Stanford University

Caste and the Meaning of Freedom

-

The Program on Human Rights at CDDRL and the Center for South Asia  are honored to host Anand Patwardhan, Gopal Guru and Aishwary Kumar for this special film panel discussion as part of the PHR Collaboratory project.

Building 50, Room 51A - Main Quad, Stanford University

Anand Patwardhan Filmmaker Speaker
Gopal Guru Professor of Social and Political Theory, Centre for Political Studies Speaker Jawaharlal Nehru University
Aishwary Kumar Assistant Professor of Modern South Asian History and Modern Intellectual History Speaker Stanford University
Conferences

Film Screening and Discussion Jai Bhim Comrade

-

The Program on Human Rights at CDDRL and the Center for South Asia  are honored to host Filmmaker Anand Patwardhan for this special film screening and discussion as part of the Collaboratory project.

Anand Patwardhan's new film "Jai Bhim Comrade" took 14 years to complete. Beginning with an incident at Ramabai Colony in Mumbai where 10 Dalits were shot dead by the police in 1997, the film goes on to explore the music of protest of those who were treated as "untouchables" by a caste hierarchy that has ruled the Indian sub-continent for thousands of years.

Annenberg Auditorium

Anand Patwardhan Filmmaker Speaker
Conferences

FSI to award $400,000 for research on global underdevelopment

News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs

Researchers at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies are finding ways to fight tuberculosis in India, curb violence in Latin America and improve conditions for thousands of people living in the world’s largest slums.

Their work – and the research underway by other faculty members across the Stanford campus trying to solve some of the world’s most persistent problems – is supported in part by the Global Underdevelopment Action Fund. The program awards up to $40,000 to individual researchers creating projects that tackle issues like hunger, poverty and poor governance.

Since it was established in 2010, the Action Fund has doled out nearly $800,000 to 20 researchers.

Now entering its fourth round of Action Fund grants, FSI is seeking proposals from faculty interested in multidisciplinary research aimed at influencing and changing government policies, creating practical solutions to seemingly intractable problems, and training students.

A new feature of the program is incremental funding of up to $5,000 for projects that include a plan for engaging and mentoring an undergraduate student on the research team.

Award recipients will present their work at a monthly Action Fund seminar during the academic year and submit a summary report at the end of the funding period.

Proposals are due by Oct. 31 and will be announced by vmarian@stanford.edu

Work done by previous grant recipients will be showcased in a series of seminars dubbed “Action Fund Fridays” over the next several months.

Hero Image
actionfundpic logo
All News button
1

Jaekwon Son

Shorenstein APARC
Encina Hall, Room E301
Stanford, CA 94305

(650) 723-4558 (650) 649-8323
0
2012-2013 Visiting Scholar
JaeKwon_Son_3x4.jpg

Jaekwon Son is a 2012-2013 visiting scholar with the Korean Studies Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. Son, a reporter at the Maeil Business Newspaper in Korea, will conduct research on the impact of new media journalism, such as social networking through smart devices. 

Son has co-authored books including The Appstore Economics (2010), Mobile Changes the World (2010), and The Naver Republic (2007). He has been awarded Jounalist of the Month from the Korea Jounalist Association (2012) and Jounalist of the Year from the Hanvit Culture Foundation (2008).

Son holds a BA in classical Chinese from Korea University.

What Islam Whose Islam: Creating a Public International Voice of Muslim Women Demanding Equality and Justice in Islam

-

Abstract:

Zainah Anwar will speak on the necessity and possibility of reform in the way Islam is understood and used as a source of law and public policy in Muslim contexts. From Sisters in Islam in Malaysia and its ground-breaking work at the national level to Musawah, the global movement for equality and justice, Muslim women activists today are at the forefront in challenging the use of Islam to justify continued discrimination against women and violations of fundamental liberties. They are producing new feminist knowledge, combining Islamic principles, human rights, constitutional guarantees of equality and non-discrimination, and women's lived realities to break the constructed binary between Islam and human rights, and the disconnect between law and reality. They are publicly challenging traditional religious authorities with alternative understandings of Islam in ways that take into consideration changing times and context. Anwar will share the experience of Sisters in Islam and the global movement it initiated, their work and challenges, and the resulting public contestations and  hope for change. 

About the Speaker: 

Zainah Anwar is currently a visiting Social Entrepreneur in Residence at Stanford for fall 2012 through CDDRL’s Program on Social Entrepreneurship. Anwar is a founding member of Sisters in Islam (SIS) and currently the director of Musawah based in Malaysia, the global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family. She is at the forefront of the women’s movement pushing for an end to the use of Islam to justify discrimination against women. The pioneering work of SIS in understanding Islam from a rights perspective and creating an alternative public voice of Muslim women demanding equality and justice led it to initiate Musawah in 2009. This knowledge-building movement brings together activists and scholars to create new feminist knowledge in Islam to break the binary between Islam and human rights and the disconnect between law and reality.  

Anwar also writes a monthly newspaper column on politics, religion and women’s rights, called Sharing the Nation. She is a former member of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia. Her book, Islamic Revivalism in Malaysia: Dakwah Among the Students, has become a standard reference in the study of Islam in Malaysia.

Encina Ground Floor Conference Room

Zainah Anwar Visiting Social Entrepreneur Speaker CDDRL
Seminars

James Chen

Walter H. Shorenstein
Asia-Pacific Research Center
Encina Hall, Room E301
616 Serra St.
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 798-9129 (650) 723-6530
0
Visiting Scholar
James_Chen_3x4.jpg

James (Mingjian) Chen is the chairman of Hollyhigh International Capital, the first investment banking firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Mainland China. He is also an adviser of the Beijing Olympics organization. Chen is a member of the liaison committee in the China National Democratic Construction Association, the chairman of the M&A Elite Club, as well as a member of the Fuping Foundation for poverty alleviation. He also serves as the chief editor of the China M&A Review, and has published Winning the Deal and M&A Revolution.

Chen graduated from Tsinghua University’s Department of Economics and Management in 1993. After graduation, he worked as a trader at China Great Wall Financial Company for several years. He then established Tsinghua Unisplendour and Hollyhigh Investment Company, in 1997 and in 1998 respectively. In addition to his work at Hollyhigh, Chen is actively engaged in M&A projects for international corporations, such as Lafarge, Shell, SK, and Scottish & Newcastle.

Chen’s deal between Teda and the Meilun Group was used as the first M&A case study at Tsinghua University. He has lectured at many renowned institutions, including Harvard University and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Using law to promote social change, three social entrepreneurs join CDDRL community this fall

Authors
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs

In September, CDDRL's Program on Social Entrepreneurship (PSE) welcomed its second class of Social Entrepreneurs in Residence at Stanford (SEERS) who hail from Malaysia, South Africa and the San Francisco Bay Area. Using the law as a vehicle for social change, this group is collaboratively working to advance the rights of women, minority groups and refugees around the world.

The three SEERS will spend the fall quarter in residence at Stanford connecting to the academic community through a course taught at the Stanford Law School - Law, Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change - by PSE Faculty Director Deborah L. Rhode.

An international figure recognized for her work to help change domestic laws in Malaysia, Zainah Anwar helped launch two ground-breaking civil society organizations working to promote women's rights in Islam. Anwar founded Sisters in Islam in Malaysia and its pioneering work led to the creation of Musawah, a global movement of equality and justice in the Muslim family. 

A social justice activist in South Africa, Mazibuko Jara works to support sustainable rural development for communities residing in the Eastern Cape province. Founder of the Ntinga Ntaba ka Ndoda organization, Jara protects the practice of customary law and the interests of rural African women. As a spokesperson for the Democratic Left Front, Jara also works to bring together anti-corporate social justice movements in South Africa challenging the government and powerful interest groups.   

A lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area, Emily Arnold-Fernández works to defend refugee rights and transform the lives of refugee communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Founder of the organization Asylum Access, Fernández empowers refugees to build a new life in their new homes by providing legal aid, community legal empowerment, policy advocacy and strategic litigation.

The three SEERS will spend the quarter engaging the student population at Stanford, pursuing their own research agenda and taking some time to reflect on their work and next steps. CDDRL will be hosting a public event with the SEERS on Nov. 14 at 5 pm in the Bechtel conference room at Encina Hall to introduce them more formally to the Stanford community.

 

All News button
1

Examining Barriers to the Commercialization of Medical Technology in India

-

It is critically important for cost-effective and efficacious products to be developed indigenously within India. The Stanford-India Biodesign (SIB) program is designed to bring to market novel medical devices for India’s medically underserved, including those living in poverty. The purpose of the study is to identify the barriers that exist in India to commercializing low-cost medical technologies. The current work developed by SIB will be used as case studies, along with a literature review and ecosystem assessment, to determine the key issues that prevent or slow device commercialization in this environment. By studying these issues, new strategies and risk mitigation techniques can be designed to help more of projects succeed. The results are expected to have a wider impact beyond the SIB program given the number of entrepreneurial medical technology opportunities that are just beginning to be developed in India.

Philippines Conference Room

Paul Yock Stanford Health Policy Associate, Martha Meier Weiland Professor in the School of Medicine and Professor of Bioengineering and, by courtesy, of Mechanical Engineering and at the GSB Speaker
Anurag Mairal Director, Global Exchange Programs Speaker
Seminars
Action Fund Fridays

Teaming Up to Learn How to Overcome Anemia: Nutritional Education and Mobile Messaging Design for Household Engagement

-

This study seeks to understand whether developing an innovative curriculum kit that will supplement health instruction for 3rd to 6th grade students and teachers in underdeveloped areas of rural China can also be delivered to parents in a set of pilot schools will: improve nutrition and the knowledge of teacher, students and parents about nutrition; reduce the level of anemia; and increase educational performance. The project will also study how to best deliver the message and keep parents accessing the information so they can act on it. The work will entail developing and examining the effectiveness (on the same outcome variables we investigate for the supplemental health class) of ways to use new technologies: mobile phones and postal mailings (for those without mobile phones) to follow up with parents and try to reinforce the message so they put it into action.

Walter P. Falcon Lounge

Scott Rozelle

Encina Hall East, E404
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

0
Faculty Co-director of the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions
Helen F. Farnsworth Endowed Professorship
Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
scott_rozelle_new_headshot.jpeg PhD

Scott Rozelle is the Helen F. Farnsworth Senior Fellow and the co-director of Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research at Stanford University. He received his BS from the University of California, Berkeley, and his MS and PhD from Cornell University. Previously, Rozelle was a professor at the University of California, Davis and an assistant professor in Stanford’s Food Research Institute and department of economics. He currently is a member of several organizations, including the American Economics Association, the International Association for Agricultural Economists, and the Association for Asian Studies. Rozelle also serves on the editorial boards of Economic Development and Cultural Change, Agricultural Economics, the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and the China Economic Review.

His research focuses almost exclusively on China and is concerned with: agricultural policy, including the supply, demand, and trade in agricultural projects; the emergence and evolution of markets and other economic institutions in the transition process and their implications for equity and efficiency; and the economics of poverty and inequality, with an emphasis on rural education, health and nutrition.

Rozelle's papers have been published in top academic journals, including Science, Nature, American Economic Review, and the Journal of Economic Literature. His book, Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise, was published in 2020 by The University of Chicago Press. He is fluent in Chinese and has established a research program in which he has close working ties with several Chinese collaborators and policymakers. For the past 20 years, Rozelle has been the chair of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy; a co-director of the University of California's Agricultural Issues Center; and a member of Stanford's Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and the Center on Food Security and the Environment.

In recognition of his outstanding achievements, Rozelle has received numerous honors and awards, including the Friendship Award in 2008, the highest award given to a non-Chinese by the Premier; and the National Science and Technology Collaboration Award in 2009 for scientific achievement in collaborative research.

Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions

Learn more
Faculty affiliate at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law
Faculty Affiliate at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Hide publication sections
Off
Date Label
Scott Rozelle Helen F. Farnsworth Senior Fellow, FSI; Affiliated Faculty, CDDRL; and Co-director, REAP Speaker
Dan Schwartz Professor, School of Education, Stanford University Speaker
Seminars
Action Fund Fridays

Bilal Siddiqi

Encina Hall
616 Serra Street
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

0
Minerva Postdoctoral Fellow (ESOC Project)
Bilal.jpg

Bilal Siddiqi is a postdoctoral scholar affiliated with the Empirical Studies of Conflict project (esoc.princeton.edu). His research focuses on micro-institutions, formal and informal legal systems, peace-building and state accountability in post-conflict settings. He is currently involved in several field experiments in Sierra Leone and Liberia, including a randomized controlled trial of two non-financial incentive mechanisms in Sierra Leone’s public health sector; experimental evaluations of community-based paralegal programs in Liberia and Sierra Leone; and a randomized controlled trial of a community reconciliation program in Sierra Leone.

Bilal received his Ph.D. and M.Phil. in economics from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Prior to Stanford, he was based at the Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES) at Stockholm as a Marie Curie / AMID Scholar; and has also spent time at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC, where he worked on aid effectiveness in global health. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons) from the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Lahore, Pakistan.

Subscribe to Asia-Pacific