In this episode of Crossroads, Dr Kanjana Thepboriruk speaks with Phan Nhiên Hạo about his experience as an immigrant from Vietnam translating into his poetic works and existing between two cultures and languages. Hao Phan (Phan Nhiên Hạo) is the Curator of the Southeast Asia library collection at Northern Illinois University and a published poet. He is the author of three collections of poetry written in Vietnamese and two collections of poetry translated into English. His recent book, Paper Bells (The Song Cave, 2021), translated by Hai-Dang Phan, was on the Longlist of the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards for poetry in translation, and on the Shortlist of the 2021 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize.

Dr Kanjana Thepboriruk sits down with Dr Michael Dwyer to talk aboutstate reversals of earlier agrarian reforms in Southeast Asia that have rolled back “land-to-the-tiller” policies created in the wake of Cold War–era revolutions. They disucss this trend, marked by increased land concentration and the promotion of export-oriented agribusiness at the expense of smallholder farmers, and exposing the convergence of capitalist relations and state agendas that expand territorial control within and across national borders. Here is a link to his book Upland Geopolitics https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295750491/upland-geopolitics

Dr Kanjana Thepboriruk sits with VC Tang to discuss her new cookbook released titled "Come Eat, Grandma!" In this podcast, they discuss the writing process, some of the experiences that lead to the creation of this book, and growing up Thai in America and the joys and struggles it entails. VC Tang's book has been described as "A collection of flashbacks, lessons, and recipes along a personal journey of growth in the kitchen. The menu ranges from popular Thai favorites to lesser-known home comfort food to the meeting of Thai and Chinese flavors that represent the Teochow migrants in the author's family line." You can purchase this book on her website https://www.stirfrystories.com/

In this podcast, Dr Kanjana Thepboriruk and Chomkate Ngamkaiwan, a PhD candidate in Criminology at Mahidol University, Thailand, examine the ongoing PM2.5 crisis in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, and its vicinities as a form of environmental crime. She also explores the relationship between the air pollution and policy corruption. In these research areas, PM2.5 pollution has been magnified by the misuse of economic power and political influence towards public policies and legal loopholes related to the major sources of pollutants: transportation, factories, open burning, and construction. To acquire the insight about the issue, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions have been conducted with government officials, NGOs, scholars, entrepreneurs, and local leadership.

Drs Jones and Jui-Ching Wang sit down with Dr Joe Kinzer to explore how centuries of conflicting Hindu-Buddhist and Islamic influences from India and the Middle East have transformed and continue to complicate Malay cultural politics in 21st century musical practices. Joe Kinzer received his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington in 2017, and specializes in issues of identity and religious expression in Asian musical contexts. He has taught ethnomusicology courses at the University of Washington and Northern Illinois University. Currently, he is the Senior Curatorial Assistant for Harvard University’s Archive of World Music and Affiliate Faculty member for Antioch University’s Individualized Master of Arts (IMA) Program. He plays the ‘ud (Arab lute) in Boston College’s Astaza! ensemble and is Section Editor for the Malaysian Journal of Music

This podcast Dr Jones speaks with Drs Kanjana Thepboriruk and Laura Vilardell and examine the ways in which the team of volunteer Thai language translators navigated their own identities, the collaborative translation process, and the linguistic and cultural challenges of producing the 2020 Thai Letters for Black Lives. Thai was one of fifty-two languages used for translating the 2020 version. The discussion focusses on the ways that translators’ identities and stance informed the translation process, translation choices, and the end product. In particular, the study focuses on how the translators perform their identities, especially Thainess, during the metalinguistic discussions that were essential to the translation task and translation process. The findings contribute to and widen our understanding of Thainess and what it means to be Thai in diaspora.

In this episode, Drs Jones and J. Casey Hammond discuss China and their 5g network and tensions with Huawei and the United States. J. Casey Hammond is a China and Southeast Asian affairs analyst, university lecturer, and independent researcher. He received his PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MCP in Economic Development and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In this episode, Drs Kanjana and Jones talk to Hmong hip hop sensation Tou SaiKo Lee about his experience as a Hmong American reclaiming and uniting the old and new in his culture through hip hop. Today Tou SaiKo is an intergenerational bridge builder, worldwide teaching artist, cultural revitalizer, cultural innovator and catalyst for movement. He was born in the Nong Kai refugee camp in Thailand. He is currently a community outreach coordinator for Frogtown Neighborhood Association, a teaching artist for COMPAS Arts, a spoken word poet, intergenerational storyteller and a hip hop lyricist. https://soundcloud.com/tou-saiko-lee https://www.facebook.com/tousaikunites

In the film Apocalypse Now (1979), a single phrase marks an iconic enemy and creates a chain of associations separating the shared kinship and apotheosis of Western Selves and Eastern Others. “Charlie don’t surf” signals conflicted interactions with Southeast Asia water lifeworlds that call for critical relationality and understanding, concepts Dr Eric Haanstad will explore in this podcast with Dr Jones and Isabelle Squires. Eric Haanstad began exploring anthropology at the University of Minnesota where he studied Anishinaabe Ojibwe (Chippewa) languages and cultures in American Indian Studies. He received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in August of 2008 and since then taught and conducted research in Cambodia, Thailand, Germany, and the U.S. Seacoast. He is publishing a book, To Protect and Suppress Protective Suppression in the Year of the Thai Police, focusing on his research with the Royal Thai Police.

Nicholas Kuipers is a PhD candidate in political science at the University of California, Berkeley and a predoctoral scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. Most of his research is interested in identifying whether and when certain political institutions worsen group-based antagonisms. In this podcast, he and Dr Jones discuss the civil service exams in Indonesia and the civil unrest that follows.

Dr. Jones talks with Dr. Clayton about using his expertise to work on issues of demining in Cambodia using robotics. In a country where more than 1.1 million acres are contaminated with explosive remnants of war, the nonprofit was looking for ways to develop robotic solutions to help technicians with their disposal.

Dr. Jones talks with MauMau, a refugee from Myanmar's February coup. MauMau talks about the nature of the coup and living under military law in Myanmar as a protestor post-Covid.

Drs Jones and Arnold discuss the African American experience in the Vietnam War. Professor Stanley Arnold's research interests are concentrated in two related areas, civil rights movement in the United States from 1920 to 1970 exclusive of the South and the intersection of race and sports in the United States. As a historian, one of his goals is to link the study of the past to the relevance of today. His work in these two principal fields serves to illuminate many aspects of the contemporary American experience.

In this talk Dr Jones interviews Jan Middendorf, who serves as the Associate Director for Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification (SIIL) at Kansas State University (KSU). In this role, Middendorf oversees the operational, programmatic, and reporting aspects of SIIL’s $75 million research portfolio in Africa, Asia, and Central America (Burkina Faso, Malawi, Niger, Senegal, Ethiopia Tanzania, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Guatemala, and Honduras).

Dr Jones and Glynnis White talk with Elizabeth Clendinning about gamelan in America. Elizabeth Clendinning's research addresses concepts of space, time, cultural representation, and pedagogy within transnational Balinese gamelan communities and in film and television music. Her writing has appeared in various journals and edited volumes, including Musicultures and Ethnomusicology. She embraces her role as a teacher-scholar through incorporating her research into her teaching and providing hands-on opportunities for students to experience music and culture.

In this talk, Drs Jones and Legerwood talk with Dr Grant and explore how medical imaging participates in the re-configuration of public and private health care in Phnom Penh. Dr Grant consider different concepts to help parse the organization of care when Cambodia’s political economy evades captions such as “socialism” or “free market capitalism.” Jenna Grant is a cultural anthropologist working in the fields of medical anthropology and medical humanities; feminist and postcolonial science and technology studies; visual anthropology; and Southeast Asia Studies. Her work includes participatory filmmaking, ethnographic and historical analysis of medical imaging, and community-based inquiry of archival images.

Drs Jones and Atkins speak with An Tran on his classical guitar playing infused with Vietnamese style. Tran is based in Chicago and has won 13 international and awards. he has been praised for his “gorgeous playing” and “flawless technique” by the KnoxTNToday, and received many accolades for his dynamic artistry including being hailed as a “Vietnamese guitar virtuoso” by Austin Classical Guitar. An Tran started learning the guitar at the age of eight with Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Hai Thoai. Afterward, he received his musical training at the Vietnam National Academy of Music studying with guitarist Vu Viet Cuong. He received his B.A. in Music and the Distinguished Young Alumni Award from North Park University, studying with Julie Goldberg and Tom Zelle and his Master of Music along with the Southeast Asia Studies Fellowship from Yale University, studying with Benjamin Verdery. Currently a Dorothy and Carl Johnson endowed Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at Northwestern University studying with Anne Waller, An continues to transcend boundaries with his music.

In this podcast Drs Jones and Kanjana sit down with Dr. Leslie Castro-Woodhouse about her book, Woman between Two Kingdoms: Dara Rasami and the Making of Modern Thailand. They will discuss a northern Thai consort named Dara Rasami played a critical role in Siam’s effort to emulate a European-style “hierarchy of civilizations” in building a modern nation-state. The trajectory of Dara’s 24-year career as an ethnic outsider within the rarefied space of the Siamese Inner Palace illuminates both Siam’s crypto-colonial strategies to assimilate regional elites, and women’s importance to Thai political history.

In this talk, Drs Eric Jones and Micah Morton discuss the work of certain ethnic Akha elite to promote a pan-Akha identity among their roughly 730,000 ethnic kin residing throughout the Upper Mekong Region. The region’s ongoing transformation from battlefields to markets is being accompanied by the growth of more formal transborder ties among a number of non-dominant ethnic groups, such as the Akha, Dai-Lue, Lahu, and Hmong. Since the late 2000s, a network of self-declared “Neo-Traditionalist” Akha elite based in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands has been recrafting the religio-political borders of belonging in a larger “Akha World” in the making that encompasses multiple local, national, and regional borders.

We sit down with a few future difference makers from Jakarta, Jeremy and Faith Intan, to hear where they stand on the environment.