Asian Media and Cultural Studies Network: The Good Child – audio thinking aloud series

The “Good” Child in Asia

Curated by Dr Shih-Wen Sue Chen, Deakin University, Australia

Series 2: Audio Thinking Aloud Series

This series aims to highlight similarities and differences in what it means to be a “good” child across Asia. Each audio think piece presents a culturally specific understanding of the “good” child through examples from popular media, literature, and ethnographic fieldwork. Dafna Zur suggests that in Korea, understandings of the “good child” changes across time and is political. Satrya Wibawa traces the changes in representations of children in Indonesian cinema, arguing that “a good child is a good nation and the good nation needs the good child.” Examining hafu (“mixed-race/ethnic”) children in Japan, Kaori Mori Want critiques the highly racialized stereotypes of these children in popular media. Paro Mishra sheds light on how Indian society defines a “good” son. Based on extensive ethnographic research on Burmese migrant children, Prasert Rangkla demonstrates how understandings of the “good child” is grounded in their economic contribution to the family rather than their educational achievements. Comparing media representations of the guai (“good”) child in different Chinese societies, Sue Chen and Sin Wen Lau argue that guai is a complex multifaceted and dynamic concept.

Dr Dafna Zur on the Good Child in Korea

Dr Dafna Zur is an Associate Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University. She teaches courses on Korean literature, cinema, and popular culture.

I Gusti Agung Ketut Satrya Wibawa on the Good child in Indonesia

I Gusti Agung Ketut Satrya Wibawa, PhD is a lecturer at Communication Department the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya Indonesia. He graduated from School of Media, Creative Art and Social Inquiry, Curtin University, Perth in Western Australia in 2019. His research interest now focuses on intersection between cinema, digital technology and creative arts.

Dr Kaori Mori Wan on the Good Child in Japan

Kaori Mori Want, Associate Professor, English Department, Konan Women’s University, Japan

Dr Paro Mishra on the Good Child in India

Paro MISHRA is assistant professor of Social Anthropology at the Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Indraprashtha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi. Over the past decade, she has been doing ethnographic research on social reproduction of families and communities in the context of demographic imbalance of sexes.

Dr Prasert Rangkla on the Good Child in Indonesia

Prasert Rangkla, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, Thammasat University, Thailand

Dr Sue Chen and Dr Sin Wen Lau on the Good Child in China

Sue Chen, Senior Lecturer in Writing and Literature, Deakin University, Australia Sin Wen Lau, Senior Lecturer, Chinese Programme, University of Otago, New Zealand

For more information about the Asian Media and Cultural Studies Network see here

Best wishes,

Sean and Jian