International Institute for Asian Studies

04/06/2026

🔸 Dr. Vivien Chan (IIAS Research Fellow 2025-2026) will be giving a presentation in the Nehru Conference Room of the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)

🔸 “How to Buy a Fish: Bodies and Commodities in Hong Kong’s ‘Wet’ Markets”: Using the case study of the ‘wet market’, this presentation considers how spatial histories of consumption can offer an embodied perspective on the market, through the negotiation of values surrounding food and the body such as ‘freshness’ and hygiene. An unofficial English-language term likely coined in the 1980s to denote ‘Asian’ markets in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, the ‘wet market’ has now expanded to include markets in the Global South seen as potentially dangerous or threatening to public health through the Western gaze.

⏰June 8, 2026 | 3PM [India Standard Time]

➡️ You may also join online at https://meet.jit.si/IFPMondayColloquiumSeries2023
➡️More about Dr. Chan’s research at https://www.iias.asia/profile/vivien-chan



[Wong Tai Sin Hawkers, 5th September 1963, photograph courtesy of Ko Tim-keung]

04/06/2026

🔹 Join us for the next hybrid guest lecture: ‘Ancient Star-shaped Towers of the Himalayas’

🔹 In the impossible terrain of the Sino-Tibetan Marches, impressive but little-known star-shaped towers cling to the steep slopes. They were routinely destroyed by the impoverished people living at their feet. The speaker has dedicated much of her time since 1998 to protecting them and solving the riddle of their history.

🔹 The speaker is Ms. Frederique Darragon, co-founder and chair of the Unicorn Heritage Institute at Sichuan University. Dr Philippe Peycam (director of the IIAS) will moderate the discussion in the IIAS conference room.

📍 Online or in-person, Herta Mohr Building, Witte Singel 27A, 0.28. See webpage below for zoom link.

⚠️ All are welcome; registration is required due to limited in-person seating.

⏰ June 22 - 11:00 ~ 12:30

🔗 For more information about the event, speakers and registration, please visit: https://www.iias.asia/events/ancient-star-shaped-towers-himalayas

[image credits: Suopo, Danba MD by Frederique Darragon]

03/06/2026

🔹 Join us for our next online guest lecture: ‘Protest, People, Planet: Recent Political Updates from Asia and Latin America’

🔹 This online seminar showcases ongoing research on political trends in Asia and Latin America. Delivered by two scholars, it will discuss the dynamics of political development in the two regions by focusing on three key topics: transnational student movements, populism, and sustainability.

⚠️ This is an online event only. Please let us know if you intend to join us by completing the registration form on this page and follow the Zoom link on Thursday, 11 June 2026, 15:30 CET (Amsterdam Time): https://edu.nl/bgde8.

⏰ June 11 | 15:30 ~ 17:00

➡️ For more information about the event registration, participants, please visit: https://www.iias.asia/events/protest-people-planet-recent-political-updates-asia-and-latin-america



[Anti-coal mining expansion protest in Calaca, the Philippines in 2016 Photo by: Aileen Dimatatac (Creative Common Licensing)]

03/06/2026

🔸Discover the latest IIAS Blog entries!

🔸IIAS releases new Blog articles on a weekly basis. Our blog series explores the rich and diverse world of Asian pop culture, history, and beyond. The latest entries for this month are:

-May 26: A Tale of Two Gokus: Why Dragon Ball Goku’s Voice Is Hated by American Dragon Ball Fans
-June 2: The Hat as Cultural Passport: Modernity, Style, and Power in the Early Twentieth-Century Pacific

➡️Read these at: https://blog.iias.asia
➡️To contribute, visit https://blog.iias.asia/about

[image credit: Cosplay of Dragon Ball Z players at the May 2015 MCM London Comic Con at the ExCel Centre. CC BY 2.0]

02/06/2026

Introduction Sukawarsini Djelantik

🔸 Sukawarsini Djelantik is a Visiting Researcher (October 2026) from Parahyangan Catholic University (Bandung, Indonesia), working on 'Indonesian Diplomacy on the Issue of Papua'.

🔸 The purpose of Sukawarsini Djelantik's research is to find answers regarding Indonesia’s diplomacy in resolving the separatist issue in Papua.

🔸 Read Sukawarsini Djelantik’s full profile on the IIAS website: https://www.iias.asia/profile/sukawarsini-djelantik

02/06/2026

Introduction Dieuwertje Mentink

🔸 Dieuwertje Mentink is an IIAS Visiting Researcher (June - November 2026) from Utrecht University. Her research examines how Dutch colonial children's literature represented the relationship between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies, with a particular focus on works published during the era of the Ethical Policy (1901 - 1942).

🔸 From the nineteenth century onward, many Dutch educators and policymakers believed that reading the “right” books would prepare children for their future role in society. These books were strongly focused on fostering agency, encouraging young readers to become responsible and independent social actors.

🔸 Read Dieuwertje Mentink’s full profile on the IIAS website: https://www.iias.asia/profile/dieuwertje-mentink

28/05/2026

Introduction Yige WANG, visiting Researcher (May-Nov 2026)

🔸 Dr. Wang’s project ‘From Breakthrough to Consolidation: Revolution, Political Continuity, and the Failure of Democratic Transformation in Modern China,’ explores why revolutionary moments do not always lead to lasting democratic change. Focusing on the 1911 Revolution, Wang examines the roles of coercive structures, political culture, and institutional dynamics in shaping China’s modern political trajectory.
🔸 Drawing on quantitative historical studies, media infrastructure analysis, and revolutionary network research, her work contributes to broader debates on revolution, authoritarian resilience, and democratic consolidation in East Asia.

🔸 Read Yige WANG’s full profile on the IIAS website: https://www.iias.asia/profile/yige-wang

28/05/2026

🎙️Tune into The Channel’s newest episode ‘Public Diplomacy and Casa Asia with José Pintor Aguilar’

🔹 IIAS first event in the Knowledge Diplomacy (In Action) Series is now available as an episode on our flagship podcast.

🔹 In this episode, José Pintor Aguilar, Director General of Casa Asia, reflects on public diplomacy from a Spanish and broader European perspective, in the context of the current geopolitical challenges shaping interregional and multilateral cooperation.

🔗 For more information about the episode and to listen, visit: https://www.iias.asia/the-channel/public-diplomacy-and-casa-asia-jose-pintor-aguilar

➡️ For more The Channel episodes, visit: https://www.iias.asia/the-channel

27/05/2026

⚠️Deadling approaching!⚠️

CALL FOR PAPERS - CFP: Disaster & Vulnerability in Asia’s Highest Borderlands

🔹 Workshop title: 'Disaster and Vulnerability in Asia’s Highest Borderlands: Understanding Geological, Cosmological, Human and Multispecies Agency'. Mountain communities across Asia’s highlands are facing intensifying environmental pressures: landslides, rockfalls, glacial lake outbursts, flooding, rising temperatures, and shifting precipitation. These events shape everyday life, governance, and multispecies relations across a region stretching from Southeast Asia through China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and into Central Asia.

🔹This workshop explores how disaster and vulnerability intersect with geological, cosmological, human, and multispecies agency.

📍 Royal Thimphu College (RTC), Thimphu, Bhutan

📅 18–21 March 2027

📝 Interested participants are invited to submit: • An 800–1000 word abstract • A short bio

⚠️ Deadline is 1 June 2026 - ALL submissions and queries must be sent to: [email protected]

➡️ For more information, visit https://www.iias.asia/events/disaster-vulnerability

We invite participants to develop and present research in a small workshop format. Our purpose is to understand how borders are implicated in the making of disasters and vulnerability in Highland Asia.

21/05/2026

🔸Dr. Aarti Kawlra (Academic Director of HAB, IIAS) and Dr. Tharaphi Than (HAB partner from Myanmar), will be speaking in a lecture next week at Wolfson College Cambridge, about locally embedded teaching methods through the HAB program.

➡️ For more information, please visit:
https://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/about/events/sense-self-situated-pedagogies-and-humanities-across-borders

⚠️This event is in-person only

⏰ 27 May | 17.00-19.00