"API Seminar"

Moderator:

Prof. Yoko Hayami (CSEAS, Kyoto University)

Date&Time:

15:00-17:00, May 29 (Mon), 2006

Venue:

CSEAS Commons Building, 3nd Floor, C307

Program:

15:00- Prof. Kosuke Mizuno (CSEAS, Kyoto University) -- Welcome
15:05- Dr. Ekawati Wahyuni - Gender Issues in Elderly Care in Malaysia and Japan
15:35- Discussion
15:55- Coffee Break
16:10- Dr. Nadarajah Manickam - Forest, Spirits and Community: Searching for the "Spirit of Sustainability"
16:40- Discussion

 

Abstract:

1. Topic:Gender Issues in Elderly Care in Malaysia and Japan
   Speaker：Dr. Ekawati S. Wahyuni (Bogor Agricultural University)
   

   The objectives of this research are to (1) explain the number and growth of elderly population in Malaysia and Japan, and the emerging problems associated, (2) describe the existing elderly care and the role of family, community and the state in elderly care support system, and (3) identify the gender-issues in the planning and implementing elderly care program. The research applied secondary research and primary research. The primary research applied qualitative method, and using combination of (a) direct observation, (2) in-depth, open-ended interviews, and (3) written documents to collect data, while the secondary research is basically consist of population data analysis and literature study. It will explore the extent to which the gender roles have been changing as an impact of the social and economic changes in the larger society. This research will be focusing on the investigation of the consequences arise due to the on-going demographic changes to the family life and gender roles. The demographic changes have become an important phenomenon in Asia continent in the last fifty years, and this has been influencing the human living condition greatly.

2. Topic： Forest, Spirits and Community: Searching for the ‘Spirit of Sustainability’
   Speaker：Dr. Nadarajah Manickam (Asian Communication Network)
   

   Some preliminary thoughts on my research -- “Beyond Sustainable Development: Culture, Cosmology and Sustainability”.

   This research aims to re-think the notion of sustainable development. Mainstream discourses on sustainable development are about economic development, environment, resource depletion, and all types of pollution. The latter two, of course, have a direct bearing on the environment. Thus, sustainable development is about harmonising economic development and environmental well-being. Born out of the urgent concerns of industrialized countries and their production-consumption patterns of behaviour, the notion and practice of sustainable development articulating within a mechanistic cosmology and a strong GDP-focus -- are not only limited but also hegemonic. It also seems to suggest that the notion of sustainability is a recent i.e. 20th century, concern. Hardly.

   The notion of sustainability (differentiated from sustainable development) is very much internal to local or indigenous cultures; the ‘spirit of sustainability’ is embedded in local or indigenous cultures. Such an understanding makes space for a number of critical issues to be thrown up. It helps one to move away from the mainstream concerns of sustainable development and allows for greater understanding of the ‘meanings of sustainability’ from a local cultural perspective. It also allow for a conception that goes beyond economics and development. In addition, it contributes to questioning Euro-American centrism in theory and methodology.

The present session is a sharing of the experiences of this researcher in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines.