Principles of Critical Development Studies: A MinifestoMartina Padmanabhan, Samia Dinkelaker, Mareike Hoffmann, Dimas Laksmana, Siti Maimunah, Elena Rudakova, Enid Still und and Friederike Trotier

ASIEN – Nr. 160/161 (2021) pp. 210–20

University of Passau

Why we want to become the chair of “Critical Development Studies—Southeast Asia”

Renaming the chair of “Comparative development and Cultural studies with a focus on Southeast Asia” to “Critical Development Studies—Southeast Asia” is the outcome of an intense intellectual, political and yet intimate process over the last three years. In autumn 2019 a group of international students from the MA Development Studies program reported the shock of experiencing racism in study groups and when looking for shared housing. While confined to online teaching, during class one student found the courage to share their experience of a racist incident on public transport in Passau, the perpetrator humiliating him before vanishing into anonymity.