Monash Asia Institute

•  Welcome to Monash Asia Institute (MAI)!  

  MAI is a multi-disciplinary research centre representing the Asian research expertise in all ten faculties on all Monash campuses located in Australia and abroad. Founded in 1988 as the Institute for Contemporary Asian Studies, it was reconstituted as the MAI in 1992 to bring together a wide range of Asia-related activities in the University and develop collaborative links with like-minded institutions in Australia, Asia, the USA and Europe. Now located in the Arts Faculty, MAI  endeavors to facilitate innovative research on Asian regions and promote cross-disciplinary and trans-Asian intellectual dialogue within and outside Monash.

  MAI Research Day on “Global Asia”  (27 April 2018)

  See the forthcoming events & news in the MAI April 2018 BULLETIN

• FOCUS THEMES & REGIONAL COORDINATORS (**Inaugural Seminar on 31 March**)
  

  MAI establishes four focus themes to promote inter-disciplinary and trans-Asian research collaboration and dialogue. Coordinators of focus themes will organize trans-Asia seminar series. MAI will also invite international scholars who are working on the below themes to give a talk at trans-Asia seminar series.

  1. Migration, Diaspora and Belonging (Coordinated by GIl Soo Han and Mridula Chakraborty)
  2. Diversity, Mobility and Inclusion (coordinated by Julian Millie & Koichi Iwabuchi)
  3. Media, Culture and Performance (coordinated by Ariel Heryanto & Olivia Khoo)
  4. Cultural Citizenship and Public Pedagogy (coordinated by Koichi Iwabuchi & Philip Chan)

   

  MAI also appoint regional coordinators who are responsible for facilitating cross-regional exchange and responding to inquiries about the research of the region:

  East Asia: Gil Soo Han and Gloria Davies/Jonathan Benney

  Southeast Asia: Ariel Heryanto and Julian Millie

  South Asia: Mridula Chakraborty and Chandani Lokuge

• MAI International Conference & Seminar Cultural Expressions and Diversity Promotion: Dialogue with Immigration Museum, Melbourne 22 April 2018 at Keio University, Tokyo Diversity Promotion and Multicultural Inclusion in East Asia  ***Program*** 17-18 March 2018 at Rikkyo University, Tokyo The Sense of Time in a Hyper-Mobile Digital Age: Nostalgia, Presentism and Hope 19-20 May 2018 at Doshisha University, Kyoto Trans-Asia Human Mobilities and Encounters    23-24 January 2017 at Chularongkorn University, Bangkok ***PROGRAM UPLOADED*** Trans-Asia as method: Exploring new potentials of “trans-Asian” approaches    12-13 June 2017 at Monash University, Prato Centre OTHER ASIANS, ASIA’S OTHERING: Inclusionary Utopias, Exclusionary Politics  30 & 31 October 2017, Monash University Caulfield Campus Public Seminar Series with Immigration Museum From Asia Literacy to Australia Literacy  “Narrating my story as a member of multicultural society”, 24 September 2017          -Video of the seminar on 24 Sep 2017 uploaded!         -Video of the seminar on 12 April 2017 uploaded!        – A report on the session on media representation of Asian-Australians in 13 Nov        -Video of the inaugural seminar on 22 Sep 2016 uploaded!        –Video of the second seminar by Andy Trieu uploaded! MAI-Supported Conference & Event Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Chair of Indian Studies Public Lecture on India 2017 by Professor Vanashree:  The Spectrum of Many Indias and the Theatre of Girish Karnad   19 May 2017, 3pm to 5pm, Consulate General of India, Melbourne Embodiments and Inhabitations -The 6th Asian Australian Identities (AAI6) conference of the Asian Australian Studies Research Network    25-26 October 2017, Immigration Museum, Melbourne MAI Seminar series Mon@sia is a public forum that aims to critically rethink fundamental questions around why and how we study about “Asia” and go beyond the compartmentalization of the studies of “Asia” as something happening “over there”. Trans-Asia as method is an academic seminar series that aims to facilitate trans-Asian and cross-disciplinary dialogue by comparatively and collaboratively and develop new conceptualization and theorization from Asian experiences and de-Westernizing the production of knowledge. In addition, there are regular and occasional seminars organized by Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Japanese Studies Centre, National Centre for South Asian Studies, and Centre for Malaysian Studies. For the details of those seminars, please see Calendar and Events page.

• International Conference

   “Korean Wave” Still Matters?  Present and Future Directions (PROGRAM UPLOADED)

  7-8 June 2018

  Monash University Caulfield Campus, Melbourne

  Monash Asia Institute (MAI), Asian Cultural and Media Studies Research Cluster (ACMSRC) and Korean Studies Program of Monash University are pleased to welcome submissions of paper abstracts for the conference, “Korean Wave” Still Matters? Present and Future Directions”, which will be held on 7 & 8 June 2018.

  Since its initial appearance in Taiwanese and Chinese media in 1997, the term Hallyu has meant different things to different people. It proved to be an effective nationalistic marketing and soft power strategy for the South Korean government and entertainment industries while many fans and casual users alike consumed South Korean cultural contents without any conscious regard for the interests of the state. It also has been received in diverse ways by a wide range of followers in terms of regions, gender, sexuality, ethnicity. As such, Korean Wave has been attracting scholarly interests of many researchers of diverse disciplines across and beyond Asian regions.

  Acknowledging the recent vicennial of the Korean Wave, we welcome papers that revisit studies of the Korean Wave and discuss its present and future directions both in and outside of South Korea and Asian regions. Topics of interest include but are not limited to whether or how the discourse of Korean Wave or Hallyu remains relevant today and to whom, new and old sociocultural issues to be explored, South Korean popular culture’s interaction with other national/regional popular cultures and cultural industries such as Indonesian pop or the hip hop culture in China, global implications for the critical study of popular culture in a digital age.

  Any enquiries should be directed to MAI-Enquiries@monash.edu

   

   

• See the forthcoming events & news in the MAI October 2017 BULLETIN

Upcoming Events

Piety, Politics and Popularity of Muslim Preachers in Indonesia and Malaysia
E561, Menzies Building, Monash Clayton Campus
Event Date: 12/07/2018

 

 

ABSTRACT

In both Malaysia and Indonesia, popular Muslim preachers are playing an increasingly important role in shaping Muslims’ religious attitudes, consumption patterns and political opinions. 

This talk highlights a few popular preaching figures, exploring their religious affiliations, business activities and political engagement.

In more specific, it focuses on the online and offline preaching activities of Felix Siauw, a popular yet conservative preacher in Indonesia and his team, YukNgaji.

It explores how their preaching entail a combination of popular culture and political Islam, gaul (down-to-earth) sensibilities and conservative attitudes, as well as visual persuasion and Islamist agenda. It examines a broader change in the trend of Islamic preaching —
one in which piety, politics, and popularity are interconnected, and in which the social media, visual images and market forces area increasingly shape and shaped by the faces of political Islam.

PRESENTER

Hew Wai Weng
Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia
Hew Wai Weng is research fellow at Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (IKMAS,UKM). He has been writing on Chinese Muslim identities, Hui migration, and cultural politics of urban Muslim middle-classes in
Malaysia and Indonesia. He is the author of Chinese Ways of Being Muslim: Negotiating Ethnicity and Religiosity in Indonesia (NIAS Press 2017).

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