Around both Jakarta and Jogja on this recent trip, I saw the slang-y phrase “Mas Bro” everywhere. I’d seen it before, but it seems much more common this trip than before. “Mas Bro” is a uniquely Indonesian construction. It combines…
On Language Log, an interesting discussion about what the term “Sinosphere” means. Southeast Asia figures prominently here, of course, but not in a way which conveys any confidence that the contributors know anything at all about the region. For example,…
Following up on the recent post on Chinese Indonesians, I had a fascinating conversation with several colleagues from Kyoto University about Chinese Indonesians who have “returned” to China. Our focus was not on recent flows of comparatively wealthy Chinese, but…
Rationality has something of a bad name these days. Unlearning Economics has an interesting comment on the critique of rationality in economics, and Marc Bellemare has noticed as well. If rationality is problematic for economics, then it is doubly so…
Just in time for today’s lecture on economic development in Southeast Asia, and a week after the Asian values (or “listing our stereotypes of Asians”) class, a beautifully sarcastic post by Noah Smith on culture as an explanation for Chinese…
Our time here is quickly drawing to a close: today’s our last business day in Canberra, and we leave on Monday afternoon to head home. I (TP) celebrated the last day with a final presentation (which you can watch online…
Today I (TP) attended a conference for postgraduate students working on all topics Indonesian. The highlights were many (there are some very good Indonesianists in the pipelines here) but two stand out. The first was a plenary presentation by Robert…
Today another short post, as today I fulfilled my second obligation here at ANU, doing a presentation for the Indonesia Studies Group on how to think about the ways in which Indonesians engage with the rest of the world. A…
Ford Falcon Ute This car was parked next to my office today. A shiny new jet black Ford Falcon Ute. Check it out. Spoiler? Check. Roll-bar? Check. Official Ripcurl detailing? Check. Bed cover? Check. 15 inch rims? Check. This vehicle…
Here is what jumps out to a couple of Americans visiting Sydney. Unlike in the US, the “El Camino” car format remains alive and well here. I (TP) consider that a good thing, JMP is unconvinced. We know that Mod…
