MCLC: special AAS 2012 panels

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: jaseditor at journalofasianstudies.org
Subject: special AAS 2012 panels
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Dear Colleagues,

For a couple of years now, thanks to generous support from the Luce
Foundation (to bring non-academics with insights on East and Southeast
Asia to the AAS annual meetings
http://www.asian-studies.org/Conference/index.htm ), special panels have
been incorporated into the program that take advantage of the Luce-funded
presence of people like NPR's Rob Gifford and YaleGlobal's Nayan Chanda
(two specially funded guests in previous years).  This will be happening
again with the March meetings in Toronto, with the following two sessions
(times and topics given, room still to be determined):

#1 -- Covering Asia: Journalists¹ Perspectives on Reporting on and from
Asia (Friday, March 16, 8:30-10:30 am)

#2 -- The Persistence and Unraveling of Asian Authoritarianisms (Saturday,
March 17, 4:30-6:30 pm)

(There will also be special keynote addresses, one by cultural critic Dai
Jinhua on the Thursday evening, one by novelist Amitav Ghosh on the
Saturday evening, in addition to Gail Hershatter's presidential address on
the Friday evening).

The special participants in the two panels (there will also be at least
one academic on each) are the following (with brief bios):

1) Emma Larkin, Journalist, Bangkok

Emma Larkin is an American writer who was born and raised in Asia, and
studied the Burmese language at the School of Oriental and African Studies
at London University. She is best known for her coverage of Burma,
especially Finding George Orwell in Burma (2005) and Everything is Broken:
The Untold Story of Disaster Under Burma's Military Regime (2010), also
called No Bad News for the King.  She lives in Bangkok, Thailand, and has
been visiting Burma for over fifteen years.

 
2) Vincent NI Weifeng, Washington Correspondent, Caixin Media

Vincent Ni Weifeng has just become a Washington Correspondent for Caixin
Media. Previously he covered Europe and the Middle East from a base in
London for Caixin.  Ni  and fellow reporter Gu Yongqiang won the
runners-up of "Financial/Economic Story of the Year" of Media Awards 2011
by Foreign Press Association in London.  The editorial team of Caixin
Media received the 2011 Shorenstein Journalism Award for ³its commitment
to integrity in journalism, and for its path-breaking role as a leader in
establishing an independent media in ChinaŠ.The decision to name Caixin
Media as the first recipient of this award in Asia is a recognition of the
leadership role of a group of young journalists, led by a visionary editor
[Hu Shuli].²

 
John Ruwitch, Vietnam Bureau Chief, Thomson Reuters

John Ruwitch has been a correspondent for Reuters in Asia for 11
years, most recently as Vietnam bureau chief. Prior to moving to Hanoi
in 2008 he spent seven years covering politics, diplomacy, society and
macroeconomics in China based in Beijing and Hong Kong. He has also
reported from Myanmar, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He holds
an A.M. in Regional Studies East Asia from Harvard and a B.A. in
history from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

 
Angilee Shah, Freelance Journalist and Editor, Los Angeles

Angilee Shah is a freelance journalist and editor in Los Angeles. She has
reported from across Asia, including China, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri
Lanka, and was a South Asian Journalists Association Reporting Fellow in
2007/08. Shah is the co-editor with historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom of
Chinese Characters, a collection of stories about life in China to be
published by UC Press this year. Formerly the editor of the online
magazine AsiaMedia, she is now a consulting editor to the Journal of Asian
Studies. Her writing has appeared in the Far Eastern Economic Review,
Mother Jones Online, Miller-McCune Magazine, TimeOut Singapore and Global
Voices.

Dominic Ziegler, Asia Editor, The Economist

Dominic Ziegler has spent over two decades with The Economist, and is
currently its Asia Editor, based in London. Before that, he was the
inaugural writer of the Banyan column on Asian affairs, launched in 2009.
He has also served in Washington, DC, Beijing and Tokyo.