Global Politics

There are 22 official languages in India, but more than 780 have been recognised. It can be a challenge to communicate across the country, and while the most common language is Hindi there’s communication of all sorts in a variety of dialects and scripts.

Guest:

Emeritus Professor Robin Jeffrey (Politics, La Trobe University)

Dr Ian Woolford (Lecturer in Hindi, La Trobe University)

Religion and caste divides Indians in many ways - religion primarily between Hindu and Muslim, with Hindu further divided by a complex caste system which can influence how they work, how they live and even who they marry.

While laws and social initiatives have tried to to counteract inequality and discrimination, it does still happen.

Guest:

Emeritus Professor Robin Jeffrey (Politics, La Trobe University)

With a fast-growing population and aspirations to join the throwaway prosperity of the developed world, India generates vast quantities of waste, sewerage and pollution. How does it live with and deal with the problem?

Guest:

Emeritus Professor Robin Jeffrey (Politics, La Trobe University)

Assoc. Professor Assa Doron (College of Asia and the Pacific. Australian National University)

The Indian National Congress party in India has mostly looked to the Nehru-Gandhi family for leadership, making them powerful figures in India’s political landscape. Four members of the family have been Prime Minister of the country, but does the current leader, Rahul Gandhi, have what it takes?

Guest: Emeritus Professor Robin Jeffrey (Politics, La Trobe University).

India goes to the polls in 2019, and the popular incumbent Narendra Modi is currently favoured to retain his position. With close to a billion people eligible to vote elections in India promises to be a busy time and an organisational quagmire.

Guest: Emeritus Professor Robin Jeffrey (Politics, La Trobe University).

The vibrant fashion styles of Tokyo are notable for their colour and playfullness, and the shojo culture (girls) draw on anime, manga, literature, film and cosplay.

The distinctive fashion movement has evolved to embrace culture and identity, and in this panel we will hear from four experts about shojo and kawaii (cute) studies.

- Dr Lucy Fraser is a specialist on Japanese fairy tales and girl culture.

- Dr Emerald L King is Japanese literature scholar and cosplayer.

- Dr Masafumi Monden is an expert on Japanese fashion.

- Megan Catherine Rose specialises in kawaii fashion communities in Tokyo.

- Madman MC and cosplayer K (chair).

It was co-hosted by La Trobe Asia and the Japan Foundation, Sydney. It was recorded on 1st November, 2018 at the State Library of Victoria.

In 2017 India celebrated 70 years of independence from British rule. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the country, calling for the people to set aside their differences.

"India is about peace, unity and goodwill," said Modi. "We have to take the country ahead with the determination of creating a new India."

Can a new India emerge from the old? How has it been shaped by its years in the British Empire?

Guest: Emeritus Professor Robin Jeffrey (Politics, La Trobe University).

India will soon be unveiling the world’s tallest statue, the Statue of Unity. At 182m tall it towers over its nearest competitor by more than 50m.

The statue in the Narmada district of Gujarat is of independence leader Vallabhbhai Patel. The project has been championed by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and is not without controversy.

Guest:

Dr Alexander Davis (New Generation Network Postdoctoral Fellow with La Trobe University and the Australian India Institute).

The Bund, or Wai Tan in Chinese, is a waterfront strip in central Shanghai. It is within the former Shanghai International Settlement, and so all the buildings there have a grand colonial feeling, right across the river from the Pudong district, with some of the most modern and radical skyscrapers you’ll see.

Guest:

Associate Professor James Leibold (Department of Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University)

Asia is at a dangerous moment. China is rising fast, North Korea may be assembling more nuclear weapons, Japan is building up its military and The United States, for so long a stabilising presence in Asia, is behaving erratically What can the world’s major powers can do to avoid an eruption of war?

Guests:

Associate Professor Brendan Taylor (Strategic Studies at the Australian National University, author of ‘The Four Flashpoints: How Asia Goes to War’)