Rural Asian Perspective

Newsletter of the Asian Rural Sociology Association

Number 5 ………………………………………………………………………...……………….… March 2021

CONTENTS

From the President (Motoki Akitsu) ………………………………................ 1

F r o m t h e f o r m e r P r e s id e n t ( L u t g a r d a L . To l e n t in o ) … … …… … … … … … . . . . 2
News from the ARSA Council ……..……………….……………………..…..4
Ca l l f or P a p er: Jo ur n a l of A si a n R ur a l St u d i es (J A R S) … …… …… …… … .4
Constitution of the ARSA ….…….…………………………………………….5
ARSA Council (2018-2022) …………………………………….…..…..….….6

The fight for the future of food and agriculture in Asia and beyond
Motoki Akitsu
ARSA President and Chair of the Council, 2018-2022

then, I have attended three more

Blue sky, emerald ocean, and fresh sea
food. I really enjoyed the Sixth Conference
of ARSA in Makassar, Indonesia as well as
off-conference activities in such a nice
location. The only thing I worried about
was that I was nominated as a candidate to
be the next ARSA president. I had some
ambition to be a president but lacked the
confidence to be able to drive such an
international body due to my shortage of
rich experiences in international
organization. In this sense, I’m still a
fledgling scholar in a globalized academic
community. And yet, my election as ARSA
president demonstrates that others have
this confidence in me. And now I have also
accepted this responsibility and am
determined to give my best for the
organization.
The first ARSA conference I took part in
was the one held in Hebei Province close to
Beijing, China. That was the third
international conference of ARSA. Since
conferences, namely in Legaspi,
Philippines, Vientiane, Lao PDR and, most
recently, Makassar, Indonesia. More than
twelve years have passed since my first
participation, but I cannot help asking
myself following questions about ARSA’s
progress. Has the Association evolved and
moved forward, at least step by step, over
these past twelve years? Are the benefits of
participating increased with every single
conference? Have the networks among
those who are interested in Asian rural
studies continually expanded and been
strengthened?
Our community is maturing and
approaching the next stage. Our mission in
this first stage was to discover unknown
colleagues with whom we share the same
interests. This mission is evidently still
continuing because our current networks
are still limited to certain countries.
Outreach to domestic colleagues in new
countries therefore remains an ongoing

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challenges alongside cultivating more strong relationships and furthering our
participation from countries with recent collaborative effort.
participation. We increasingly believe,
however, that our mission in this next
stage is to strengthen our networks not
only through simple exchange of
experiences and knowledge but through
research collaboration, for instance, with
shared funding. Additional research
workshops for young scholars within and
without the quadrennial conference would
also help ensure the future of our research
field.
In order to promote communication
among us that will facilitate this mission,
we are improving the continuity and
convenience of our web presence. We set
up a new website with a great effort of Dr.
Sayamol, one of our Council members, and
her colleague. With this, we hope to begin
tackling the big issue of how to introduce a
membership system to our organization
and more generally to consolidate our
networks and enhance our presence in
academia and policy-making. Global and MOTOKI AKITSU, PhD
domestic aspects of our societies are Professor, Graduate School of Agriculture,
always fluid and developing. Kyoto University
Ever-changing or entirely new problems
continuously come to the fore in our field.
We as rural sociologists struggle against
these emerging challenges by creating

Looking Back as President of Asian Rural Sociology Association

(ARSA) from 2014-2018
Lutgarda L. Tolentino
ARSA President and Chair of the Council, 2014-2018

Thank you ARSA for giving me the approaching.

chance to serve as your President from
2014-2018. I must not forget that my
Presidency was supported by a very able
Secretary, Professor Masashi Tachikawa
from Nagoya University. He made my
work very comfortable and simple. Prof
Tachikawa and I found out that being
President and Secretary, there were no
days or nights in corresponding with one
another especially when the 6th ARSA
International Conference was past
I was very much honored when I was
given the chance to lead ARSA during
that period. Such leadership role was not
new to me as I have been involved in
ARSA’s activities since its 2nd
International Conference held in Lombok,
Indonesia way back in 2002. When I was
elected President during the 5th ARSA
International Conference in Vientiane,
Lao PDR, I thought then that a four-year

2
stint was a long one. But as days passed
by, it was so short for an academic and
fluid organization with a Constitution
and By-Laws (CBL) but no fixed
membership and budget. ARSA’s main
role was to organize International
Conferences every four years so that
people working in rural social science in
Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore, Thailand, The Philippines,
Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam),
Northeast Asia (Japan, South Korea,
China and South Asia (India, Bangladesh
and Nepal) would be informed of their
research in their chosen fields.
Networking became a significant asset
for this to be done as well as commitment.
But the most important responsibility of
ARSA was to establish linkage between
generations of scholars for the
development of young scholars to
continue their engagement in rural social
science.
Aside from the excellent support given
to me by Professor Tachikawa, I was very
much supported by previous and current
members of the Council such as Professor
Surichai of Chulalongkorn University,
Professors Ikegami and Akitsu of Japan,
Professors Oakla Cho and Chul-kyoo Kim
of South Korea, and Professor Li Guoqing
of China.
During our term, there were promising
engagements that came out. With the
urgings of Professor Saleh Ali of
Hasanuddin University, we had signed a
Memorandum of Understanding between
ARSA and the Hasanuddin University for
faculty exchange and the publication of
Journal of Asian Studies (JARS). We had
imagined publishing at least 25 papers
presented to 6th ARSA International
Conference to a Scopus-indexed
proceeding under PERTANIKA. But this
did not materialize for a number of
reasons which were beyond our control. A
number of papers which were submitted
for this purpose was published in the
3
Journal of Asian Studies (JARS) and the
International Journal of Agricultural
Systems (IJAS). When we attempted to
submit the 25 papers for the
Scopus-indexed proceeding, we had given
a new role to our Council Members; that
was of reviewing papers submitted for
their potential publication. ARSA’s plan
to submit papers to such kind of a
proceeding flooded us with abstract and
paper submissions from those who
wanted their papers to be included. My
feeling was that some Council Members
did not find this work palatable as this
was an added responsibility. Their
reviews did not come as requested. I
gladly endorsed the idea of publishing
some of the papers for Scopus-indexed
publication to encourage young scholars
to start their career through publication.
I have been involved in ARSA since its
Second International Conference in
Lombok, Indonesia way back in 2004.
Then we went to China, the Philippines
and Vientiane in Lao PDR. It was only in
the Philippines Conference that we did
not generate external funding as we
depended only on the participants’
registration fees and the institutional
membership dues of Japan, South Korea
and Thailand, yet we produced printed
proceedings, funded the travel expenses
of our international Keynote Speakers
and accommodation expenses of our
Council Members. Yet, ARSA generated a
savings of US1100 which was contributed
to the holding of the 6th ARSA
International Conference in Makassar.
Let us welcome our new President,
Professor Motoki Akitsu from Kyoto
University and his Secretary Professor
Satoshi Watanabe from Ryukoku
University. They will be in charge of
convening the preparatory work and
holding of the 7th ARSA International
Conference to be held in China probably
in 2023.
 News from the ARSA Council
At the beginning of the new year, we would like to thank you for your support
of ARSA. Even though 2020 was a difficult year full of uncertainties, the ARSA has been
able to carry out meaningful work for rural sociology field, with all of your help.
Over the past years we:

 Held the 6th ARSA International Conference in cooperation with Hasanuddin

University in Makassar in August 27-30, 2018.

 Launched a new website (https://arsasocio.wordpress.com/). You can read more

about our past accomplishments (including proceedings and newsletters) and our
upcoming events.

In 2021 our work will continue to focus on the further development of rural
sociology. In spite of a lot of difficulties and uncertainties, we look ahead with hope and
gratitude. The ARSA council has begun talking about the 7th ARSA International
Conference in 2022. Given the IRSA (International Rural Sociology Association)’s 2020
World Congress which should have been held in Cairns, Australia last July 2020 was
rescheduled to 2022, we have to rethink when and how our 7th conference will be held.
Stay tuned on the ARSA website (https://arsasocio.wordpress.com/) for our
further announcement!

Call for Paper: Journal of Asian Rural Studies (JARS)

Journal of Asian Rural Studies (J. Asian Rural Stud. -

JARS) is a peer-reviewed journal published by Hasanuddin
University (UNHAS) in collaboration with Asian Rural
Sociology Association (ARSA) twice a year in January and
July.
This journal is an international, academic, citation indexed
and blind peer reviewed which covers original research
articles, short notes and communications, reviews (including
book), concepts, commentaries, and letters on a diverse topic
related to rural studies in Asia.
The aim of this journal is to provide a venue for
academicians, researchers and practitioners to share/discuss
theories, views, research results, on issues related to social.
economics, culture, communication, technology, ecology,
administration and power relation in rural of Asia.
Manuscript submission is open throughout the year. We are
looking forward to your active contribution.

For further details:

http://pasca.unhas.ac.id/ojs/index.php/jars/index
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 Constitution of the ARSA
Name & Mission
The name of the organization is the Asian Rural
Sociology Association (ARSA).
The mission of the ARSA is to cultivate the
development of the science of rural sociology,
to extend the possible application of results of
scientific inquiry to the improvement of the
quality of rural life, and to exchange and
generate meaningful scientific founding for the
rural development in Asia. As a non-profit
organization, ARSA strives for scientific and
educational purposes only.
Structure
The organization consists of General Assembly,
and Council.
General Assembly
The general assembly will be held
approximately every four years, preferably in
conjunction with Asian Rural Sociology
Association Conference. The General
Assembly may be held by the request of the
Council.
Council
The Council will be composed of one
representative of each country. The term of
elected membership on the council shall not
exceed for one conference periods, normally
four years. The council shall be convened by
the President. The council members will be
elected by each country’s members. The
council can include non-voting members such
as a secretariat to support the President and
advisors to run the council smoothly. The main
responsibility of the Council is the functioning
of the organization. All decisions of the
Council will be made by majority of the votes
cast.
Membership
5
Membership of ARSA is open to any individual
and organizations wanting to promote the
objectives of the organization and paying the
relevant fees.
There are four categories of membership:
* Sponsoring institutional or organizational
membership is open to regional rural sociology
organizations.
* Full membership has rights to participate in
the general assembly, to vote, to submit articles,
and to receive all newsletters and publication.
* Quasi-membership has same rights except
right to vote.
* Student-membership is the same as
quasi-membership but only receive newsletters.
This membership is only applicable to graduate
and university students.
* Membership fee depends on country’s
economic status and be changeable with
approval by council.
First group - Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore
Second group - China, Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia
Third group - other countries
Voting
All decisions needed for votes shall be taken by
a simple majority rule. The place, date, and
other administrative decisions for conference
and general assembly can be decided by the
council for management convenience.
Finance
The Association shall be financed by: member
subscriptions, sale of the association
publications, donations, and other research
projects funds. The Council Committee shall
decide reimbursement for any reasonable
expenses incurred by any member who carry
out work for the Association. Administrative
work and management of financing will be
mainly carried out by the secretariat with the
control of council members.

By-Laws and Regulations

Any issues and subjects needed for detailed

rules will be set forth by by-laws and
regulations. Those will be decided by the
Council.

Supplementary Provision
1. This constitution shall come into effect as
from March 27, 2004.
2. Amendment made on September 3, 2014

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 ARSA Council, 2018-2022

Office Officer Organizational Country E-mail

Affiliation

President Motoki Akitsu Kyoto University Japan akitsu@kais.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Vice Saleh Ali Hasanuddin University Indonesia saleh.assofie@gmail.com

President
Vice Liu Yiqiang Central China Normal China yiqiangliu2014@163.com
President University
Council Chul-kyoo Kim Korea University Korea ckkim@korea.ac.kr

Dexanourath National University of Laos dexanourath@yahoo.com

Seneduangdeth Laos
Susanita G. Lumbo Occidental Mindoro State Philippines shannie.lumbo@gmail.com
College
Sayamol Chulalongkorn University Thailand saya21@yahoo.com
Charoenratana

Nguyen Thi Minh Vietnam National Vietnam nthiminhien@gmail.com

Hien University of Agriculture

Lutgarda L. University of the Phillippines lutgardatolentino@gmail.com

Tolentino Philippines Los Banos

Masashi Tachikawa Nagoya University Japan mtachi@nagoya-u.jp

Secretary Satoshi Watanabe Ryukoku University Japan s.watanave@gmail.com

(non-voting)

Please send your comments, suggestions, International Conference. If you have

and feedbacks any suggestions and ideas on the
 While the global COVID-19 pandemic conference or other issues, please let
has disrupted our lives, travel, and us know to: s.watanave@gmail.com.
academic activities, we have to keep
moving forward. The ARSA Council
are now exploring all the possible
ways to hold our upcoming 7th

Rural Asian Perspective is published regularly

by the Asian Rural Sociology Association
(ARSA). For further information, contact:

Secretary: Satoshi Watanabe

Ryukoku University, Japan
swatanave@gmail.com

Number 5: March 2021