IJAPS welcomes critical book reviews that are relevant to the study of Asia Pacific in the following disciplines: politics, history, indigenous languages and literature, religion, man and the environment, ethno-history, anthropology, cultural heritage, social issues, economic development, war and conflict resolution, prehistory and archaeology, and the arts.

The books to be reviewed should be:

1. recent / latest publications that have been produced within the last one year
2. innovative and original, or provide findings that are relevant or significant to the field

If you are interested in reviewing a book for us, please contact the Book Review Editors, Dr. Tan Chee Seng (tancs@usm.my) and/or Dr. Ku Boon Dar (kubd@usm.my), with details of the book (author, title, publisher, and publication year).

IJAPS also welcomes recommendations of new books for review in IJAPS, which should ideally be accompanied by suggestions of suitable reviewers for the recommended books.

IJAPS is pleased to make two important announcements:

First, our website has been updated with a new banner and logo design that better reflects who we are and what our journal is about.

Second, today we officially launch a new section titled Perspectives, which aims to capture significant views and voices about Asia Pacific in the here and now. 

Published twice a year, and focused on specific themes, Perspectives features experts from academia and other fields, including the arts, performance and the media, who share their perspectives on topical issues that are relevant to their work and Asia Pacific.

Brought to you in this inaugural publication are three eminent scholars:  (1) Shirley Geok-lin Lim, an award-winning poet and author, and Professor Emerita of English Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara; (2) Louise Edwards, the Scientia Professor of Chinese History at the University of New South Wales, Sydney; and (3) Ooi Keat Gin, formerly Professor of History from USM, the founding editor of IJAPS, and presently the Honorary Advisor of IJAPS.

Click here to go to the Perspectives section.

We are pleased to announce the latest publication of the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2.

All articles in this latest issue can be accessed via this link.

We take this opportunity to thank our contributors, reviewers and the production time for making this yet another timely publication.

We are pleased to inform you that the latest issue of the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), Vol. 16, No. 1 (Jan 2020) is now online, featuring the following contributions:

• Local community and policy maker perspectives on sustainable livelihoods, tourism, environment and waste management in Siem Reap/Angkor, Cambodia, by Tahmina Rashid
• Empowerment issues in Japan’s care industry: Narratives of Filipino nurses and care workers under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) labour scheme, by Ron Bridget T. Vilog, Ma. Keren Happuch D. Arroyo and Tezla Gael G. Raquinio
• The centrality of “fringe history”: Diaspora, the Internet and a new version of Vietnamese prehistory, by Liam C. Kelley
• The “Pauk Phaw” narrative and China’s relations with Myanmar since the 1950s, by Zhu Tingshu and Morakot Meyer
• Book review: Ethnic and religious identities and integration in Southeast Asia, by Victor T. King

All articles can be accessed via this link.

On behalf of the publisher and the journal, we congratulate our authors and contributors, and we look forward to publishing more quality research works in the future.

The International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS) is once again selected as the recipient of the CRÈME award for year 2019, accorded by the Ministry of Education Malaysia.

The award was first introduced in 2015 under CREAM (which has now been rebranded to CRÈME) as a recognition to highly performing scholarly journals in the country. It is also an incentive to promote continued excellence in research and publications, maintaining visibility in major databases, and attracting top researchers to showcase their breakthrough findings.

The award ceremony was held on 5 November 2019 at Zenith Hotel, Putrajaya. IJAPS was represented by Associate Editor, Dr. Grace V.S. Chin.

This is the third time IJAPS given the award, after winning it in 2015 and 2016.

The journal and the publisher, Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia are honoured with this recognition.

We are delighted to inform our readers that the second, latest issue of the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies for 2019 (Vol. 15, No. 2) is now published.

In this latest publication, six contributions and articles of of diverse disciplines and geographical spread are made available for downloads. All of the contents published are licensed under Creative Commons (CC-BY).

Articles published are as the following:

• Moscow’s Great Power Dilemmas: The Role of Asiatic Russia in Russia-China Relations, by Rafael Contreras-Luna
• When Does a Newborn Democracy Fail? Evidence from South Korea’s Second Democratic Regime, 1960-1961, by Inhye Heo
• An Investigation of Archaeological Remains at Lamreh Site, Aceh, Indonesia and Their Context Within the Lamuri Kingdom, by Amir Husni, Saryulis, Husaini Ibrahim and Mokhtar Saidin
• Education Governance Reforms and Skills Certification of Filipino Entertainment Workers Exported to Japan (1994-2004), by Mark Maca
• South Korea’s (Incomplete) Middle-Power Diplomacy Toward ASEAN, by Brendan Howe and Min Joung Park
• The Filipinos and the Philippines in Nora Cruz Quebral’s Development Communication Discourse: Strengthening Communication’s Groundedness in a Nation’s Context, by Romel A. Daya

The journal and the publisher, Penerbit USM (USM Press) thank our contributors, reviewers and readers for their continued support to the journal.

The International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies is delighted to inform our readers that our latest publication, Vol. 15, No. 1 (January 2019) is now published.

In this latest issue, articles of multi disciplines and geographical spread are made available for downloads. All of the contents published are open access and licensed under Creative Commons (CC-BY).

Full articles can be accessed and downloaded here.

The journal and the publisher, Penerbit USM (USM Press) thank our contributors, reviewers and readers for their continued support to the journal.

We are delighted to inform our readers that the second, latest issue of the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies for 2018 is now published.

In this latest issue, 10 articles of diverse disciplines and geographical spread are made available for downloads. All of the contents published are licensed under Creative Commons (CC-BY).

Article list:

• Tourism and Erik Cohen in Thailand: Comparisons, Impacts, Mobilities and Encounters, by Victor T. King
• The Value of Knowledge in the Malay Mind: A Cognitive Semantic Analysis, by Khazriyati Salehuddin
• The Effect of Education on Income Inequality in Selected Islamic Countries, by Abolfazl Shahabadi, Morteza Nemati and Seyed Ehsan Hosseinidoust
• Making History in Borneo: Ong Sum Ping and His Others During the Late Yuan and Early Ming Dynasties, by Johannes L. Kurz
• The Samoan Side: How Sia Figiel Debunks Orientalism in Where We Once Belonged, by Sadiya Abubakar
• Ganesa and His Cult in Contemporary Thailand, by Ruchi Agarwal and William J. Jones
• Space-Time Formations in the South Indian Tamil Popular Film Kannathil Muthamittal, by Ramesh Loganathan, Shanthini Pillai and Pramela Krish
• Private Law Schools in Indonesia: Their Development, Governance and Role in Society, by V. Selvie Sinaga
• Book Review: Chinese Ways of Being Muslim: Negotiating Ethnicity and Religiosity in Indonesia, by Maszlee Malik and Hamidah Mat
• Book Review: The Malayan Emergency: Essays on a Small, Distant War, by Ahmad Abu Talib

The journal and the publisher, Penerbit USM (USM Press) thank our contributors, reviewers and readers for their continued support to the journal.

IJAPS Series for South Asia

Taking India to Market

Retail Revolution and Consumer Culture

In the wake of India’s 1991 economic reforms, trade barriers were lowered and state regulation policies with regard to industrial production and foreign direct investment were significantly liberalized. India transitioned from a state-centric to a market-oriented model of development. Subsequent reforms have spurred a retail revolution, and novel forms of consumer culture have emerged against a background of economic growth. In this connection, contributions that study how and why landscapes of production, trade, regulation and consumption have transformed in contemporary India are encouraged. Tentatively it shall be argued that in spite of the magnitude of India’s retail revolution and rapidly changing forms of consumer culture, these transformations and their effects are not yet well understood in empirical terms. That is to say, studies are particularly welcome that can fill the gap in terms of ‘thick’ descriptions of how everyday political economy frames and conditions the production, trade, regulation and consumption of a wide variety of commodities and services. Additionally, papers that explore the rise of Hindu nationalism with respect to its role in the retail revolution are invited.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Narendra Modi has been in power since 2014, and reflects a broader and deeper fascination with Hindu religious doctrine – for example the idealization of Hindu vegetarianism that is not systematically matched by everyday practice. Hinduism has always been integral to social life among divergent class and caste groups in India, but the retail revolution, consumer culture and the emergence of a new Hindu middle class of about 300 million consumers have increasingly become inseparable from moral markets and consumption – that is, a new configuration of capitalism that makes recurrent reference to Hindu doctrine, aesthetics and practice. As a consequence, the notions of moral markets and consumption have led to a ‘brand’ of divine markets in India in which mass-produced commodities are spiritualized, and spirituality is subjected to a logic of commodification. Conversely, ‘ordinary Hindus’ who are not involved in contemporary religious or political developments, and who are somewhat ambivalent about these, either reluctantly accept these trends or simply reject them as no more than a form of materialism (or material excess) and thus as a shallow display of religiosity.

Finally, research findings that detail how other communities are affected by, and respond to, the above-mentioned transformations – Muslim entrepreneurs or tribal trade networks, for example, are most welcome. Moreover, interest is exhibited in what could be called new business communities, in terms of class, caste, ethnicity and gender, that have entered the Indian economy, and in the ways in which these communities manoeuvre within and beyond India. In sum, original works from within the broader field of social sciences that shed light on India’s rapid transition from bazaars to hypermarkets in the following fields: things/commodities, services and landscapes. Often, these transitions are explored in major urban centres, but studies that explore the retail revolution and consumer culture at the margins too are equally relevant. Potential topics that tie-in the aforesaid theme inter alia: places of worship and monuments; landscapes of retail and consumption: bazaars, supermarkets and hypermarkets; advertisement; regulation; finance; body cultures; physical and social mobility; food cultures and animals: health, nutrition and taste; everyday political economy; visual culture.

AN INVITATION

In this connection the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS) would like to extend an invitation to scholars from diverse disciplines to contribute a paper in their area of specialisation to this Series.

GUIDELINES

Individual Manuscript

Contributed manuscript should keep within the word count of between 8,000 and 10,000, inclusive of notes, references, appendices, illustrations, etc. Submitted manuscript should comprise an Abstract (max. 200 words) and Keywords (max. 5 words), and Text that has been prepared according to the prescribed journal house-style.
Aforesaid Invitation notwithstanding all submitted manuscripts will undergo the normal double-blind peer review process.

Guest Editor

In a themed issue (consisting a set of between 5 and 7 thematic papers), a Guest Editor (GE) will be identified and appointed by IJAPS. Potential GEs are to provide his/her curriculum vitae for perusal and approval by IJAPS Editor-in-Chief, together with biodata of identified contributors indicating ability/authority as author for their respective papers.

IJAPS Editorial Board represented by the Editor-in-Chief or an appointed representative (a member of the IJAPS Editorial Board) will work closely with the GE in the matter of the selection of reviewers, attending to the reviewers’ report (comments, recommendations, etc.), and take the decision for final approval. Once approved, GE will attend to the details of proofreading (1st reading) and to ensure the papers are formatted to IJAPS house-style. Two GEs are also possible. (Note: The candidate for GE needs to be a scholar of international standing in his/her field for it will lend immense credibility to the published papers and for IJAPS.)

All articles to be submitted by the GE for publication must have gone through peer review process which is coordinated by the GE. The GE is to keep record of the review report and submit them to the journal for record purpose.

The GE is to ensure that the selected contributors or a majority of contributors do not come from one single institution. Preferably, and if possible, contributors to come from various disciplines, a gender balance, institutions/universities, and countries/continents are much appreciated to reflect the diversity of scholarship.

DEADLINES

Interested Authors need to submit a draft Abstract (max. 200 words) and Keywords (max. 5 words). Only Authors of approved Abstracts should proceed with the manuscript.

Submitted manuscript should be forwarded in electronic format (Microsoft Word) within a window of 6 and 8 months following approval of Abstract. All submitted manuscripts shall go through a double blind peer review that might involve 2 or 3 reviewers, revisions, re-evaluation, etc., a lengthy process.

Currently, we are accepting abstracts.

INQUIRIES

For queries, please contact:

Associate Professor Johan Fischer (johanf[at]ruc.dk)
Department of Social Sciences and Business
Roskilde University, Denmark

An interesting feature introduced by the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies since 2012 is Scholarly Viewpoints that showcase opinions, comments, ideas, and viewpoints of well renowned scholars on the Asia Pacific region pertaining to their respective academic discipline. This additional feature will further add value to the journal’s uniqueness as a scholarly journal.

Interviews are conducted by the Editor-in-Chief, or his/her representative, with senior scholars in the fields of specialization within the scope of the journal.

The overall themes of interview questions put forth to scholars are as follows:

• Current trend of discipline; specifically in the context of the Asia Pacific region
• Impact of the discipline on the Asia Pacific region; ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘why’, etc.
• Comments on the state of recent (last 2-3 decades) scholarship of the discipline
• Comments on current scholars of the discipline, viz. indigenous of the Asia Pacific region or from without, interests, characteristics, etc.
• Future of the discipline in relation to the Asia Pacific region, viz. trends, direction, vision
• Offering advice, guidance for up-and-coming scholars focusing on the Asia Pacific region
• Any other opinions, viewpoints to express, share, etc.