In The News

Anti-Immigration Backlash Roils Ties between Australia and India – Part I

Robin Jeffrey March 5, 2010
Despite being a nation built by immigrants, Australia faces fresh challenges in dealing with new arrivals, particularly from India. The recent spate of violent attacks on Indian immigrants has brought a spotlight on the changing nature of migration from Asian neighbors and its impact on Australian society. In part I of this two part series, South Asia scholar Robin Jeffrey explores the reason...

Gendercide: The World Wide War on Baby Girls

March 5, 2010
In ten years, China will have more boys than girls. Skewed sex ratios, a result of infanticide and sex-selective abortions, have become a huge problem not only in China, but also in India, South Korea, Singapore, and even some ex-Soviet states. Reasons for preference for boys include a desire to avoid the cost of dowries to be paid on the daughter’s wedding, a woman’s adoption into her husband’s...

Is Arabic a Dying Language?

Tom Hundley February 26, 2010
In parts of the Arab world, integration into the world economy has meant incorporating English sometimes at the expense of Arabic. As English has become the language of commerce, it has likewise dominated education. In the United Arab Emirates, both English and Arabic are taught from primary education on, yet students often master neither. At the university level, English is primarily used...

Liberal Applications

Duncan Hewitt February 15, 2010
While most Chinese applicants to US universities apply only to top Ivy League schools, a small but rapidly increasing number have started applying to a wider variety of liberal arts colleges. A liberal arts education can be a tough sell for entrants into the Chinese labor market, where immediate technical proficiency is expected. But the long-term advantages of a broader and more conceptual...

Animosity Against English Teachers in Seoul

Jiyeon Lee February 9, 2010
Foreign English teachers in South Korea are coming under attack. The group “Citizens of Right Education” was formed to rid South Korea of unqualified foreign English teachers, involved in criminal or scandalous activities. Meanwhile, the Association for Teachers of English in Korea (ATEK) claims that English teachers have been vilified in the news, frequently presented as being involved in sexual...

The French Burqa Ban: Culture Clash Unveiled

Sadanand Dhume February 8, 2010
France’s recent proposal to ban the burqa from public places suggests a conscious decision to engage with Islam over values as well as security. In contrast to other Western nations, the French government believes that the burqa represents not just a personal choice but also a symbol of a fundamentalist political agenda that endangers women’s rights and sometimes their personal safety. Many...

English or Hinglish - Does It Matter What Indian Students Are Learning?

Anjoo Mohun January 29, 2010
In India's bustling cities, language-mixing between English and India's other dozens of languages has led to the emergence of a culture that uses “Hinglish” – or Hindi mixed with English – in everything from casual conversation to Bollywood films. While “proper” English remains the language of job possibilities, Hinglish reveals how languages adapt to the societies where they spread,...