Sara N. Amin

Beyond Classroom Knowledge and Experience: How Can Fieldwork Enrich Students’ Learning and Perception on Gender?

Abstract Purpose In this study we examine how doing research on gender impacts identity, sense of self, and relation to community; and how fieldwork is mediated by gender structures. Methodology/approach We draw on feminist epistemology, qualitative methodologies, and critical pedagogies to analyze the fieldwork experiences of 15 women students and nine men fieldwork partners in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Findings By conducting fieldwork which challenged gender norms, students and partners gained greater awareness of themselves and confidence. Their actions challenged the appropriate place of women (and minority ethnicities) as perceived by research participants in these communities. The experience rendered the community a site of hope and learning for them, working to empower them as well as building relationships grounded in lived experiences with their communities. Research limitation Women’s voices are more prominent in this analysis than men’s. Originality/value This chapter points to the potentially empowering aspects of doing gender-related fieldwork in the developing context, as well as how gender and other power structures mediate fieldwork experiences in Muslim communities in South Asia.

Ann R Tickamyer and Siti Kusujiarti, Power, Change and Gender Relations in Rural Java: A Tale of Two Villages

While Henderson describes seven major forms of global capitalism, within East Asia specifically he notes the distinction between four types: (1) the ‘collective capitalism’ of Japan that is marked by a high degree of institutional integration both within and across large organizations (e.g. keiretsu networks of firms); (2) the ‘state-directed capitalism’ of South Korea characterized by the close partnership and often leadership of the government vis-a-vis big business groups (i.e. the chaebol); (3) the ‘coordinated proprietorial capitalism’ seen in Taiwan where family-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been largely responsible for its export-based economic success; and (4) the ‘market Neo-Stalinism’ currently seen in China where ‘the defining characteristic is the continuing decisive economic role of an authoritarian, “Neo-Stalinist” state in a context where resource allocation has been partly marketized, and the economy partially globalized’ (p. 23). In keeping with Henderson’s theme of ‘transformation’ for the book as a whole, some of his most interesting considerations have to do with the developmental futures of the East Asian region and of China in particular. Like many observers, he wonders whether China’s continuing economic ascendance will or will not correspond to political liberalization, or even if the current one-party state system is sustainable or will falter under the weight of unbalanced economic development, endemic corruption, and rising social inequality. He outlines a number of potential scenarios for China, including a breakdown of central state control and a fragmentation of the nation-state, whereby individual provinces would gain full political and economic autonomy; the status quo of ‘market NeoStalinism’ in which the Communist Party maintains power and capitalist development continues to evolve; and a third scenario where the central state remains intact yet yields to political reform and some degree of democratization, somewhat akin to political changes in Taiwan and South Korea during the 1980s. Equally compelling are Henderson’s hypotheses in Chapter 8 for the future of globalization and the potential for what he terms a Global-Asian Era (GAE). This GAE would represent a break from the present – but arguably waning – unipolar US-led world political and economic order, and would be fuelled largely by the seemingly inexorable rise of China as a preeminent global economic power. Henderson notes that if a GAE were to take form, the dynamics of the economic and political world order would be quite different from previous periods of US or British hegemony, especially with respect to how Chinese nationalism and its sense of historical grievance and victimization would frame its relations to other countries.

Women, Sport and Exercise in the Asia-Pacific Region: Domination, Resistance, Accommodation

This is the first book to focus on women, sport and exercise in the Asia-Pacific region. Presenting a diverse range of empirical case studies, from women’s boxing in India and women’s rugby in Fiji to women’s soccer in North Korea and Japan, the book uses sport as a lens to examine the historical, socio-cultural and political specificities of non-western and post-colonial societies. It also explores the complex ways in which non-western women resist as well as accommodate sport and exercise-related socio-cultural oppression, helping us to better understand the nexus of sport, exercise, gender, sexuality and power.

‘I don’t care about their reactions’: agency and ICTs in women’s empowerment in Afghanistan

ABSTRACT Gender justice and women’s empowerment are both an end and a goal of sustainable development, and information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) policies and monitoring needs to be informed by this understanding. This article draws on research from Afghanistan exploring how women’s empowerment is conceptualised in relation to information and communication technologies (ICTs) currently, and how ICTs are used in processes intended to support empowerment. Our research shows that women in Afghanistan have high hopes that ICTs will be enabling and empowering. Yet the majority of women’s ICT activities do not realise that vision; with a few exceptions around women’s health, ICTs usually only enable women to meet their existing needs, and do not enable them to challenge patriarchal power relations. According to our respondents, using ICT for purposes that challenge patriarchy – e.g. using the internet to learn about rights to divorce or citizen’s rights, or sharing ‘private’ stories of abuse in social media spaces – has a high risk of social repercussions. We argue that these warnings and responses urge women to conform, and submit to control, and regulate women’s interactions and movements. They limit women’s choices, options, and power. However, some Afghan women in our research rejected these attempts to control and regulate – ‘I don’t care about their reactions’. This offers hope that for some individuals in some contexts, ICTs can put a dent in patriarchal power, supporting and furthering women’s empowerment.

International labor migration and social change in rural Sindh, Pakistan

This study examines why and how labor migration from a village in Sindh, Pakistan to Saudi Arabia has influenced changes for the left-behind families and the community. We find that while migration impacts positively on the material conditions of individual migrants and their families in the village, the potential of migration to impact on other aspects of living conditions, social change and development at community levels is shaped and often limited by existing structures of power, including gender structures and other socio-political structures. In the absence of investment in school infrastructures by the state, remittances from migration have not translated into improved educational outcomes for the children of migrants. We also find that the male migrants are leveraging their new status in the family to exercise more choice in marriage matters with possible negative impact on women.