversion takes place when, in their desire for a certain majesty, the masses j...
War and Nationalism: How North Korea Forges a National Identity from Loss
The upcoming anniversary of the Korean War is a reminder of the United States’ first military loss after 1945. Although the conflict ended with the Korean Armis...
Nuclear Pacific: Ballistic Missile Defenses Drive an Arms Race in the Pacific
American military leaders’ argument is simple: Pacific adversaries (particularly North Korea) have large and growing ballistic missile arsenals. To combat this ...
The Price of Progress: Indonesia’s Omnibus Law and the Environmental Sacrifice of Economic Expansion in Asia
On October 5, 2020, the Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat (MPR) — Indonesia’s main parliamentary body—passed a long-awaited “omnibus bill” amending existing produc...
How Buddhist Nationalism Defines Myanmar’s Politics
The military-led coup in Myanmar has met with widespread protests by people of diverse backgrounds, including Buddhist monks. The demonstrations by the monks ho...
Tyranny of the Majority: Sri Lanka and Buddhist Majoritarian Politics
Buddhism as a religion is a proponent of equality and typically condemns discriminatory and hierarchical structures in society. However, the involvement of Budd...
Battle in the Himalayas Strains India-China Relations
Where is Ladakh? When conflict on the disputed mountain border between China and India broke out last summer, international spectators took quick notice. But th...
The China-India Dispute and its Geopolitical Implications
India and China are at the worst diplomatic relations as of now. The current Galwan border dispute is worse than the 72 days long Doklam stand-off in 1967. It h...
India’s Political Institutions Grapple with Misogynistic Culture as Sexual Violence Persists in the Country
The fatal gang rape of a woman in 2012, later to be known as the Nirbhaya case, horrified the nation and sparked national protests. These protests spurred a lon...