tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/asian-culture-4148/articlesAsian culture – The Conversation2023-05-10T20:29:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2048692023-05-10T20:29:33Z2023-05-10T20:29:33ZFrom Kali to Mary to Neopagan goddesses, religions revere motherhood in sometimes unexpected ways<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524986/original/file-20230508-266123-ubmkq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1024%2C683&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People admire a massive statue of the Hindu goddess Kali.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-admire-a-massive-statue-of-the-hindu-goddess-kali-in-news-photo/167435402?adppopup=true">Jerry Redfern/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As we approach Mother’s Day, many groups will hold special events or services to celebrate the holiday. In the United States, Mother’s Day was originally founded in 1908 at <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2015631666/">Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in West Virginia</a> and <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/may-09/">became a nationally recognized holiday</a> in 1914. The mid-May date spread around the world, though many countries still maintain their own <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mothers-day">dates and traditions</a>.</p>
<p>Religions around the world use these days to honor the importance of many kinds of nurturing, from traditional celebrations to events that honor modern parenting, infertility struggles <a href="https://www.resourceumc.org/en/content/honor-moms-on-mothers-day-without-hurting-others">or the pain of losing a child</a></p>
<p>Motherhood and nurturing are not celebrated only on particular days, however. Many religions include goddess-centered traditions that embrace many forms of the divine feminine as central to their belief systems. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://religiousstudies.wvu.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty/alyssa-beall">religious studies professor</a> who travels with students around the world to explore different cultures and practices, I have often noticed the interest students have in the variety of goddess traditions we encounter. </p>
<h2>Asian traditions</h2>
<p><a href="https://pluralism.org/devotion-to-guanyin">Guan Yin</a>, who goes by many variations of her name, is revered as the goddess of compassion and mercy in several different Eastern traditions. Beginning – interestingly enough – as a male bodhisattva called <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/beginners-guide-asian-culture/buddhist-art-culture/a/bodhisattva-avalokiteshvara">Avalokiteshvara</a>, the goddess figure was adapted in many different cultures around the world. Called Kannon in Japan and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44632366">Quan Am in Vietnam</a>, she is frequently a <a href="https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3001.html">focal point of temple worship</a> and is also considered the guardian of sailors and a goddess of fertility.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524987/original/file-20230508-170642-hemmmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People walk through a rice field that has been designed to look like a picture of a goddess with many arms." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524987/original/file-20230508-170642-hemmmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524987/original/file-20230508-170642-hemmmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524987/original/file-20230508-170642-hemmmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524987/original/file-20230508-170642-hemmmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524987/original/file-20230508-170642-hemmmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524987/original/file-20230508-170642-hemmmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524987/original/file-20230508-170642-hemmmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An aerial view of a 3D rice field painting of Guan Yin at an agriculture industrial park in 2021 in Shenyang, China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/aerial-view-of-a-3d-rice-field-painting-of-thousand-hand-news-photo/1329044233?adppopup=true">Zhang Wenkui/VCG via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>One of the most well-known goddesses in Hinduism, meanwhile, is perhaps the least understood from an outside perspective. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kali">Kali is often seen as a terrifying figure</a>, depicted using multiple weapons and dressed in clothing of severed heads and arms. Yet Kali is also an important mother figure <a href="https://kashgar.com.au/blogs/gods-goddesses/kali-a-most-misunderstood-goddess">who channels her ferocity into the care and defense of all creation</a>. As a manifestation of the primal force of <a href="https://pluralism.org/many-ma%E2%80%99s-goddess-in-america">Shakti</a>, Kali is essentially all aspects of motherhood wrapped up into one, often simultaneously caring, loving and fierce.</p>
<h2>The triple goddess</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Neo-Paganism">Neopaganism</a>, an umbrella term for a diverse group of <a href="https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/factsheets/factsheet-new-religious-movements/">new religious movements</a> most popular in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/paganism-witchcraft-are-making-comeback-rcna54444">the United States, Australia and Europe</a>, goddess figures also often play a primary role. Neopaganism’s various branches <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-wicca-an-expert-on-modern-witchcraft-explains-165939">include Wicca</a> and <a href="https://www.paganfed.org/hellenism/">Hellenic reconstructionism</a>, a religion that focuses on the gods and goddesses of Ancient Greece. </p>
<p>Of primary importance for many Neopagans is the triple goddess, a figure who encompasses the <a href="https://www.learnreligions.com/maiden-mother-and-crone-2562881">three aspects of maiden, mother and crone</a>. Sometimes these <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15665399.2008.10819974">goddess figures</a> are based on specific ancient deities, such as Persephone, Demeter and Hekate, and sometimes they are worshipped more generally as representations of <a href="https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/the-maiden-mother-and-crone-the-three-stages-of-womanhood">various phases of life</a>.</p>
<p>More recently, many of these traditions are intentionally expanding to <a href="https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1056&context=socanth_honproj">reject ideas of gender essentialism</a> and embrace a range of identities. For some Neopagans, exploring what femininity and masculinity signify in today’s society is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2012.00367.x">an important extension of religious belief</a> and a way to include people who have felt rejected from other religious communities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524989/original/file-20230508-242259-va4d45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing dark clothing smudges a substance on the forehead of another woman with her eyes closed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524989/original/file-20230508-242259-va4d45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524989/original/file-20230508-242259-va4d45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524989/original/file-20230508-242259-va4d45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524989/original/file-20230508-242259-va4d45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524989/original/file-20230508-242259-va4d45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524989/original/file-20230508-242259-va4d45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524989/original/file-20230508-242259-va4d45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Wiccan high priestess blesses another priestess during a seasonal sabbat in honor of Brigid, a Celtic goddess, in 2020 in Rio de Janeiro.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jussara-gabriel-a-wiccan-high-priestess-blesses-the-first-news-photo/1228124551?adppopup=true">Andre Coelho/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Beyond the goddess</h2>
<p>Many other religions revere mother figures, even if they are not worshipped or considered goddesses. <a href="https://al-furqan.com/the-mother-of-the-faithful-khadijah-bint-khuwaylid/">Khadija</a>, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad and the first convert to Islam, is given the title “the Mother of Believers,” signifying her importance for the development of the religion. Devotion to <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-things-to-know-about-mary-the-mother-of-jesus-172483">Mary, mother of Jesus</a>, has been <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300157529/the-madonna-of-115th-street/">common throughout the history of Christianity</a> and remains popular today. In Judaism, the idea of “<a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-divine-feminine-in-kabbalah-an-example-of-jewish-renewal/">Shekinah</a>” has been influential in some <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/feminism-changes-study-jewish-thought">feminist thought</a>. Rather than representing a single woman or female figure, Shekinah is seen as the feminine aspect of the divine, <a href="https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2438527/jewish/The-Shechina.htm">a manifestation of God’s wisdom</a> on Earth.</p>
<p>Nurturing and compassion are key concepts in a variety of religions, whether they are represented as specific goddess figures, archetypes of the feminine or new religious developments that embrace shifting ideas about gender.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204869/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alyssa Beall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mother figures from faith traditions around the world reflect many different ways of thinking about the divine.Alyssa Beall, Teaching Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Humanities, and Philosophy, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1310272022-11-13T19:03:40Z2022-11-13T19:03:40ZCash for the winner, the loser for dinner: cockfighting in Timor Leste is a complicated game<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316581/original/file-20200221-92507-ofubd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C36%2C4031%2C2969&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annie Yuan Cih Wu</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The venue is brimming with cheers of excitement from the chicken owners. Despite bets being placed before the game started, the value of a bet can build up as the stronger chicken continues to win. </p>
<p>The atmosphere gets intense.</p>
<p>The brown dirt floor is speckled with red; the smell of this blood mixes with the smoke of cigarettes and floats up to coat the twilight sky. </p>
<p>Blood splashed on the ground by the knife of the winning chicken signifies not only masculinity and competition, but also the efforts dedicated to raising household chickens and the ability to earn an income off bets.</p>
<p>The rule of brutality is the loser cock will also contribute: not through a betting income, but through feeding the family. </p>
<p>In Timor-Leste, cockfighting is a strictly gendered event <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23820901?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">limited to men</a>. Women are forbidden to attend, embargoed by the culture, but foreign observers – including myself – seem exempt from the rule. </p>
<h2>Men’s work</h2>
<p>Men gather every afternoon at 6pm in large fields to gamble on cockfighting (<em>futu manu</em>). In one evening, a man can spend from US$10-$200 per game in a country where the median monthly income per household is <a href="http://www.statistics.gov.tl/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/HIES2011_Report_20-_20Final.pdf">US$235</a>. </p>
<p>Cockfighting is a cultural practice that has been prevalent in <a href="https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/%7Erfrey/PDF/410/Geertz72.pdf">Southeast Asia</a>, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/521598">South America</a> and the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/lasr.12094">South Pacific</a> for a long time. It is believed to have originated in South Asia before it was introduced into Greece in the time of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/cockfighting">Themistocles</a>, 524–459 BCE. </p>
<p>Each night there is a series of fights between an agreed number of chickens over several rounds of battles. Each winner chicken will continuously fight to the next round until the ultimate winner is announced. </p>
<p>This traditional cultural activity has been commercialised as a petty cash source and a channel for getting windfalls for Timorese men since the Portuguese colonial era. It is possible to win a few hundred dollars in one day if the fighter chicken is well-trained and strong enough to win several times. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316585/original/file-20200221-92526-161pbjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Attending the fights is strictly for men.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annie Yuan Cih Wu</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Loser cocks are frequently disabled, and a small corner is dedicated for them after each round. Owners take them home to serve for dinner. Timorese households rarely consume protein every meal. Especially in rural households, meat is eaten only a few days a week and these chickens form an important part of the diet. </p>
<p>Cockfighting has multiple advantages for a household: nutritional value, potential extra income, the leisure of excitement and a space for men to engage with peers and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/95/4/1341/3102954">demonstrate masculinity</a> and power during the game.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/before-chickens-became-food-for-people-they-were-regarded-as-special-exotica-184582">Before chickens became food for people, they were regarded as special exotica</a>
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<h2>Women’s work</h2>
<p>Chicken selling and dealing is reserved for women to earn petty cash and accumulate private savings. </p>
<p>Forbidding women to participate in cockfighting restricts access to fun and highlights the privilege of its masculine nature. But men are not allowed to sell chickens that belong to their wives, mothers, sisters or daughters: that is the women’s traditional “piggy bank”. </p>
<p>One chicken may sell for US$15-40, and one woman can raise up to seven chickens a year, depending on the available space. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316583/original/file-20200221-92502-siszm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Chickens can sell for US$15-40.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annie Yuan Cih Wu</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Permitting only women to be in charge of chicken sales is a security deposit and balancing structure. The family economics cannot be squandered by men’s addiction to cockfighting: the rights of sale are determined by the women. </p>
<p>Men are allowed to keep, train and raise chickens in their own way. They can often be seen exchanging information about their chickens before and after fights. But women are the treasurers in dealing with household chickens. </p>
<h2>Community work</h2>
<p>For the community, the petty cash spent on cockfighting allows the continuity of a Timorese tradition and supports the local economy. Social and communal relations are sustained and the informal economy is supported: cash stays local and is spent locally. </p>
<p>Cockfighting trading and training require multiple business skills that benefit the livelihoods of participants’ families: developing the system to collect betting cash and issue winners’ takings, running events, facilitating the game and selling cigarettes and drinks. </p>
<p>Yet it exists in a vague and informal economic sphere in Timor-Leste: somewhere between a leisure activity to unwind and a commercial trade to make money. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316801/original/file-20200224-24701-1ep1mza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Cockfighting is part leisure, part commercial betting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annie Yuan Cih Wu</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Winning incomes feed local households, guarantees cash flow and secures protein intake. It can improve food security and nutrition, and can relate incomes to small business. It is also a form of preserving cultural heritage.</p>
<p>After the last round of cockfighting ends, some men gently hold their winning chickens as if they were babies, carry them in light blue nylon string bags to catch a minivan, or pat them softly while walking them home. </p>
<p>In that moment, I see these cocks are more than a tool of income generation. </p>
<p>They are pets, warriors and royal portrait animals for Timorese households.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/twenty-years-after-independence-timor-leste-continues-its-epic-struggle-121631">Twenty years after independence, Timor-Leste continues its epic struggle</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131027/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annie Wu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Each night there is a series of fights. Each winner chicken will continuously fight to the next round until the last winner is announced.Annie Wu, Senior Research Officer, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1315482020-02-16T18:56:42Z2020-02-16T18:56:42ZParasite’s win is the perfect excuse to get stuck into genre-bending and exciting Korean cinema<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314645/original/file-20200211-146674-xggi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C122%2C1771%2C742&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">CJ Entertainment</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6751668/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Parasite</a>, the South Korean film directed by Bong Joon-ho, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/10/parasite-first-foreign-language-film-to-win-best-picture-oscar">received four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards</a>: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film. </p>
<p>It was an historic moment. Parasite is the first non-English-language movie to win a Best Picture Oscar, earning it an eminent place in the <a href="https://dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/foundations-councils-institutes/australia-korea-foundation/2019-grantees/Pages/celebrating-100-years-of-korean-cinema-unlocking-australia-korea-co-production-opportunities.aspx">100-year history of Korean film</a>.</p>
<p>Bong has an abiding interest in social issues of Korean society. He began to attract attention with his first major feature film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353969/">Memories of Murder</a> (2003), based on the true story of several unsolved murders in the 1980s that plagued a small Korean rural community. </p>
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<p>His other masterpieces include monster film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468492/?ref=fnaltt1">The Host</a> (2006), drama <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216496/?ref=nmflmgwr5">Mother</a> (2009), sci-fi <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706620/?ref=nmflmgwr4">Snowpiercer</a> (2013) and the ecological drama <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3967856/?ref=nmflmgwr2">Okja</a> (2017).</p>
<p>The director is well-known for his topical depictions of social and environmental issues, including corruption, injustice and the class gap inherent in Korean society. Parasite is a culmination of Bong’s interests and style, blending suspenseful drama with black comedy. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/parasite-at-last-the-oscars-jumps-the-one-inch-subtitles-barrier-131576">Parasite: at last the Oscars jumps the 'one-inch' subtitles barrier</a>
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<p>Its success lies in this genre-bending approach, evident in a large number of contemporary Korean films. </p>
<h2>Sudden shifts</h2>
<p>Korean cinema, as we know it today, started in the late 1990s. Filmmakers began exploring new directions that often included sudden shifts in genre and tone. </p>
<p>Early examples are <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188503/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Quiet Family</a> (Kim Ji-woon, 1998), which fuses horror and comedy, and the megahit <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192657/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Shiri</a> (Kang Jae-gyu, 1999), which combines Hollywood action blockbuster with Korean melodrama. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314934/original/file-20200212-61952-1r502np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314934/original/file-20200212-61952-1r502np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314934/original/file-20200212-61952-1r502np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314934/original/file-20200212-61952-1r502np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314934/original/file-20200212-61952-1r502np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314934/original/file-20200212-61952-1r502np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314934/original/file-20200212-61952-1r502np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>A string of trans-genre films followed, each of which uses the apparent forms of various genres for different purposes: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293715/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">My Sassy Girl</a> (Kwak Jae-yong, 2001) is an off-beat romance which embeds parodies of samurai film, sci-fi and tragic love story; <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475783/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Welcome to Dongmakgol</a> (Park Kwang-hyun, 2005) smashes together war film, rural idyll, comedy and heroic tragedy; and Bong’s own The Host. </p>
<p>In Parasite, Bong explores serious issues through a blend of tense drama with dark comedy.</p>
<p>Parasite involves a familiar contrast between two families who inhabit extreme social echelons – the poor Kim family and the rich Park family. </p>
<p>Bong’s interest in ideas is complemented by his penchant for metaphor. The gap between rich and poor is visually and metaphorically expressed in the contrast between the Kims’ semi-basement hovel and the Parks’ architect-built, luxurious house located high on a hillside. The house is so large its owners are unaware there is a bunker deep beneath it. </p>
<p>When the Kims’ father, Ki-taek, finds refuge in the bunker, Bong confirms this space as a metaphor for the gap between rich and poor and the lack of any prospect for the poor to move upward in society. Their best option is to be parasites upon the rich, imaged by the father creeping out of the bunker to steal food when he thinks the house is empty. </p>
<p>In the film’s final scene the son fantasises he has worked to become rich, but viewers are soon returned to the reality of the despair and empty futures of society’s underclass.</p>
<p>The appeal of the film to a global audience is its darkly comic exploration of the universal gap between the haves and have-nots. </p>
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<p>An experienced and accomplished acting team also contributes to the success of the film. The highly regarded Song Kang-ho, in particular, has appeared in over 30 South Korean films, including three earlier films directed by Bong (Snowpiercer, The Host, and Memories of Murder). Song, regarded as an actor’s actor, is dedicated to the South Korean film industry, refusing work in television and commercials and declining invitations from Hollywood. </p>
<h2>Films about society</h2>
<p>The Korean film industry has been steadily increasing the number of films released each year, passing 1,000 in 2018, and socially aware drama is prominent and celebrated.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7282468/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Burning</a> (Lee Chang-dong, 2018), shortlisted for the 2019 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, shares with Parasite a concern with the problems of young adults who lead precarious lives in an unequal society where unemployment is high. </p>
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<p>Other examples that address social and legal shortcomings are <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5700672/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Train to Busan</a> (Yeon Sang-ho, 2016), <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2070649/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Silenced</a> (Hwang Dong-hyuk, 2011), <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4203200/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Socialphobia</a> (Hong Seok-jae, 2015), <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5215952/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Wailing</a> (Na Hong-jin, 2016), and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3265462/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Han Gong-ju</a> (Lee Su-jin, 2013).</p>
<p>Korean films have been winning awards at international film festivals since Kang Dae-jin’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0232019/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Coachman</a> (1961) was awarded the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314935/original/file-20200212-61958-1g3dlue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314935/original/file-20200212-61958-1g3dlue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314935/original/file-20200212-61958-1g3dlue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314935/original/file-20200212-61958-1g3dlue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314935/original/file-20200212-61958-1g3dlue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314935/original/file-20200212-61958-1g3dlue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314935/original/file-20200212-61958-1g3dlue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1119&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>My Sassy Girl (2001) heralded the start of an international breakthrough for Korean cinema and was released in ten countries across Asia. Major films that gained screen time beyond Asia were <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365376/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">A Tale of Two Sisters</a> (Kim Ji-woon, 2003), the first Korean horror film to be screened in American theatres, and Park Chan-wook’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Oldboy</a> after it won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2004. </p>
<p>But the awarding of four Oscars to Parasite is a unique triumph for South Korea’s dynamic film industry. It can be expected to garner a large audience, inspiring viewers to watch many of the other excellent films produced in South Korea – and inspiring cinemas to make space to screen them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sung-Ae Lee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The bait-and-switch approach on show in Oscar-winning film Parasite is characteristic of contemporary Korean cinema – and there is plenty more to explore.Sung-Ae Lee, Lecturer, Asian Studies, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427432015-06-05T03:56:15Z2015-06-05T03:56:15ZImmigrant ambassadors open doors for Australia across Asia<p><a href="http://www.asiancenturyinstitute.com/migration/214-asian-migration-to-australia">Asian migration</a> has been an important source of skilled migrants and students for building a prosperous Australia since the launch of the <a href="http://www.colombo-plan.org/">Colombo Plan</a> six decades ago.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.acola.org.au/index.php/saf03-smart-engagement-with-asia-leveraging-language-research-and-culture">new report</a> launched by Australia’s Chief Scientist on June 5 suggests that skilled migration from Asia and the Pacific is also having a game-changing impact on the nature and intensity of Australia’s relations with the region. Indian-Australian and Chinese-Australian immigrants in particular are helping to integrate Australia with the economies, societies and cultures of the region in ways that were barely imaginable in the past.</p>
<p>The report offers compelling evidence that skilled migrants from India, China and neighbouring countries are increasingly leading Australia’s scientific and cultural relations with the region. They are building pathways for innovation, growth and better understanding between Australia and their homelands.</p>
<h2>Building digital and research links</h2>
<p>Recent patterns of migration and settlement, bolstered by high levels of digital connectivity, are constantly linking Australia’s universities and lounge rooms with Shanghai and Mumbai.</p>
<p>The links are clearly apparent in research collaboration. Asia is leaping ahead globally in scientific research. Expenditure on research and development in Asia already exceeds that in North America. China is likely to overtake the US as the largest producer of research articles within the decade. India is fast catching up. </p>
<p>The report finds that Australia’s research collaboration with China is largely driven by Australian-based Chinese diaspora researchers. Universities and research organisations could do more to acknowledge and harness the networks that their diaspora researchers are building to extend collaborations more broadly. This would embed Australia further in regional research networks. </p>
<h2>Enhancing cultural understanding</h2>
<p>Intensive diaspora networks are also framing Australia’s cultural relations with the region. The report highlights a facet of “multiculturalism” often overshadowed by celebrations of cultural diversity within Australia – the increasingly important role that Asian and Pacific Island Australian artists play in representing Australia in their original homelands.</p>
<p>It might surprise many Australians to learn that the performers and artists who entertain them at multicultural festivals during summer offer similar performances in the winter season, as Australians – but in Suva, Manila and Hong Kong.</p>
<p>The report estimates that Australian culture is represented informally in the region through self-funding diaspora artists on a scale comparable to mainstream performers supported by cultural diplomacy programs. Artists and performers capable of relating directly with their homeland communities, through the trusted voices of their own languages and the familiar idioms of local cultural practices, have high media exposure and impact in their countries of origin.</p>
<p>Now that the pathways of scientific and cultural exchange have been established, and Australian communities are increasingly networked across the region, we need to find new ways to ensure that all Australians have access to these pathways so that they can share in the excitement of discovery and creativity.</p>
<p>To do so, more Australians will need to master the languages of the region. In engaging with our neighbours, the report concludes, there is only one thing worse than not knowing English – knowing only English.</p>
<p>Smart engagement with Asia means recognising that Australia’s Asian and Pacific Island communities are opening new pathways for discovery, innovation and cultural understanding, but that relying on them to do all the heavy lifting is not very smart.</p>
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<p><em><a href="http://www.acola.org.au/index.php/projects/securing-australia-s-future/project-3">Smart Engagement with Asia</a>: Leveraging Language, Research and Culture was launched on June 5 by the Australian Chief Scientist, Ian Chubb. <a href="http://www.acola.org.au/index.php/about-us">ACOLA</a> commissioned the report as part of the <a href="http://www.acola.org.au/index.php/projects/securing-australia-s-future">Securing Australia’s Future</a> series.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42743/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Fitzgerald receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and participated as an expert advisor on the report.</span></em></p>Skilled migrants from India, China and other neighbouring countries are building pathways for innovation, growth and better understanding between Australia and their homelands.John Fitzgerald, President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Social Investment and Philanthropy in the Centre for Social Impact , Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/388802015-04-22T10:03:59Z2015-04-22T10:03:59ZCould this Dalai Lama be the last?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78808/original/image-20150421-9032-pqvmjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Dalai Lama has been coy about his successor.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6113/6356529765_da0ae5244a_b.jpg">Sergio Carvalho/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For Buddhists who follow his teachings, or to those who are simply drawn to his public message of kindness (“My religion is kindness,” the <a href="http://bornagainpagan.com/photos/031-my-religion-is-kindness.jpg">popular bumper sticker</a> reads), the Dalai Lama has approached sainthood. He instantly sells out public appearances, and he’s featured on the “Top ten influential figures” lists (or some form thereof) which regularly appear in periodicals or websites.</p>
<p>He represents a triple threat rarely seen in contemporary culture: spiritual guru, head of the Tibetan government in exile and international ambassador. Today, the plight of his people is known around the world: the Tibetan flag, often accompanied by the slogan “Free Tibet” has become one of the iconic symbols of our time.</p>
<p>While at age 79 he shows little sign of slowing down, the Dalai Lama won’t live forever. The 14th in a line of head monks chosen through an elaborate combination of divination, examination and coronation, the Dalai Lama’s successor is a topic that’s been increasingly broached. </p>
<p>Yet the competing forces of politics, ethnicity and culture have muddled the process; there are even arguments over <em>how</em> the 15th Dalai Lama will be chosen.</p>
<p>Together it raises the very real question: could he be the last in this long lineage?</p>
<h2>Saint or splittist?</h2>
<p>The Dalai Lama has his detractors. “Saints,” George Orwell <a href="http://www.orwell.ru/library/reviews/gandhi/english/e_gandhi">wrote</a>, “should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.” </p>
<p>Among Tibetan Buddhists – particularly Western Tibetan Buddhists – there is a group of practitioners who propitiate the fierce protector-deity known as <a href="http://www.dalailama.com/messages/dolgyal-shugden/his-holiness-advice">Shugden</a>. This particular practice has been discouraged by the Dalai Lama, who believes the practice runs counter to the principles of compassion and nonviolence. Shugden practitioners routinely <a href="http://info-buddhism.com/Western_Shugden_Society_unlocked.html">protest</a> when the Dalai Lama delivers public teachings in the West because they feel that his prohibition of Shugden violates their fundamental religious freedom.</p>
<p>The Dalai Lama’s most visible detractor, however, has been the Chinese government, which has been working full-time to prove the Dalai Lama guilty of a host of crimes against their country. </p>
<p>As all political organizations do, the Communist Party of China has created a list of epithets to describe him in an unflattering light: he is “a wolf in monk’s robes” and “<a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/splittist-remark-against-dalai-lama-a-miscalculation-on-part-of-chinese-govt/article1-1273657.aspx">a splittist</a>,” whose main goal is to divide the Chinese against themselves. Or they characterize him the leader of the “<a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2013-03/08/content_16290252.htm">Dalai Lama clique</a>,” a group of insurrectionists living largely in exile and dedicated to spreading false rumors about the Chinese oppression of the Tibetan people.</p>
<h2>To China, a problem that won’t die</h2>
<p>But why is the Chinese government so concerned about a “simple Buddhist monk” (as the Dalai Lama often describes himself)? And why has the issue of his successor – the reincarnation of the sitting Dalai Lama – <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/03/12/china_and_dalai_lama_spar_over_reincarnation.html">been in the news recently</a>?</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78829/original/image-20150421-9032-r3idox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78829/original/image-20150421-9032-r3idox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78829/original/image-20150421-9032-r3idox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78829/original/image-20150421-9032-r3idox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=773&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78829/original/image-20150421-9032-r3idox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=972&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78829/original/image-20150421-9032-r3idox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=972&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78829/original/image-20150421-9032-r3idox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=972&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Dalai Lama, technically, never dies. Pictured is the Second Dalai Lama (1476-1542).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Second_Dalai_Lama.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Having been so successful in bringing the world’s attention to the suffering of his people, the Dalai Lama and his reincarnation represent an enormous hurdle for China: how do they deal with a problem that, simply put, won’t die?</p>
<p>The Chinese government has adopted a very practical solution. They have decided that <em>they</em> will locate the 15th Dalai Lama. Their choice would, of course, be sympathetic with China’s goals regarding Tibet and the Tibetan people, a selection who would articulate China’s idea of Tibet as simply another ethnic region of China, subject to its laws and its domestic policy. </p>
<p>Within the world of <em>realpolitik</em>, China’s decision makes perfect sense.</p>
<p>But Tibetans feel that the Chinese are uniquely unqualified to undertake the process.</p>
<p>Choosing the Dalai Lama is an elaborate process that can seem otherworldly to Westerners. It involves consulting oracles, interpreting visions, reading signs and performing astrological calculations. </p>
<p>Once the the highest lamas in the Dalai Lama’s inner circle locate the reincarnated Dalai Lama (a process that takes two to three years), they administer a series of tests. </p>
<p>For example, they asked the current Dalai Lama, at age two, to identify various items that had belonged to his previous incarnation, the 13th Dalai Lama. From several walking sticks, he was asked to choose “his” walking stick. They gave the same test for his glasses and his prayer beads. In each case, the young 14th – without hesitation – chose the items that had belonged to him in his previous lifetime.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78812/original/image-20150421-9032-1sf6xti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78812/original/image-20150421-9032-1sf6xti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78812/original/image-20150421-9032-1sf6xti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78812/original/image-20150421-9032-1sf6xti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78812/original/image-20150421-9032-1sf6xti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78812/original/image-20150421-9032-1sf6xti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78812/original/image-20150421-9032-1sf6xti.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As a young boy, the 14th Dalai Lama (pictured on the left) underwent a series of tests whereby he identified possessions of his previous incarnation, Thubten Gyatso (pictured right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dalai_Lama_boy.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Playing coy</h2>
<p>The Dalai Lama himself has muddled things further by hinting (somewhat light-heartedly) that he might reappear anywhere, in any number of human incarnations, in any number of countries – and that he might reappear as a woman. Indeed, he’s even suggested that perhaps he will not reincarnate at all.</p>
<p>Zhu Weiqun, head of an ethnic-and-religious-affairs committee in the Chinese government, has pounced on the Dalai Lama’s posturing, <a href="http://time.com/3743742/dalai-lama-china-reincarnation-tibet-buddhism/">arguing</a> that he hasn’t shown “a serious or respectful attitude on this issue.” </p>
<p>But most Tibetans place very little stock in the Dalai Lama’s pronouncement. They recognize it as yet another move in the chess game His Holiness is playing with the Chinese. Tibetans also remember the speech he gave in 2011, when he <a href="http://www.dalailama.com/messages/tibet/10th-march-archive/2011">announced</a> that he was stepping down from his role as political leader of the Tibetan people. </p>
<p>In the speech, the Dalai Lama reminded his audience that he had always claimed that Tibetans in exile should be governed by a democratically elected leader, and that he needed to become less politically active in order to encourage democracy among his people. </p>
<h2>Tempering expectations</h2>
<p>Clearly, there is more to this than meets the eye. The Dalai Lama’s wavering about his reincarnation and his role in the everyday lives of his people have been made in order to instill in Tibetans more and more independence in the face of a continuing and inevitable Chinese oppression. </p>
<p>When the Chinese do make their selection, the Tibetan people will likely ignore it – perhaps even good-heartedly ridicule it. </p>
<p>But the question still persists, largely in Western circles: Do the Tibetan people need another Dalai Lama? </p>
<p>Surely, the Tibetan people will argue that they do. However, when this Dalai Lama dies, perhaps it will be advantageous for the Central Tibetan Administration in India to develop a mixture of politically innovative guidelines and traditional methods for finding the new one. This would be partly a political decision, and the Tibetan government, in consultation with the monks, could make it.</p>
<p>The 14th Dalai Lama has always supported modernization, both in Tibetan spiritual practice and in the Tibetan educational curriculum that has been installed in India. It’s apparent the Dalai Lama’s deliberate ambiguity about whether or not Tibetans even need a 15th is a calculated move; he wants to leave that decision entirely up to his people, further solidifying their democratic rule in exile.</p>
<p>As a difficult, uncertain Tibetan future unfolds, it’s intended to insure that no expectations precede the arrival of his successor. </p>
<p>After all – as all Buddhists warn – expectations are often unreliable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38880/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sidney Burris is co-director of The Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture in exile. Their website is here: <a href="http://artibet.com">http://artibet.com</a></span></em></p>An elaborate and lengthy selection process is in danger of being co-opted by the Chinese government.Sidney Burris, Professor of English, Director of Fulbright College Honors Studies , University of ArkansasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223352014-01-22T20:06:48Z2014-01-22T20:06:48ZUn-designing masculinities: K-pop and the new global man?<p>My K-pop (<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-k-pop-and-j-pop-20956">Korean Pop</a>) “bias” <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_%28entertainer%29">Rain</a>, the South Korean singer, dancer, and actor whose real name is Jung Ji-Hoon, recently released a new album called Rain Effect, which has reignited my, uh-hum, “academic” interest in K-pop. In particular, I am fascinated with how K-pop is re-designing masculinity through the popularisation of what scholar, and former PhD graduate from Melbourne University, <a href="http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/people_details.asp?peopleid=584">Sun Jung</a> calls “Pan East-Asian soft masculinity”. </p>
<p>In 2011, <a href="http://video.nationalgeographic.com.au/video/the-magazine/the-magazine-latest/ngm-7billion-typical/">National Geographic</a> defined the most typical person in the world as a 28-year-old Han Chinese male, the target demographic within Pan East Asian soft masculinity. Given its global popularity, does K-pop offer alternative values, design, and experiences of masculinity? Or does it just remix old stereotypes about black and Asian masculinities?</p>
<h2>Hard masculinities: traditional Australian archetypes</h2>
<p>Before addressing the values of “soft masculinity,” I first want to describe the hard masculinity that K-pop male imagery complicates. Australia is a place where traditional images of hard masculinity dominate. Specifically, these images are coded white, rural, and non-intellectual. A quick Google images search of “<a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=australian+man&client=firefox-a&hs=cfk&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=PB_gUtaFF4ewiAeG44CYDw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=653">Australian man</a>” produces a range of physical types that fit this description.</p>
<p>Australian scholar, Dr. Robyn Morris <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07256860600607934">describes</a> the national image of the Australian masculinity as “archetypal and heroic, hyper-masculinised, white and heterosexual figures such as the stoic bushman, brash bushranger, or the fearless ANZAC soldier.” Dr. Linzi Murrie, an Australian expert of Australian men studies, provides details on the values of the iconic <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14443059809387361">Australian male</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our man is practical rather than theoretical, he values physical prowess rather than intellectual capabilities, and he is good in a crisis but otherwise laid-back. He is common and earthy, so he is intolerant of affectation and cultural pretensions; he is no wowser, uninhibited in the pleasures of drinking, swearing and gambling; he is independent and egalitarian, and is a hater of authority and a ‘knocker’ of eminent people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Drover in Baz Luhrmann’s movie Australia is the embodiment of this ideal both physically and from the perspective of personality:</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mfI4hK9I2k0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer from Australia Movie.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, images of Australian masculinity have been modified from that of the bushranger to that of the footy player. This includes black footy players although there is often a pathologising of their “bush” images and their questioning of authority is seen as a threat. There have also been some shifts in the values of Australian masculinity. Dr. Karina Butera <a href="http://jos.sagepub.com/content/44/3/265">argues</a> that among 21st-Century Australian men, there is greater ambivalence towards the “tough, emotionally repressed, and stoic independence” of the traditional ideal man. Yet, Asian Australian men are still excluded from images of Australian masculinity. Perhaps, K-pop can change that.</p>
<h2>Soft masculinities: K-pop, Confucius, R&B, and guy-liner</h2>
<p>In her book <a href="http://www.hkupress.org/Common/Reader/Products/ShowProduct.jsp?Pid=1&Version=0&Cid=16&Charset=iso-8859-1&page=-1&key=9789888028672">Korean Masculinities and Transcultural Consumption</a>, Dr. Sun Jung defines the key aspects of what she calls East Asian soft masculinity:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Soft masculinity is a hybrid product constructed through the amalgamation of South Korea’s traditional <em>seonbi</em> masculinity (which is influenced by Chinese Confucian wen masculinity), Japan’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bish%C5%8Dnen">bishonen</a> (pretty boy) masculinity, and global <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrosexual">metrosexual</a> masculinity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In traditional South Korean <em>seonbi</em> and Chinese Confucius <em>wen</em> masculinity, the exemplary man is one of the culturally refined gentleman/scholar. His values could be described as the exact opposite of the traditional Australian male. He is theoretical, intellectual, culturally nuanced, self-restraining, and obedient to authority, especially that of the father and other elder men.</p>
<p>Rain personifies those <em>seonbi</em>/<em>wen</em> values first in terms of his personal motto – “Endless effort, endless humility, endless modesty” – and second by the completion of his music degree from Kyunghee University. Education is so important even in the K-pop world that most K-pop agencies require that their idols and trainees complete undergraduate degrees at the minimum and preferably complete a Masters degree.</p>
<p>Physically, the Japanese “pretty boy” phenomenon, which is mostly consumed by women, enables a play of gender possibilities by erasing the lines between male and female. Metrosexual grooming frees men to care about their physical appearance through the consumption of clothes, cosmetics and accessories.</p>
<p>All of which is present in the male images in K-pop. All K-pop men rock serious guy-liner. On the pretty boy spectrum, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-Dragon">G-Dragon</a>, the lead singer of the K-Pop group Big Bang, models for the make-up line The SAEM — becoming their <a href="http://ygunited.com/2013/03/20/g-dragon-becomes-first-male-idol-to-endorse-red-lipstick/">first male endorser</a> of red lipstick. On the metrosexual spectrum, Rain endorses the Metholatum grooming line.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DIDYpFGDBDI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Rain’s Most Metrosexual Video, 30 Sexy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not content to be just pretty faces, the men of K-pop also require what Sun Jung calls “beast-like masculinity,” which is defined by sculpted muscular bodies with rock-hard abdominals. This is literally embodied by Rain in his popular and highly parodied Love Song video.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ejz8JylzefI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Parodies of the “Abs Dance” from Rain’s Love Song video.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The “beast-like” masculinity represents the specifically African-American contribution to the visual image of masculinity in K-pop, which adds another layer of complication.</p>
<p>Sun Jung discusses in depth the strategy of Rain and Rain’s first manager and producer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Jin-young">JYP</a> to combine through his image and music that which is Korean with that which is globally popular, namely African-American R&B and Hip Hop music. </p>
<p>African-American rap and R&B figures such as <a href="http://usherworld.com/">Usher</a> and <a href="http://www.50cent.com/">50 Cent</a> all figure prominently as those most idolised by top K-pop artists. Sun Jung quotes Rain on his <a href="http://youtu.be/WeRlFKFWdiw">admission</a> of being strongly influenced by Usher, who is known for <a href="http://theinsider.etonline.com/music/54951_Usher_Returns_to_Shirtless_Music_Videos/">going shirtless</a> to display his sculpted abs in the majority of his videos and stage performances. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5Sy19X0xxrM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Usher Shirtless at the End of the Confessions Video.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>East Asian beast-like masculinity serves as countermove against white Western <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07256860600607934">feminisation of Asian men</a>, especially as the cultural values are in opposition to hard masculinity. Yet if the East Asian beast-like masculinity is based “on the abs” of African American males, does it not continue the over-sexualisation and implied animalism of black bodies that is at the heart of the conflict between Black people and White structures of oppression? </p>
<p>Scholar <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/media/carrington.pdf">Ben Carrington</a> argues “the black male torso as object of visual desire is everywhere”. Does connecting the sculpted torso on an Asian face change the views of both Asians and Black men in regards to masculinity? Can it offer new possibilities of masculinity for all Australian men?</p>
<h2>K-pop and Re-Designing 21st Century Masculinities</h2>
<p>Karina Butera quotes from Terry Collins’s book, <a href="http://www.leurabooks.com.au/?page=shop/flypage&wt=1.00&product_id=448030">Beyond Mateship</a>, which offers a challenge for men to be:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Strong without hardness; soft without fear; powerful without oppression; gentle without shame; knowledgeable without arrogance; nurturing; led with humility and themselves with joy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The soft masculinity, embodied by K-pop figures such as Rain, represents the dynamic play of masculine and feminine characteristics articulated in the challenge. At least among the K-pop netizens in the US and Australia whom I follow, it has changed the perception of Asian men as men potentially desirable in terms of the ideal of a gentle personality with a handsome face and a hot body. </p>
<p>As an African American, I remain conflicted by K-pop men’s relationship to Black male bodies. But, it is undeniable that K-pop offers alternative models of masculinity which are neither too hard or too soft.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22335/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
My K-pop (Korean Pop) “bias” Rain, the South Korean singer, dancer, and actor whose real name is Jung Ji-Hoon, recently released a new album called Rain Effect, which has reignited my, uh-hum, “academic…Elizabeth Dori Tunstall, Associate Professor, Design Anthropology, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205452013-11-21T04:10:07Z2013-11-21T04:10:07ZSaving face: lessons for Abbott on working with Indonesia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35758/original/szc99fhh-1385000547.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tony Abbott needs to learn a thing or two about Indonesian culture if he's to have a successful working relationship with his Indonesian counterpart.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Made Nagi</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s a <a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-secrets-inside-australias-mysterious-spy-agency-20541">widespread perception</a> in Australia that Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-indonesia-spy-standoff-more-than-just-gestural-politics-20427">reaction to Australia’s phone tapping</a> is all about playing domestic politics in Yudhoyono’s home country. It only superficially relates to the election or to shoring up support for Yudhoyono’s party – it really boils down to personal pride.</p>
<p>One rule of espionage holds that <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-spy-you-spy-we-all-spy-but-is-it-legal-20540">even friends should spy on each other</a>. But the rules of diplomacy hold that if you are caught, you had better be apologetic. </p>
<p>How might it look to the Indonesians?</p>
<p>There is no way around the fact that Indonesia is annoyed. It’s a cliché to say that saving face is important in Asian culture, but there is an underlying truth to this in Indonesian culture. </p>
<p><em>Malu</em> means to be shy, embarrassed or ashamed. It’s a very ambivalent feeling which one both rejects and aspires to. In one sense, you don’t want to be too <em>malu</em>. Indonesians often feel <em>malu</em>, for example, that their nation doesn’t get into the World Cup, that their technology is relatively undeveloped, and so on.</p>
<p>And yet, a <em>malu</em> person is humble and modest. In this sense, it is a very esteemed quality in an individual, and crucial in restraining passions such as sexual drive and anger. It enables one to negotiate – and perhaps even gracefully manipulate – social situations and interactions. But it also means to know one’s place. </p>
<p>If you don’t act <em>malu</em> when you should, you risk offending somebody. And one very formal – if rarely used – insult is <em>tidak tahu malu</em>, or: “you don’t have a sense of shame”. This was a prominent theme when Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/11/19/abbott-belittles-spying-row-sby.html">complained on Twitter</a> about “the statement by Australia’s PM that belittles that spying on Indonesia”, which was without <em>rasa bersalah</em>, which means “without feeling guilty/wrong” or “without remorse”.</p>
<p>The flipside of this is <em>bangga</em>, which is self-esteem. In a perverse way, being spied on by United States and (to a much lesser extent) Australia demonstrates to Indonesia its importance in global politics. Also, through being <em>malu</em>, Indonesia may be able to manipulate this situation, creating a sense of pride.</p>
<p>So, in a contradictory way the problem is that Indonesia feels too <em>malu</em> and Australia is not <em>malu</em> enough. In other words, Australia and prime minister Tony Abbott have not acted appropriately towards Indonesia and Yudhoyono. It’s not so much about saying sorry (as many Australians have urged of Abbott), but more about adopting the correct demeanour for the situation.</p>
<p>For both sides there will be posturing. Abbott has to appeal to his domestic constituency and Indonesian politicians are gearing up for national elections in 2014. But underneath this, a serious issue of <em>malu</em> resides for Indonesia.</p>
<p>Yudhoyono yesterday <a href="https://theconversation.com/sby-hits-fight-against-people-smuggling-in-retaliation-over-eavesdropping-20576">escalated the diplomatic crisis</a> by suspending joint Australia-Indonesia patrols to combat people smuggling and other military co-operation and intelligence sharing activities. Abbott responded by taking to parliament to express:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…deep and sincere regret about the embarrassment to the president and to Indonesia that’s been caused by recent media reporting.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Foreign minister Marty Natalegawa’s <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/indonesian-police-and-immigration-departments-prepare-to-stop-cooperation-with-australia-20131120-2xttu.html">reaction</a> to this was:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t get it. Why would the President of Indonesia be embarrassed? I believe the embarrassment should belong to the government of Australia. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>So Abbott is now <a href="https://theconversation.com/diplomatic-crisis-can-the-pm-mend-our-relationship-with-indonesia-20551">at a crossroads</a>. He can back down and try to restore co-operation, or risk the relationship crumbling, which could have major implications for both nations.</p>
<p>For Indonesia, among what is at stake is Australian aid. Australia, the largest bilateral grant-based donor to Indonesia, has invested A$1,378 million in the previous three years. But it is worth noting that Indonesia no longer wants to be considered the poor neighbour. It wants to be proud (<em>bangga</em>) of the fact that it is the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/australias-spying-program-could-damage-trade-ties-with-indonesia-20131119-2xtaz.html#ixzz2l9mfVZNP">largest economy</a> in southeast Asia, and it is projected to be the world’s seventh largest economy by 2030. </p>
<p>For Australia, trade is one key issue at stake. Indonesia is Australia’s third largest agriculture market, with <a href="http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/indonesia/indonesia_brief.html">exports</a> worth A$2.3 billion in 2012. Australia’s main agricultural exports to Indonesia are wheat, cotton, live animals, meat, horticultural products and sugar. Indonesia buys, Australia provides.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35759/original/hqdnb2pz-1385001063.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35759/original/hqdnb2pz-1385001063.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35759/original/hqdnb2pz-1385001063.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35759/original/hqdnb2pz-1385001063.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35759/original/hqdnb2pz-1385001063.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35759/original/hqdnb2pz-1385001063.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35759/original/hqdnb2pz-1385001063.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The live cattle export trade may again be under threat amidst the Australia-Indonesia spying standoff.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dan Peled</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>But Indonesia is trying to attain self-sufficiency by <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3847781.htm">purchasing land</a> in Australia to provide for its own needs in cattle export. For Indonesia, this is another show of pride (<em>bangga</em>) that Indonesia has the economic capabilities to do so; as well as being Australia’s important “market”.</p>
<p>The education sector, however, seems relatively insulated. For Indonesians, there is pride (<em>bangga</em>) in being educated in an Australian institutions <a href="https://theconversation.com/beef-boats-and-elections-whats-in-store-for-the-australia-indonesia-relationship-18249">just like</a> the vice president Boediono (Monash) and foreign minister Marty Natalegawa (ANU). This area of Indonesian investment in Australia therefore appears safe.</p>
<p>So, what’s the upshot of the diplomatic row? It’s clear that Abbott leads a rookie government that has backed itself into a corner. It’s time for the prime minister to learn a thing or two about Indonesian culture and how to work with world leaders in the region. In the meantime, he may end up feeling <em>malu</em> if the boats start arriving after Indonesia stops co-operating.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/20545/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monika Winarnita does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s a widespread perception in Australia that Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s reaction to Australia’s phone tapping is all about playing domestic politics in Yudhoyono’s home country…Monika Winarnita, PhD candidate, Australian National University and Honorary Associate in Anthropology, La Trobe UniversityNicholas Herriman, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198332013-11-19T23:38:56Z2013-11-19T23:38:56ZOn being an ‘ethnic killjoy’ in the Asian Century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35343/original/g92yz74m-1384476388.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We should attempt to get cultural diversity right in our own backyard.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alam Singh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We are fortunate to have bipartisan political support for enhancing trade and cultural links with our region in the so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-in-the-asian-century-6391">Asian Century</a>. But do we have similar consensus when dealing with those from Asia who have found a temporary or permanent home in Australia? </p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/asian-migration-a-tour-de-force-20110616-1g62x.html">latest figures</a> from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia is now home to nearly 2 million people of Asian origin. Moreover, they are on the brink of overtaking European-born migrants for the first time in the nation’s history. Also of significance is that this crop has been recruited largely from students and skilled migrants, thereby distinguishing them from previous “waves”.</p>
<p>Sydney recently played host to the first <a href="http://pbdsydney2013.com.au/">Pravasi Bharatiya Divas</a> (Festival of Overseas Indians) in the Asia-Pacific region, and is also the city of choice for an <a href="https://theconversation.com/sydneys-intercultural-film-festival-is-new-and-brave-but-can-it-work-19893">Intercultural Film Festival</a> that opened on November 14.</p>
<p>Despite these considerable steps, we remain a huge leap away from understanding and embracing the nuances of cultural diversity as a lived experience rather than as an exchange commodity, or a political token. Unless we attempt to get cultural diversity right in our own backyard, we cannot make the case for being a fruitful partner in our thriving region.</p>
<p>According to Australian cultural studies academic Sara Ahmed, a “<a href="http://feministkilljoys.com/about/">feminist killjoy</a>” (loosely speaking) is someone who openly declares war on patriarchal practices at the ostensibly peaceful site of the family dinner table. He/she seeks to expose the seemingly “happy housewife” as a fantasy figure who “erases the signs of labour under the sign of happiness”. </p>
<p>I wonder if, in the Australian multicultural context, we similarly mask symptoms of intra- and inter-community discord through the figure of the assimilated, working ethnic person who shares his/her exotic lunchbox at the workplace but has little say in the corporate boardroom. </p>
<p>I would like to put forth the notion of the “ethnic killjoy” – someone who unapologetically asks difficult questions about the diversity of fellow “ethics” and “non-ethnics” alike. Although there are countless associations representing specific ethic groups in Australia, there is anecdotal evidence to suggest they often represent narrow interests that come at the cost of solidarity and political action. </p>
<p>Such a finding was reported in the Australia India Institute report <a href="http://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/sites/default/files/Beyond%20the%20Lost%20Decade%28with%20cover%29_0.pdf">Beyond the Lost Decade</a> in 2012. That report highlighted that the Indian diaspora in Australia tended to fly under the radar and was far from being as politically active as its counterpart in the US. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35342/original/cp5nkz9h-1384476235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35342/original/cp5nkz9h-1384476235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35342/original/cp5nkz9h-1384476235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35342/original/cp5nkz9h-1384476235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35342/original/cp5nkz9h-1384476235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35342/original/cp5nkz9h-1384476235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35342/original/cp5nkz9h-1384476235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35342/original/cp5nkz9h-1384476235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peled/AAP</span></span>
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<p>In response, I and some colleagues acted as bona fide “ethnic killjoys” by approaching the Institute to fund a <a href="http://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/events/%E2%80%98gondwanalandings-indian-australian-perspectives-cultural-understanding%E2%80%99">symposium</a> that brought critical, creative and community voices of this diaspora together on a single platform for the first time. </p>
<p>We were successful, and have hopefully set the stage for such difficult yet productive conversations to continue. Similar work is already being done by the <a href="http://aasrn.wordpress.com/">Asian Australian Studies Research Network</a>, which also has a formidable record of bridging intellectual and community concerns regarding diversity.</p>
<p>With the myriad ethnic community festivals now taking place in Australian capital cities, there has been a proportionate rise in state and federal politicians of all persuasions paying visits to such sites (such as the above-mentioned Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, which received the patronage of the NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell). </p>
<p>This is no less than paying homage to the nation’s official <a href="http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/multicultural/agenda/agenda89/whatismu.htm">National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia</a> – especially in the face of recent European retreats from the same (such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel declaring that <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11559451">multiculturalism has failed</a>. </p>
<p>But what if this agenda – which covers cultural identity, social justice and economic efficiency – doesn’t go far enough to ensure diversity? Is it possible to institutionalise people-to-people links that go beyond food and festivals? </p>
<p>How can this attempt at empathy (not just co-existence) extend to those trying to get to Australia to flee persecution?</p>
<h2>Empathy and multiculturalism</h2>
<p>Let’s rewind to Senator Bob Carr’s appearance at the [Storyology conference](http://www.storyology.org.au/ (sponsored by the Walkley Foundation) in Sydney in August. In conversation with Fairfax journalist Peter Hartcher, the then Foreign Minister declared that his <a href="http://www.storyology.org.au/news/carr-and-hartcher-s-foreign-affiar-at-storyology">government’s revised stance</a> on refugee arrivals by boat was just for all concerned. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We get 3000 people a month. It’s already 20% of the migrant intake. We won’t allow this number to be increased by people smugglers.</p>
<p>A lot of critics are extremely well meaning people but they fail to recognise that the recent spike in numbers is being contracted out to people smugglers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Carr did not once allude to Australia’s commitment to the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.html">UNHCR Refugee Convention</a>, which states that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>subject to specific exceptions, refugees should not be penalised for their illegal entry or stay. This recognises that the seeking of asylum can require refugees to breach immigration rules. Prohibited penalties might include being charged with immigration or criminal offences relating to the seeking of asylum, or being arbitrarily detained purely on the basis of seeking asylum. Importantly, the Convention contains various safeguards against the expulsion of refugees. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>During the same interview, it was brought to light that the Minister planned to visit Vietnamese communities in Sydney’s west as part of his election campaigning duties. He did not dare to refer to this group as former “boat people”. </p>
<p>What would “ethnic killjoys” have asked of Senator Carr on the above occasion? Our questions entail open dialogue about the <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/crime_community/demographicgroup/ethnicmulticultral.html">family violence issues faced by culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women</a>, the exploitation of overseas students and temporary visa holders by small business owners, and support for, and settlement of, refugees in a range of community settings, among others. </p>
<p>According to academic Jon Stratton, a number of non-white migrants entering Australia’s middle class are tending towards “<a href="http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol8no3_2009/stratton_hegemony.htm">honorary whiteness</a>” (also known as “model minority” in the US context). </p>
<p>He argues this not only alienates asylum seekers (as the “bad migrants” who cannot adopt “our” values), but also means that the acceptance of middle-class migrants is conditional on them “acting white”. </p>
<p>Given this, most ethnic killjoys are aware their interventions are not going to make them popular with their own community, or with the political mainstream. But we feel compelled to bear the “<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09528829008576253#preview">burden of representation</a>”, as articulated by Black British artist Kobena Mercer. It is the only way towards a multicultural Australia geared to empathy rather than tolerance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sukhmani was the Chair of the organising committee for the conference 'Gondwanalandings: Voices of the Indian Diaspora in Australia', and is also a current co-convenor of the Asian Australian Film Forum and Network (AAFFN).</span></em></p>We are fortunate to have bipartisan political support for enhancing trade and cultural links with our region in the so-called Asian Century. But do we have similar consensus when dealing with those from…Sukhmani Khorana, Lecturer in Digital and International Media, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.