Assistant Professor Sanjeev Routray of the Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (IAS @ UBD) has recently published an article entitled “Paper Struggles: Documents, Inscriptions, and Citizenship Negotiations in Delhi.”Published in the journal, City: Analysis of Urban Change, Theory, Action, the article examines how certain documents, such as ration cards and voter IDs, play a role in establishing and validating claims of urban citizenship in DelhiHere is the full abstract:The paper analyses how documents, particularly ration cards and voter IDs, mediate and constitute urban citizenship claims, especially on the part of the poor to gain access to welfare…

Assistant Professor Sanjeev Routray of the Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (IAS @ UBD) has recently published an article on aspects of the informal economy in Delhi, India.Entitled “Timepass’ and ‘Setting’: The Meanings, Relationships, and Politics of Urban Informal Work in Delhi” and published in Urban Studies, the abstract of the article is as follows:The engagement of people in extremely low-wage work in major cities of the Global South and their withdrawal from labour-organising activities arise from several factors. Among these is the hegemonic meaning construction of work as ‘timepass’ or leisure and as an opportunity for…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Brunei.Edited by Ooi Keat Gin (Professor, Academy of Brunei Studies, UBD and Honorary Professor, School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia) and Victor T. King (Distinguished Professor of Borneo Studies, Institute of Asian Studies), this volume presents an overview of significant themes, issues, and challenges pertinent to Brunei Darussalam in the twenty-first century.Multidisciplinary in coverage, the contributions cover topics relating to philology, history, religion, language and literature, geography, international relations, economics, politics and sociocultural traditions. The back-cover description of the…

Victor T. King, Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (IAS @ UBD), has recently contributed to a special section in the journal, Suvannabhumi, on COVID-19 and Southeast Asia.In addition to writing an introduction to the special section, Dr. King also has an article entitled “Covid-19 and Transitions: Case Material from Southeast Asia,” in which he examines the question of whether the pandemic has created a “new normal” or if the availability of vaccines is leading to a return to the old normal with some modest adjustments.This special section also includes an article by…

Assistant Professor F. Merlin Franco of the Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam has co-authored an article with Nurzahidah Bakar on “The Fading Popularity of a Local Ecological Calendar from Brunei Darussalam, Borneo.”Published in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, the article describes how the ecological calendar of the Kedayan people of Brunei Darussalam links skyscape and biodiversity with sociocultural aspirations to foster adaptive management of landscape, and provide an understanding of the transmission of calendric knowledge in the community.Click here to view the full article.Bakar, N., Franco, F. The fading popularity of a local ecological calendar from…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce that Assistant Professor Lisa Arensen has recently published a paper entitled “Living with Landmines: Inhabiting a War-Altered Landscape.”Published in Material Culture, this article examines the efforts of the inhabitants of Reakshmei Songha village in western Cambodia to live in an environment that is littered with the material remains of war.To view the article, please visit the Material Culture website.To learn more about Dr. Arensen’s scholarship, please visit her IAS staff web page.Arensen, L. (2021). “Living with Landmines: Inhabiting a War-Altered Landscape.” Material Culture (online first): 1-16. Doi:…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (IAS @ UBD) is pleased to share information about a new journal article on human security in Southeast Asia. The article is entitled “Human Security, Marginality and Precariousness in Southeast Asia,” and is authored by IAS staff members Professor Victor T. King, Associate Professor Paul J. Carnegie, and IAS Research Associate Assistant Professor Magne Knudsen. Appearing in the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, the abstract of the article is as follows: ″Besides the more obvious threats and impediments to human security posed by conflict or natural disaster, a central problem…

The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (IAS @ UBD) is pleased to announce the publication of a new book co-edited by two IAS staff members. The book is entitled New Frontiers in Asia-Pacific International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution and is published by Wolters Kluwer, It is edited by IAS Director, Associate Professor Bruno Jetin, IAS researcher, Assistant Professor Nobumichi Teramura, together with Professor Luke Nottage of the Sydney Law School, and Professor Shahla Ali of the University of Hong Kong. To quote from the description of this new volume, ″New Frontiers in Asia-Pacific International Arbitration and Dispute…

Dr. Victor T. King of the Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam and Dr. Stephen C. Druce of the Academy of Brunei Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam have just published two edited volumes with that cover a variety of issues pertaining to Bruneian society, both past and present.These two volumes have been published in the Routledge “Modern Anthropology of Southeast Asia” series.The first volume, entitled Origins, History and Social Structure in Brunei Darussalam, is a wide-ranging book that is the first to re-evaluate the early history and historiography of Brunei Darussalam, the origins of the sultanate, its genealogical…

A work by Dr. Victor T. King, Professor of Borneo Studies at the Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, has been translated into Indonesian.The Best of Borneo Travel, a book that Dr.King first published with Oxford Paperbacks in 1993 is available in Indonesian as Kalimantan tempo doeloe (Komunitas Bambu).To quote from the English description of the book,The Best of Borneo Travel is just that, a fascinating collection of colorful travel notes by Westerners--from those who first visited this Indonesian island-nation in the sixteenth century to writers still enthralled by Borneo today.Through the eyes of these European explorers, merchants,…