Asian Studies Days 2021  – Register now!

Silja Keva

Asian Studies Days 2021  – Registration for the event is open now

Time: November 18-19, 2021
Venue: Arranged at the University of Jyväskylä and partially online

The Finnish University Network for Asian Studies has organized Asian Studies Days annually since 2010. The event provides a national platform for discussions and networking in Asian studies.

Many of the events are in hybrid form and open to everyone. We also hope to have locally in Jyväskylä a post-pandemic reunion for scholars in Asian Studies who are affiliated at Finnish universities or research institutions.

This year’s programme is rich with a large variety of activities:
– panel discussion with Science Counsellors at the Finnish embassies in Asia
– keynote speech on Asian studies beyond universities
– lectures and a workshop of digital research methods, particularly in Chinese studies
– workshop for researchers
– seminars for doctoral candidates

The events will be arranged online if Covid restrictions are reintroduced.

The program of the second day is arranged with generous funding from the Joel Toivola Foundation.

Registration for onsite participation is closed. Zoom-links for online participation are available below.

Preliminary Programme:

Thursday 18th of November 

11-14:30, venue: zoom and the main building hall C1, map: https://navi.jyu.fi/

11:00 Welcoming words and introduction to the theme of the event
Sirpa Tenhunen, Senior Lecturer, Dept of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä

11:05 -12.00 Panel discussion: Post-pandemic trends in science and education in Asia

The panel addresses current development trends in science and education in Asia, such as shrinking academic freedom, nationalistic tendencies and great power competition, prospects for international cooperation.

You can send questions to the panelists already before the panel to the following email address asianet[at)utu.fi

Panelists:
– Mari-Anna Suurmunne, Councellor, Education and Science, Embassy of Finland in Beijing
– Anna Korpi, Councellor, Education and Science, Embassy of Finland in Singapore
– Mika Tirronen, Councellor, Education and Science, Embassy of Finland in New Delhi

Moderator: Outi Luova, University lecturer, Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku

12:00 – 13:00 lunch break

13.00—13.45 Keynote by Professor Xenia Zeiler, University of Helsinki

Asian Studies beyond Universities: Engaging with Wider Audiences and Public Interest

13:45-18:00 Workshops: Social challenges in contemporary Asia: State-citizen relationships, environment, and technologies
Onsite only. Venue: the main building, hall C1, https://navi.jyu.fi/

Moderator: Sirpa Tenhunen, Senior Lecturer, Dept of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä

We invite researchers affiliated with Finnish universities and research institutions to discuss their ongoing research work under the broad themes of states, technologies and environment. The papers can touch one or more of these themes. Each paper will be allotted 15 minutes, followed by a 15-minute discussion.  If Covid restrictions will be reintroduced, the workshops will take place online over Zoom. If you wish to present a paper, send a short abstract and register by October 31st using the Asian Studies Days registration form.

13.45–14.20 Hermann Aubie, University of Turku: China’s rising inequalities and Beijing’s campaign targeting ‘super large platforms’: toward (un)common prosperity?

14.20–14.55 Erja Kettunen-Matilainen, University of Turku: Innovation districts in Bangkok: The ‘landing’ of an urban planning concept in an emerging economy mega-city

14.55 –15.30 Jelena Salmi, University of Jyväskylä: Accumulating Violence: Artisanal Fishery and the Hereafter of Plastics in Peri-Urban Mumbai

15.30–15.45 Coffee break

15.45–16.20 Yizhou Zhao, Aalto University: Finnish architects in China

16.20—16.55 Eija Niskanen, University of Helsinki: From Moomin to Heidi – Depiction of European Story World in World Masterpiece Theater (Sekai meisaku Gekijo) anime programming slot

16.55–17.30 Ville Malinen, University of Jyväskylä: Historical stages of development of simracing in Europe and Asia

17.30–18.00 Abdul Kadir Khan, University of Jyväskylä:  Impediments to localization agenda in the Rohingya response

Friday 19th of November

10-11:30 Webinar on the use of digital methods in Chinese studies (co-organized with the China in Europe Network, CHERN)
Venue: C 324, C5, map: https://navi.jyu.fi/

Background material for the webinar:
Hui Zhao, COMPUTATIONAL APPROACHES  TO STUDIES ON CONTEMPORARY CHINA: A BRIEF OVERVIEW, CEAS Insights 2/2021

Ask a Question that Can Be Answered: Reflections on Doing Digital Social Research 
Associate Professor Jun Liu, Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen

Researching Social Unrest in China: a Data Science Toolkit
Professor Christian Göbel, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna

11:30-15:45 Parallel events. You can only participate in one of these.
Lunch break at around 13:00. Coffee break at around 15:00

  1. Doctoral seminar, onsite only
    Venue: C 155D, map: https://navi.jyu.fi/

More information about the seminar here

  1. Information retrieval workshop, hybrid event
    Venue: C 417, map: https://navi.jyu.fi/

The workshop is planned and taught by university lecturer Paavo Arvola, from the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at the Tampere University.

Search engines are widely used for information retrieval in many large digital (text) collections such as the Internet. Consequently, information retrieval has become a core digital method – and a crucial skill – for the humanities, social sciences and other research. This workshop provides tools for a more effective information retrieval from the Internet in all languages (Chinese, Thai, …)

This workshop consists of:

  • lectures about information retrieval with search engines
  • a workshop, where gamified approach is used to improve your search engine literacy and searching skills.

Topics covered

  • information retrieval in context
  • information seeking, problem solving…
  • Information retrieval systems (i.e. search engines)
  • queries, matching, ranking, evaluation, natural language processing, user interfaces…
  • Linked data and semantic web
  • social media

No prior knowledge about the topic is required. The workshop consists of online exercises using a standard web browser, thus your own laptop is preferred (no software will be installed).

For more information, please contact Outi Luova at outi.luova@utu.fi

Hope to see many of you there!

Finnish University Network for Asian Studies

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