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Seeking to address the general question, 'Where is Digital Asia?', this paper explores the various ways in which the digital and virtual realm interacts with the problematic and contested category of Asia. Beginning with a discussion of the relationship between Asia and Digital Asia, as both cartographic and ideological sites, it moves on to connect Digital Asia with the discourse of techno-Orientalism. Using the example of the videogame as an instance of a digital location that can be visited and explored, this article suggests that the gamic quality of interactivity adds a new, experiential dimension to the ideological structure of (techno-)Orientalism, hence positing the utility of a new form of 'Gamic Orientalism'. Focussing on the 'digitaldōjō' as the site of Gamic Orientalism and Digital Asiapar excellence, this paper concludes with a discussion of the ways in which gamers represent their engagement with this site in a manner that echoes the way martial artists talk about the significance of their art as self-cultivation. Illustrated with texts from thebushidōcanon and interviews with gamers, this playful and experimental piece posits the possibility of 'virtualbushidō' as the ultimate expression of Gamic Orientalism, suggesting that Digital Asia is finally located in an ideologically conditioned mode of engagement with the digital medium rather than in any cartographically defined space.

AbstractThis paper experiments with the idea that travel writing could be a valid and useful mode through which to study certain videogames. By embracing the notions that space is a social construction and that the virtual worlds of some videogames constitute architectural spaces in a manner that is more than analogous to an urban space, it maintains that these constructed worlds are real places to visit, and hence that exploration within them is also real. Furthermore, the paper considers the ways in which travel in general, and travel in(to) videogames in particular, contributes to the experience of emancipation in technology-rich societies. Using the example of Japan (as one of the global powerhouses of videogame creation and consumption), the paper considers the interaction and intersection of the virtual and the actual, in mutually enriching and liberating ways, which are viewed in terms of their social and political function. It also cautions about the ethics and politics of knowledge involved in the deployment of travel writing as a method in the interrogation of videogames, concluding with a methodological sketch for a way ahead. It illustrates and demonstrates its argument with three original travelogues.

An icon of horror, the zombie blunders with apparent mindlessness, bringing only contagion and chaos. It has lost its ego, its individuality, its reasoning self. It is a repellent vision of posthumanity. Mindfulness is a therapeutic practice rooted in the meditative traditions of Buddhism. Liberated from the stresses and anxieties of capitalist society, practitioners escape the demands of an ego driven to exhaustion by instrumental rationality. This essay explores the growing interest in mindfulness meditation and flourishing portrayals of the zombie apocalypse in contemporary societies to suggest a connection between these models of (post)selfhood.

The possibilities for developing the poet Douglas Dunn's archive (which includes the drafts and manuscripts for his collection Elegies, dealing with the terminal illness and death of the poet's wife from cancer) for therapeutic benefit are explored by an English lecturer (C.J.) and a palliative care practitioner (C.M.). This has led us to explore the potential benefit of this resource for health practitioners working with those affected by cancer and other life-limiting conditions. This article offers a "written conversation" (an acknowledged oxymoron of genre) about working with the themes of death and loss: a conversation which includes Douglas Dunn, who was not actually there. We reflect on the value of this "confabulation" as methodological inquiry, and its potential influence on practice. Thus, an example of "creative writing" (the confabulation) becomes a piece of research into methodology regarding the use of "creative writing" resources (the poetry archive) in palliative health care.

This article looks at the hidden history of 'popular social work'. It suggests that suspicion of state-directed social welfare and social work has a long history, that state-directed welfare is rarely unconditional and non-stigmatising, but that these values are enshrined and embedded within popular social work, which is often rooted in social movement activity. The article argues that we need to see social work as a much more contested activity, shaped by politics and that we need to rediscover the history of popular social work, which has been ignored within most professional histories.