International Center for Cultural Studies

《IACS》21.4期出版介紹

2021-01-15

Editorial note: COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing

When this Issue on the COVID-19 pandemic goes to press, the whole world is still in the
middle of the crisis, though less intensely felt than the earlier moment of the greater
lockdown. It is probably safe to suggest that the impacts of this event on our daily lives are
one of the most global and most deeply penetrating in world history. In one way or another,
all of us have been touched by the crisis and forced to accommodate. Whether the markers of
the shared living experiences (face mask, social distancing, online schooling, etc.) will
become part of the “new normal” remain to be seen, one thing is certain for intellectual work:
we will need to document and analyze how different societies have been organized (and
governed) in response to the COVID-19 problematics, in order to learn from each other and to
pinpoint the working logics of different social formations. To this end, we have invited friends
living in the Asia region and beyond to contribute their critical thoughts and reflections. In
certain instances, the local difficulties in this depressing time have prevented them from
finishing their writings. We hope their works can eventually be read in the future issues to
come.

Kuan-Hsing Chen and Chua Beng Huat

Inter-Asia Cultural Studies: Movements Volume 21 Number 4 December 2020

Table of Content

Editorial note: COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing
Kuan-Hsing CHEN and CHUA Beng Huat

Essays
Politics of youth survival in times of crisis
Annisa R. BETA

Desiring political opposition beyond COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
CHUA Beng Huat and Meisen WONG

How Vietnam won the first battle against COVID-19: collectivistic responses in a pandemic
Linh P DINH

The gyroscope-like economy: hypermobility, structural imbalance and pandemic governance in
China
XIANG Biao

Enhancing mixed accountability for state-society synergy: South Korea’s responses to COVID-
19 with ambidexterity governance
Taekyoon KIM and Bo Kyung KIM

Ghana in COVID-19 pandemic: government responses and impact on local communities
Agnes KHOO

Post-contact zones: en/countering COVID-19
Soyoung KIM

“I hope you’ve washed your hands”: the rebirth of the untouchable
Ashish RAJADHYAKSHA

In times of war and love
Chien-ting LIN

The end of Afropessimism and their-story: Rastafari as ethos
Jahlani A. H. NIAAH

Visual essay
Xenophobic Malaysia, Truly Asia: metonym for the invisible
TAN Zi Hao

COVID in the City: high rise buildings, elevator lifts and fallen symbols
David MORLEY

A crisis of representation in the time of pandemic: the reconfiguration of the South African
public sphere
Hui JIANG

Online university, pandemics and the long history of globalization
Shunya YOSHIMI

The pandemic, race and the crisis of the neoliberal university: study notes from lockdown
London
Ashwani SHARMA