At the birth pangs of delivering a democratic society and at the crossroad of transforming “the island’s de facto independence into de jure statehood” (Jonathan Manthorpe, Forbidden Nation 258), Taiwan is now a “global political hot spot” whose national and ethnic identities have “unwelcome implications for the PRC’s national identity and ethnic politics” (Melissa J. Brown, Is Taiwan Chinese? 2). Continue reading
Economics theory considers rent control as a form of inefficiency and distortion to the economy as a result of government intervention. It argues that rent control causes housing deterioration and abandonment of buildings which leads to decay and gradually destroys the city.
However, the reality seems to differ from the theoretical framework in the case of Malaysia. The repeal Rent Control Act 1966 in Malaysia since January 2000 has caused rent in ‘pre-war’ buildings, built before 1948, to increase Continue reading
The presence of Burmese forced migrants in and around refugee camps at the Thai-Burma border is one of the longest protracted refugee situations worldwide. Yet, in contrast to refugee situations in other parts of the world, anthropological research focusing on the Burmese in Thailand is scarce. Continue reading
Do Okinawans have the right for the self-determination? Who is the sovereign over the land, sky, and ocean in Okinawa? Okinawa has never given up their struggles to acquire the fundamental “human rights” that were disregarded and ignored from time to time under the name of “Japan-US peace treaty which caused colonial relationship of Okinawa with Japan under U.S. Continue reading
In the past decade Taiwan has seen a booming business in brokering foreign brides from Southeast Asia, mainly Vietnam, and China to Taiwanese men. A relatively recent development which began in 2002, is the importation of brides from Eastern Europe, mainly from Ukraine and Russia.
This new direction challenged the stereotypical images of transnational Continue reading
On July 1, 2006 the Qinghai-Tibet Sky Train made its inaugural run from inland China to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Chinese government heralded the Sky Train as a marvel of modern engineering. However, in Tibet there were mixed reactions.
Some believe the train will help develop Tibet’s economy by improving access to goods Continue reading
This paper examines changes of Minangkabau women’s lives in West Sumatra, Indonesia from the early twentieth century to the twenty first century. Minangkabau is an ethnic group in West Sumatra Province with matrilineal tradition. This matrilineal is a system in the maternal Continue reading
Our project will postulate that India could emerge as the paradigm for democracy. As India emerges as the representative possibility for an enduring “sovereign, socialist, secular democracy,” the country finds itself at the center of a conundrum, one that threatens the economic stability of this promising democracy. Continue reading
Today the comprehension of the ontology of a work of art is of a great concern to artists, in particular, the problem of reading or interpretation. In this context the definition of “interpretation” becomes relevant for consideration in the context of various cultural studies.
We studied modern approaches to the notion of “culture” to study artistic musical Continue reading
It is widely acknowledged that Australia is a major destination for international education, totaling $9.5b revenue in 2006 (Marginson, 2006). 78% of international students in Australia are from Asia (Australian, 2005). A third of Australia’s 240,000 international students are located offshore (Marginson, 2006). As more and more international students pursue international education in Australia, there is a need to investigate how these Asian international students perceive Continue reading
