Until today, the Muslim Societies in Asia & the Pacific program (MSAP) only had a facebook presence online, so we are very excited to announce their new website: http://www.msiahawaii.com!  We hope our readers enjoy the site as much as we do!

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies would like to recognize the incredible efforts of graduate assistants, Nezia and Effendy, who were instrumental in the building of the Muslim Societies in Asia program.  The quality and success of the current MSIAP is a testament to their hard work and the CSEAS wishes them the best of luck on their future endeavors.

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The First International Conference on
HUMAN RIGHTS in SOUTHEAST ASIA

Organized by the Southeast Asian Human Rights Studies Network and the Center for Human Rights Studies and Social Development (CHRSD), Mahidol University, Thailand.

14-15 October 2010
Bangkok , Thailand
www.seahrcon.org

Human rights in Southeast Asia are at a critical juncture. There are a number of positive developments in the promotion and protection of human rights, such as, the institutionalization of the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), formation of national human rights commissions or institutions and the development of a dynamic human rights discourse within the region. These occur, however, alongside a significant amount of human rights violations in a wide variety of areas. There is still much work to do in the promotion and protection of human rights of ASEAN peoples.

The First International Conference on Human Rights in Southeast Asia intends to bring together academics, researchers, graduate and post-graduate students, civil society organizations and government agency representatives who work on the research and greater understanding of human rights in Southeast Asia . It seeks to explore the ways researchers and civil society have begun to make more critical contributions to deepening the understanding of human rights-based framework and actual issues through in-depth engagement with localized sites within the Southeast Asian region. Likewise, as human rights is an emerging area of study at universities and academic institutes in Southeast Asia , the conference also aims to provide a venue for the increasing body of research work being done by academics and graduate students on Southeast Asian human rights.

Possible Panel Themes will include:
1. Universality and particularity of human rights
2. Individual and collective rights
3. Gender, sexuality and women’s rights
4. Rights of vulnerable and marginalized groups
5. Peace, conflict, security and human rights
6. Challenges to human rights in Southeast Asia
7. Media, advocacy and popularization of human rights

Paper Submission Details
Those who wish to present a paper at the conference are invited to submit an abstract of 300-350 words and a short biographical paragraph of 150 words in English by 30 June 2010 to Ms. Saksinee Emasiri at seahrcon@gmail.com. Please indicate to which proposed panel you think your paper would best fall under. The full paper should be about 5,000-6,000 words.

Successful applicants will be notified by 15 July 2010. Full papers are due on 30 September 2010.

Photo taken from flickr user j l t under creative commons license

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All of us at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa wish everyone a wonderful Songkran/Bpee Mai/Chol Chnam Thmey/Thingyan!

Another Celebratory Photograh of Songkran

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This month, NPR Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Sullivan introduces a five-part series focusing on the Mekong River. Beginning part at the river’s source in the central highlands of China, “Sullivan journeys the length of the river and tells the story of the people who live along its banks.” This part-travelogue/part-ethnography is also available via podcast and includes interactive maps, stunning visuals, and Sullivan’s award-winning reporting. Read on for summaries of parts 2 – 4 that chronicle Sullivan’s experience through Southeast Asia; part 5 coming soon!

Part 2: Sullivan reports from east-central Myanmar’s Shan state, which borders the Mekong. It’s a remote area that, like the river itself, has an often troubling past, in a country where reporters aren’t welcome. podcast | full article

Part 3: Sullivan travels to Thailand and Laos, which are on opposite sides of the river known in their local languages as Mae Nam Khong. The two countries found themselves in different camps after the communist takeover of Laos in 1975. Now, they face different challenges. | podcast | full article

Part 4: Sullivan reports from Cambodia, where the river has been central to the lives and livelihoods of many in a country that has seen its share of conflict | podcast – coming soon | full article

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Ever wonder what Southeast Asia looks like at night?  Below is a beautiful photographic depiction of this large geographical area.

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International Grants for Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
McKnight Foundation
2010 – 2011

Through community building and empowerment, the McKnight Foundation’s goal is to strengthen local institutions and initiatives that sustain and improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable people in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.  In 2008, the program granted approximately US$1.9million to projects in Southeast Asia.

more info | Deadline: 1 December 2009

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18 April 2006, 12:00 PM
Presented by Jonathon Rigg, Geography, University of Durham, UK

As the Head of the Geography Department at the Durkham University, Jonathon Rigg’s research interests encompass, in broad terms, the problems, tensions and potentialities of development in the Southeast Asian region. This is based on a long-term commitment to the region dating back to 1980.

Initially his work had an agricultural focus. His PhD research, which included an extended period in Thailand based in the poor Northeastern region, examined the constraints that the environment placed on farmers as they attempted to increase production in this marginal area. The research resulted in a series of publications that sought to reappraise the role of the environment as a determining factor at a time when such views were out of vogue.

The work also, however, highlighted the declining role of agriculture in people’s lives and this led to two follow-up pieces of fieldwork. First, an examination of the role of migration and remittances in rural people’s livelihood strategies; and second, a return visit to the original research site where Dr. Rigg tracked down the subjects of the initial PhD fieldwork to appraise trajectories of change over the intervening years. A series of articles examining the deep-seated transformations that are occurring in rural areas of Southeast Asia resulted and an integrating book is due to be published at the end of 2000.

Another thread to Dr. Rigg’s research has been a continuing interest in the environment and, more particularly, in political ecology. This is reflected in an edited book and papers on such topics as dam construction, forest management, and the non-timber forest products. Rather more widely, Dr. Rigg’s work on rural areas of Southeast Asia has also spawned a number of subsidiary interests, all with an emphasis on contemporary development issues: on the role of NGOs in development; on languages of modernisation; and on exclusion, ethnicity, citizenship and nation building.

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