In partnership with Sweden, the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) has launched a four-year initiative to help reduce the social and economic vulnerabilities of Southeast and South Asian low and lower-middle income countries. The “Cultivating the Humanities and Social Sciences and Supporting Under-Represented Scholars of Asia” (CHSS) project aims at strengthening the research capacity of underserved universities while enhancing the academic knowledge, research skills, experience, and resources of their scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
One of the major components of this $2.68-million transnational project is to stimulate knowledge production and policy-relevant research by offering research grants to junior faculty, graduate students, senior, and independent scholars, especially to women and ethnic minority groups located in post-conflict and conflict areas.
The competition for 2022-2023 has resulted in 21 grants being awarded to individual scholars and teams of researchers across different regions and disciplines. These short, medium, and long-term grants are made possible thanks to Sweden with the ultimate goal to contribute to poverty reduction and the building of sustainable societies. With this objective in mind, AAS has also partnered with the Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP) to sponsor Filipino scholars whose research relate to forestry issues in the Philippines. Established in 2002, under two bilateral agreements between the governments of the United States of America and the Philippines, the Forest Foundation Philippines is a non-profit organization that provides grants to individuals and organizations that protect and conserve the forests.
CHSS grantees for 2022-2023 are:
Afghanistan
Murtaza Khavari, Kabul Education University, “Assessing the Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Intentions of Women University Students of Kabul Education University, Afghanistan”
India
MD Kasir Ali, “Debris of Violence: Decaying ‘Kashmiriyat’ amidst Mutilated Ecology in Kashmir”
Abhijit Bhattacharya, Nabagram Amar Chand Kundu College, “Being Bound by Faith: An Ethnographic Study of the Bengali Matua Settlers in Andaman Islands”
Mary Ann Chacko and Madhumita Biswal, Ahmedabad University, “Gendered Citizenship: Understanding Everyday Politics of the Marginalized”
Subasri Krishnan, “Shadowlines: The Forensics of Memory and Belonging”
Zahid Rafiq, “Conversations with the Dead”
Indonesia
Hatib Kadir, Bustamin Wahid, and Gilang Mahadika, Universitas Brawijaya, “Papuan’s Endurance in Living on the Margins of Urban Frontiers”
Myanmar
Salai Vanni Bawi, Chiang Mai University, “Understanding the Challenges of Persons with Disabilities in Myanmar:
Myo Hlaing Win and Myo Min Latt, Danu Filmaker, “Moving Backward, Myanmar”
Pakistan
Noaman Ali and Muhammad Arfan, Lahore University, “Agrarian Extractivism and Climate Disaster in the Indus Water Basin”
Faryal Khan, “Power, Local Elites and (Re)positioning: Analyzing Mineral Production Networks in Post-conflict Newly Merged Tribal Districts (NMTDs) in Pakistan”
Sonal Dhanani, “Climate Preparedness in Local Languages
Muhammad Saleemi, “The Rise of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan: Populism, Class, and Masculinity”
Philippines
Maria Carolina Rodriguez-Dawonlay Bello, “Understanding Child Labour within the Context of Child Marriage in Mindanao”
Amiel Lopez, Ateneo de Davao University, “The Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor: Climate Change Responses of the Bajau in Davao”
Grants Sponsored by the Forest Foundation Philippines
Christine Grace Fuchigami, University of the Philippines-Open University, “Negotiating Silence of Muted Indigenous Healing and Healers in Public Health Discourse in Northern Philippines”
Rhomir Yanquiling, “Politics, Hydraulics, and Water Flow: Afterlife Legacy of Big Dam Implementation in Northern Philippines”
Thailand
Panarat Anamwathana, Thammasat University, “Women’s Rights in 19th Century Siam”
Anna Christi Suwardi, “Revisiting Women’s Empowerment in Thailand’s Deep South Conflict”
Timor-Leste
Lili Chen, Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa’e, “What Sexualities are And What Sexualities Do? An Indigenous Understanding and Experiences of Sexualities in Timor-Leste”