Asian Academics Research Articles

Why we need to decolonize the biosciences curriculum

Bioscience has a history linked to exploitation, colonialism and marginalization. Biology has been dominated by white European perspectives, and pseudoscientific ‘biological’ arguments have been used to justify discrimination and oppression, particularly on the basis of disability and ethnicity. Addressing this legacy within bioscience education is challenging, particularly as many bioscientists are unaware of this history and its on-going influence on the discipline. In this article, we explore what decolonization of the curriculum means within the context of bioscience. To demystify terminology for those new to the subject, we first consider the differences between diversification and decolonization. We then explore the historical connections between colonial activity and bioscience, including scientific racism, bioprospecting and eugenics. Additionally, we highlight where white western biases are still present in bioscience, from the dominance of European samples in genomic studies to the lack of Black and Asian academics in UK bioscience. Multiple barriers to decolonization are also considered, from individual lack of knowledge to structural and societal issues. We call on bioscience educators to actively decolonize their curricula, ensuring the discipline is presented in its appropriate historical and cultural context and is inclusive for all.

Remaking higher education for the post‐COVID‐19 era: Critical reflections on marketization, internationalization and graduate employment

This Special Issue was conceived and developed following a series of international conferences held in Asia, with a particular focus on critically reflecting upon higher education development in the region from broader social and political economy perspectives. Some of the papers in this Special Issue were selected from presentations in the East Asia Social Policy (EASP) Research Network Conference successfully held in Taiwan in 2018, while others were chosen from international events held at Lingnan University in Hong Kong presenting critical reviews and reflections on internationalization, marketization and graduate employment of higher education in Asia. This introductory article puts the discussions of the selected papers in this issue in context, with critical reflections on the key issues being examined in these papers. The Special Issue is published when the world is still confronting the unprecedented global health crisis resulted from the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic. This article discusses the higher education development trends in Asia through the massification, diversification and internationalisation processes in transforming the higher education system and examines how these development trends are affected by the COVID‐19 crisis.

Challenges to the Asian academic profession: Major findings from the international surveys

AbstractThis study analyses the challenges facing Asia's academy based on major findings from the international survey which was implemented in seven selected Asian systems in 2012–2013. The study argues that the academics in these participating teams were concerned with demographic issues, academics' deteriorating working conditions, building both capacity and excellence in their academics, unsatisfactory governance and management arrangements in some systems, and more importantly imbalance development in the academics at a regional level, as well as the importance of undertaking connections with foreign colleagues and internationalising the Asian academics. The study also offers implications for policy and research.

“Can East Asian Students Think?”: Orientalism, Critical Thinking, and the Decolonial Project

Amidst the increasing calls for the decolonisation of universities, this article interrogates the representation of East Asian students in Western academia. It is argued that East Asian students are often imagined in Orientalist ways, as can be evidenced by evaluating the depiction of East Asian students in academic publications. More specifically, it is suggested that common perceptions of East Asian students as lacking in critical thinking may unwittingly reinforce stereotypes that are rooted in historic narratives which depict East Asians as inferior to (white) Westerners. This article also explores the way in which East Asian academics and students may also subscribe to these Orientalist perceptions. Finally, this article offers a refutation of the stereotype that East Asian students struggle with critical thinking and it suggests that being more reflexive about the way that we imagine ethnic minority students should be a key component of our efforts to decolonise the university.

Ticking the ‘other’ box: positional identities of East Asian academics in UK universities, internationalisation and diversification

ABSTRACTThis article critically interrogates East Asian academics’ positional identities in UK universities, internationalisation and diversification against the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework. Contemporary UK policy promoting racial equality and diversity is often over-generalised, while the critical race theory-based literature has focused on hegemonic notions of ‘white privilege’. Neither discourse provides an adequate, comparative perspective of power relations within diverse racial and ethnic groups. In advancing this perspective, the article compares the experiences of two groups of East Asian academics working in UK universities. One group is foreign-born but has strong British identities following their English élite education. The other group came to the UK for postgraduate studies and/or chose to work in Britain. The paper changes the picture of a static, black and white perspective in the BME policy and CRT literature by offering a dynamic, fluid discourse involving East Asian academics’ narratives of their positional identities and choices.

Mobility, formation and development of the academic profession in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in East and South East Asia

ABSTRACTThe academic profession contributes to shaping the capacity and identity of higher education systems. In East and Southeast Asia, there is a need for further discussion on the regional identity characteristics of the academic profession to account for its multiple origins and national and international dimensions. Data from two large-scale comparative surveys and secondary sources are used to investigate the role of international mobility in the formation and development of East and Southeast Asian academics in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Based on Kim and Locke's [2010. “Transnational Academic Mobility and the Academic Profession.” In Higher Education and Society: A Research Report. London: CHERI, Open University] framework, patterns of academic mobility are examined in relation to the formation and development of higher education systems. The analysis shows mixed trends in the international flow of academics and the formation of the region's academic profession in relation to more or less independent or colonial historical backgrounds. Recent globalisation and regionalisation initiatives seem likely to transform the heterogeneous identities of the region's academic profession.

Challenges to renewable energy: A bulletin of perceptions from international academic arena

Despite the optimism behind the growth in renewable energy (RE) and its deployment in 2011, and particularly in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, progress has remained inadequate and “too slow” in tackling the problem of accumulating carbon emissions in the atmosphere. Caveats have also been surfaced about the future development of RE and energy efficiency technologies since a mosaic of setbacks are hindering large scale clean energy development. In academia, perceptions of clean energy and energy efficiency technologies have been largely investigated from public acceptance point of view and to a narrower extent from the industrial and business landlords' point of view. However, studies that address these challenges to early-stage researchers and professors are limited, though they appear to play a pivotal role in advancing the science of RE. In this context, we conducted a survey-based study among a group of early-stage researchers (PhDs) and professors, who participated in two training courses in the UK and Cyprus. A total of 122 questionnaires were collected from the participants. The study found that progress in RE development was perceived to be developing moderately worldwide and hibernating in some countries. The respondents, regardless of their level of professional expertise and country's income class, perceived the prime factors hindering RE development worldwide were the lack of governmental policies, competition from fossil fuels (conventional and non-conventional), and lack of public awareness and support. Based on the respondents' geographical location, European academics perceived the lack of public support, Asian academics perceived the lack of supportive governmental policies, and African academics perceived the lack of mobilized public finance as key barriers to RE development. The participants emphasized the need to increase financial support for clean energy R&D, gradually adopt the uptake of renewables, and encourage synchronous and gradual elimination of fossil fuel subsidies.

Editorial Notes

Information Systems Research continues to grow with submission increases, in no small part due to greater interest in the journal from Asian academics. The journal welcomes manuscripts on important and interesting phenomena from the global community of IS scholars. A new special issue on “Flexible and Distributed Information Systems Development” is announced.

Publishing in socially oriented journals – the state of play in Asia

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine institutional publishing in six socially oriented marketing journals generally and then to explore the performance within Asian institutions and those within Australia and New Zealand, in detail.Design/methodology/approachAuthorships of Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Non‐Profit and Public Sector Marketing, International Journal of Non‐Profit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, and Social Marketing Quarterly, from 1999‐2003, were tracked by institution and nationality of school. Results are reported for both number of authors and per cent of authorship.FindingsThere is a dominance of publishing by North American academics within the social area. Asian academics appear to be generally under‐represented, based on the region's size, although scholars in Australia and New Zealand perform relatively better than one might anticipate.Research limitations/implicationsA review of socially oriented publishing performance by institutions in Asia identifies that socially oriented research appears to be a focus in Australia and New Zealand across a range of institutions, but occurs less frequently in other Asian countries.Practical implicationsResults are useful for understanding the role of socially oriented research among scholars in Asia and the Pacific. While Australia and New Zealand have made marks in socially oriented research, it appears to be a potential growth area for marketing scholars in Asia and the Pacific.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to examine the role of geography in publishing among those interested in social issues in marketing.

Civilisational Models of Politogenesis ed. by Dmitri M. Bondarenko, Andrey V. Korotayev (review)

611 Ab Imperio, 3/2004 to historical information. See, for instance, entries on Bokhara (pp. 40-42); Schahrokh, or present day Khojand (pp. 80-83); Otrar (p. 74) and Turkestan (pp. 95-97). Conspicuously missing is an entry on Samarkand. The present selection also offers entries on Tatar, Turk, Turkestani, Turkmen, and Uzbek nations. This publication has a largely symbolic value, for it was designed to commemorate a historic contribution and to mark the establishment of scholarly exchanges between French and Central Asian academics . In the preface, Vincent Fourniau points out that Central Asia remains a region not fully accessed or explored by Europeans; this situation is aggravated further by the fact that only few know about similar works in Central Asia. With the emergence of a new generation of French and other European researchers on CentralAsia, the rising need to bring these people closer has made it necessary to have a greater exchange of knowledge and ideas. This volume would have enriched its academic value had the project attracted regional scholars to offer their impressions and evaluations about French and European contributions and their impact toward understanding Central Asia. Emilian KAVALSKI Dmitri M. Bondarenko and Andrey V. Korotayev (Eds.), Civilisational Models of Politogenesis (Moscow : Russian Academy of Sciences, 2000). 318 p. ISBN 5-201-05100-6. Increasingly researchers tend to heed and adopt what are perceived as “non-western” approaches. In its current form, this inclination has been spurred by Samuel Huntington ’s memorable provocation.1 In a similar fashion, although in a much more sophisticated and judicious manner, this suggestion has been elaborated recently by the venerable Donald Puchala.2 Thereby, one is tempted to gauge the gumption of the volume edited by Dmitry Bondarenko and Andrey Korotayev along the lines of this intellectual tradition. Civilisational Models of Politogenesis shares many of the features of this literature, especially in its presentation of views of “subaltern ” and “marginalized” groups. However, the volume indicates a number of methodological problems : mainly it fails to present a convincing structure for the discussion of its topic and as a result undertakes a markedly unqualified approachdriven , rather than problem-driven research. This shortcoming effec1 S. Huntington. The Clash of Civilisations // Foreign Affairs. 1993. Vol. 72. Pp. 22-49. 2 D. Puchala. Theory and History in International Relations. New York, 2003. 612 Рецензии/Reviews tively prevents Civilisational Models of Politogenesis to ask some of the main questions at the center of its analysis: how do individuals organize themselves in social groups? How do they establish control and power-relations? How is compliance with social rules achieved? The bulk of those deficiencies stems from the theoretical section of the volume, comprising the first three chapters. In their introduction , Bondarenko and Korotayev explain that the term “politogenesis” defines not merely the process of state-formation, but the dynamics of production of “complex political organization” (pp. 16-17). However, this elaboration is obscured by the subsequent analysis, which fails to indicate the significance of such a distinction. The contradiction is made apparent in the chapter by Denis Vorobyov, who proffers the understanding that politogenesis suggests not only the formation (as the editors insist), but also the “change and development of a society ’s political structure”, which “is also possible” on the “stateless” level (p. 157). As the volume makes apparent, the aim of the editors and most of the contributors is not so much to study “politogenesis”, but rather to unpack the notion of statehood and suggest the exegetical value of non-state-centric research. Regrettably, in their attempt they have been let down by their method. As Bondarenko and Korotayev indicate , the volume adopts an evolutionary process-tracing approach to the achievement of the “same level of system complexity through different pathways of evolution, which appeared simultaneously” (p. 5). Marina Butovskaya engages in this mode of analysis in her chapter on the “biosocial preconditions for socio-political alternativity” (p. 35). In effect what she attempts is a re-conceptualization of the “socioecological ” perspective of human organization as an outcome of the patterns of relations existing among primates. Thereby, Butovskaya claims that “social relationships are outcomes of ecological pressures on individuals” (p. 36). Such an assertion is perhaps refreshing...

The ‘New Asia’ and Academia: the Art of Crafting Shared Regional Spaces

This paper presents and evaluates strategies employed by Southeast Asian academics and think tanks in ‘regionalizing knowledge’. Sections one and two of the paper provide an overview of recent ‘Asian’ historical imaginings, arguing that the search for the “roots of ASEAN” in the distant past is politically motivated. The final two sections focus on an intellectual project involving some of the most prominent scholars of East and South Asia. Those involved in InterAsia, also known as the Movements project, are scholaractivists with a well-articulated political agenda. In analyzing the interAsian agenda, I question its implications: “decolonizing mindset” and “becoming Asian” are fraught with ambiguity.

Academic careers in Asia: A cross-cultural analysis

Using Berry’s (1980) acculturation model as our theoretical foundation, we provide a conceptual framework for the cross-cultural analysis of academic careers in Asia in contrast to the United States. Consistent with Berry’s model, we propose a classification of three approaches to research (Adopted Western, Asian, and Integrationist) that can be selected by Asian academics. An individual’s acculturation level or cultural identity is then proposed as the key factor in influencing his or her decision of which research approach is selected. Next, we examine the cultural contextual factors in the academic environment in Asia that interacts with the three approaches to research and conclude that the Integrationist approach, while quite challenging, is likely to be the most productive in the long run. Finally, we discuss some unanswered questions raised by our analysis.

Writing the Self

At some level all is both autobiographical and therapeutic. This is clearly not true for which is incidental to other tasks (such as reports or taking minutes) and it is an unexceptional claim when made of fiction. This claim is perhaps most controversial when advanced as a proposition about academic writing, and indeed much of impenetrable jargon of certain sorts of social science and literary criticism may well stem from a desire to disguise personal. Anthropologists, like historians, have long debated position(ality) of writer in her or his work, and some of most bitter controversies in recent years have revolved around these debates. Ironically, I am, at least in formal terms, a political scientist, a discipline which has been far less engaged in these debates, as sterility of most political science prose attests. Perhaps luckily, I work in a University where we term our discipline politics, have no interest in reducing complexities of social behavior to mathematical formulae, and are situated within a larger grouping of disciplines which includes anthropology and sociology. For those of us engaged in that broad range of disciplines usually summarized as encompassing humanities and social sciences, claim to objectivity and science too often becomes, as I shall argue, a form of intellectual dishonesty. Given my own personal itinerary, it is hardly surprising that I have been attracted to idea of writing self. Indeed my own writings suggest a number of different ways this might be done. (I plead guilty to a certain degree of egoism in this piece, but line between confessional and straight selfpromotion is a hazy one.) My first book, Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation (1972) was both a coming out narrative and an attempt to analyse embryonic gay liberation movement through radical amalgam of Marxist-Freudian ideas briefly popular in early 1970s. Since then, I have written both academic articles, complete with standard apparatus of copious endnotes and appropriate data, as well as a novel (The Comfort of Men) and an autobiographical memoir (Defying Gravity). Against this background, it is not surprising that when I began to think seriously about academic and political debates around globalization, and in particular how they might relate to contemporary debates around sexuality, I wondered how far this was an exercise in autobiographical hubris. I was quickly struck by extent to which those scholars about globalization drew on serendipity as much as on scholarship for their examples. The very nature of about the global means we must appear at home everywhere, yet at same time none of us can know more than a small fragment of world. Thus, Thomas Friedman took metaphor which gave him title for his book, The Lexus and Olive Tree, from contrast between a newspaper story from Palestine and Japanese bullet train in which he was travelling when reading that story, while Salman Rushdie, unsurprisingly, set The Ground Beneath her Feet, his novel of global, in Bombay, London and New York. Another version of that story could just as easily move from Teheran to Berlin and Tokyo. The same seems true of more academic studies. Inevitably, anyone about the global writes from a particular viewpoint, and in so doing ignoresand is ignorant of-the great bulk of alternate positions. This is apparent in most post-colonial theorising, which stems largely from authors' need to reconcile their own ambivalent identities and positions just as feminist and gay theorists in heady days of early 1970s sought to do so in a rather different political context. Of course, it would be absurd to reduce post-colonialism to a collective autobiographical undertaking of predominantly south Asian academics, but it is equally impossible to avoid extent to which its project is directly related to their experience of balancing their sense of being outsiders at same time in both Mumbai and New York, Karachi and Manchester. …

Computer attitudes of non-computing academics: a study of technical colleges in Brunei Darussalam

Current information systems (IS) literature has paid considerable attention to measuring the computer attitudes of students and schoolteachers. Computer attitudes of non-computing academics working particularly in technical colleges have, however, received scant attention. Moreover, studies on computer attitudes among Asian academics are least reported. Keeping this in view, this study was undertaken by validating an instrument to measure computer attitudes of non-computing academics working among technical colleges in Brunei Darussalam. This study also identified factors that contributed to the formation of computer attitudes of academics. This was achieved by undertaking a survey of 192 non-computing academics from four technical colleges. Attributes related to demographics and education of academics appeared to have little impact on computer attitudes. In contrast, ownership of a personal computer (PC) and level of computer skill were found to be important.

Cartels of the Mind: Japan's Intellectual Closed Shop

As Washington and Tokyo continue to clarify their relationship and roles, Japan continues to block the access of foreign professionals, Westerners and Asians alike. These market barriers serve neither the professed goals of Japan nor those of the United States. Despite repeated promises to open up, Japanese legal, media, academic and research organizations run an intellectual closed shop. Western lawyers are stymied in efforts to help firms enter the Japanese market. Foreign correspondants are systematically walled off from the most important resources. Resident Asian academics in search of stable and productive careers and education find the roads blocked. Non-Japanese scientists and engineers are kept out of state-of-the-art laboratories. Japan aspires to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and a larger political voice, but its intellectual parsimony is simply not worthy of a world economic power, argues Ivan Hall. This book looks into the causes of these cultural and institutional barriers and examines ineffective past attempts to challenge them.

An international scientific community: Asian scholars in the United States

Foreword by Philip G. Altbach Introduction: Asian Scholars in the International Scientific Community Asian Scholars' Motivation for Studying Abroad Migration of Asian Academics to the United States Scientific Networks of Asian Scholars with Their Countries of Origin The American Academic Job Market for Asian Scholars Asian Scholars' Involvement in Research and Teaching Tenure and Administration Asian Scholars' Perception of Their Role in U.S. Higher Education Conclusion: The Changing Nature of the International Scientific Community Selected Bibliography Index