| Date: | 18 February 2022 (Friday) |
| Time: | 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm (Hong Kong time, GMT+8) |
| Online Registration: | https://lingnan.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9MKyzwKwb7wa7L8 |
* A webinar link will be provided before each seminar.
Topic: The Spatialities of Extended Infrastructure Landscapes: The Case of Malaysia’s Melaka Gateway Project
This presentation focuses on the proposed Melaka Gateway project in Southwestern Malaysia, which is a privately-financed initiative, that was proposed to be the largest man-made island project in Southeast Asia, discursively aligned with China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, the project's future is in question as its approval has been revoked by the Federal Government, despite the reclamation works being already partially completed. The presentation will therefore discuss the political, ecological, and socio-cultural transformations that such speculative infrastructure projects generate, even as they remain incomplete. It also teases out the motivations for developing regions in pursuing BRI and large infrastructure projects. In doing so, the presentation contributes to emerging research that seeks to understand how the BRI is transforming processes of urbanisation through more nuanced and situated analyses of its spatial, political-economic and discursive dimensions at multiple scales.
Speaker:
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Dr. Creighton Paul Connolly Assistant Professor, School of Graduate Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong |
Dr. Connolly received his PhD in Human Geography at the University of Manchester (2016), an MA in Geography from Memorial University of Newfoundland (2012) and a BA in Geography from from the University of British Columbia (2010). Prior to joining Lingnan University in 2021 as an Assistant Professor in the School of Graduate Studies and Institute of Policy Studies, he worked as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Development Studies and the Global South at the University of Lincoln, UK (2018-2021), and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. His research focuses on urban redevelopment, governance and urban political ecology in Southeast Asia.
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Topic: The ‘Partnership’ Conundrum: Japanese Government, NGOs and Development Aid
The intensification of the collaboration between states and civil society actors has been an important formula for forging global partnerships in pursuit of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Considering expectations that states and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will jointly actualize Agenda 2030 in the coming years, this article re-examines the notion of ‘partnership’ and its applicability to the relationship between the Japanese government and domestic NGOs in the context of foreign aid. Illuminating how the governmental support for Japanese NGOs has evolved in recent years, the article concludes that there is a disjuncture between the rhetoric of partnership and how it is operationalized through financial support channels. Finally, the article proposes that the recent changes to ODA policies introduced by the former PM Abe Shinzo’s administration have the potential to further problematize the relationship between NGOs and the government.
Speaker:
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Dr. Kamila Szczepanska University Lecturer, Centre for East Asian Studies, the University of Turku, Finland |
Dr. Kamila Szczepanska is a University Lecturer at the Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku, Finland. She holds a joint PhD from the University of Sheffield (UK) and the Tohoku University (Japan). Her research interests include Japanese and East Asian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in regional/global governance, NGOs’ roles and contributions to Japanese foreign aid, civil society and social movements in Japan, and the ‘history issue’ in East Asia. Results of her research were published in the Journal of Civil Society, Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations and Asian Studies Review among the others.
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