Conference
MA Asian studies Graduate Student Conference: Who is Asian? Definitions, Representations, and Marginalizations
- Date
- Thursday 26 March 2026
- Time
- Serie
- Asian Studies events
- Address
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Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- 0.12
Asia is the most populous as well as linguistically, ethnically, and culturally diverse region of the world. It is also a region of wide-ranging socio-economic development and political systems: high-income countries like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore exist alongside low-income countries like Pakistan, Myanmar, and Cambodia, and democracies like Sri Lanka, Maldives and South Korea exist side by side authoritarian regimes like China, Vietnam, and Tajikistan. The diversity of Asia has made it challenging, and at times controversial, to define the region. Attempts include outdated terminology like “Asia Minor” and Western monikers such as "third world,” "developing world,” and "sleeping giant” that capture pejorative Eurocentric views of the region. These attempts at defining Asia betray biased perspectives that arise from unequal power relations within the region and between the region and the rest of the world. Long and rich civilizational histories, centuries of colonization and semi-colonization, followed by anti-colonial struggles and endeavors to forge independent, postcolonial and decolonial futures shape the power dynamics of defining and representing Asia. But representations of Asia and Asians are not abstract topics for academic research. Incidents of anti-Asian racism in various European countries during the Covid 19 pandemic are reminders of the complex intersection of Asian migrations, Asian representations (or lack thereof), and the marginalization of Asian diasporas.
This conference invites critical reflections on the complexities, diversities and contradictions that define the region and its representations, including both discussions on the empowering narratives from the region as well as marginalizations of Asians and Asian diasporas in the world.
Program
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9:00-9:15 |
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Opening
Aya Ezawa, chair, MA Asian studies, and organizing team
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Panel 1: 9:15-10:45
Diverse Identities in Asia
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Matthijs Verzijden, Leiden University |
Who are Guest People? Migration narratives in research on Hakka identity |
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Huseinah Madihid, University of Malaysia |
Marginal Muslims, Contested Asians: Shi‘i Hadramis in Indonesia and Malaysia Rewriting of Asian Muslim Identities |
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Tsu-Yun (Elizabeth) Shih National Taiwan University |
Beyond Recognition: Folded Resistance and Agentic Strategies in Articulating Hla'alua's Cultural Practice in Taiwan |
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Panel 2: 11-12:30
Being Asian in Europe
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Zhilin Wu, University of Groningen |
Anti-Racist Contestations of Asian Diasporic Identities in Europe |
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Gabrielle Scheijbeler, Leiden University |
Digestible Asianness: food as a social exclusion marker |
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Muhammad Anugrah Utama University of Groningen |
(Un)-(be)-longing: Reimagining the Young Queer Asian Diaspora in Groningen |
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Poster session and lunch 12:30-13:30
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Felice Valeria Thessalonica, University of Göttingen |
Conditional Integration: The Ausbildung System and the Identity Negotiation of the Indonesian Diaspora in Germany |
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Chi Ho Byron Chung, Leiden University |
Leiden Through Scattered Perspective: Re-presenting Urban Cultural Heritage through Chinese Genre Painting in the Eyes of East Asian Students |
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Yi-Wen Lin, Leiden University |
Shaping Heritage Identity: The Role of Mandarin Textbooks "Let's Learn Chinese" in Overseas Chinese Communities |
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Jan Lelieveld, Leiden University |
Taiwanese Solarpunk: A Case Study of 'The Park Project' Videogames Project |
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Siwi Eisner, Leiden University |
“In-between-ness” in the Area – A Think Piece on What it Means to Conduct Fieldwork as both an Insider and an Outsider |
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Erik van der Lee, University of Amsterdam |
Clearing the Air: Epistemic Dispossession in Chiang Mai's Haze Crisis |
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Panel 3: 13:45-15:45
Definitions of Belonging
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Nilna Maulida, Lund University |
Legal Identity and the Limits of Citizenship: Transwomen’s Access to Public Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Surabaya |
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Frieda Chen, Leiden University |
Between Belonging and Difference: Identity Formation among New Second Generations in Taiwan |
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Alex Lew, Leiden University |
Not Chinese Enough, Not Western Enough: Contesting “Chineseness” in Singapore and the Politics of Intra-Asian Identity |
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Wisnu Wardana, Universitas Gadjah Mada |
Who Speaks for Asia? Indigenous-Led Media and the Politics of Representation |
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Closing: 15:45-16:00
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