The Nordic Asia Podcast

In this podcast Saowanee Alexander talks to Petra Desatova about Thailand’s politically less privileged people: who are they and why do they matter? How do they fight against the state elites? And why did they appropriate derogatory names, such as serfs and red buffaloes, used by the elites? Join us for a fascinating talk about ordinary Thai people, language and politics.

In this podcast, Arild Ruud talks to Duncan McCargo about the humanitarian crisis facing the Rohingya: why did around a million displaced people end up fleeing from Burma to Bangladesh in 2017? What kind of lives are they having in refugee camps in Bangladesh? How come the international community seems largely powerless to address this desperate situation? And what does the future hold for these Rohingya refugees?

In the first of our COVID-19 podcasts, Lauri Paltemaa joins Outi Luova for a conversation on China's efforts to manage the COVID-19 epidemic, which he argues come straight from socialist China’s disaster management campaign playbook. Maoist era methods have simply been upgraded using the latest surveillance and communication technologies. Lauri Paltemaa discusses why this legacy could be very worrisome if China faces a second wave of the epidemic. 

In the latest Nordic Asia podcast, Aim Sinpeng from the University of Sydney joins Duncan McCargo to talk about the Future Forward Party - a progressive new party that took third place in the March 2019 Thai elections, only to be banned less than a year later by the Constitutional Court. Aim shares insights from her many interviews with Future Forward MPs and candidates to explain how the new party performed so well electorally, despite rejecting traditional campaigning methods in local areas. This is a fascinating conversation about one of the hottest issues affecting Thai politics in recent years.

In this episode of The Nordic Asia Podcast, Tine Walravens joins Petra Desatova for a conversation on the global sushi hype. Although often thought of as the quintessential symbol of Japanese culture, a quick dive into the history of this iconic food item suggests it is a rather recent and even hybrid addition to the nation's cuisine. Furthermore, the sushi history reveals how these questions of authenticity and origin are rarely innocent, but often tied up in political and ideological ideas.

In the third episode of The Nordic Asia podcast, Petra Desatova joins Duncan McCargo to discuss nation branding in the context of post-coup Thailand. Often perceived as a superficial approach to national reputation management, nation branding has so far avoided the much-needed scrutiny from political scientists. Petra Desatova and Duncan McCargo delve deep beyond the seemingly superficial nature of nation branding to reveal a fascinating world of politics, legitimacy and elite interests that underlined many of Thailand’s post-coup nation-branding campaigns. 

In this episode of The Nordic Asia podcast, Andreas Bøje Forsby joins Duncan McCargo for a conversation on China-Denmark relations. While relations appear to be excellent between China and Denmark, recent development trends, including the US-China great power rivalry and the politicization of China’s influence activities in Denmark, suggest that the relationship is becoming increasingly contested. Andreas Bøje Forsby and Duncan McCargo discuss these and other developments, including how Denmark compares to other European countries’ relations with Beijing. 

On 17th April Sabine Burghart joined Duncan McCargo for the first episode of the Nordic Asia Podcast, a podcast series co-hosted by the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) based in Copenhagen and the Centre for East Asian Studies (CEAS) at the University of Turku. Sabine Burghart shared with us her insights on the recently held South Korean elections, ranging from the organisation of parliamentary elections under a global pandemic to the representation of women in the new legislature.