Spring 2021 Webinar Series: The Mekong, China, & Southeast Asian Transitions

This series of four webinars will explore how communities in the region are experiencing the economic, social, and cultural dislocations of these transformations.

Abstract:

In recent decades, people living in the Lower Mekong Region have witnessed major shifts from predominantly subsistence agriculture to industrializing economies, with attendant changes in migration, crop production systems, and major infrastructure(roads, dams, industrial estates). This series of four webinars will explore how communities in the region are experiencing the economic, social, and cultural dislocations of these transformations.

Time: 2:00pm – 3:30pm HST | 7:00-8:30pm EST | 7:00-8:30am Vientiane/BKK/PhnomPenh/Hanoi

Dates:

Panel 1 : Jan 27- Markets for Mekong Commodities

Panelists: Ian Baird (Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison); Ben Belton (Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University); Nathan Green (Geography, National University of Singapore); & Patrick Slack (Geography, McGill University, Montreal)

Moderator: Jefferson Fox (East-West Center)

Watch recording on YouTube here

Panel 2 : Feb 24 – Migration, Mobility, and the Mekong

Panelists: Nga Dao (York University); Heather Peters (Ophidian Research Institute); Phanwin Yokying (East-West Center); Ore Huiying (Independent Photographer)

Moderator: Amanda Flaim, Michigan State University

Watch recording on YouTube here

Panel 3 : Apr 7 – The Spirits and Spiritual Life of the Mekong

Panelists: Courtney Work (National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan); Andrew Johnson (University of California, Berkeley); Wisa Wisesjindawat Fink (Michigan State University, East Lansing); Hieu Phung (University of Michigan); Holly High (University of Sydney); Benjamin Baumann (Universität Heidelberg, Berlin)

Moderator: Miriam Stark (University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa)

Watch recording on YouTube here

Panel 4 : Apr 28 –  Mekong Dams: Debates and the Politics of Evidence

Panelists: Brian Eyler (Stimson Center); Carl Middleton (Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok); Nguyen Huong Thuy Phan (Graduate Institute, Geneva); Pon Souvannaseng (Bentley University); Apichai Sunchindah (Independent development specialist, Bangkok)

Moderator: Wisa Wisesjindawat-Fink (Michigan State University)

Watch recording on YouTube here

This series is made possible through funding from the Henry Luce Foundation and is co-organized by University of Hawai’i-Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawai’i at Manoa-Center for Chinese Studies, East-West Center, Michigan State University-James Madison College and Asian Studies Center, and Chiang Mai University-Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development.