EVENT: [MAIDS-GRID TALK SERIES: EXPERT RESEARCH SEMINAR #3]
Doing Policy Otherwise: Critical Policy Studies and the Interpretive Turn in Asia
Public policy in Asia has developed alongside, and in dialogue with, governance frameworks and analytical traditions that tend to privilege technocratic expertise, rational-comprehensive models, and positivist approaches to policy analysis, often without fully accounting for the region’s political complexity and social diversity. The limits of these dominant approaches (their inadequacy in the face of political complexity, inequality, and contested governance) have driven the critical turn in policy studies. Critical Policy Studies (CPS), emerging as an onto-epistemological challenge to policy science in the latter half of the twentieth century, has since built an expanding epistemic community with recent deepening engagements in Asia. This analysis interrogates the relevance and urgency of CPS as an alternative lens for public policy and policy analysis in the region. It foregrounds how the critical and interpretive turn reframes both the definition of policy problems and the question of whose knowledge and experiences count in governance. These stakes are especially pressing in Asia, where authoritarianism, post-truth politics, and illiberal democracy have strained democratic deliberation and exposed the limits of technocratic governance. It is precisely within these conditions that an alternative, contextually grounded perspective on public policy becomes not merely desirable, but necessary.
SPEAKER:
Dr. Noe John Sacramento
Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu
Adjunct Faculty, Chiang Mai University School of Public Policy
Noe John Sacramento is an assistant professor of public policy and political science at the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu. He is also a nonresident adjunct faculty at the School of Public Policy, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. John has done research on deliberative policy analysis, the technical and participatory nexus in smart city planning, informality, dramaturgy, and emotionality in deliberation, and the critical pragmatist logic in policy analysis in high inequalities. He is also interested in the developments of critical policy studies in Asia, the interpretive and constructivist turn in public policy across the region, and how policy knowledge is contested and challenged in the face of power. His recent book with Routledge (2026) is on “Policy Analysis in High Inequalities in Asia: Critical and Pragmatic Perspective” (co-authors: Piyapong Boossabong and Pobsook Chamchong).
MODERATOR
John Ryan Jacot is a MAIDS student at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. His thesis examines a coastal land reclamation project in a peri-urban town in Cebu, Philippines, asking why and how coastal land reclamation emerged as a practice for spatializing sustainable urban development. Drawing on assemblage thinking and critical urban theory, it traces how diverse spatial, political, economic, and discursive elements were enrolled along the coastal frontier to render the project possible. It also reflects on alternatives for more socially just and ecologically sound urbanisms along contested coastal frontiers. Previously, he served as a fellow with the Urban Studies Program of the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies, where the team examined flooding in Metro Cebu and emergent urban challenges in low-lying island communities in Bohol, Philippines.
“MAIDS-GRID Talk: Expert Research Seminar” is a new initiative conceived and managed by GRID Ph.D. students. It provides a dedicated space for experts from diverse fields to share insights on the multifaceted issues within development studies.
VENUE AND DATE
Time and Date: Tuesday, 02 June 2026, at 10:00 – 11:30 AM (GMT+7)
Format: Hybrid
Online: Via Zoom
In-person: Smart Classroom, Floor 7, Faculty of Political Science, Kasem Udayanin, Chulalongkorn University
Registration: Scan the QR code on the poster or click here:
Online:https://chula.zoom.us/meeting/register/02fK2xxLR723kVt8k9RyXg#/registration
In-person: https://forms.gle/piG2tRUZ4z6JJrLE9
EVENT: [MAIDS-GRID talk] Expert Research Seminar #2
Marriage Equality, Thai BL Culture, and Queer Soft Power:
Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Activism in BL Series and Among BL Idols
Thailand has recently made history by becoming the first Southeast Asian nation to legalize marriage equality. Within the context of the mainstreaming of the Thai "Boys Love" and "Girls Love" (Y) industries, this presentation extends work from my monograph Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture to ask what role - if any - did BL culture play in debates over marriage equality in Thailand. Significantly, I emphasize shifts within the Thai BL industry whereby celebrities must now demonstrate a commitment to social justice to effectively respond to young fans' desires for role models who do not engage in simplistic acts of pinkwashing. I contend that changes in the Thai BL industry reveal how the expectations of a new generation of fans mandate that contemporary Thai BL idols explicitly demonstrate their commitment to progressive political concerns to achieve success in their careers. I conclude by considering the intersections of this queer activism to the so-called Thai Wind and transnational fandom for Thai media, specifically exploring (and critiquing) how the Thai state attempts to leverage BL/GL content and LGBTQ+ rights as resources to build soft power.
SPEAKER
Dr. Thomas Baudinette is Senior Lecturer in Global Cultures, School of International Studies, Macquarie University. A cultural anthropologist, his research explores the role popular culture plays in shaping knowledge about gender and sexuality across East and Southeast Asia. His first book is Regimes of Desire: Young Gay Men, Media, and Masculinity in Tokyo (University of Michigan Press, 2021). His second book is Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture (Bloomsbury, 2023). Thomas is currently working on three book projects: an edited collection titled Riding the Thai Wind: Globalizing Thai Media, Transnational Fandom, and Soft Power Potentials; the updated English-language edition of Akiko Hori and Mori Naoko’s seminal text BL no Kyōkasho (A BL Textbook); and a monograph tentatively titled Queer Fantasies of Asia: Japanese and Korean Media Fandom in the Philippines.
MODERATOR
Jazreen is a third-year PhD candidate at MAIDS-GRID, Chulalongkorn University, specialising in the intersection of creative industries and industrial sustainability. His current research evaluates the Thai Boys Love (BL) genre as a critical pillar of national soft power, examining the socio-environmental frameworks required for its long-term viability. Drawing upon comparative analyses of global cultural exports, specifically the environmental trajectory of the K-Pop industry, Jazreen has engaged in high-level consultations with prominent entertainment agencies, intergovernmental organisations, and national government agencies to advocate for sustainable creative economy policies. In 2025, he founded @sustaina.bl, a digital advocacy initiative that bridges the gap between media production and ethical consumption by promoting environmental and social governance (ESG) standards within the global BL ecosystem.
“MAIDS-GRID Talk: Expert Research Seminar” is a new initiative conceived and managed by GRID Ph.D. students. It provides a dedicated space for experts from diverse fields to share insights on the multifaceted issues within development studies.
Venue and Date
Online via Zoom (register here)
Bangkok: 23 April 2026, 10:00-11:30 am (GMT+7)
Scan the QR code to register or click the link below:
https://chula.zoom.us/meeting/register/xk41lm6VTLGB4wtsbqP4Aw
[MAIDS-GRID talk] Expert Research Seminar #2