The Channel: A Podcast from the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS)

International Institute for Asian Studies – IIAS

The Channel is the flagship podcast from the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) at Leiden University. Each episode delves into a particular Asian Studies topic from across the social sciences and humanities. Through a mixture of interviews, lectures, discussions, readings, and more, The Channel is a platform to connect scholars, activists, artists, and broader publics in sustained conversation about Asia and its place in the contemporary world. We highlight critical perspectives, diverse themes, and interdisciplinary approaches. Subscribe to remain up-to-date on the latest episodes! More information on IIAS and its various initiatives can be found at https://www.iias.asia/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. JAN 29

    The Belt and Road Initiative around the World with Jewellord T. Nem Singh, Linda Tjia Yin-nor, Angela Tritto, and Guanie Lim

    This episode features a discussion on current research into China's Belt and Road initiative, particularly as it relates to the Global South. Jewellord T. Nem Singh is a Principal Research Fellow in Global Political Economy at the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex. He is the author of Business of the State: Why State Ownership Matters for Resource Governance (Oxford University Press, 2024). Linda Tjia Yin-nor is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs at City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests focus on China's domestic railway and logistics development, as well as the political economy of China's overseas foreign aid and industrial projects in Central and Southeast Asia. She is the author of the book Explaining China’s Railway Reform: A Train of Property Rights Re-arrangements, published by Routledge in 2015. Angela Tritto is an Honorary Fellow at the University College of London, European & International Social & Political Studies Centre. She was formerly with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where her research focused on examining China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Southeast Asia and beyond. Her publications analyze the role of public, private, and third-sector organizations in affecting development outcomes and sustainability. Finally, Guanie Lim is Assistant Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Japan. His main research interests are comparative political economy, value chain analysis, and the Belt and Road Initiative in Southeast Asia. Guanie is also interested in broader development issues within Asia, especially those of China, Vietnam, and Malaysia.    Along with several other colleagues, these four guests recently produced a special issue of the journal Competition & Change, entitled “China’s Quest for Soft Power and the Rebirth of National Strategies in the Belt and Road Initiative.” The issue explores the current state of the BRI, resisting master narratives of the policy to show the diverse, complicated, contextual ways host states strategically engage with China's global influence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 12m

  2. 12/18/2025

    A Maldivian Supper (Guest Episode: The Migration Menu)

    This episode comes from our friends over at The Migration Menu, a podcast co-hosted by James Staples and Luke Heslop, both based at Brunel University London. As anthropologists with research interests in South Asia, James and Luke created The Migration Menu podcast series to highlight the interrelations of food, global migration, and identity, specifically as related to South Asian communities in the UK. In each episode, the co-hosts talk to restaurant owners, chefs, and others to explore diverse culinary traditions in and around London, using food as an entry point into wider discussions of history, culture, and politics. In this episode, originally titled “Measure with the Heart,” James and Luke sample food from the Maldivian Supper Club run by Mie Ali Didi. Even within Asian Studies, The Maldives archipelago tends to receive far less attention than larger South Asian nations, and we thought listeners would like to hear this episode of The Migration Menu, which is presented here in full. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32 min

  3. 11/27/2025

    The Promise of Cultural Geography with Ben Anderson and Vickie Zhang

    This episode features a conversation with two cultural geographers, Ben Anderson and Vickie Zhang, in which they discuss a collaborative project they spearheaded and recently released, one that provokes their discipline and also embodies an alternative mode of academic thinking and publishing. In late 2024, Ben and Vickie circulated an unconventional announcement welcoming very short reflections answering the prompt, “What, for you, is the promise of cultural geography?” A year later, they have collected the diverse responses in an exciting book, The Promise of Cultural Geography, which is now available in a print edition as well as for free online.   Ben Anderson is a Professor in the Department of Geography at Durham University. His research explores affect and nonrepresentational theories, particularly in relation to contemporary politics and everyday life. In addition to many articles and chapters, he is the author of the book Encountering Affect: Capacities, Apparatuses, Conditions, published in 2014 by Routledge, and with Anna Secor, co-author (with Anna Secor) of The Politics of Feeling: Populism, Progressivism, and Liberalism, published in 2025 by Goldsmith's Press.     Vickie Zhang is a Lecturer in the School of Geographical Sciences at Bristol University. Also exploring conceptual terrain of affect, embodiment, and subjectivity, her research examines the experience of economic transformation, especially among industrial and migrant workers in China and Australia.     In this episode, Vickie and Ben discuss the impetus behind “The Promise of Cultural Geography” project, how the final book came together, and the importance of asking big questions of our disciplines.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 13m

  4. 10/30/2025

    Casino Capitalism in Macau with Tim Simpson

    This episode features an interview with Timothy Simpson, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Macau. Tim's interdisciplinary research focuses on Macau's urban culture, architecture, and tourism industry, tracing the city's history from a colonial Portuguese territory into one of the world's most renowned and lucrative sites of casino gaming. His most recent book is Betting on Macau: Casino Capitalism and China’s Consumer Revolution, which was published in 2023 by the University of Minnesota Press as part of their “Globalization and Community” series. The book examines the function of Macau's gambling and consumer economy within the broader post-socialist transformation in China. This year, Tim is also a Research Fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies, where he is working on a new project analyzing contemporary efforts to diversify Macau's tourism industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 12m

  5. 09/25/2025

    Crossing Musical Boundaries with the ADAM Quartet and Vinthya Perinpanathan

    This episode features a conversation with Vinthya Perinpanathan and members of the ADAM Quartet about musical exchange and artistic collaboration across genres and histories. The ADAM Quartet is a young string quartet consisting of Minna Svedberg (viola), Margot Kolodziej (violin), Julia Kleinsmann (violin), and Renée Timmer (cello). The group formed in Amsterdam and has performed at major venues and festivals in The Netherlands. Besides playing the traditional string quartet repertoire, ADAM regularly collaborates with contemporary composers working in other musical styles and disciplines. One such composer is this episode's fifth guest, Vinthya Perinpanathan. Trained in Western-Classical music, Vinthya has begun exploring Sri Lankan and South Asian music in her ​​compositions as well. This month, ADAM releases its debut album called Exquisite Corpse, and in January, the string quartet will play a new piece composed by Perinpanathan. In their conversation, and through several audio examples, the ADAM Quartet and Vinthya discuss new music collaborations as well as the importance and challenges of ​combining different musical traditions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    50 min

  6. 08/28/2025

    Beijing Sound Art Museum with Colin Chinnery

    This episode features a conversation on Beijing's urban soundscape with Colin Chinnery, an artist and curator based in China. Chinnery is a co-founder of Sound Art Museum in Beijing. This museum opened to the public in 2023, and it offers visitors a history of the city through sounds. Sound Art Museum is an immersive space, which also features natural soundscapes, languages, and music from around the world. In today’s episode, Colin discusses the importance of sound for knowing and understanding a city, while listening to different examples of recordings from old and new Beijing. Colin talks about his journey to create this 6000-square-meter space, his plans for the museum, and the value and significance of careful listening.    The recording of Xin Fengxia singing "Liu Qiao’er" comes courtesy of the Chinese Database for Traditional Music. The song "On a Mound" by the band Xue Wei was provided by Colin Chinnery. All other audio clips and field recordings included in this episode are courtesy of Sound Art Museum. In addition to a short excerpt included in the conversation, the episode concludes with the full song《都塔尔弹唱》being performed on the dutar by Abdulla Majnun. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 17m

  7. 07/24/2025

    The Division of Vietnam (Guest Episode: Nam Phong Dialogues)

    On this episode of The Channel, we’re featuring a full episode from our friends over at the Nam Phong Dialogues podcast. Nam Phong Dialogues is hosted by two Vietnamese American scholars, and the show excels at presenting Vietnamese intellectual and sociopolitical history in ways that are accessible, engaging, and relevant for understanding contemporary global issues. The two co-hosts are Kevin Pham and Yen Vu. Kevin Pham is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. His first book, The Architects of Dignity: Vietnamese Visions of Decolonization, was published last year by Oxford University Press. Yen Vu is a Faculty Member in Literature at Fulbright University Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, and she is currently a Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Amsterdam during Summer 2025. In this episode of Nam Phong Dialogues, Yen and Kevin discuss the historical division of Vietnam following the end of the French colonial period, including the massive migrations that it spurred. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    55 min

  8. 06/26/2025

    South Asian Games with Jacob Schmidt-Madsen

    This episode features a discussion with Jacob Schmidt-Madsen about Game Studies and the history of South Asian board games. Jacob is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. He earned his PhD in Indology in 2019 from the University of Copenhagen, where he still remains an Affiliated External Researcher. His work focuses on the history, structure, and cultural significance of board games in South Asia, and his dissertation explored the Indian origins of the modern children’s game “Snakes and Ladders.” In Berlin, he is continuing this work as part of the research group Astral Sciences in Trans-Regional Asia (ASTRA), headed by Anuj Misra. His project within that group explores the cosmological and astrological dimensions to play and games in South Asia, specifically through the examination and translation of three encyclopedic texts. In the following discussion, we chat about the ideological and cultural significance of games, exploring the importance of play both as a key domain of experience and as an object of academic study. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 1m
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About

The Channel is the flagship podcast from the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) at Leiden University. Each episode delves into a particular Asian Studies topic from across the social sciences and humanities. Through a mixture of interviews, lectures, discussions, readings, and more, The Channel is a platform to connect scholars, activists, artists, and broader publics in sustained conversation about Asia and its place in the contemporary world. We highlight critical perspectives, diverse themes, and interdisciplinary approaches. Subscribe to remain up-to-date on the latest episodes! More information on IIAS and its various initiatives can be found at https://www.iias.asia/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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