Gender and everyday evasions: moving with Cantopop 1

Abstract

In this paper, gender negotiations in the production, musical forms, and consumption of Cantopop are taken as a cultural exemplar for a social and political imagination of ambivalence, which seems to be shaping popular life in Hong Kong. It has three focal points – musical forms and expressions of Cantopop (style, lyrics, iconography, affect), gender politics, and ‘everyday‐ness’ – which converge to mark a notable cultural logic performing an enlarging sense of ambivalence about a city that has seen a shift from high moments of economic prosperity to the current postcolonial uncertainties. In other words, Cantopop signals a shift in our sensibilities, a redrawing of our affective map of everyday life after an important historical and politico‐administrative shift. In a sense then, this paper explores Hong Kong's changing identity within the sight and sound of popular culture, by specifically tracing some of the ways in which gender politics is inscribed, coded, negotiated, performed, or simply flirtingly posed on the surface of popular culture.     

From inter-Asia studies toward tricontinental studies

Abstract

This paper proposes new conceptual frameworks for “inter-Asia studies” in order to be more appropriate for addressing and redressing the demands of global patriarchal capitalism as well as overcoming the “regime of separation” of Asian studies from African and/or Latin American studies. To do that, first, I will problematize the male-East Asia-metropolis centeredness of “inter-Asia.” Then, I will try to locate “inter-Asia studies” into the field of “tricontinental studies” invented by the decolonial and deimperial spirit of connection between the colonized continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the third section, I will propose a “feminist inter-referencing reading” that involves shuttling back and forth between the postcolonial sub-regions of Asia, Africa and/or Latin America horizontally from the location and perspective of gendered subalterns rather than upward-mobile metropolitan feminists. The feminist standpoint that reading takes is combined with the conceptual frameworks of labor, ecology and ethnicity. It is also held that such a feminist inter-referencing reading needs the imaginative and interpretative metaphor of the “planet” to overcome the Westernized notion of the “nation” and “globe” as well as the concept of “universality shared by all humans” not monopolized by Westerners. Lastly, this paper will illustrate the new kind of “tricontinental studies” by providing an example of “feminist inter-referencing reading” which connects and compares the sub-regions of South Korea, Vietnam and Liberia.     

Re-inventing the martial ‘hero’ and the weak ‘beauty queen’ through the sporting identity: a tale of two competing gendered bodies,Muay Thai and the stability of the Thai nation-state

ABSTRACT

This article examines the gendered bodies and practices of male and female leaders in politically unstable, conflict-ridden Thailand between 2006 and 2019. In a country where the number of military coups has surged to twenty-two attempts (whether successful or unsuccessful) since 1932, the latest military-led coup by Gen. Prayudth Chan-Osha presents another threat to the stability of the country’s democracy. In response to public unease, Gen. Prayudth Chan-Osha projects himself as a source of Thai national strength and stability; to promote an optimistic public outlook, the general puts his martial masculinity and his militaristic physicality on public display. Culturally informed concepts of ‘good/strong’ male corporeality and its ‘bad/weak’ female countertype enable General Prayudth to identify as a national saviour by assuming the mantle of the martial hero. By highlighting his regime’s masculine military strength, he asserts, by contrast, the softness, weakness, and corruptibility of his key political rival, Thailand’s first elected female prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra. His public performance of national leadership argues that these frailties render his opponent ‘unfit’ for national leadership.     

对“导师负责制”下研究生培养的思考

研究生导师负责制和集体培养相结合的方式经过实践证明是一种较适合我国的研究生培养方式。本探讨了由于集体培养方式制度不完善而存在的一些问题，如不利于知识面的拓宽，不利于学术道德、学生健全人格的形成和师生之间情感的交流等，并探讨了导师负责制下研究生学术活动的意义及如何开展。     

创新管理中的性别影响评估与案例检验

由于性别的社会建构属性、创新成果形式的多元化，传统的“性别影响评估”作为一种政策分析工具，已经无法完全适用于评价实体和非实体创新成果。为解决这一问题，本研究从过程视角出发，提出“创新管理中的性别影响评估”，包含了筛选、设计、审查和价值实现四阶段和评估工具包（投入-产出-影响模型、影响评估标准矩阵和空间递推矩阵）。随后，以失能老人辅助器具的市场探索为例，将性别影响评估应用于该行业。创新管理中的性别影响评估为创新成果本身及其外溢的社会性别影响提供客观评价和反身思考的机会，促进创新成果达成两性共享、服务社会以及社会普惠的价值取向。     

Re/producing the global middle class: International Baccalaureate alumni at ‘world-class’ universities in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This research investigated educational pathways into a Global Middle Class characterised by professional or managerial careers and cosmopolitan sensibilities. The focus was International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) alumni with upper-middle-class backgrounds at ‘world-class’ universities in Hong Kong. The first objective was to investigate if and how the education of IBDP alumni at Hong Kong universities shapes self-perceptions of cosmopolitan sensibilities, university experiences, and economic futures. The second objective was to investigate how the IBDP and Hong Kong universities offer an educational pathway for the existing Global Middle Class to reproduce their social position and for local families to enter the Global Middle Class. Interview findings illuminated how cosmopolitan sensibilities meant that the students may be well-positioned for careers and lifestyles of the Global Middle Class. Nevertheless, there were paradoxes of cosmopolitan sensibilities as the students perceived a lack of belonging to their universities and a disconnection with the local society.