Extraordinarily, but entirely plausibly, young scholars of Asian Studies are stepping forward with new, innovative research articles and monographs on interpretations of history, strategic studies, literature, and cinema, across cultures. In this issue we present research essays by graduate scholars and early career professors, as well as our regular book reviews.
A new graduate, Nicole Smith, studies the depiction of the global migration crisis of 2015 in Chinese artist/activist Ai Weiwei’s documentary film, Human Flow, released in 2017, which documents the Rohingyas, Syrians, and Afghanis to name a few. Nicole, having earned an M.A. in Sociology with a Double Degree from Bielefeld University in Germany, and Bologna University in Italy in September 2021, and a B.A. from McMaster University in Hamilton in Canada, demonstrates the use of the art of documentary film as a means of activism. She compares the themes contained in the film with the those present in the wider migration activism to determine where there is convergence. Her comprehensive study explores the insufficient/failed responses to the crisis and the potential solutions. It revisits the concept of human rights, and the definition of the term ‘refugee,’ and argues that refugees are facing the brunt of a “globalization of indifference,” a “barbed-wire mentality,” and a “crisis of solidarity” among the wealthy nations of the global north.
Salikyu Sangtam presents a helpful guide to evaluate and understand China’s strategic behavior. Salikyu, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the North East Christian University in Dimapur in India, argues that the current Chinese approaches to foreign and strategic engagements can be explained by studying the ancient pre-Confucian texts, the literary traditions, the Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, the board game wei qi, and the cultural concepts of wu-wei, tao, and guanxi. Since these elements manifest the Chinese way of thinking, they serve as a guide to assess Chinese foreign and strategic engagements. Salikyu’s proposition has broad ramifications on how the United States (and its allies in Asia) perceives and evaluates China, an understanding that is essential to preserve peace in Asia.
Saranya Antony A explores the myth and reality of Western claims that Russia had historically sought a blue water port abroad. Saranya, an Assistant Professor at Government College of Arts and Science in Androth Island in Lakshadweep, argues that Russia’s desire to turn from its traditional Western- and Eurocentric strategy towards Southeast Asia was driven by four principal factors: finding a warm water port, countering U.S. dominance in Southeast Asia, developing and deepening multilateral relations, and generating economic gain in strategic partnership with Southeast Asian states. The outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022 plunged Moscow’s relations with Southeast Asia into uncertainty. The author argues that while some of the original founding member countries of ASEAN have close links with the United States, Russia has emerged as the biggest arms supplier to other member states. Russia’s future engagement with the region remains clouded in uncertainty over the new obstacles of its own making.
Aisheedyuti Roy explores the triumphant establishment of the Japanese visual entertainment industry (popularly known as anime) as a medium exploring philosophical themes, coming a long way from the original perception of the industry as one catering to adolescent amusement. Aisheedyuti, having earned a postgraduate degree in History from the University of Delhi (2021), and a B.A. in History from Loreto College of the University of Calcutta (2019), explores historical incidents through the medium of manga and anime, highlighting the clustered, subtle symbolisms within anime revolving around events from past decades, emphasizing key historical themes centered around historical anachronism, the experience of collective sorrow, the relationship between memory and biographical sketches, the reinterpretation of personalities from Japanese political history, alongside the employment of intense storytelling through surreal landscapes.
Ritish Dutta offers a psychoanalytical critique of Assamese filmmaker Bhaskar Hazarika’s Aamis (2019). The author, who earned an M.A. degree in English from the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Calcutta, examines the film whose narrative, rich in food symbolism, explores individual female identity and repressed sexual desire in a conservative social order. The author posits that Aamis problematizes conventional gender roles by representing the male body as an object of desire while examining the fallacy of the empowered woman in contemporary society.
In our books section, Asad Latif reviews Ang Cheng Guan’s, Reassessing Lee Kuan Yew’s Strategic Thought, published in 2023 to mark the centenary of Lee’s birth. Ang analyzes the “relentless realism of Lee’s strategic vision,” as Asad puts it, of his small nation in a world dominated by the balance-of-power struggle among the great powers. Asad, an editorial writer for The Straits Times who holds a graduate degree in history from Cambridge University, posits that Ang distances himself from both the “laudatory hagiography” which believes that Lee could do no wrong, and the “prickly revisionism that dismisses him as a crafty manipulator of circumstances whose outcome he passed off later as his contribution to Singapore’s destiny.” Asad explains, in an elegant turn of phrase, that Ang dissects Lee’s strategic philosophy, “not with a view to deifying him or to dethroning him, but with an agnostic appreciation of the international contingencies within which Lee had to fashion a pragmatic solution to the concrete problems facing Singapore during, and well beyond, its foundational years as a sovereign entity.”
Toh Han Shih reviews a new book, Musings, by former Singapore minister George Yeo. Han Shih, who earned a PhD from Oxford University and a graduate degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, shows that in Musings, Yeo gives an eyewitness account of his life in public service. In one episode, Yeo describes the case of a monument to the Indian National Army (INA) in Singapore that the INA had constructed during the Second World War. When the British returned to Singapore in September 1945, they immediately demolished the monument. In 1995, Yeo unveiled a plaque to mark the site of the demolished INA monument at the Esplanade Park. A few years later, Yeo suggested a replica of the demolished INA monument be installed in the Esplanade Park.
The independent scholar, Vinod Kumar Pillai, reviews Small States in a Big World: Size is not Destiny, edited by Tommy Koh, Singapore’s Ambassador-at-Large. The reviewer, who holds a degree in agriculture science and had a long career in banking, traces the trajectory of Singapore’s role in the galaxy of small states through its initiative in 1992 to set up a Forum of Small States (FOSS), an informal, cross-regional grouping of 108 countries (with population below 10 million) at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Small States in a Big World: Size is not Destiny, appearing on the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the FOSS, showcases the success achieved by small states from various regions of the world.
Rising Asia Journal remains committed to its coverage of all aspects of Asian societies, as our current issue demonstrates. In our future issues, we will both deepen and broaden our examination of burgeoning Asia.
