Nordic Asia Podcast

Nordic Asia Podcast

episodes

The Nordic Asia Podcast is a collaboration sharing expertise on Asia across the Nordic region, brought to you by the following academic partners:

-Asia Centre, University of Tartu (Estonia)

-Asian studies, University of Helsinki (Finland)

-Centre for Asian Studies, Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania)

-Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University (Sweden)

-Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku (Finland)

-Norwegian Network for Asian Studies

Amber Worlds: The Global Amber Trade in the China-Myanmar Borderlands

March 15, 2024

Amber Worlds

Alessandro Rippa

What role do China and other Asian countries play in the global amber trade? And, what can we learn about the big challenges of our time by studying a…

Who owns Khadi? From the Indian Freedom Struggle to an International Trademark

March 1, 2024

Who owns Khadi?

Subhadeep Chowdhury

Why did khadi become so central to India’s freedom struggle? How did it evolve into an international trademark – and what does khadi signify in India …

Risks of US-China Geoeconomic Rivalry: Enhancing Small State Preparedness

February 16, 2024

Risks of US-China Geoeconomic Rivalry

Ines Söderström, Liisa Kauppila, and Elina Sinkkonen

What happens if the geoeconomic risks of great power rivalry materialise? What can be done to prevent these potential dangers from unfolding in small …

Kiribati in the Chinese Pacific: A Discussion with Rodolfo Maggio

February 2, 2024

Kiribati in the Chinese Pacific

Rodolfo Maggio

Is Kiribati in the American lake, Indo-Pacific or Chinese Pacific? In this Episode, Julie Yu-Wen Chen talks to Rodolfo Maggio, a senior researcher at …

Cross-Cultural Research on Gaming and “Gaming Disorder”

January 19, 2024

Cross-Cultural Research on Gaming and “Gaming Disorder”

Veli-Matti Karhulahti and Yaewon Jin
Hosted by Satoko Naito

In 1998 the phrase “internet addiction” was first used to describe problematic prolonged internet use, and encompassed a wide range of online activiti…

China’s Environmental Footprint in Ghana: Non-State Responses

January 5, 2024

China’s Environmental Footprint in Ghana

Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi

Musicians and community activists in Ghana have raised their voices to increase awareness of the environmental impact of Chinese activities in the cou…

Grammar, Identity, and Ideology in Early 20th-Century Japan

December 29, 2023

Grammar, Identity, and Ideology in Early 20th-Century Japan

Jonathan Puntervold

Have you ever felt that the grammar of Asian languages does not fit with the framework that we use to describe them? In the late 19th century, Asian g…

Reading the Stars: When Divination Meets Politics in Thailand

December 22, 2023

Reading the Stars

Edoardo Siani
Hosted by Petra Alderman

What does astrology, palm-reading and fortune telling have to do with politics in Thailand, and how can we make sense of these divination practices an…

Between Jesus and Krishna: Christian Encounters with South Indian Temple Dance

December 15, 2023

Between Jesus and Krishna

Stine Simonsen Puri

One of the eight national dances of India, bharatanatyam, partly originates from the area around Tranquebar. During the time that Tranquebar was a Dan…

Humanitarian Issues of Immigration in Japan: From Historical Background to Current Policies

December 8, 2023

Humanitarian Issues of Immigration in Japan

Yoko Demelius and Sara Park
Hosted by Satoko Naito

Japan has historically maintained extended periods of isolationist policies and continues to uphold some of the strictest immigration laws in the worl…

Life after NIAS: A Conversation on the Closure of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies

December 1, 2023

Life after NIAS

Listen:

In December 2023, more than five decades of institutionalized Nordic collaboration in the field of Asian studies will come to an end with the closure …

Sauna Culture in Japan: A Discussion with Eetu-Antti Hartikainen

November 17, 2023

Sauna Culture in Japan

Eetu-Antti Hartikainen

In 2020, Finland’s sauna culture was added to the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, …

Understanding Narendra Modi: The Poetry of a Populist Leader

November 3, 2023

Understanding Narendra Modi

Why do politicians write poems? And what does a politician’s poetry tell us about their leadership? In this episode, a collective of researchers from …

Cleric, Cadre, Businessman: China’s Development Strategy in Sri Lanka

October 20, 2023

Cleric, Cadre, Businessman

Tabita Rosendal Ebbesen

What does Buddhism have to do with harbors? Find out how China is leveraging religion in its foreign policy and why it is a vital part of China's soft…

India, Asia, and the Global South

October 6, 2023

India, Asia, and the Global South

Raja Mohan
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How should we understand the emergence of the Global South as a political actor? What is the role of India within this framework? Which challenges and…

Globalisation and Glocalisation of Bubble Tea: A Discussion with Stella Zhang

September 29, 2023

Globalisation and Glocalisation of Bubble Tea

Stella Zhang
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Bubble tea, also known as pearl milk tea, boba or tapioca milk tea is a popular drink in Asia. Wherever there is Asian diaspora, such as in the USA, o…

Rahul Ranjan, "The Political Life of Memory: Birsa Munda in Contemporary India" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

September 22, 2023

The Political Life of Memory

Rahul Ranjan
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How do affective sites such as memorials and statues produce political visions, emotions, and opportunities? And how are they used strategically to fu…

Development and Migration in Contemporary Asia

September 15, 2023

Development and Migration in Contemporary Asia

Jonathan Rigg and Marta Bivand Erdal
Hosted by Arve Hansen
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Is migration good or bad for development? How does migration affect those who leave and those who stay behind? How are rural and urban livelihoods int…

Tingting Hu, "Victims, Perpetrators and Professionals: The Representation of Women in Chinese Crime Films" (Liverpool UP, 2021)

September 9, 2023

Victims, Perpetrators and Professionals

Tingting Hu
Hosted by Joanne Kuai

How are women represented in Chinese crime films? In what ways do the representation reflect traditional Chinese values and contemporary Chinese socia…

Digital Repression in Thailand

September 1, 2023

Digital Repression in Thailand

Janjira Sombatpoonsiri
Hosted by Petra Alderman
Listen:

How serious an issue is digital repression in Thailand? Who is behind it? And what effects does it have on Thai people? Listen to Janjira Sombatpoonsi…