Research e-newsletter

Keep informed with Asia:NZ’s research programme, receive summaries of our recent research, read profiles of established and emergent researchers studying relevant topics and discover interesting statistics about New Zealand’s engagement with Asia.

Welcome to the fourth edition of Asia:NZ’s research e-newsletter. This issue has a special focus on stories about China and Chinese New Zealanders.

We outline some of the timely research projects coming up during the rest of the year and we note some key dates for those interested in applying for one of our research grants. We also highlight various research projects on which previous Asia:NZ grantees are now working and we focus on the success of one of our past previous grant recipients.

In each issue we highlight a cultural event that Asia:NZ is involved with. This time, we profile the first-ever Wellington Southeast Asian Night Market, organised by Asia:NZ and Wellington City Council with assistance from embassies of Southeast Asian nations.

If you have comments or contributions for this newsletter, please let us know at research@asianz.org.nz

In this edition:

Editorial
Success of our latest Outlook paper ‘Asians in New Zealand’
Being Maori-Chinese: Mixed Identities
Latest issue of NZJAS: Representing Asia, Remaking Aotearoa
Researching with Communities: Grounded perspectives on engaging communities in research
Researcher profile: Fujun Shen
A new exhibition exploring Chinese settlement in New Zealand
Big Issues Grant: A project on New Zealand wine markets in Asia
Update on Asia:NZ research grants: key dates to note
Southeast Asian Night Market
New Asia:NZ Research advisory group
A tribute to Henry Chan 1937-2008

Editorial by Heather Judson, Project Officer Policy and Research

For me, this year has been a particularly exciting one to join Asia:NZ. There has been widespread attention and public debate, both positive and negative, on New Zealand’s increasing relationship with Asia, particularly China.

With the world’s attention strongly focused on Beijing, this issue shares a similar focus on China. We pay tribute to renowned historian Henry Chan, highlight the success of Asia:NZ grantee Kerry Ann Lee, and profile Asia:NZ Young Leader Fujun Shen, a Lincoln PhD student who recently won The China Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad.

Success of our latest Outlook paper

Following the success of Dr Ward Friesen’s report ‘Diverse Auckland: The face of New Zealand in the 21st Century?’, the latest Outlook report has been received with similar accolades.

‘Asians in New Zealand: Implications of a changing demography’ is an important and timely study written by New Zealand’s leading demographer Professor Richard Bedford and Dr Elsie Ho of Waikato University, explores Asian demographics in New Zealand.

Using previously unpublished data from New Zealand’s 2006 Census, this report closely examines Asians in New Zealand and presents for the first time remarkable data about the great diversity of New Zealand’s Asian population.

Read highlights of the report here: http://www.asianz.org.nz/research/outlook/fullreport
or download a full copy of the report here: http://www.asianz.org.nz/research/outlook

Being Maori-Chinese: Mixed Identities

Asia:NZ Trustee Dr Manying Ip’s new book Being Maori–Chinese: Mixed Identities uses extensive interviews with seven different families to explore both historical and contemporary relations between Maori and Chinese, a subject which has not been given serious extended study before.

Latest issue of NZJAS: Representing Asia, Remaking Aotearoa

The latest issue of the New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies (NZJAS) features a special topic ‘Representing Asia, Remaking Aotearoa’ which emerged out of last year's conference supported by the Asia:NZ Foundation. The issue has been guest-edited by Dr Jacob Edmond, Senior Lecturer in Department of English at the University of Otago.

This special issue questions the terms ‘Asia’ and ‘New Zealand’ in order to unsettle the assumption of essential identities that often inadvertently accompanies discussions of the place of Asia in Aotearoa New Zealand. The essays explore the diverse ways in which Asia is already, and for a long time has been, present inside New Zealand cultural practices. The issue’s rethinking or remaking of representations of Aotearoa New Zealand and Asia demonstrates how the study of literature and other forms of cultural production, even within a single nation, demands attention to geographical border crossings and transnational networks of affiliation.

For further information on NZJAS and this special issue, see http://www.nzasia.org.nz/journal/index.html

Researching with Communities: Grounded perspectives on engaging communities in research
Edited by Andy Williamson and Ruth DeSouza (Asia:NZ Trustee)

Researching with communities presents a range of personal and grounded perspectives from academics, researchers and practitioners on undertaking research in ways that promote and privilege the voice of the community, is respectful of local or indigenous practices and is culturally safe.

The publication includes a chapter co-authored by Asia:NZ’s Director of Policy and Research Dr Andrew Butcher on engaging Asian communities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Most definitely not a 'tick list' for approaching community-inclusive research, this book provides grounded exemplars, guides and discussion about the experiences of doing research respectfully and inclusively. It does this by drawing on the perspectives of researchers and community practitioners and by providing a range of reflective chapters that explore what community-based research means in a range of settings and for a range of people. Like the communities in which they are grounded, undertaking research in this way is always a unique experience.

This book is a valuable resource for researchers, evaluators, students, community practitioners and policy makers.
The book can be ordered online, priced at �24.95. For more information and to order your copy, please visit
http://www.lulu.com/content/1550518.

Researcher Profile: Young Leader Fujun Shen

A member of the Asia:NZ Young Leaders Network, Fujun Shen recently received the rare honour of becoming the first student in New Zealand to be awarded a special China government scholarship for Chinese students studying abroad.

Fujun Shen, a PhD student at Lincoln University, won The China Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad to support his research on the development of sustainable tourism in China’s rural areas. The award was among 10 applications submitted by Chinese students studying in New Zealand universities but was the only one put forward by the Chinese Embassy for consideration. Fujun will receive US$5000 from the scholarship to support his studies.

Fujun studied for a bachelor's degree at Henan Agricultural University, in central China, and completed a Masters degree in The Netherlands. His research at Lincoln University has re-examined the predominant framework for poverty reduction – the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) – which has been used extensively by development agencies and NGOs. The research includes an assessment of using a modified Sustainable Livelihoods Approach for Tourism model in villages where tourism is new. It will also produce guidelines for rural areas seeking to develop their visitor industry.

Overall, Fujun’s research is one of only a few attempts to systematically examine the SLA, tourism, and their combination. It is expected to be able to contribute to the academia of development research by developing and understanding knowledge of sustainable tourism livelihoods and by adding debates of sustainability and community participation in a tourism livelihood system.

Growing up in rural China, Fujun saw first hand how Chinese peasants drastically suffer from bad economic conditions, especially in remote rural areas. Sixty percent of China’s 1.3 billion people are rural, of which six percent live in remote areas and are extremely poor according to Chinese official standards. The number of poor would be higher if international standards were applied. Fujun sees overall sustainable development in China vital to ensure sustainable agriculture and rural development.

A deep understanding about the complexity of tourism and rural livelihoods needs to be sought by governments, researchers and development practitioners in order to maximise tourism’s potentials to reduce rural poverty. Fujun’s ambition is to help the rural poor through tourism in China and contribute to Chinese sustainable rural development in a broad sense. This research helped Fujun to obtain rich knowledge about tourism and rural livelihoods which assisted in taking a significant step toward his career and life goals.

New exhibition explores Chinese settlement in New Zealand

August marks the opening of a new Wellington exhibition entitled Home Made: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand by Kerry Ann Lee, the recipient of an Asia:NZ Emerging Researcher Grant in 2007. Kerry Ann Lee’s work focuses on the Cantonese Diaspora in New Zealand: in this case, artistic explorations of images of restaurants and caf�s in Wellington in the 1950s–1980s as a realisation of early dreams of settlement.

Read more about how the project evolved from a book into an exhibition: http://www.asianz.org.nz/research/socialresearch/homemade-exhibition

Big Issues grant: A project of New Zealand wine markets in Asia

Wine is an important export commodity for New Zealand and the industry claims that it will reach the $1 billion mark by 2010.

Wine: Marker of Social Change is a project investigating the role of wine as a significant marker of societal and market change in societies which are not traditionally wine-drinking. The project is conducted by Tim Beal and Michel Rod of the School of Marketing and International Business at Victoria University Wellington and is funded by one of Asia:NZ’s research grants, the Big Issues Grant 2007.

You can find out more about the project and upcoming fieldwork on our website: http://www.asianz.org.nz/research/socialresearch/wineproject

Update on Asia:NZ research grants: key dates to note

Asia:NZ has launched its research grants for the 2008/09 year. A new grant this year is the “International Relations Research Grant”. It replaces what was known as the Track II grant and increases the amount of funding available. It is one of four grants offered by Asia:NZ’s research programme.

The second round of the Emerging Researcher grant is fast approaching. The deadline for applications is Friday August 15.

For deadlines and details on how to apply to any of our research grants, visit http://www.asianz.org.nz/grants/research

Southeast Asian Night Market

Six Southeast Asian nations – Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam – have joined forces to bring you this magical new event in partnership with Wellington City Council and Asia New Zealand Foundation.

Put Saturday 16 August at TSB Bank Arena in your calendar – the full programme can be viewed here: http://www.asianz.org.nz/node/1495

New Asia:NZ Research advisory group

The Asia:NZ research programme has set up a new group of experts from an array of different fields who represent academic, business and policy interests.

The advisory group will assist the research programme by participating in selection panels to choose preferred researchers or suppliers for Asia:NZ’s commissioned research projects and grants. The members will also provide peer review and commentary for draft research documents and Requests for Proposals; suggest names of possible researchers who could be asked to submit a proposal for specific pieces of research; and provide expert external advice to Asia:NZ’s Director of Research and Policy on other matters as required.

We are very much looking forward to working with the diverse members of the group who will provide Asia:NZ with an invaluable contribution.

Members of the advisory group:

Dr Andrew Butcher, Director Research and Policy, Asia:NZ (Chair)
Julia Brannigan, ICE Lab Director, The ICE House
Dr David Capie, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, Victoria University of Wellington
Dr Malcolm Cook, East Asia Programme Director, Lowy Institute for International Policy, Sydney
Raewyn Good, Principal Analyst, Ministry of Social Development
Nicholas Green, Manager, Education Training and Productivity, Business New Zealand
Professor Gary Hawke, Emeritus professor VUW, Senior fellow New Zealand Institute of Economic research, Chair NZPECC
Dr Coral Ingley, Associate Professor, Business School, AUT
Associate Professor Manying Ip, School of Asian Studies, University of Auckland and Asia:NZ Trustee
Associate Professor Val Lindsay, Head of School, School of Marketing and International Business, Victoria University of Wellington
Paul Lister, Policy Manager, International Division, Ministry of Education
Professor Brian Moloughney, Head of School of Languages and Cultures, Victoria University of Wellington, President, New Zealand Asian Studies Society
Professor Paul Spoonley, Research Director and Regional Director, Labour Market Dynamics Programme, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University, Auckland
Dr Martin Tolich, Program Coordinator, Sociology, Department of Anthropology, University of Otago

A tribute to Henry Chan 1937-2008

It is with sadness that we note the passing of internationally renowned historian Henry Chan. As well as being a gifted academic, Henry was a tireless campaigner for the equal recognition of Chinese Australians and likewise Chinese New Zealanders.

Here’s an excerpt from the tribute which featured in the Sydney Morning Herald:
“[Henry Chan] had a hand in virtually every important event and institutional initiative in Chinese-Australian studies over the past two decades. Through these activities, he helped to remake the field and, in his own way, to refashion Australia into the land he always imagined it to be: one in which the values he cherished as an Australian were seen as part of a common human heritage rather than the sole legacy of an Anglo-Saxon elite.”

Follow the link below to read the obituary in its entirety:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/historian-pursued-identity-for-australianborn-chinese/2008/07/04/1214951054103.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

About Asia:NZ

Asia New Zealand Foundation is a non-profit, apolitical organisation dedicated to promoting greater understanding between New Zealand and its Asian neighbours.
The Foundation works to develop New Zealanders' knowledge and understanding of the countries and peoples of Asia, help New Zealanders acquire the right skills to work effectively with Asian counterparts, build New Zealand's links with Asia, and promote and assist New Zealanders' participation in regional activities.

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