Mobilities Beyond Boundaries: Social & Spatial Trajectories in Asia | July 6-7, 2024
@ UNIVERSITAS GADJAH MADA
In the framework of this two-day event featuring research papers from early career scholars, the concept of mobility was critically examined in its relation to movement and its potential for economic changes and social transformations.
Vied from both the physical (e.g., migration) and intangible vantage points (e.g., flows of ideas), we debated various types of movements past multiple geographies and across overlapping political, economic, social and cultural geographies. From forced migration to social upward mobility through to the transnational potential of languages, this Symposium hosted by Universitas Gadjah Mada will provided us with a platform to examine, compare and critique a variety of trajectories of movement between and among human actors, objects, information, ideas and capital.
Days One & Two Overview
The days’ panel and abstract information is below –
| July 6 | ACTIVITIES |
|---|---|
| 08:30-09:00 | Welcome by Wening Udasmoro (Universitas Gadjah Mada) and Hilary Finchum-Sung (Association for Asian Studies) |
| 19:00-10:30 | Panel 1: “Scarred Cartographies of the Colonial Legacy” |
| 10:30-11:00 | * BREAK * |
| 11:00-12:30 | Panel 2: “Strategies of Mobility during Occupation and Hardship” |
| 12:30-14:00 | * LUNCH * |
| 14:00-15:30 | Panel 3: “Conflicts, Refugees and Landlessness” |
| 15:30-16:00 | * BREAK * |
| 16:00-17:30 | Panel 4: “Climate Mutability and Forced Displacements” |
| 18:00-20:00 | * DINNER * |
| July 7 | ACTIVITIES |
|---|---|
| 09:00-10:30 | Panel 5: “Human Rights to Mobility and Immobility” |
| 10:30-11:00 | * BREAK * |
| 11:00-12:30 | Panel 6: “Gender’s Fluidity and Women’s Movements” |
| 12:30-14:00 | * LUNCH * |
| 14:00-15:30 | Panel 7: “Higher Education as a Site of Upward Social and Spatial Mobility” |
| 15:30-16:00 | * BREAK * |
| 16:00 – | Closing remarks |
| 18:00-20:00 | * DINNER * |
Paper Abstracts | MORNING DAY ONE | July 6
11:00-12:30 | Panel 1
“Gendering the Margins of History“
Chair: Dr. Po Sovinda,
Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Institute for International Studies and Public Policy, Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
1. Anna Christi Suwardi
School of Liberal Arts, Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand. AAS-SIDA CHSS Fellow 2022-23.
Growing up amidst unrest and violent conflict has been part of many youths’ lives in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces (well known as the Deep South). Generations born in 2004 turned eighteen in 2022, and a Netflix documentary entitled “18 Years: Memories, Dreams, and Violence” captured their stories and struggles to find peace and a better life. Despite feeling trapped in the question of the causes of conflict, the Deep Southern youth found pieces of hope when they moved to other provinces or countries, either for study, work, or identity-seeking. Based on the interviews in the documentary, this study analyzed how mobility shaped youth’s perspective on conflict and peacebuilding and how different environments have contributed to their agencies and aspirations to become change agents for their hometown. The current findings justified that the Deep Southern youth were exposed to broader opportunities they thought never existed by moving to other places. There were nuances where some youth expressed that their mobilities catalyzed their aspiration to pursue careers that could build peace in their hometown, such as being a lawyer or politician. In contrast, other youth expressed their frustration over the two decades of conflict, raising their motivation to seek other citizenships. Through the lens of decolonization and interactive documentary, the current findings of the study reflected that the documentary has allowed youth to amplify their voices. Subsequently, recognizing the youth voices is arguably an effort to decolonize mainstream perspectives of peacebuilding dominated by the perspectives of older and senior generations.
2. Ketoukhrie-ü
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Kohima College Kohima: Nagaland, India.
Borders and borderlands are constantly in motion due to dynamic mobility and relations among borderland communities. In this paper, an attempt has made to understand the complexities of identity and mobility among the Naga borderland communities in Indo-Myanmar borderlands. Historically, Nagas are ethnic tribes who inhabit the Patkai mountain range between India and Burma. However, due to colonial policies of administration and mapping, Nagaas have been divided into different areas. In the post-colonial times, the Indo-Burma boundary demarcation of 1968 has divided these Naga communities into four states in north-eastern part of India and in Sagaing Division in western part of Myanmar. For these communities, the boundary between India and Myanmar is a colonial and post-colonial construct which has been imposed on them. As a result, borderland communities have maneuvered to contest, negotiate and re-negotiate this international boundary and re-imagine their identity and mobility along this ancestral land. Drawn from ethnographic research conducted among these borderland communities substantiated by secondary literatures, this paper attempts to understand the complexities of identity and mobility amongst the Naga communities inhabiting both sides of the border. This paper also calls for respect of transnational rights of borderland communities to their land, resources and relations irrespective of the countries of habitation.
3. Nayan Moni Kumar
Department of Political Science, Gauhati University, Assam, India.
Assamese society has witnessed several waves of migration in the past. In fact, migration has been a recurrent historical and contemporary phenomenon, that has significantly influenced the society and the politics of the state. The nature of this migration, however, has changed over the time. It attained new meanings in different time periods, under different political dispensations and different socio-political circumstances. However, the question of ‘illegal’ migration has remained a persistent (real or perceived) problem over the years which politics has failed to resolve. As a result, distinctive discourses around ‘indigenous’ the ‘illegal immigrants’ have become part of the popular socio-political imaginations. The problem of migration has also led to the development of an ‘exceptional legal-institutional regime’ of citizenship that plays an important role in determining the citizenship of the population. These in turn have significantly molded how citizenship is understood and practiced in Assam.
Accordingly, in this article, an attempt has been made to explore the contested nature of citizenship in the state of Assam in Northeast India. Drawing from qualitative data the paper investigates the citizenship questions of the Miya Muslims in Assam. The article makes the point that in Assam contestation of ones’ citizenship status is not limited to state institutions like Courts, Foreigners Tribunals, Detention Centres, Doubtful Voters (D Voters), Legislature etc. In fact, the pervasive nature of this contestation goes beyond these institutions to influence the everyday life of the people. We substantiate this point by referring to the ‘discourse of illegality’ which offer certain subject positions to Miya Muslims such as illegal immigrants, Bangladeshis etc. leading to the contestations of their citizenship. In doing so, the article contributes to a growing literature that throws light on how ‘popular’ discourses determine citizenship.
4. Amjad Hussain
Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, (Peshawar Campus), KP, Pakistan
The notion that “migration” and “terrorism” are interconnected (Tolan et al. 2) has been so deeply ingrained in Imperial discourse that it is now accepted as truth in the West (Duffield 34). Eastern scholarship, viewing Asia as a construct of Empire (Casagranda np) and grounded in “Enlightenment legacies” (Docherty 00), suffers from “epistemic violence” (Spivak 00). This has led to an internalization of these imperial constructs within contemporary Asian scholarship, influencing how mobilities in marginalized regions are visualized. A serious discussion of mobilities in South and Southeast Asia must consider this epistemic violence, which attempts to chart the different trajectories of Asia from a framework that already stands deconstructed. Thus, the discussion of mobility must encompass not only quantity, a legacy of Enlightenment rationalism, but also quality, reflecting a Marxian/Nietzschean/mystic (Eastern?) legacy. Mysticism has evolved, especially after its engagement with the early Frankfurt School and its intellectual successors (Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida). This distinction is crucial, especially in the context of South and Southeast Asia, because Enlightenment legacies traditionally excluded such Universal Constants; epistemic violence at work. South and Southeast Asia have been repositories of these rare materials. The challenge lies in liberating these regions from Enlightenment narratives to reconnect with their philosophical roots, as seen in the radical political theology of Marx and Nietzsche, heirs of Spinoza. Contemporary Pakistani/Muslim scholarship and its political context exemplify this struggle.
11:00-12:30 | Panel 2
“Strategies of Mobility during Occupation and Hardship”
Chair: Prof. Leang Un
Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Humanities, the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
1. Md Kasir Ali
Independent Researcher, Kolkata, India. AAS-SIDA CHSS Fellow 2022-23.
Often eulogized as the “Paradise on Earth”, Kashmir showcases the existence of religious pluralism. Over the centuries, the region has served as a crucible, where diverse faiths have converged to shape its cultural landscape. Kashmir’s historical roots extend to 250 BCE, marked by Ashoka’s conquest. The Harwan stupa, where the fourth Mahayana Buddhist council took place (first/second century), remains a testament to Buddhism’s impact on Kashmir. Between the fifth and fourteenth centuries, Kashmir was defined by a Shaivite Hindu culture. Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani, a Sufi preacher from Iran, arrived in Kashmir in the fourteenth century and catalyzed a clandestine shift. Rinchana, the then King of Kashmir, converted under his influence, which marked the official establishment of Islam as the state religion. Islam has been moulding the culture to this day.
The valley is plaited between the Greater Himalayan range on the northeast and the Pir Panjal range on the southwest. Courtesy of this unique Geography, the influence of the rest of the world on its culture was always latent up until now. The advent of the internet and the availability of affordable smartphones suddenly elevated it above the geographical barriers and exposed it to cosmopolitanism where challenging traditions is the norm. Different rulers with different faiths governed Kashmir to carry it to the present day while the influence of Islam grew, gripping more than ninety-five percent of the present population. Throughout these transitions, a profound commitment to fraternity and selflessness endured. Is the new exposure leaving that long-held tradition behind or it pushing it to an upward movement? In my paper, I will explore the cultural identity of India-administered Kashmir as a palimpsest of different religions and traditions and how it is being influenced at present times by the internet and consequently cosmopolitanism.
2. Therese Nguyen
Researcher and Lecturer, Social Science Faculty, Universidade Nasional Timor Lorosa’e (UNTL), Dili, Timor-Leste.
One of the most inhumane strategies of war employed by the Indonesian army in East Timor for 24 years was the ‘faminogenic’ policy (Hearman, 2022). This tactic involved deliberately restricting the population’s access to food, leading them to suffer and perish. From 1977 onwards, the Indonesian army systematically destroyed bush camps, resulting in a devastating loss of lives due to hunger. The population was coerced into returning to pre-determined areas under Indonesian control, leaving Timorese guerrilla fighters struggling to survive in the jungles without a steady supply of food. These fighters relied on resources like sweet potatoes, yarns from people’s gardens, and other bush foods, utilizing the traditional knowledge passed down by their ancestors. The study delves into the local knowledge about food, primarily gathered through interviews with guerilla veterans. Through these interviews, the author has recorded new knowledge about different food preservation techniques that they learned from their ancestors or they invented in the jungle. Given the context of climate change, its impact is felt by all of us on a daily basis. This necessitates the discussion of alternative food sources for the future. Valuable lessons can be gleaned from the stories of war and survival, providing a treasure trove of knowledge for the younger generation to build upon.
3. Meng Huyteang
PhD student in Education, Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) and Deputy Head of the Department of Planning, Ministry of Education Youth and Sport (MoEYS), Cambodia.
In Cambodia, there has been a widespread and concerted effort to improve equitable access to education, which also underscores the nation’s dedication to addressing disparities and promoting inclusivity in education. Nevertheless, persistent challenges remain among students, particularly those who are affected by parental migration and identified as “left behind”. This research will investigate the potential of remittance flows to enhance equitable access to education for students from migrant worker families in rural areas in Cambodia. The study will address two primary research questions: 1) To what extent do remittance flows contribute to the educational opportunities and outcomes of students from migrant worker families in rural Cambodia? 2) What are the most effective strategies for developing remittance fund policies to optimize educational support for rural Cambodian students from migrant worker families?
Through a comprehensive review of existing literature, identifying best practices in policy development, lessons learned from various countries, and primary data augmented by targeted qualitative methods based on geographic sampling in selected provinces, this research will provide valuable insights into the intersection of remittances and education in rural Cambodian contexts. Ultimately, the findings of this study will contribute to the broader discourse on migration, education, and socio-economic development in rural areas in Cambodia, with the overarching goal of enhancing educational outcomes for this vulnerable population and fostering inclusive and sustainable educational systems.
4. Amiel Lopez
Department of Anthropology School of Arts and Sciences Ateneo de Davao University. AAS-SIDA CHSS Fellow 2022-23.
In this paper, I explore the concept of mobility beyond boundaries among the Sama-Bajaus, an Austronesian maritime Indigenous community dispersed across the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Indonesia. Through six months of ethnographic fieldwork at a Sama-Bajau community in Davao City, Philippines, I examine how the Sama-Bajaus define and view mobility despite being forcedly sedentarized. Building on Clifford Sather’s (2024) theory of “coming and going,” I nuance that the Sama Bajaus’ spatial mobility is not limited to the seas but also extends to the streets as vendors and social media sites.
The Sama-Bajaus’ notion of mobility is characterized by fluidity, expansiveness, and a lack of boundaries, reflecting their historical and ongoing experiences of migration, displacement, and adaptation to urban environments. I highlight how the Sama-Bajaus’ understanding of mobility is shaped by their traditional seafaring lifestyle, where the sea serves as a known world filled with cognitive guideposts and social meaning. Their spatial practices, such as navigating urban spaces and using social media, reflect their ongoing struggles to resist and subvert the power dynamics that govern their lives, although they were historically displaced by armed conflict and piracy. I conclude by emphasizing the need to move beyond the bounded concept of “ancestral domain” and instead recognize the Sama-Bajaus’ and other diasporic communities’ long history of mobility and adaptation. This perspective is particularly relevant to the conference theme “‘Mobilities Beyond Boundaries: Social and Spatial Trajectories in Asia,'” as it highlights the importance of understanding and respecting the fluid and expansive notions of space that exist beyond traditional notions of territoriality and state boundaries.
Paper Abstracts | AFTERNOON DAY ONE | July 6
14:00-15:30 | Panel 3
“Conflicts, Refugees and Landlessness”
Chair: Prof. Furrukh Khan
Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan.
1. Ikram Shah
Assistant Professor, Department of Development Studies, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Pakistan.
This article discusses the cultural changes among internally displaced families in the Erstwhile Federally Administrated Tribal Area (FATA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. FATA is a conservative society which emphasis on adherence to Pashtunwali (Pashtun Code of Conduct): a long-standing cultural traditions and practices. Due to bordering with Afghanistan, the areas remained tumultuous in the past. Particularly, after 9/11 and subsequent US led global war on terror, the security situation in FATA was further aggravated. Resultantly, the government deployed forces to carry out military operations in the area to fight against terrorism. Since 2008, more than 5.3 million inhabitants of FATA were forced to evacuate the area for security purposes. Subsequently, these IDPs are resettled in dedicated IDPs camps in adjacent districts in urban vicinities having cultural proximity. However, besides pre-existing historical and cultural ties, these IDPs are exposed to cultural shocks that posed significant cultural challenges and many new cultural experiences resulted in cultural differences. Under the banner of “cultural resistance” patriarchal values are revitalized at family and community levels, and new gender character of displacement emerged that counterbalances the dominant patriarchal values that altered the women voice of dissent. This study adopted pragmatic research approach to capture IDPs’ insights to cultural changes through semi-structured interviews and key informant interviews.
2. Abhijit Bhattacharyya
AAS-SIDA CHSS Fellow 2022-23.
The experience of Migration and rehabilitation is embedded in a complex trajectory of multiple negotiations of the state with the migrant population—negotiations that are often coloured by questions of gender, caste and class. My paper would document the negotiations which led to the migration and rehabilitation of Bengali refugees, who originally belonged to a small district called Faridpur in erstwhile East Pakistan (presently Bangladesh), to the archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar, situated about 850 miles east of the Indian Subcontinent and separated from Mainland India by about 1000 kilometres, from 1949 to 1955.Based on information gathered from Government archival records and oral testimonies of the first generation Bengali settlers of the Island the paper would try to understand their experience of rehabilitation in this ‘special zones’ which were specially created to incorporate only a certain type of refugees. In the process, the paper would also like to bring into its ambit the act of refugee’s active reclaiming of these alien spaces through community formation where religious faith played a significant role.
3. . Saima Arzeen
Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, Pakistan.
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) face significant psychological challenges due to forced displacement. This study investigates the role of social support as a crucial predictor of well-being among conflict-induced and development-induced IDPs in Pakistan between 2018 and 2020. The primary objective is to assess the impact of perceived social support on the psychological well-being of IDPs and to compare the levels of social support and well-being between conflict-induced and development-induced IDPs. Conducted over a period of two years, from 2018 to 2020, this study utilized a purposive sample of 300 IDPs, equally divided into conflict-induced (n=150) and development-induced (n=150) groups. The sample included 150 males and 150 females, with an age range of 15-50 years (M = 29.30, SD = 3.58). Data were collected using standardized measures of social support and psychological well-being. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between social support and well-being (r = .56, p < .05). Independent sample t-test analysis showed that development-induced IDPs reported higher levels of social support (M = 68.90, SD = 3.15) and well-being (M = 49.20, SD = 2.50) compared to conflict-induced IDPs (M = 54.60, SD = 4.24; M = 27.50, SD = 3.44), with moderate effect sizes (Cohen’s d = .58 and .47, respectively). Additionally, linear regression analysis indicated that social support significantly predicted well-being (β = 0.29, R² = 0.28, F = 34.07, p < .05).In conclusion, social support is a vital predictor of psychological well-being among IDPs. Development-induced IDPs benefit more from social support and report better well-being compared to conflict-induced IDPs. These findings underscore the importance of tailored social support interventions to enhance the well-being of IDPs.
4. Kesone KANHALIKHAM
National University of Laos, Lao PDR.
The objective of this study is to gain insight into “the power of exclusion and the practice of everyday life” in the Boten Beautiful Land, a rebranded Boten Special Economic Zone since 2015 to the present. The purpose of the qualitative study on the livelihoods of those who dwell in and stay the Boten Special Economic Zone was to gain a deeper understanding of the region via in-depth interviews and observation. The study’s findings demonstrated that the implementation of the “production of space” principle via land privatization resulted in the establishment of a special economic zone. This zone has served as logistic and innovation hub and transformed a border region into a city.
Simultaneously, the implementation of place-based policy and changes in the land contribute to the establishment of a special economic zone by expanding access to the Boten Special Economic Zone, regardless of whether geographic location serves as a determining factor. The process also involves the establishment of a ‘Place of Exclusion” over the territory. Blocking access to areas in the case of creating economic zones occurs under the concept of regional connectivity by creating legitimacy in many forms, including the use of laws and regulations, which force people to move out of the land. By using the market to convert land into capital and create legitimacy to access the zone, Chinese investors can increase their ability to compete in trade and link markets both regionally and internationally. As a result of the implementation of the special economic zone policy, there has been a change in the groups of people who have rights to access land. The right to access land has transitioned from local groups to investor groups, becoming a legitimate right. However, the SEZ’s form has forced the locals to adapt and live in a new way, as well as becoming one that draws people from various areas at the same time. People from all over the nation came here to seek opportunities.
16:00-17:30 | Panel 4
“Climate Mutability and Forced Displacements”
Chair: Dr. Suntaree Siriinthawong
Department of Sociology and Anthropology Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
1. Huma Imdad
Lecturer at the Government Girls Degree College Turbat, Pakistan.
Balochistan is one of the most deprived regions in the world with reference to infrastructure and human development index. The impacts of climate change are more hazardous in Balochistan than in any other part of the world. Coupled with these, patriarchy, through social institutions, also plays a significant role in adding fuel to the suffering of people on gendered lines. Natural hazards hits Balochistan hard and its women even harder. Floods in Lasbela in 2022, incurred different impacts on men and women. A gendered understanding of the impacts of flood is imperative to make informed policies about the lives of vulnerable both to nature and nurture. The current study attempts to investigate the gendered impacts to flooding in Lasbela district of Balochistan using quantitative research method. The study will significantly contribute on gendered knowledge of the impacts of flood and reproduce the assumption that nature hurts nurture more than nature.
2. Jaw Sajin, & Ei Ei
Researcher & Educators, Mon National College, Ye Township, Mon State, Myanmar.
In February 2021, Myanmar was changed forever with the overthrow of the democratically elected government by the Myanmar armed forces. This has led to widespread conflict, displacement, and humanitarian needs as well as a reshaping of governance across the country. Whilst the majority of the country struggles to survive and restore democracy, an arguably greater threat looms on the horizon – climate change. The impact of climate change is already being felt across the country, with local communities drawing upon long-standing sources of resilience to adapt, or in some cases maladapt, to this impact. To understand and sustainably address the causes and consequences of climate change, education is vital. This research explores the impact of climate change on the communities of Ye Choung Phayar in Mon State, Myanmar, and unpacks how local people have responded. This research then examines how this local knowledge can be better integrated into the Mon National Education Department’s plans for sustainable development.
Through this study, researchers will understand the local people’s awareness and response to agricultural transition and climate change. The objectives of this study are: 1/ To document local understandings of how climate change is impacting local livelihoods and the environment 2/ To explore local resilience influencing factors of the school and local ecosystem 3/ To analyse possible approaches that MNED can integrate in dealing with the impacts of climate change in the community through integrating local resilience practices into their Education System.
3. Chiv Sarit
PhD Student at the National Institute of Education, Cambodia.
The Tonle Sap Lake is the biggest freshwater body and one of the most highly productive in world. While fishery highest out-migration occurs in the provinces around Tonle Sap, it is currently undergoing a rapid change with the rise of environmental change, socio-economic problems and labor market outcome in the context of Cambodia and other countries. The study investigated factors that drive population around major lake in Cambodia by analyzing Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey (CSES) which is the most relevant in respond to socio-economic and environment issues in the different ecological area. The objective of the study will be found out analyze temporal and spatial community change in the Tonle empirically based on the existing Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey (CSES). The study is used to analyze two variables: income and the socio-economic: education, household size, occupation, age, household economic, land ownership, agricultural land, household size etc. in my study. Generalized linear model was applied with R program for a binomial outcome variable which is the fit logistic regression. The model output was assessed by using summary linking between factors impact on the rural-urban and international migration and the important socio-economic variables related to personal information, household information, and village information.
4. Abdul Qadeer
Lecturer in Sociology, Faculty of Management and Social Sciences, Lasbela University of Agriculture Water and Marine Sciences, Pakistan.
After working on the socioeconomic impacts of flooding on the households in Lasbela, I am excited to explore what it really meant for the displaced families to be displaced in the face of a natural calamity. The current study explores the lived experiences of families that were displaced during the 2022 flooding in Lasbela, Balochistan. The study employs an autoethnographic approach and focuses on documenting the lived experiences of displacement of climate-hit families to understand the intensity of effects and nature of grounded challenges. Autoethnography aims to engage the “readers to feel the truth of their stories and to become coparticipants, engaging in the storyline morally, emotionally, aesthetically, and intellectually (Ellis and Bochner 2000, p-745) Communicability of experiences is one of the core strengths of autoethnography (Khosravi, 2016). The present study offers a grounded contextual account of the hazards of climate change. The findings of this study could be utilized by the government and international organizations to make contextually informed programs and policies for the mitigation of impacts of climate change through participatory active and effective community engagement. It also substantially contributes to the existing debate on climate adaptation and climate justice.
Paper Abstracts | MORNING DAY TWO | July 7
09:00-10:30 | Panel 5
“Human Rights to Mobility and Immobility”
Chair: Dr. Krisna Uk
Director of Special Initiatives, Association for Asian Studies.
1. Set Sreyni
PhD Student at the National Institute of Education, Cambodia.
This paper explores the multifaceted challenges faced by early-grade teachers in supporting the reading development of migrant children. With increasing mobility, classrooms have become more diverse in terms of learning, often with migrant children facing barriers that impede their literacy progress. This paper examines the obstacles early-grade teachers face and the strategies they employ to facilitate reading development for migrant children. It aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the difficulties in educational practices critical to this endeavor. This study synthesizes current research and educational strategies aimed at fostering a supportive learning environment for migrant children. It emphasizes the need for differentiated instruction tailored to individual reading competencies. Furthermore, it highlights the crucial role of teachers in responsive teaching and the effective use of home-school learning interventions. The study concludes that teachers in the early grades play a pivotal role in supporting migrant children in reading, yet they require more support and resources. Early-grade teachers are at the forefront of addressing these challenges to support migrant children in reading.
2. Mi Chan Aie
Mon National College, Ye Township, Mon State, Myanmar.
Ma-kyi village-cluster is located in Mon State, Myanmar, and has about 600 households. Residents make their living by growing betel-nut orchards, rubber plants, durians and other fruit plants via an agroforestry system. Ethnic communities in Myanmar, such as Ma-kyi rely heavily on customary land management practices that are often ecologically sustainable. However, these practices lack recognition under national land policies, which can lead to exploitation of local people, land grabbing and environmental degradation. To better protect the land rights of ethnic people throughout Mon State and prevent environmental injustice, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and civil society groups have recently developed the Mon Region Land Policy (MRLP). While the MRLP has been drafted, its implementation and potential impact on communities like Ma-kyi remain unclear.
3. Tabassum Majeed
Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, Pakistan.
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) face significant psychological challenges due to forced displacement. This study investigates the role of social support as a crucial predictor of well-being among conflict-induced and development-induced IDPs in Pakistan between 2018 and 2020. The primary objective is to assess the impact of perceived social support on the psychological well-being of IDPs and to compare the levels of social support and well-being between conflict-induced and development-induced IDPs. Conducted over a period of two years, from 2018 to 2020, this study utilized a purposive sample of 300 IDPs, equally divided into conflict-induced (n=150) and development-induced (n=150) groups. The sample included 150 males and 150 females, with an age range of 15-50 years (M = 29.30, SD = 3.58). Data were collected using standardized measures of social support and psychological well-being. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between social support and well-being (r = .56, p < .05). Independent sample t-test analysis showed that development-induced IDPs reported higher levels of social support (M = 68.90, SD = 3.15) and well-being (M = 49.20, SD = 2.50) compared to conflict-induced IDPs (M = 54.60, SD = 4.24; M = 27.50, SD = 3.44), with moderate effect sizes (Cohen’s d = .58 and .47, respectively). Additionally, linear regression analysis indicated that social support significantly predicted well-being (β = 0.29, R² = 0.28, F = 34.07, p < .05).In conclusion, social support is a vital predictor of psychological well-being among IDPs. Development-induced IDPs benefit more from social support and report better well-being compared to conflict-induced IDPs. These findings underscore the importance of tailored social support interventions to enhance the well-being of IDPs.
4. Joanico Gusmao Alves
, Independent Researcher, Timor-Leste.
In Timor-Leste, the implementation of a multi-million-dollar Pelican Paradise tourism development project at Tasi-Tolu has displaced local communities and long-term internally displaced persons in 2019. This study examines the social impact of this project and points to possible solutions in addressing their adverse consequences with special impact assessment framework in 2020. My research found that the community was forcibly threatened or displaced by the developers of Pelican Paradise and government agents enabling the project. To address the problem brought by mega development projects such as the Pelican Paradise, the study claims the need to adopt a rights-based good governance approach to future development projects.
16:00-17:30 | Panel 6
Gender’s Fluidity and Women’s Movements”
Chair: Prof. Anagha Tambe
Department of Women and Gender Studies, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India.
1. Hajra Fazal
Lecturer at the University of Balochistan Quetta, Pakistan.
This study presents the transformative impact of an English language center for girls in an underprivileged town of Balochistan, operational for eight years, on their social and spatial mobility. In a region where strict cultural norms confine girls to their homes and mandate full body coverage. This center provided a unique space for learning and empowerment, serving as a catalyst for change the research explores how language education at the center challenged traditional gender roles, built confidence, and equipped girls with practical skills, thereby enhancing their social mobility. Additionally, the center, as a safe educational space, extends the girls spatial mobility within culturally acceptable limits.
Remarkably, the success of this initial center has spurred the establishment of multiple language centers in the area, increasing its impact and creating a network of educational opportunities. By navigating conservatism respectfully, fostering potential for future educational and vocational opportunities. Through comparative analysis with similar initiatives across Asia, this study contributes to a broader understanding of how education can transcend restrictive socio-cultural boundaries. The findings offer policy insights for improving educational access and mobility for girls in conservative regions, understanding the important role of education in shifting cultural perceptions and inspiring broader community support for girls’ education. This research ultimately contributes to the themes of “Mobilities Beyond Boundaries: Social, Spatial Trajectories in Asia”
2. Lili Chen
Universidade Nasional Timor Lorosa’e (UNTL), Dili, Timor-Leste. AAS-SIDA CHSS Fellow 2022-23.
Although Timor-Leste is one of the most tolerant countries towards the LGBT community in Southeast Asia, discrimination and violence against them are still prevalent. Anti-LGBT proponents of Timor-Leste have opposed LGBT rights with a fundamentalist claim of culture and religion, stating that there was no sexual diversity before the colonizers came. From a social constructivist perspective of sexuality (Kang et al., 2017), which sees that sexuality is a human creation in contingency with cultural and historical contexts, this article challenges the categorized binary sexuality and the logic of “heteronormativity”, that is, normalization of heterosexual sexual orientation. It uses literature review, in-depth interview, and participant observation methods, and conducts interviews with 41 LGBT community members aged 18-65 as well as 15 elders from 14 municipalities of Timor-Leste, based on snowball sampling. It argues that sexual diversity and fluidity have existed in indigenous Timor-Leste. This paper foregrounds the fluid, contingent, and unstable nature of an indigenous conceptualization of sexuality, its practices as well as its political underpinnings, which cannot be fully encapsulated by heterosexual colonial rule. It contributes to recovering the under-documented and under-researched indigenous understanding and experiences of sexuality and gender in Timor-Leste. It further suggests that sexuality is an alternative form of resistance and resurgence of indigenous Timorese against continuous suppression of colonialism and nationalism.
3. Atha Tahir
Lecturer at the Mir Chakar Khan Rind University, Sibi, Pakistan.
Baloch culture is a highly patriarchal one where the sentiment of honor is associated with women. In the local perception of honor, women are presented as objective beings and the men as protectors. Honor is among the most sensitive sentiments of culture which is a masculine entity that denotes women as a vulnerable group who need protection. The cultural perception of attaching honor with women’s body has been restricting their mobilization to the public/political arena. But in case of this study, political activism of Med (fisherfolk) women carry honor as a motivation to resist the development-induced displacements. The Balochi poetries and folk stories show honor as a source of resistance in the history of the locale. Honor is a central motive of nationalist movement in Balochistan. Resistance and honor go side by side. My research contributes an ethnographic case illuminating the diversity and complexity of women’s agency in Muslim sociocultural contexts. It demonstrates how the political activism of Baloch women, like the case of Mahmood’s pious subjects, not quietly relates with the assumptions about gender, politics, and progress endemic in Western scholarship.
4. Aparna Dixit
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.
The paper discusses the issues of labor, migration, and the invisibilization of creativity in the pursuit of financial upward mobility. Here, migration can be conceptualized in two ways; spatial migration as individuals move from their home and rural areas to urbanized elite neighborhoods, and occupational migration, transitioning from traditional generational labour to paid domestic labour. It examines the reasons for migration and its impacts on Muslim women and chikankari artisans in Lucknow, India. Despite dedicating long hours to their craft, the artisans remain at the bottom of the supply chain, facing poor wage rates and working conditions in the chikankari industry. The artisans produce high-quality chikankari pieces that are exported to the international market. However, they earn only around 2000 to 3000 rupees per month, which is insufficient to meet their daily needs. In rural areas of Lucknow, they earn even less, around 1000 rupees per month.
Over the past five years, especially after Covid-19, many women artisans have left chikankari and become domestic workers. Therefore, the pandemic can be conceptualized as a historical pushing factor in this migration. They express unhappiness, agony, and distress about leaving chikankari, but domestic work provides better wages, fixed working hours, and regular income. Unlike other studies that investigate the exploitation and poverty of chikankari artisans, the proposed research will delve into the unexplored dimension of the migration of chikankari artisans. This study will explore the transition from creative work to domestic work as well as the invisibilization of generational labour and its impact on their creative ‘self’.
Paper Abstracts | Afternoon DAY TWO | July 7
14:00-15:30 | Panel 7
“Higher Education as a Site of Upward Social and Spatial Mobility”
Chair: Prof. Eunsook Jung
Assistant Dean, Academic Deans’ Services, College of Letters and Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
1. Nov Sokmady
PhD Student at the National Institute of Education, Cambodia.
Recently, the Royal government of Cambodia has set out crucial strategic plans to enhance higher education system, infrastructures, and economic growth. The last two decades, three public and twenty private higher education institutes were established within five provinces, Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Siem Reap, Kampong Thom, and Pursat by the government and private sectors. The provinces are around Tonle Sap River and also close to Thailand border. The purpose of this study is to explore a regional university’s view at Banteay Mean Chey province, Cambodia. The study followed a desk review approach to use secondary data and profile background of graduated bachelor students in the last five years at National Meanchey University, Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia. Adding, the author conducted in-deep interviews around 1 hour with 15 respondents, management team and staff supporters from department of Management Higher Education and National Meanchey University. The study focuses on influence of government policies on rural to urban migrant students in education during last five years at the reginal university, Cambodia. In addition, the author also included the Government policy to promote graduate students in studying abroad as partners’ countries context. The result reveals the significant government policies to intervene students’ migration in higher education. For future study, the author proposes to explore the students’ point of views on life experienced in higher education migration.
2. Sayali Shankar
Researcher, Department of Women & Gender Studies, Savitribai Phule Pune University, India.
In this paper, I attempt to unpack how the subjectivities of women students’ get shaped through aspirational mobilities, classroom experiences, campus life, and friendships within the space of higher education. This paper emerges out of our experience of working as Research Assistants for a collaborative research project “A research study to further gender equality in higher education”, by Department of Women and Gender Studies, Savitribai Phule Pune University and Brunel University, London. We deliberate upon the question of gendered subjectivities in the context of a rapidly expanding landscape of higher education which is simultaneously witnessing unprecedented expansion and increased gender parity; and a decline in work opportunities for women in times of jobless growth. We move beyond the question of access to ask what happens to women students once they enter the space of higher education, and how hierarchies and marginalities get (re)produced and operationalized in different ways. By foregrounding the paradox of women’s empowerment and its celebratory discourse, we analyze the data from two states, Kerela and Jharkhand, to unpack existing hierarchies and the marginality of gender in the contested space of higher education. Students continue to negotiate their subjectivities by, at once, embracing and challenging the space of higher education. This underlines the possibility that education is more than just attainment of degrees; rather it is about nurturing aspirations, pursuing friendships, dreams, and significant moments that define the young selves of students in the context of HEIs being an aspirational urban space. I wish to locate these subjective experiences in the context of aspirational mobilities and focus on how these mobilities are imagined and practiced through everyday engagement at the site of higher education institutions.
3. Var Monisatya
PhD Student at the Preah Sihamoniraja Buddhist University, Cambodia
The Education Congress Report 2024 of the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Department of Education, Youth and Sports highlighted challenges including enrolment of upper secondary rates remain low and dropout rates are rising, lack of classrooms, lab equipment and teachers, and community involvement. Public Education Statistics and Indicators (2022-2023) reported that student dropout rate in Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Oddor Meanchey provinces was much higher than in other areas, where rates are 18 to 19 percent. This study investigates the factors contributing to cross-border migration and dropout rates among students in upper secondary schools (grades 10-12) of Angkor Borey District, Banteay Meanchey Province, northern Cambodia. Employing a case study approach, the research explores how migration patterns from Cambodia to neighboring countries impact educational attainment. Qualitative methods, including interviews with students, parents, teachers, and local authorities, will be used to gain a comprehensive understanding of the motivations for cross-border migration and the challenges students face in completing upper secondary education. The findings aim to shed light on the complex relationship between cross-border migration and educational opportunities in northern Cambodia, informing policy interventions to improve access to and completion of upper secondary education access and retention in Angkor Borey and similar regions.
4 . Pasoot Lasuka
Director of the Integrative Center for Humanities Innovation, Associate Dean Faculty of Humanities, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
Using the CHSS Symposium and AAS-in-Asia as experimental sites to explore the possibilities that technology can offer in enhancing inclusion and mobility across physical, educational and cultural boundaries.
