HASP Journals (Univ. Heidelberg)
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Mosques and Meeting Rooms: Professional Lives of Muslim Women
Get PDFThis IQAS special issue relates to the relationship between religious knowledge and women’s professionalisation. It links empirical observations of applied religious knowledge with the conceptualisation of professionalisation, examined through case studies from Southeast, South and Central Asia. The lens it looks through is intentionally gender-sensitive, exploring how Muslim women in Asia actively and creatively participate in the production and dissemination of religious knowledge and the formation of new knowledge societies through participation in social activism and the global economy on multiple scales. The authors are members and partners of a research initiative that seeks to explore women’s pathways to professionalisation in Muslim Asia. In the course of three years, substantial findings have come to light that lead the authors of this issue to suggest a more flexible understanding of the concept of “profession” and the notion of “religious knowledge”
Women, Social Media and Political Engagement in Japan: A Survey Study
Get PDFDespite comparable levels of political participation between genders, a significant gender gap in political empowerment persists in Japan. Women demonstrate a tendency towards progressive perspectives, yet exhibit lower levels of political interest and knowledge. The advent of social media has given rise to a plethora of discourse surrounding its impact, particularly in relation to women’s political engagement. Drawing on a survey of 1,723 respondents, this study examines gendered patterns in social media use and political engagement in Japan. Findings reveal that while Japanese women are active on Instagram, they seldom engage in political activities on the platform – unlike men, who are more likely to use social media for political purposes. Nevertheless, social media discussions can occasionally shift toward political topics, potentially heightening gender consciousness among women. This unexpected form of political communication, occurring within intimate online spaces, raises questions about its potential to foster political empowerment for Japanese women in the future
Mutual Transformations – Southeast Asia and Japan in the 21st Century
Get PDFThis special issue examines the complex and evolving relations between Japan and Southeast Asia. Historically rich in resources, Southeast Asia attracted imperial powers, including Japan, significantly transforming the region. Post-war ecosystems were influenced by Japanese occupation during WWII, shaping leaders and industrial development. Japanese investments and Official Development Assistance (ODA) since the 1960s have facilitated regional growth. Despite Japan's cautious diplomacy due to its US alliance, it diversified support in the 1990s, including infrastructure, legal, and political aid to transitional economies like Vietnam. Japan remains a significant investor, expanding aid to address climate change and maintaining trust in ASEAN countries. Recent geopolitical shifts, including China’s rise and US-China competition, have pushed Southeast Asia to strengthen ties with both powers, positioning Japan’s evolving role as crucial for regional security and development. The issue includes analyses of Japan’s strategic empowerment of Southeast Asia, capacity building, nostalgia in foreign policy, and smart technologies in urban planning, illustrating broader trends and reducing historical asymmetries
The Transnational Flow of Tourism and Daigou between China and Nepal before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textThrough various ethnographic research techniques, this article examines transnational daigou practices — meaning informal onsell practices — between two neighboring countries, China and Nepal. Linking daigou to debates on transnational flows, it analyzes the paradoxical implications of the dilemma daigouers find themselves in and their desired alternative mobilities among “flows,” especially that of Chinese tourism to Nepal. I show how these daigouers disrupt the boundaries between the public and personal, virtual and physical, as well as local and global in an attempt to achieve upward social mobility by harnessing their bodies, information, products, and other forms of capital amid the tourism flow. Traveling in this capacity becomes a creative response to the tensions inherent to the various translocal structures wherein they are otherwise marginalized. I thus show how this tourism flow shapes, allows, and also restricts daigou mobility. While acknowledging the latter’s dependence on this flow, specifically investigating how the COVID-19 pandemic has created a temporary site through which such mobility endured for some time even while tourism was suspended, I also show how these daigouers have claimed their subjectivity. Based on this case study, I refute hegemonic narratives of such flows being untethered, uniformed, faceless, and agentless. Instead, I argue that even though flows are powerful and influential regarding types of mobility and immobility they are still not dominant. Instead, different actors’ grounded mobile and immobile experiences keep practicing, conditioning, and negotiating various flows, with those concerned maintaining their own characteristics in confronting them. As such, the article seeks to make the current discussion of transnational flows more nuanced by highlighting the structuring imperatives of (im)mobility, class, and capital vis-à-vis globalization
German Strategy on China – A Critical Appraisal
No full textIt is difficult to imagine today’s world without the People’s Republic of China. The country’s significance is immense. Over the past 20 years, trade with China has been the guarantor of prosperity for almost all Western countries; to effectively address global challenges such as climate change, China’s active participation is necessary; geopolitically, the country also plays a crucial mediating role. Nonetheless, China frequently positions itself outside the framework of the rules-based international order.Against this backdrop, Western countries have been discussing the possible contours of a revised stance toward the People’s Republic of China for several years, aiming to counter the country’s increased power consciousness and ambition to shape global affairs. In this vein, in July 2023, the Federal Republic of Germany introduced the “Strategy on China”, the first comprehensive concept paper on China policy issued by a European nation, attempting to address the aforementioned ambivalence in its relationship with China: It views China as a key partner in addressing global challenges, an economic competitor, and a systemic rival – especially in light of China’s efforts to reshape the rules-based international order
