Dr Seb Rumsby is an interdisciplinary scholar with a wide range of interests including everyday politics, labour exploitation, undocumented migration, ethno-religious politics, grassroots development and non-national histories. Seb unites these diverse themes with an empirical focus on Southeast Asian worlds and people. He completed his PhD at University of Warwick's Department for Politics and International Studies in 2020, before lecturing in Southeast Asian Politics and Queen Mary University of London. He is now a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at University of Birmingham.

His talk is based on his recently published book Development in Spirit: Religious Transformation and Everyday Politics in Vietnam's Highlands. The effects of development and nation-building projects are always felt unevenly, especially by marginalised communities. But these communities do not lack agency in this process. How do they participate in, negotiate, or resist state-led development? And what role do everyday religious and spiritual practices play therein? In his important new book, Development in Spirit, Seb Rumsby offers an original perspective on how the Hmong communities in the Vietnamese highlands have responded to development initiatives. Centring the everyday political, economic, and religious practices of local residents, Rumsby shows that Christianisation has opened a route to ‘unplanned development’ that put the Hmong on a trajectory both of formal integration into the economy and resistance to state authority and religious persecution.

Date: Tuesday, 17/10/2023
Time: 16:15-17:30
Venue: Zeeman Building, Room A1.01

Dr. Chester Cabalza is the Founding President of the Manila-based think tank, International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC). He served as Vice President for Research and Strategic Studies at the Development Academy of the Philippines. He is a Professor of National Security at the National Defense College of the Philippines and Professor of Anthropology at the University of the Philippines. He became a Consultant of the World Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency. Dr. Cabalza enjoyed Fellowships at the National Defence University in China and the University of Delaware in the United States. He was conferred as Scientist by the Department of Science and Technology. Prof Cabalza co-authored books on The Rise of Philippinedization: Philippinedization is not Finlandization (2021) and Perspectives on Terrorism in the Philippines (2019). He has an upcoming book on The New Middle Powers of Southeast Asia (2023).

Dr. Cabalza’s talk on “What Does the Philippines Want? Protecting the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea” explores the South China Sea issue from the Philippines’ perspective. An important and fascinating case study of a middle power trying to negotiate its independent national goals between two great powers.

The talk will be held online, for an invitation, please contact the EASG email account: easg@warwick.ac.uk

Date: 12/10/2023
Time: 9:15-10:30 (BST)
Venue: Online (Zoom)
If interested in attending, please follow the link and contact the EASG for an invite.

The Latin America at Warwick Network (LAWN) is hosting Sergio Caballero, an Erasmus+ scholar from the University of Deusto in Bilbao, Spain. Dr. Caballero is associate professor of international relations and the UNESCO Chair for Latin America. His research has focused on EU-Latin American relations, Brazilian foreign policy, and Latin American regionalism. During his visit, he will present one paper and host an informal discussion of Brazilian foreign policy today (details below). He is also keen on meeting colleagues and students, with shared interests.

For more information, please contact Tom Long (T.Long.1@warwick.ac.uk).

Spanish foreign policy towards Latin America: time for redefinition?
Presentation and discussion; paper available on request
Tue, 26 Sep 2023, 15:30-17:00, S1.50

Brazil--From Latin American regionalism to "Global South"?
An Informal discussion of Brazilian foreign policy in South America and the world
Wed, 27 Sep 2023, 10:30-12:00, E2.02

You are invited to submit your abstracts for our workshop titled, 'Vernacular Security Studies: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow?' which will be held at the University of Warwick on 27 November 2023. The deadline for submission is 2 October & please feel free to contact the team (see flier) for further details.

Call for Papers - Vernacular Security Workshop (pdf)

Date: Thursday 24th August
Time: 12:30 - 14:00
Venue: FAB2.48, Faculty of Arts Building

Professor Hatakeyama is in the UK to connect with UK-based academics and experts to gain insights about the UK's Indo-Pacific policy in the context of 'China's rise', i.e., its assertive irredentist claims in the Indo-Pacific region supported by increased military spending and activity. This is in relation to her current research project that examines the Indo-Pacific policies of the UK, Australia and Japan. Fortunately, she has agreed to give a talk for the EASG on her research in this area which will act as a launching-off point for a broader discussion about the UK's Indo-Pacific policy and the security situation in the region more generally. The paper she is presenting is entitled 'Japan's and Australia's approaches to China: The nature of threat perception and proximity'.

Kyoko Hatakeyama earned her PhD in Politics at Macquarie University in 2008. She has worked at several prestigious universities in Japan and has been a professor at the Department and Graduate School of International Studies and Regional Development at the University of Niigata Prefecture since 2020. She has been a Visiting Research Fellow at Leiden University and is a Japan Fellow at the Asia Society Australia. Her research covers Japan's security policy, peacekeeping, security in Asia and the Indo-Pacific region. Her previous book, Japan's Evolving Security Policy: Militarisation with a Pacifist Tradition, examined Japan's post-Cold War security policy shift.