Call for papers: Where’s your Asia? AASRN Perth Symposium

somsengmany's avatarAsian Australian Studies Research Network (AASRN)

2018-08-31 11_45_52-WindowDate: 22 November 2018
Location: Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Western Australia

Australia and Asia have a long history of connection that is increasingly recognised to pre‐date colonialism. Yet, in many mainstream discourses ‘Asia’ continues to be placed geographically and culturally removed from Australia. The recent release of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ reminds us about the complexities in representing Asians and Asia, and that representations of Asia have intensely global and local impacts, especially in this age of digital media.

This inaugural symposium of the Perth Asian Australian Studies Research Network asks: ‘Where’s your Asia?’ Encouraging papers from all disciplines that focus on Asian Australian studies, it asks: From which real and imagined and virtual and creative places do you approach ‘Asia’? Is the ‘Asia’ in Australia still ‘out there’, ‘in here’, ‘next door’, already here or always arriving? Where does Australia end and Asia begin? And who represents, defines, (re)directs…

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Spatial Models, Behavioral Research and Impact of Political Economy on Tourism

Most  research in Tourism geography has been inductive, aiming to generalize models of tourism structures and flows on the bases of detailed quantitative analyses. They focus on tourist travel, origin place ,destination flows, and the spatial structures of tourism destination areas .

Evolutionary models

have examined the development of tourism spaces through time, especially resorts, and the most widely known of these is Butler’s (1980) resort life cycle. In recognition of the limitations of aggregate analyses of macrotourism flows and structures, tourism geographers have embraced behavioralism, aiming to understand the decision-making and (spatial) behavior of tourists.

The political economy of tourism

Political economy is a  study of production and trade and their links with custom, government and law. It is the study and use of how economic theory and methods influence and develop different social and economic systems, such as capitalism, socialism and communism; it also analyzes how state policy is made and operated.

Political economy decides the shape of tourism  in regions and broadly draws on structuralist theories. Much of the work in this field has been concerned with issues such as the commercialization  of culture and of place, and the particularities of tourism product and consumption. Studies use case studies which range from tourism dependency in less developed countries to urban and rural regeneration in developed economies.

Cultural interpretations

Tourism geographers have a longstanding interest in the notion of place, and in the way in which tourism is both shaped by and shapes places.Tourism is an encounter between people, and between people and space . Cultural tourism geography  emphasizes that knowledge is fluid  and is reshaped by practices which enhances our understanding of tourist destination . Culture is the main pulling force for tourists often. Culture is one of the main determinants of National and International Tourism Demand.

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NASA’s “OMG” climate campaign

NASA’s “OMG” climate campaign

NASA’s “OMG” climate campaign


— Read on wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/21/nasas-omg-climate-campaign/

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Waterways, Persons & Rights

Crist Inman's avatarOrganikos

BakerRiver_Chile_Louis-Vest-Flickr_web.jpgThe free-flowing Baker River in Chile’s Patagonia region. Permits for a major hydroelectric project on the waterway were revoked in 2014 amid protests. LOUIS VEST/FLICKR

Dams in Patagonia are the gift that keep on giving, in terms of awakening activism and forcing raised awareness of the value of waterways. I first mentioned my experience in Chile here. I came back to the idea a few more times. Thanks to Jens Benohr and Patrick Lynch for this reminder, and for letting us all know where this seems headed from a legal point of view:

Should Rivers Have Rights? A Growing Movement Says It’s About Time

Inspired by indigenous views of nature, a movement to grant a form of legal “personhood” to rivers is gaining some ground — a key step, advocates say, in reversing centuries of damage inflicted upon the world’s waterways.

San-Pedro-Dam_Carlos-Lastra_web.jpgA Chilean energy company is seeking permits to…

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